JPH03272718A - Automatic cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out automatic cooking for various cooked objects of different properties with a relatively simple structure by changing the heating power of a heat source according to a set completed heating power and a selecting weight reduction rate property, and stopping the heating when the weight reduction rate corresponding to the set completed heating power is reached. CONSTITUTION:A signal is delivered from the heating control means 25c of a controller 25 to a gas amount regulating valve 23, and the heating is carried out in a weak heating by setting the gas amount-regulating valve 23 at a preset weak combustion. And, the weight reduction rate GR and the product PRXBR of the weak combustion ratio PR multiplied by the weight reduction rate BR according to the completion select by an operating knob 24a and the menu selecting condition by an operation knob 24c, are compared in order. When the comparison becomes to GR>=PRXBR, the gas amount regulating valve 23 is changed to a preset strong heating combustion by the signal from the heating control means 25c, to carry out the heating in a strong heating. And, the calculated weight reduction rate GR and the set value of the weight reduction rate BR are compared, and when the condition becomes to GR>=BR, a shutting signal is delivered from the heating control means 25c of the controller 25 to a safety valve 22, to shut the safety valve 22, and burners 3 and 4 are put out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an automatic cooker that automatically stops heating when cooking is completed in a grill, oven, or the like.

<Prior Art> For example, when cooking on a grill, the user generally cooks the food manually while checking the degree of grilling of the food. There are also devices that are equipped with a timer, and the user can set the timer appropriately depending on the type and size of the food to be cooked, so that heating is stopped when the set time comes. Furthermore, there is also a known method that calculates the net weight of the object at the start of cooking from the rate of change in the weight of the object, calculates the total heating time from this, and automatically cooks the object for a predetermined period of time (for example, (Refer to Publication No. 2-2053).

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> It is quite troublesome to judge the end time of grilling the food while checking its condition. Also, in the case where the timer is set by the user, the actual baking will stop when the time comes, regardless of the condition.
It takes considerable skill to properly set the timer so that it goes off when cooking is complete.

In addition, the method disclosed in the above publication not only has a complicated control procedure, but also has a complicated structure and high cost because it measures the weight of the entire turntable. Even if it can be applied, it is not suitable for a grill part built into a relatively inexpensive appliance such as a table stove. Furthermore, the actual time required for cooking varies depending on the type of food to be cooked and the contents of the cooking process, and the heat power during cooking is also not constant and must be adjusted as the cooking progresses or changed according to preference. However, the above-mentioned publication cannot meet such requirements.

The present invention has focused on these points, and has been made with the object of making it possible to automatically cook various kinds of foods with different properties using a relatively simple structure.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the automatic cooker of the present invention includes a heat power adjustment means for adjusting the heat power of the heating source, and a weight reduction rate of the food to be cooked from the start of cooking. a detection means for detecting the heating power, a setting means for setting the strength of the finishing heat power, and a setting means for setting the strength of the finishing heat power, and a plurality of weight loss rate characteristics that determine the relationship between the strength of the finishing heat power and the weight loss rate at the time of stopping heating. a storage means for storing a desired characteristic in a form, a characteristic selection means for selecting a desired characteristic from a plurality of weight reduction rate characteristics stored in the storage means, and a characteristic selection means for selecting a desired characteristic from a plurality of weight reduction rate characteristics stored in the storage means; The heating control means switches the heating power of the heating source and stops heating when it is detected that the weight reduction rate corresponding to the set finishing heating power has been reached.

Further, the above-mentioned device is provided with a time setting means for setting a cooking time from the start of cooking to when heating is stopped, and a control selection means for selecting whether to perform heating control based on weight reduction rate or time. When time-based heating control is selected, the heating control means switches the heat power of the heating source according to the set finishing heat power and cooking time, and stops heating when the set cooking time is reached. That's what I do.

Further, the weight reduction rate detection means is configured to detect the weight reduction rate from a change in moment at the other end of the cooking table whose one end is supported by a fulcrum.

<Operation> According to the results of cooking various objects to be cooked by the inventors, it was found that the degree of baking of the objects and the rate of weight loss from the start of cooking are almost constant depending on the type of material. Did 6
Therefore, if you set the weight reduction rate at which to stop heating according to the type of food to be cooked, and stop heating when the weight reduction rate is reached, standard grilling can be done according to the condition. can finish. By setting the strength of the finishing heat, you can adjust the degree of grilling when heating is stopped according to your preference.

The above control based on the weight reduction rate is suitable for perishables with relatively high moisture content, but is not suitable for low-moisture foods such as dried foods because the change in weight is small. A device equipped with a time setting means and a control selection means allows heating control to be performed by time in such a case, and it is possible to cook a wide variety of foods from raw foods to dried foods. It becomes possible.

In addition, in a device that detects the weight reduction rate from the change in moment at the other end of a cooking table supported at one end, it is possible to The rate of weight loss of the food to be cooked can be detected with a simple structure, regardless of the weight of water, the actual weight of the food, etc.

<Example> Next, an example in which the present invention is applied to a grill portion of a table stove will be described. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the control system of the grill section, Figs. 2 to 5 are diagrams showing the structure of each part,
Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between weight reduction rate characteristics and finished firepower.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the control procedure.

In Figures 2 and 3, 1 is a table stove, 2 is its grill part, 3 is an infrared-type upper parser, 4 is a lower burner, 5 is a grill, 6 is a water dish, 7 is a grill door, Reference numeral 8 indicates an exhaust port, and reference numeral 9 indicates a top play 1-110 indicates an object to be cooked. The gridiron 5 has a support plate [1] provided at the end near the door with a locking claw], 1a formed at the tip thereof, which is inserted into a locking hole 6a provided at the edge of the water dish 6. Similarly, form a locking claw 1.2a at the tip of the support plate 12 provided at the rear end, and insert it into the locking IL hole 6)) provided at the edge of the water container ff16. Every 1. : Therefore, it can be placed on the water dish (5) without any displacement.The configuration described above is basically the same as that known in the past.8 The configuration according to the present invention will be mainly described below.

Reference numeral 13 designates a support rod protruding from the support plate 12 of the gridiron 5 toward the back, 14 designates a weight sensor, and 15 designates a measuring arm of the weight sensor 14. This weight sensor upper 4 is connected to the support rod 1 of the grill grate 5 when the water tray 6 is set at a predetermined position in the grill section 2.
3 rests on the measuring arm 15, and the support plate 12 is placed in a position such that it is slightly lifted from the water container 6 by the repulsive force of the measuring arm 15. Therefore, the gridiron 5 is supported using the portion where the locking claw 1]a is inserted into the locking hole 6a as the fulcrum A, and a moment corresponding to the weight of the gridiron 5 and the food to be cooked 10 (71) is applied to the measuring arm 15. Therefore, by subtracting 2 from the known weight of the griddle 5, the weight sensor 14 can detect the moment corresponding to the weight of the food to be cooked. Note that the weight of the water container 6 and the water 16 therein does not affect the measuring arm 5. ] 77 is a left stove burner, 17a is its appliance tap knob, 1.8 is a right stove burner, ], 8a is its appliance tap knob, 21a is a grill burner appliance tap knob, and 24 is a grill operation section.

In FIG. 1, 21 is a grill burner appliance frame, 22 is a safety valve, and 23 is an electric gas amount adjustment valve, and gas is supplied to the upper burner 3 and lower burner 4 through these valves.

25 is a control section. In FIG. 1, the flow of fuel gas is shown by solid lines, and the flow of signals is shown by broken lines.

As shown in FIG. 5, the grill operation section 24 includes a finishing selection section for setting the strength of the finishing heat, a mode switching section, and a menu selection section, and respective operation knobs 24a, 24b, and 24c are provided. There is. The finish selection section is for setting the degree of grilling according to your preference. The mode switching section switches between automatic and manual mode, and there are two modes: "automatic", in which control according to the present invention is selected, and "manual", in which normal manual cooking is selected.
``Automatic'' has a selection position for whether the food to be cooked is fresh, dried, or semi-uncooked, and ``Manual'' has a selection position for low heat or high heat. Further, the menu selection section selects a desired characteristic from a plurality of weight reduction rate characteristics depending on the food to be cooked.

The main part of the control unit 25 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer, and includes calculation means 25a for calculating the weight reduction rate;
Weight loss rate characteristics that predetermine the relationship between the intensity of finishing heat and the weight loss rate when heating is stopped, the standard cooking amount aS that is applied when dry food or semi-perishable food is selected in the mode switching section, and this cooking A memory 25b storing a standard cooking time TS required for cooking, and a heating control means 25e are provided.The weight loss rate characteristics have a plurality of characteristics depending on the type of food to be cooked, as illustrated in FIG. The heating control means 25c controls the gas amount adjusting valve 23 according to the strength of the set finishing heat power and the selected weight reduction rate characteristic to achieve a predetermined weight reduction. The control unit 25 is configured to close the safety valve 22 when it is detected that the temperature has been reached.The control unit 25 is also equipped with functions related to other controls commonly performed in conventional table stoves. 25b also stores programs and data necessary for these controls.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and then the seventh
The operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in the figure.

As mentioned above, the degree of grilling of the food and the rate of weight loss from the start of cooking are almost constant depending on the type of material.
The user selects the weight reduction rate at which heating is to be stopped using the knob 24c, with reference to, for example, a data table attached to the appliance. By the way, the weight loss rate when properly grilled is 18.6% for salt-grilled horse mackerel and 24% for salt-grilled sardine.
．． Experimental results have been obtained of 7% and 23.0% for roasted eggplant. Also, whether the amount of food to be cooked is large or small only affects the time required to finish cooking, and has almost no effect on the rate of weight loss when properly grilled, but it may be necessary to It is also possible to make corrections by setting the selection section, and the user makes settings using the operating knob 24a according to his/her preference for the amount of food to be cooked 10 and the degree of grilling. Furthermore, the operation knob 24b is used to switch to a desired mode (step Sl).

Next, set the grill 5 with the food to be cooked 10 on it in the water tray 6, insert it into the predetermined position in the grill part 2, place the support rod 13 of the grill 5 on the measuring arm 15, and turn the grill burner on. Cooking is started by turning on the appliance stopper knob 21a and igniting each burner 3, 4, and an on signal is input from the switch 21b provided on the appliance stopper 21 to the control unit 25 (step S2).

In step S3, the state of mode switching by the operation knob 24b is determined, and if "manual" is selected, the process moves to step S4 and normal manual cooking becomes possible. - Since grill cooking on a boat does not require cooking for more than one hour, in this embodiment, a one-hour timer built into the control unit 25 starts, and if the cooking does not finish within this time, the safety valve 22 starts counting up. is closed to stop combustion and ensure safety. Further, if "Auto J" is selected, the process moves to step S5 and automatic cooking according to the present invention is started.

First, in step S5, the state of finishing selection using the operating knob 24a and menu selection using the operating knob 24c is read, and then, in step S6, the initial weight moment G at the start of cooking is read. is loaded. This weight moment is caused by the grilling 11i5 acting on the measuring arm 15 and the food to be cooked 1.
It is obtained by inputting a moment corresponding to the weight of 0 to the control unit 25, and subtracting the known moment due to the weight of the gridiron 5 itself from the detected value of the weight sensor 14 by the calculating means 25a. In other words, the net weight of the food to be cooked 10 is calculated by converting it into the magnitude of the moment G. From then on, until the end of cooking, the weight moment G detected by the weight sensor 14 is sent to the control unit 25 at regular intervals. The weight reduction rate from the start of cooking is calculated by the control unit 25 using the following formula.

In the next step S7, the "auto" position of the operation knob 24b is determined, and if the food is perishable, the process proceeds to step 88 and subsequent steps, and if the product is dried or semi-perishable, the process proceeds to step 311 and subsequent steps.

In step S8, a signal is sent from the heating control means 25c of the control section 25 to the gas amount adjustment valve 23, and the gas amount adjustment valve 23
is set to a preset low heat combustion, and heating is performed over low heat. Then, the product PpXBp of the weight reduction rate GR obtained from the above formula, the weak combustion ratio PR and the weight reduction rate BR obtained from FIG. is successively compared, and when GR≧ppxBR, the process proceeds to step S9, where the gas amount adjustment valve 23 is switched to a preset high flame combustion by a signal from the heating control means 25c, and heating with high flame is performed.

In the next step S9, the calculated weight reduction rate Gρ is compared with the set value BR of the weight reduction rate, and when G9≧Bll+, the heating control means 25e of the control unit 25 sends a signal to the safety valve 22.
A close signal is sent to the safety valve 22, and the burners 3 and 4 are turned off (step 5IO).

Here, the values of PI2 and Bp are set as shown in Fig. 6, and the farther the operation knob 24a of the finish selection section is set, the smaller the product of both becomes, and the combustion is switched from low flame combustion to high flame combustion. The timing becomes earlier, and the period of high-flame combustion becomes relatively longer. Further, the value of the weight reduction rate BR at the end of heating becomes thicker as the operation knob 24a is set to the farther side (therefore, the value of the weight reduction rate BR when the cooking is completed in step S10) is determined by the operation knob 24a. The degree of grilling depends on the settings, and you can finish cooking according to the desired degree of grilling, from high heat to low heat. is an example, and can be arbitrarily set with reference to experimental results.

On the other hand, when proceeding from step S7 to step S1, ], first in step S1.1, from the initial weight moment GlI and the standard cooking amount Gs and standard cooking time rs which are stored in the memory 25)). , the total cooking time TM is T
M = T s X G , , / G s is calculated, and the timer for each time l'H starts. The total cooking time of 1' can now be set manually rather than automatically, and can be set to 2.

In the next step S12, the gas amount regulating valve 23 is set to low-heat combustion to perform heating by low heat, similar to step S8. Then, the elapsed time '1' and the product PRxTM of the weak combustion ratio pp set with the operating knob 24a and the total cooking time TI-, are compared, and the product PRxTM is calculated.
When RX TM is reached, the process proceeds to step S13, where the gas amount adjustment valve 23 is switched to high flame combustion, and heating by high flame is performed. Then, in step S13, the elapsed time T and the total cooking time TM are compared, and when T>TM, the safety valve 22 is closed and the burner 3.4 is turned off (step S13).
14).

Even when controlling by the total cooking time TM rather than the weight reduction rate BR as shown in the figure, the farther the operation/knob 24a is set, the earlier the timing of switching from low flame combustion to high flame combustion becomes, and the period of high flame combustion becomes shorter. relatively long. Therefore, as in the case of step SIO, cooking can be completed with the desired degree of roasting according to the settings made with the operation knob 24a.

Note that even in the case of step 88 and subsequent steps, or even in the case of variable cooking in steps 88 and below, if the cooking is not completed within one hour, it is necessary to determine that there is an abnormality and stop combustion to ensure safety. Step 815 is a step for this purpose,
Interruptions are made at regular intervals, and the safety valve 22 is closed when the cooking time reaches one hour, similar to step S4.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment corresponds to claim 2, by removing the control procedure from step 51.1 onwards and the mode selection for dry food or semi-perishable food from this embodiment, an automatic cooker corresponding to claim 1 can be obtained. is obtained.

In addition, although the embodiment is an example of a grill using a gas burner as the heating source, the heating source may be of other types such as an electric heater or a microwave. It can be applied to various types of cooking such as Kashiwa Teriyaki.

Further, in the embodiment, the heating power of each of low-fire combustion and high-fire combustion is constant, but it is also possible to change the heating power of each according to the menu L7.

It is also possible to control the firepower of both lower burners independently or to burn only one burner. Furthermore, depending on the content of cooking, the heat may be set to high first and then lowered to low, or the high and low heat may be repeated several times. These various controls can be performed automatically by incorporating the procedures into a program as appropriate, or can be performed manually if necessary.

Further, the weight reduction rate can be detected by an appropriate method other than the method described in the embodiment.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the above-mentioned embodiments, the automatic cooking device of the present invention can set the weight reduction rate at the time of stopping heating in advance according to the type of food to be cooked, and can also adjust the intensity of the finishing heat. is set according to the food to be cooked and preference, and heating is stopped when the set weight reduction rate is reached while controlling the heating power to a predetermined value. Therefore, there is no need to set timers or troublesome checks during cooking, which requires considerable skill.
It becomes possible to automatically perform desired cooking according to the properties of the object to be cooked.

In addition, the above-mentioned device equipped with a means for setting the total cooking time and a means for selecting whether to perform heating control based on weight loss rate or time can handle everything from fresh to semi-uncooked foods to dried foods. It becomes possible to automatically cook various foods, and an automatic cooker with a wide range of applications can be obtained.

Furthermore, in the case where the weight reduction rate is detected from the change in moment at the other end of the cooking table supported at one end, it is easy to detect the weight reduction rate regardless of the weight of the table, the container, or the actual weight of the food. Since the structure can detect the weight loss rate of the food to be cooked, it is easy to reduce the price of the device, and it is possible to obtain a device with a simple structure and suitable for the grill section of a table stove at a relatively low price. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the control system of the grill section, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the entire table stove, and Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-section of the main parts. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the grill section, Figure 5 is a front view of the grill operation section, Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between weight reduction rate characteristics and finished firepower, and Figure 7 is a flowchart of the control procedure. It is. 2...Grill part, 3...Upper burner, 4...Lower burner, 5...Grilling grid, 10...To be cooked, 14...Weight sensor, 15...Measuring arm, 21... Grill burner appliance stopper, 21a... Appliance stopper knob, 22... Safety valve, 23... Gas amount adjustment valve, 24... Grill operation section, 24a, 24b, 24c... Operation knob, 25・
...Control unit, 25a...Calculating means, 25b...Memory, 25c...Heating! lJ# means, A... fulcrum.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A heat power adjustment means for adjusting the heat power of the heating source, a detection means for detecting the weight reduction rate of the food to be cooked from the start of cooking, a setting means for setting the strength of the finishing heat power, and a setting means for setting the strength of the finishing heat power. A storage means for storing the relationship with the weight loss rate when heating is stopped in the form of a plurality of weight loss rate characteristics depending on the properties of the food to be cooked; a characteristic selection means for selecting a desired characteristic; and switching the heating power of the heating source according to the set finishing heating power and the selected weight reduction rate characteristic, and reaching the weight reduction rate corresponding to the set finishing heating power. An automatic cooking device comprising: heating control means that stops heating when it is detected. (2) It is equipped with a time setting means for setting a cooking time from the start of cooking to when heating is stopped, and a control selection means for selecting whether to perform heating control based on weight reduction rate or time, When heating control is selected, the heating control means switches the heat power of the heating source according to the set finishing heat power and cooking time, and stops heating when the set cooking time is reached. The automatic cooking device according to claim 1. (3) The automatic cooking according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the weight reduction rate detection means is configured to detect the weight reduction rate from a change in moment at the other end of the cooking table whose one end is supported by a fulcrum. vessel.