JPS62409B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an electronically controlled cooking appliance.

Electronically controlled cooking devices that detect the condition of food using an infrared temperature sensor, humidity sensor, etc. and automatically cook food under the control of a microcomputer have already been put into practical use.

However, with such cookers, it is very convenient in that you can check the time required for cooking in advance and input it, which saves you the trouble of cooking. It is not possible to efficiently perform other cooking preparations.

With this in mind, one proposal was made to calculate the remaining time required for the scheduled completion of food based on the detection output of the food condition and display it (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1983-1999-1).
34029), but the present invention aims to further improve this.

FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. When the microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as μCOM) 1 receives a desired menu number and a command to start cooking from the keyboard 2, it turns on the switching circuit 3 and supplies power from the commercial power source 4 to the heating source 5 (magnetron, electric heater, etc.). urge At this time μ
COM1 is a temperature measurement unit 6 including an infrared temperature sensor
input the temperature value of the food, calculate the remaining time required to finish the food based on the input temperature,
It is displayed on the display 7. In addition, the waveform shaper 8 converts the commercial power supply frequency, for example, from a 60Hz waveform signal to 60Hz.
form a time base signal consisting of a pulse train of
μCOM 1 uses such a signal to control the timing of temperature measurement and display of remaining time.

FIG. 2 shows the change in the input temperature, and the control operation of μCOM 1 will be explained with reference to this diagram. At the start of heating, the input temperature increases almost linearly from the initial temperature T ₁ and reaches the expected finishing temperature T ₂ after time t. μCOM1 takes in the measured temperature from the temperature measurement unit 6, and if the input temperature after t _i time has passed is Ti, then the remaining time t _R until the scheduled finish at the time t _i time has elapsed is t _R = t- It is calculated as t _i =T ₂ −T ₁ /Ti−T ₁ ×t _i −t _i , and the calculation result is displayed on the display 7. Since the change in input temperature is not a completely linear change, predicting and displaying the remaining time until the end using only one temperature measurement at the initial stage will cause an error. In this embodiment, the temperature is measured every 1 second) and the remaining time is calculated. However, as mentioned above, the change in input temperature is not a completely linear change, so displaying the above calculation results every second each time may cause the displayed remaining time to increase or decrease frequently every second. This makes the operator feel uneasy. For this reason, μ
COM1 calculates the remaining time as described above every second, but displays the remaining time calculated at a certain point by counting down every second, while displaying the details of the down count and each time. Only when there is a difference of more than a certain amount between the remaining time to be calculated, the calculation result at that point is displayed instead of the previous countdown content display, and the countdown is continued from that display content. is displayed again until the difference is greater than the above certain value.

Figure 3 shows a control program stored in the ROM in μCOM1 to execute the control operations of μCOM1 described above.
The control operation of COM1 will be explained in more detail.

As mentioned above, when the desired menu number and cooking start command are given on the keyboard 2, the program starts running and first proceeds through steps S1 to S3. , the seconds counter, T ₁ , and the remaining time flag areas are reset, and then the menu number already input into the display memory is set, and the heating source 5 is started to be driven. That is, heating cooking starts from this point.

Next, cycle through each step of S4, S19 to S21
The elapsed seconds are counted. That is, the contents of the second counter are checked, and if it is not "60", the contents of the display memory are displayed on the display 7, the 60Hz time base signal input from the waveform shaper 8 is taken in, and the signal is output. If so, the contents of the second counter are incremented by "1". Therefore, the menu number is displayed on the display 7 until the second counter reaches "60", which corresponds to one second. The second counter is in sexagesimal system, and when it counts up to "60", it returns to "1" at the next count-up.

When the content of the second counter is "60", the state of the remaining time flag is checked in step S5, and since it is initially in the reset state, the process moves to steps S7 and S8 in sequence, and the input temperature (Ti) is read in step S7. At the same time, the contents of the elapsed time counter are incremented by "1", and the state of the _T1 flag is checked in step S8. Since the _T1 flag is now in the reset state, the process moves to step S9 and goes through steps S10, S11, and S13 assuming that the input temperature is higher than 4°C. That is, the input temperature Ti is stored in the initial temperature memory as the initial temperature _T1 , the _T1 flag is set to indicate that the initial temperature has been set, and then the current input temperature Ti is 5°C lower than the initial temperature _T1 . It is determined that the value is not higher than that, and the process moves to step S19.

The contents of the above-mentioned elapsed time counter are the above-mentioned t _i (second
If the food is in a frozen state, the temperature change is very slow until it reaches about 4°C, and after about 4°C it shows the normal temperature change shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, when the input temperature is 4° C. or higher, the initial temperature T ₁ (FIG. 2) must be determined and the elapsed time t _i must be measured. Therefore, if the input temperature is lower than 4°C, it is determined in step S9, the food is assumed to be unfrozen, the contents of the time counter are reset, and the process returns to step S19.

Thereafter, when the input temperature Ti becomes 5° C. or more higher than the initial temperature _T1 , the input temperature Ti is compared with the expected temperature _T2 in step S14. This temperature _T2 is a scheduled finishing temperature corresponding to the desired menu number inputted first, and is stored in advance in the ROM in the μCOM1. Now Ti is lower than _T2 , S15
Step (calculation means), step S16, step S17, step S18 (replacement means) and then reaches step S19. That is, according to the above-mentioned formula, the remaining time t _R is calculated using the contents T ₁ of the initial temperature memory, the scheduled finishing temperature T ₂ and the contents t _i of the elapsed counter, and since the remaining time flag is currently in the reset state, After setting the flag, the remaining time t _R calculated above
is moved to display memory.

When the next 1 second elapses, from S4 step, S5, S6,
Each step of S7, S8, S13, S14~S16, and S23
The steps (judgment means) are sequentially advanced, and then the process goes to step S18 or directly to step S19. That is, the contents of the display memory are counted down by one second in step S6, a new elapsed time measurement and input temperature _T1 are read in step S7, and a new remaining time t _R is calculated in step S15. Ru. If the difference between the current display memory contents and the newly calculated remaining time t _R in step S23, that is, the error, is within a predetermined range (for example, within 1 minute), the process proceeds to step S19; If the time is greater, the new remaining time t _R is transferred to the display memory in step S18.

Therefore, when the remaining time calculated at a certain point is counted down and displayed every second, and on the other hand, there is a difference of more than a certain level between the displayed content and the remaining time calculated every second. , the calculated remaining time at that point is displayed instead of the display content up to that point, and the above process is repeated thereafter.

After that, when the input temperature Ti becomes equal to or higher than the expected finishing temperature _T2 , it is determined in step S14,
The process moves to step S22, in which the heating source is stopped and the cooker enters a standby state.

In this way, in the cooking device of this embodiment, automatic cooking is executed based on the measured temperature of the food, but the remaining time required to finish cooking is displayed soon after the start of cooking. Moreover, the remaining time is calculated at regular intervals, and if the new calculation result has a certain value abnormal difference from the display content, that is, the content of the display memory that also serves as a timer, the content of the display memory is replaced with the above-mentioned new calculation result, the remaining time displayed is adjusted as needed and decreases relatively stably without increasing or decreasing frequently.

In the above example, the food temperature is the planned finishing temperature.
Cooking ends when T ₂ is reached, but the temperature
Even when the heating output of the heating source is subsequently reduced to generate additional heat for a predetermined time after reaching T ₂ , the remaining time can be displayed by slightly modifying the above program.

That is, in general, the duration of additional heat in automatic cooking is determined by multiplying the time t required to reach temperature _T2 by a coefficient k depending on the menu, as shown in Fig. 4, so the program As a change of , the remaining time t _R at step S15
t _R =(T ₂ −T ₁ /Ti−T ₁ ×t _i )(1+k)−
It is calculated according to the formula t _i , and after branching in step S14, as shown in _FIG . It is sufficient to perform the process of down-counting every second until the display memory content becomes "0".

In the above embodiment, the temperature of the food was measured for automatic cooking, but the present invention is similarly applicable to measuring other food conditions, such as humidity.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, in an electronically controlled cooker that detects the condition of food and automatically executes cooking, the remaining time required until the scheduled cooking time is displayed. Even when cooking, the operator can efficiently prepare for other dishes after cooking is complete, and the remaining time displayed can be adjusted at any time and decrease relatively stably without increasing or decreasing frequently. , giving the operator a sense of trust.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram, FIGS. 2 and 4 are temperature change diagrams, and FIGS. 3 and 5 are flow charts. 1...Microcomputer, 2...Keyboard, 5...Heating source, 6...Temperature measuring device, 7...Display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Based on the output of the heating source, the state detecting means for detecting the state of the food, the display means, and the above state detecting means, the above heating source is controlled, and the remaining time required until the scheduled finish is calculated. In the electronically controlled cooking appliance, the microcomputer includes a microcomputer that causes the remaining time to decrease as time elapses in the timer section and displays it on the display means, wherein the microcomputer calculates the remaining time at regular intervals. calculation means for determining whether or not the new calculation result by the calculation means differs by more than a certain value from the content of the timer at the time of calculation; An electronically controlled cooking appliance characterized by having a replacement means that replaces the content of the timer with the new calculation result when it is determined that the above difference has occurred.