CN111374516B

CN111374516B - Cooking appliance and cooking method

Info

Publication number: CN111374516B
Application number: CN201811623297.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈建化; 曹凯; 邱清山; 樊杜平
Original assignee: Zhejiang Supor Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Zhejiang Supor Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-28
Filing date: 2018-12-28
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-28
Also published as: CN111374516A

Abstract

The invention provides a cooking appliance and a cooking method. The cooking appliance comprises a cooking appliance body, a movable component, a detection device and a control device. The movable member is movable within the cooking appliance body; the detection device comprises a transmitting end and a receiving end which are spaced from each other, and judges whether the movable component reaches a preset position according to the condition that whether the receiving end can receive the wave transmitted by the transmitting end; the control means is configured to control the movable member to stop according to a detection result of the detection means. Wherein at least a portion of the structure of the movable member is capable of blocking the propagation of waves through the space between the transmitting end and the receiving end. According to the present invention, the detection means detects whether the movable member reaches the predetermined position, and the control means controls the movable member based on the detection result, which can ensure that the movable member stops moving at the predetermined position, and this scheme is more accurate than a scheme in which the movable member is controlled by calculation in advance.

Description

Cooking appliance and cooking method

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of cooking appliances, and more particularly to a cooking appliance and a cooking method.

Background

In the existing cooking appliance, if a component capable of automatically moving is arranged in the cooking appliance, the component can move along a specified path under the driving of a motor. The control device in the cooking utensil can calculate according to the rated speed of the motor and the like to control the starting and stopping of the motor, so that the motor is controlled to drive the moving part to stop rotating when the moving part moves to a specified position. However, there is a certain deviation between the actual rotation speed and the rated rotation speed of the motor, and the actual size of the gear on the movable component driven by the motor also deviates from the designed size, so the start-stop time of the motor designed by the control device does not always completely meet the actual requirement, and the movable component may not be stopped at the predetermined position accurately.

Therefore, there is a need for a cooking appliance and a cooking method that at least partially solves the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In this summary, concepts in a simplified form are introduced that are further described in the detailed description. This summary of the invention is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

To at least partially solve the above problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking appliance including:

the cooking appliance comprises a cooking appliance body, wherein a cooking cavity is arranged in the cooking appliance body;

a movable member configured to be movable within the cooking appliance body;

a detection device provided in the cooking appliance body, the detection device including a transmitting end and a receiving end spaced from each other, the detection device being configured to determine whether the movable member reaches a predetermined position according to whether the receiving end can receive a wave transmitted by the transmitting end;

a control device provided in the cooking appliance body, the control device being configured to control the movable member to stop according to a detection result of the detection device,

wherein at least a portion of the structure of the movable member is capable of blocking propagation of the wave through a space between the transmitting end and the receiving end.

According to the scheme, the detection device detects whether the movable component reaches the preset position, and the control device controls the movable component according to the detection result, so that the movable component can be guaranteed to stop moving at the preset position.

Preferably, the movable part is provided with a motor, and the motor moves under the command of the control device so as to drive the movable part to move.

Preferably, the number of the detection devices is at least two, and when the number of the detection devices is two, the two detection devices are arranged at a certain interval.

According to the scheme, two detection devices are arranged, one detection device can be used as a zero counting device, and the two detection devices can be compared to obtain a detection result more accurately.

Preferably, the cooking appliance is configured such that at least part of the structure of the movable member is located within the space to block the transmission of the wave when the movable member reaches the predetermined position, and the propagation path of the wave is unobstructed when the movable member does not reach the predetermined position.

Preferably, the movable member includes a movable member body and a projection projecting from a surface of the movable member body, the projection being in a dot shape or a short bar shape.

Preferably, the cooking appliance is configured such that at least part of the structure of the movable member is located within the space to block the transmission of waves when the movable member does not reach the predetermined position, and the propagation path of waves is unobstructed when the movable member reaches the predetermined position.

Preferably, the movable member includes a movable member body and a projection projecting from a surface of the movable member body, the projection having a plurality of notches therein.

According to the schemes, the position of the movable component can be effectively and simply detected, and whether the movable component is located at the designated position can be accurately known by detecting whether the propagation path of the wave is smooth (namely whether the receiving end can receive the wave).

Preferably, the cooking appliance is adapted to cook foodstuff enclosed in a capsule, the movable member comprising a capsule mounting member for placing the capsule, a cutting member for cutting the capsule and a rice-dropping member for dropping foodstuff within the capsule into the cooking chamber.

Preferably, the movable part is configured to perform a corresponding operation after stopping the movement.

According to the above two solutions, it can be known that the cutting member is controlled to cut the target capsule only when the capsule mounting member and the cutting member are both in place; the rice dropping component can be controlled to scatter food materials into the cooking cavity only when the rice dropping component moves to a preset position, and the operation of the rice dropping component can be realized only when the movable component is accurately positioned at the preset position.

Preferably, the movable member is configured to be rotatable, movable in a horizontal direction, or movable in a vertical direction.

Preferably, the movable part comprises at least one of capsule mounting means for mounting a capsule, cutting means for cutting the capsule and rice-dropping means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking method implemented by the cooking appliance according to any one of the above aspects, including:

the detecting means detects whether the movable member reaches a predetermined position;

the control means controls the movable member to stop when the detection means detects that the movable member reaches a predetermined position.

Drawings

The following drawings of embodiments of the invention are included as part of the present invention for an understanding of the invention. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings, there is shown in the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a capsule mounting device of a cooking appliance in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a schematic view of another movable component in the cooking appliance;

FIG. 2B is a schematic view of the detection apparatus shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the connection between the detection device and the control device of the cooking appliance; and

fig. 4 is a schematic view of the working principle of the cooking appliance.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments of the invention.

In the following description, a detailed structure will be presented for a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. It is apparent that the implementation of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited to the specific details familiar to those skilled in the art.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a cooking appliance and a cooking method of cooking by the cooking appliance. It should be noted that the term "parameter" as used herein should be broadly construed, and similar to the characteristic parameter, the parameter herein may include variables related to cooking, such as cooking mode, food material type, water amount, food material amount, cooking time, and the like, and not necessarily only an index value.

The cooking utensil shown by the invention can be an electric cooker, an electric pressure cooker, an electric stewpan and the like.

The cooking utensil comprises a pot body and a cover body. The inner pot is arranged in the cooker body. The cover body can cover the cooker body. Like this, can constitute the culinary art chamber between lid and interior pot, the culinary art chamber has inclosed culinary art environment when the culinary art, can improve culinary art efficiency. The outer shells of the pot body and the cover body can be made of materials such as synthetic resin, so that the temperature of the outer shell is not affected by the high temperature in the cooking operation inside the cooking appliance, and the user is prevented from being scalded.

In this embodiment, the cooking appliance may further include a control device. The control device may have a temperature adjustment function and/or a time adjustment function to adjust the operating state of the cooking appliance to accommodate the cooking of different food materials. The control device can be arranged on the cooker body or the cover body, and can also be arranged at other positions of the cooking utensil. Furthermore, the control device is also associated with a database, and data related to different food material types, different cooking modes, required water quantity, cooking time and cooking are stored in the database. The database can be body data or a cloud database, and if the database is the cloud database, the networking database can be configured to be updated in real time, so that the constantly-changing cooking requirements of the user can be met all the time.

An interaction device is also provided at the surface of the cooking appliance, the interaction device being configured to communicate with the control device and comprising keys and a display screen.

The cooking appliance of the invention is particularly suitable for cooking foodstuffs enclosed in capsules. In particular, the capsule comprises a packaging layer formed as a packaging structure having a receiving cavity. Food materials such as rice, beans, etc. may be stored in the receiving cavity. Preferably, the food materials stored in the containing cavity can be cleaned in advance and other processing steps, so that the food materials are kept sanitary, the cleaning process before cooking is omitted, and vitamins and the like can be added into the food materials to balance the nutrition of the food materials. Furthermore, the outer package of the capsule can be provided with a two-dimensional code which contains various information such as the types of food materials.

The cooking appliance comprises a capsule mounting means and a piercing means. The capsule mounting means may be a capsule mounting plate. The capsule is connected to the cooking appliance by a capsule mounting plate. Wherein, one or more capsules can be arranged on the capsule mounting plate, a plurality of capsules can be arranged, surrounded or arranged in other suitable forms, and the technical personnel in the field can design according to the actual situation. The puncture device is used for puncturing the capsule, and after the capsule is punctured and packaged by the puncture device, the rice in the capsule falls into the cooking cavity.

The capsule mounting device, the puncturing mechanism, and a rice dropping member described later and the like in the present embodiment may be configured as a movable member that can move. For example, the capsule mounting device may be configured to be rotatable about its axis, the piercing mechanism may be configured to be movable in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction, and the rice-dropping device may be configured to be rotatably swingable between two points. Preferably, each movable member is connectable to a motor, the motors being in communication with the control device to receive commands from the control device to move the movable member.

The movable member has a predetermined travel track and a predetermined stop position (referred to as a predetermined position). In order to ensure that the movable members are accurately stopped at predetermined positions, detection members 400 corresponding to the respective movable members are further provided in the cooking appliance. The detecting members 400 may be provided in one-to-one correspondence with the movable members, or a plurality of detecting members 400 may be provided in correspondence with one movable member. Referring to fig. 3, the detection unit 400 is configured to communicate with a main control chip 500 in the control device. It is to be understood that the detecting unit 400 is a general term for each detecting unit, and each detecting unit may be designed as a structure as described below.

The detecting part 400 can detect whether the movable part reaches a predetermined position and transmit the detection result to the control device in real time, and if the movable part is detected to reach the predetermined position, the control device immediately controls the movable part to stop moving, thereby ensuring that the movable part stops at the predetermined position.

Fig. 1 shows the capsule mounting device 100 at the capsule mounting device 100. The capsule mounting device 100 includes an outer ring member 14 and an inner ring member 13 which are coaxially arranged, the outer ring member 14 and the inner ring member 13 integrally rotating about a pivot shaft 12. The capsule mounting apparatus 100 is further connected to a motor 11 which rotates coaxially therewith, and the motor 11 can rotate the outer ring member 14 and the inner ring member 13.

The capsule mounting device 100 is further provided with an outer ring detection device 16 and an inner ring detection device 15 corresponding to the outer ring member 14 and the inner ring member 13, respectively. In the present embodiment, the outer ring detection device 16 and the inner ring detection device 15 are both photoelectric sensors, and the structures thereof are substantially the same, and the outer ring detection device 16 will be described as an example.

The outer ring detection device 16 includes a transmitting end and a receiving end that are disposed at a distance from each other and face each other, and the transmitting end is capable of transmitting a wave (for example, an ultrasonic wave, an optical wave, an infrared ray, or the like) toward the receiving end, and determines whether or not a propagation path of the wave is open by determining whether or not the receiving end receives the wave.

Specifically, the outer ring member 14 includes an outer ring member body (i.e., a movable member body) provided with a substantially full-circle projection (i.e., an outer ring projection) extending in the axial direction of the outer ring member 14 and projecting upward, the projection having a plurality of notches (i.e., outer ring notches 141). It will be appreciated that because of the presence of outer race notch 141, the outer race projection is formed as a substantially full circle projection rather than a full circle projection. Thus, references herein to a "substantially continuous projection" refer to a projection provided with a notch as described in this embodiment and are not intended to describe an ambiguous concept.

The outer ring protrusion can pass through a gap between the transmitting end and the receiving end to block a propagation path of the wave. When the outer ring notch 141 reaches the gap between the transmitting end and the receiving end of the outer ring detection device 16 (i.e., when the position B is reached), the outer ring notch 141 has no projection and cannot prevent the transmission of the wave, so that the transmission path of the wave is clear, and the receiving end can receive the wave.

It can be understood that the transmitting end is configured to continuously transmit waves towards the receiving end, and if the receiving end does not receive the waves, it can be known that the outer ring notch 141 of the outer ring protrusion does not reach the position B; if the receiving end receives the wave, it is known that the outer notch 141 of the outer ring protrusion has reached the position B. The receiving end is configured to transmit a signal to the control device every time a wave is received.

Similarly, the inner ring part 13 is also provided with an inner ring protrusion, only one inner ring notch 131 is arranged on the inner ring protrusion, and when the inner ring notch 131 does not reach the gap between the transmitting end and the receiving end of the inner ring detection device 15, the receiving end of the inner ring detection device 15 cannot receive the wave; when the inner ring notch 131 reaches the transmitting end and the receiving end of the inner ring detecting device 15 (i.e., when reaching the a position), the receiving end of the inner ring detecting device 15 receives the wave and sends a signal to the control device.

In summary, in the present embodiment, the purpose of providing the projections on the movable member (e.g., the outer ring member 14 and the inner ring member 13) is to block the propagation of waves by the projections when the movable member is not rotated to a predetermined position; and when the movable member reaches a predetermined position, the gap is located between the transmitting end and the receiving end, thereby allowing the propagation path of the wave to be unobstructed.

The inner ring part 13 and the outer ring part 14 of the capsule mounting device 100 rotate integrally at the same angular velocity, and in order to accurately position the desired capsule on the capsule mounting device 100 at the position to be cut, the co-action of the outer ring detection means 16 and the inner ring detection means 15 is required. Specifically, when the receiving end of the inner ring detector 15 receives the wave (i.e., the inner ring notch 131 reaches the a position), it sends a signal to the control device, and the control device records the time as the reference time point. The control device can determine which outer ring notch 141 has reached the B position when the outer ring detection device 16 transmits a signal received later, using the reference time point as an initial time. For ease of description, outer race notch 141 may be labeled as a first outer race notch, a second outer race notch, and the like. Specifically, for example, after the reference time point, the control device receives a signal sent by the outer ring control device for the first time, and then the control device can recognize that the first outer ring notch reaches the position B at this time; after the reference time point, the control device receives the signal sent by the outer ring control device for the second time, the control device can recognize that the second outer ring notch reaches the position B … … at the moment and then can reversely push back, if the capsule selected by the user reaches the position to be cut, the second notch just reaches the position B, the control device controls the capsule mounting device 100 to stop rotating when the control device receives the signal sent by the outer ring sensing device for the second time after the reference time point, so that the capsule mounting device 100 is ensured to be located at the position to be cut when the capsule mounting device 100 stops rotating, and for convenience of description, the position of the capsule mounting device 100 at the moment is called as a rotating and fixing position.

Preferably, the capsule mounting device 100 may be arranged such that each outer ring notch 141 corresponds to a capsule one to one. Specifically, the first outer ring notch corresponds to the first capsule, and when the first outer ring notch reaches the position B, the control device can know that the first capsule rotates to the position to be cut; the second outer ring gap corresponds to the second capsule, and when the second outer ring gap reaches the position B, the control device can know that the second capsule rotates to the position to be cut, and the like.

Fig. 2A and 2B show the structure of another moving part, which may be part of the rice-milling device or other device. For convenience of description, it will be referred to as a falling rice moving part 200 as a part of the falling rice device, and the detecting device corresponding to the falling rice moving part 200 will be referred to as a falling rice detecting device 25.

The rice falling moving part 200 is driven by another motor 21, and the motor 21 drives the rice falling moving part 200 to rotate between the C position and the D position around the center O through a first gear 22 and a second gear 23.

The rice-falling moving part 200 swings back and forth between the C position and the D position, and the control device has to accurately control the stopping of the movement at the C position or the D position. Unlike the capsule mounting apparatus 100, the body of the rice-dropping moving member 200 (i.e., the movable member body) is formed in a fan shape and rotates around the center of the fan shape (i.e., the center O of the circle in which the fan shape is located). Two corners (i.e. the junction of the arc and the radius) of the fan shape are respectively provided with a short strip-shaped protrusion 241, and the short strip-shaped protrusion 241 is in a short strip shape and extends along the circumferential direction of the fan shape. In the circumferential direction of the short bar-shaped protrusion 241 with respect to the center O, there is no protrusion-like structure in the space between two short bar-shaped protrusions 241.

It is understood that, in the present embodiment, the purpose of providing the projection on the movable member (for example, the rice-fall movable member 200) is to block the propagation of waves by the projection when the movable member is rotated to a predetermined position; and when the movable member does not reach the predetermined position, the propagation path of the wave is clear.

In other embodiments, not shown, the short strip-shaped projections can also be replaced by point-shaped projections. It is to be understood that the term "short strip-like projection" as used herein is with respect to a substantially continuous strip-like projection similar to that of the first embodiment, and thus should not be interpreted as an indefinite description.

The rice falling detecting means 25 are provided in two and installed at the C position and the D position, respectively. The falling rice detecting device 25 at the C position is described below, and the configuration of the falling rice detecting device 25 at the D position can also be understood with reference to the following description.

It can be understood that when the rice falling detecting device 200 does not swing to the position C, the receiving end 252 of the rice falling detecting device 25 at the position C can receive the wave emitted from the emitting end 251; when the bar-shaped protrusion 241 swings to the C position, it is blocked in the space 253 between the emitting end 251 and the receiving end 252, so that the bar-shaped protrusion 241 blocks the transmission path of the wave and the receiving end 252 cannot receive the wave. Thus, when the receiving end 252 at the C position cannot receive the wave, the rice falling detecting device 25 at the C position sends a signal to the control device, and the control device can immediately control the rice falling moving part 200 to stop.

The rice dropping moving part and the two rice dropping detection devices 25 are arranged, so that the control device can control the rice dropping moving part to accurately stop at the C position or the D position, the alignment of the rice dropping moving part and a cut capsule can be ensured, and the food material in the capsule can accurately fall into the cooking cavity.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the cutting means for cutting the outer package of the capsule is provided to be movable in the horizontal direction and/or the vertical direction, the cutting means detecting means may be provided at the cutting position of the cutting means (i.e., the position where the cutting means cuts the capsule), and the fitting relationship of the cutting means detecting means and the cutting means may be provided in any form as described above.

Next, with reference to fig. 4, a part of the cooking process of the cooking appliance will be described in detail. After the cooking appliance is started, the control device controls the capsule mounting device 100 to rotate, when the capsule mounting device 100 rotates to the position where a required capsule is located at the position to be cut, the detection device (namely, the outer ring detection device 16) sends a signal to the control device, the control device controls the capsule mounting device 100 to stop rotating, the required capsule is located at the position to be cut, and the capsule mounting device is located at a rotating and fixing position; then the control device controls the cutting device to move, when the cutting device reaches the cutting position, the detection device (namely the cutting detection device) sends a signal to the control device, the control device controls the cutting device to stop moving, and at the moment, the cutting device is positioned at the cutting position and cuts off the outer capsule of the required capsule; next, the control means controls the rice dropping moving part 200 to move, when the rice dropping moving part 200 reaches the rice dropping position, the rice dropping detecting means 25 sends a signal to the control means, the control means controls the rice dropping moving part 200 to stop moving, the rice dropping moving part 200 is located at the rice dropping position and can open the rice dropping opening, so that the food material in the capsule falls into the cooking cavity.

Further, if the movable member of the present embodiment is applied to the capsule mounting device, it may be designed to have a plurality of projections which are provided at intervals from each other and which correspond one-to-one to the capsule. For example, when the first protrusion reaches a predetermined position, the first protrusion blocks the propagation of the wave, and the control device can determine that the first capsule has reached the position to be cut; when the second protrusion reaches the predetermined position, the second protrusion blocks the propagation of the wave, and the control device can obtain that the second capsule reaches the position to be cut.

According to the cooking appliance and the cooking method, the control device controls the movable parts according to the real-time detection of the sensing device, each movable part can be accurately stopped at a required position in each actual operation, the deviation possibly generated by advanced calculation and advanced setting is avoided, and the movement and the stop of the movable parts are more accurate.

Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Terms such as "disposed" and the like, as used herein, may refer to one element being directly attached to another element or one element being attached to another element through intervening elements. Features described herein in one embodiment may be applied to another embodiment, either alone or in combination with other features, unless the feature is otherwise inapplicable or otherwise stated in the other embodiment.

The present invention has been described in terms of the above embodiments, but it should be understood that the above embodiments are for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the invention to the scope of the described embodiments. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many variations and modifications may be made to the teachings of the invention, which fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims

1. A cooking appliance, characterized in that it comprises:

a movable member configured to be movable within the cooking appliance body;

a detection device provided in the cooking appliance body, the detection device including a transmitting end and a receiving end spaced from each other, the detection device being configured to determine whether the movable member reaches a predetermined position according to whether the receiving end can receive a wave transmitted by the transmitting end; and

wherein at least a portion of the structure of the movable component is capable of passing through a space between the transmitting end and the receiving end to block propagation of the wave.

2. The cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein a motor is connected to the movable member, and the motor moves under the command of the control device to move the movable member.

3. The cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the movable member includes an outer ring member and an inner ring member which are coaxially disposed and integrally rotated, and the number of the detection means is two, and the two detection means correspond to the outer ring member and the inner ring member, respectively, and the two detection means are disposed at a certain interval.

4. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance is configured such that at least a portion of the structure of the movable member is located within the space to block the transmission of the wave when the movable member reaches the predetermined position, and a propagation path of the wave is unobstructed when the movable member does not reach the predetermined position.

5. The cooking appliance of claim 4, wherein the movable member comprises a movable member body and a protrusion protruding from a surface of the movable member body, the protrusion having a dot shape or a short bar shape.

6. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance is configured such that at least a portion of the structure of the movable member is located within the space to block transmission of waves when the movable member does not reach the predetermined position, and a propagation path of waves is unobstructed when the movable member reaches the predetermined position.

7. The cooking appliance of claim 6, wherein the movable member includes a movable member body and a protrusion protruding from a surface of the movable member body, the protrusion having a plurality of indentations thereon.

8. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the cooking appliance is adapted to cook food material enclosed in a capsule, and the movable member comprises a capsule mounting member for placing the capsule, a cutting member for cutting the capsule, and a rice dropping member for dropping food material within the capsule into the cooking cavity.

9. The cooking appliance of claim 8, wherein the movable component is configured to perform a corresponding operation after stopping movement.

10. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the movable component is configured to be rotatable, movable in a horizontal direction, or movable in a vertical direction.

11. The cooking appliance according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the movable part comprises at least one of capsule mounting means for mounting a capsule, cutting means for cutting the capsule and rice-dropping means.

12. A cooking method, implemented by a cooking appliance according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized by comprising: