JP2004275432A - Fryer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely detect a degree of dirty of cooking oil in a fryer. <P>SOLUTION: When the burning control of a burner is started at S1, after waiting the lapse of a prescribed time at S2, a burner controller compares a temperature detected by a first temperature sensor with that detected by a second temperature sensor at S3 to discriminate whether the difference between both of the temperature (T1-T2) is higher or not than a prescribed value TS1 set in advance. When it is lower than the prescribed value TS1, the burner controller continues burning control according to a cooking menu as it is at S4. When the difference between the temperatures is not lower than the prescribed value TS1, the burner controller judges that the cooking oil has gotten dirty, and gives information of accelerating filtering at S7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fryer that includes an oil tank that stores cooking oil and a heating unit that heats the oil tank, and that can cook foods such as fried chicken and potatoes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The fryer includes an oil tank that stores cooking oil, a heating unit such as a burner that heats the oil tank, a temperature detection unit that detects the temperature of the cooking oil, and a control unit that controls the heating unit. According to the selected cooking menu, the heating means is operated while monitoring the temperature of the cooking oil to heat the cooking oil in the oil tank at the set temperature, so that the foodstuffs put in the oil tank can be cooked. I have.
Further, below the oil tank, a filtering device is provided as a filtering means capable of filtering (filtering) dirty cooking oil in which food scum or the like accumulates. This filtering device is composed of a tank for storing cooking oil discharged from an oil tank, and a pump for passing cooking oil in the tank through a filter and returning the oil to the oil tank, and the control means is, for example, disclosed in Patent Document 1 When the cooking process has been executed a predetermined number of times, the timing of the filtering is notified or the filtering is automatically executed.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-52828
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, cooking oil stains differ depending on the type and amount of ingredients even for the same number of cooking times, so if filtering is performed uniformly based on the number of cooking times, it will be too fast or too slow to match the degree of cooking oil stains In some cases, filtering was not always performed at the appropriate time.
[0005]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fryer that can accurately detect the degree of contamination of cooking oil and execute filtering at an appropriate timing.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with second temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the lower layer of cooking oil at a position below the temperature detecting means in the oil tank, and the control means comprises: It is characterized in that the detected temperatures of the temperature detecting means and the second temperature detecting means are compared, and when the difference between the two exceeds a predetermined value, it is determined that the cooking oil is contaminated.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect, the filtering by the filtering means can be executed at an arbitrary timing. In addition, a notifying means for prompting the execution of the filtration is provided, and the control means stops the heating means at the end of the cooking menu and operates the notifying means when judging the contamination of the cooking oil.
In addition to the object of claim 1 or 2, the invention according to claim 3 performs the comparison of the detected temperature in order to accurately perform the comparison of the detected temperature and improve the detection accuracy of the stain of the cooking oil. This is performed after the temperature rise of the temperature detecting means becomes equal to or less than a predetermined inclination.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a pressure fryer as an example of a fryer, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram thereof. The pressure fryer 1 opens an upper part into a combustion chamber 3 in a box-shaped casing 2 to supply cooking oil. An oil tank 4 to be accommodated and a pair of burners 5 and 5 below the oil tank 4 and serving as heating means for heating the oil tank 4 from the bottom are provided. Each burner 5 is provided as a control means provided in the casing 2. Is controlled by the burner controller 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes a fan for supplying combustion air into the combustion chamber 3, which is also driven and controlled by the burner controller 6. Further, an exhaust port 8 for the combustion exhaust gas is provided at an upper rear portion of the combustion chamber 3, and the exhaust port 8 is formed in a rear wall 9 vertically provided behind the casing 2 to open the upper surface. It communicates with the chamber 10.
[0008]
The oil tank 4 has a circular cross section, and its bottom is formed by a mortar-shaped inclined bottom 41 that becomes lower toward the center and a small-diameter circular part 42 that is located at the center and protrudes downward. It has a two-stage shape, and the burners 5 and 5 are arranged symmetrically about the small-diameter circular portion 42 and heat the inclined bottom portion 41. Therefore, a cooking zone 43 heated by the burners 5 and 5 and a cold zone 44 below the cooking zone 43 and not heated by the burners 5 and 5 are formed in the oil tank 4. That is, the food waste generated during cooking is guided by the inclined bottom portion 41 and collected in the cold zone 44, so that a quick temperature rise in the cooking zone 43 and a uniform temperature distribution are ensured, and the cooking zone 43, so as not to affect the cooking.
[0009]
Reference numeral 11 denotes a lid, which is supported by a support rod 12 which can be moved up and down behind the oil tank 4 (rear side) in the casing 2 and is erected in a biased state to an upper limit position. At the lower limit position, the lid 11 is fitted into the opening of the oil tank 4 to close the oil tank 4. Reference numeral 13 denotes a lock lever capable of locking the lid 11 by locking to the lock plate 14 on the casing 2 at the lower limit position of the lid 11, and 15 denotes a wire mesh suspended detachably from the lower surface of the lid 11 and loaded with food. The basket 15 can be immersed in the cooking oil in the oil tank 4 at the lower limit position of the lid 11.
[0010]
Further, in the oil tank 4, a first temperature sensor 16 as a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the cooking oil in the cooking zone 43 is provided at a position above the inclined bottom portion 41. Is provided with a second temperature sensor 17 as second temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the cooking oil in the cold zone 44, and the detection signals of the temperature sensors 16, 17 are input to the burner controller 6. It has become.
Further, at the time of opening in the oil tank 4, two ventilation pipes 18, 19 for opening the inside of the oil tank 4 to the outside air are connected. The valve 20 is provided on the other vent pipe 19 with an automatic pressure regulating valve 21 for operating the plunger to release the pressure when the pressure exceeds a predetermined pressure.
[0011]
On the other hand, a fly controller 22 electrically connected to the burner controller 6 is provided on the front of the casing 2. The fly controller 22 is provided with a display unit (not shown) and various switches such as a plurality of menu buttons and a start button. Therefore, when the cooking menu is selected by any one of the menu buttons on the fly controller 22 and the start button is pressed, the burner controller 6 causes the first temperature sensor 16 according to the heating temperature and the cooking timer set in the selected cooking menu. The on / off control for intermittently burning the burners 5, 5 at predetermined time intervals is performed while monitoring the temperature of the cooking oil obtained by the above, and the cooking oil in the oil tank 4 is heated.
[0012]
An oil drain pipe 24 having a valve 23 that is manually opened and closed is connected to the lower end of the oil tank 4, and a filter (not shown) is provided below the oil drain pipe 24 so that the discharged cooking oil can be stored. The tank 25 is stored. A pump 26 that can be connected to the tank 25 in a housed state is provided behind the tank 25, a discharge pipe 27 from the pump 26 is connected to the oil tank 4, and an electromagnetic valve 28 provided on the discharge pipe 27 is connected to a burner. Opening and closing control is performed by the controller 6. That is, by turning on the filtering switch provided in the fly controller 22, the burner controller 6 opens the solenoid valve 28 and drives the pump 26 to filter the cooking oil stored in the tank 25 in the tank 25. In this way, a filtering device (filtering means) for returning to the oil tank 4 is formed.
[0013]
Further, the burner controller 6 can detect contamination of the cooking oil in the oil tank 4 using the first and second temperature sensors 16 and 17 in parallel with the combustion control of the burners 5 and 5 accompanying the execution of the cooking menu. I have. Hereinafter, the dirt detection function will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, when the combustion control of the burners 5 and 5 is started in S1, after a lapse of a predetermined time in S2, the burner controller 6 determines the detected temperature of the first temperature sensor 16 and the second temperature sensor 17 in S3. To determine whether or not the temperature difference (T1-T2) between them is equal to or greater than a predetermined value TS1. Here, if the value is lower than the predetermined value TS1, the burner controller 6 continues the combustion control according to the cooking menu in S4 as it is, and when the cooking timer in the cooking menu times out in S5, finishes the cooking in S6 and reports this.
[0014]
On the other hand, if the temperature difference is equal to or larger than the predetermined value TS1 in the determination in S3, it is determined that food ingredients are stored in the cold zone 44 in the oil tank 4 and the cooking oil is more contaminated, and the fly controller 22 is determined in S7. In step S4, information for prompting filtering is performed, and cooking in steps S4 and S5 is executed. In other words, when food scum accumulates in the cold zone 44, the temperature change in the cold zone 44 rises quickly but after a lapse of a predetermined time, the temperature hardly rises and rises with a gentle slope, and the temperature changes with the cooking zone 43. Since the temperature difference becomes large, it is possible to detect the degree of contamination of the cooking oil using this state. In addition, as the notification means of the filtering, a buzzer, an alarm, a sound, or the like can be used in addition to the display using characters on the display unit.
[0015]
As described above, according to the pressure fryer 1 of the above-described embodiment, the second temperature sensor 17 for detecting the temperature of the lower layer of the cooking oil is provided below the first temperature sensor 16 in the oil tank 4, and the burner controller 6 The detected temperature of the first temperature sensor 16 and the detected temperature of the second temperature sensor 17 are compared, and when the difference between them becomes equal to or more than a predetermined value, it is determined that the cooking oil is dirty. With a simple and rational configuration that is used in combination with the first temperature sensor 16, the degree of contamination of cooking oil can be accurately recognized. Therefore, filtering can be performed at an appropriate timing.
[0016]
Note that, in the above embodiment, even when dirt on the cooking oil is detected, the execution of the next cooking menu and the keeping of the temperature of the cooking oil are enabled only by the notification, but when the dirt on the cooking oil is detected during cooking, At the end of the heating and cooking in S6, the combustion of the burners 5 and 5 may be stopped to notify the timing of the filtering. In this way, when the burner 5 or 5 is notified of the stoppage of the combustion, the user can be surely recognized when the filtering is necessary. Further, in this case, it is possible to lock the burners 5 and 5 so as not to be burned unless filtering is performed. Locking in this way ensures that filtering is performed reliably.
In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the comparison of the detected temperatures is performed after the elapse of a predetermined time, that is, after the inclination of the temperature rise from the rising of the second temperature sensor 17 becomes gentle. As shown in FIG. 4, the detected temperature may be compared after the slope ΔT2 of the temperature rise of the second temperature sensor 17 becomes equal to or smaller than the predetermined slope ΔTS2 in S2. By using the elapse of the predetermined time or the predetermined inclination as a guide, it is possible to accurately compare the detected temperatures, and to improve the detection accuracy of the contamination of the cooking oil.
[0017]
Further, in the above embodiment, the fryer has a cooking zone and a cold zone formed in a circular oil bath. Therefore, as long as such a temperature difference occurs in the oil tank, the shape is not limited to the above-described shape.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the pressure fryer, and can be similarly applied to an open fryer that does not seal the oil tank, and the filtering device is not limited to the one that is manually started by operating the filtering switch. If the contamination of the cooking oil is detected at the same time, the operation of the heating means may be stopped at the same time as the completion of the cooking to automatically execute the filtering.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the degree of contamination of the cooking oil can be accurately recognized with a simple and rational configuration in which the second temperature detecting means is provided and used in combination with the existing temperature detecting means. Therefore, filtering can be performed at an appropriate timing.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, if the filtering by the filtering means can be executed at an arbitrary timing, the notifying means for prompting the execution of the filtering is provided to perform the control. The means is configured to stop the heating means at the end of the cooking menu and operate the notifying means when judging the contamination of the cooking oil, so that the user can reliably recognize when filtering is necessary. Can be.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first or second aspect, the comparison of the detected temperatures is performed after the temperature rise of the second temperature detecting means becomes equal to or less than a predetermined slope. This enables accurate comparison and improves the detection accuracy of cooking oil dirt.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a pressure fryer.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a pressure fryer.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of cooking oil stain detection control.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a modified example of dirt detection control.
[Explanation of symbols]
1. pressure fryer, 2. casing, 4. oil tank, 5. burner, 6. burner controller, 11. lid, 16. first temperature sensor, 17. second temperature sensor, 22. -Fly controller, 25-Tank, 26-Pump, 43-Cooking zone, 44-Cold zone.

Claims (3)

An oil tank containing cooking oil, heating means for heating the oil tank, temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the cooking oil, control means for controlling the operation of the heating means according to a predetermined cooking menu, and Filter means for filtering the discharged cooking oil and returning it to the oil tank,
A second temperature detecting unit for detecting a temperature of a lower layer of the cooking oil is provided at a position below the temperature detecting unit in the oil tank, and the control unit includes a second temperature detecting unit for detecting a temperature of the cooking oil. A fryer characterized in that the detected temperatures are compared, and when the difference between them is equal to or more than a predetermined value, it is determined that the cooking oil is contaminated. If the filtering by the filtering means can be performed at an arbitrary timing, a notifying means for prompting the execution of the filtering is provided, and when the control means determines that the cooking oil is dirty, the control means heats the cooking oil at the end of the cooking menu. 2. A fryer according to claim 1, wherein said notification means is operated by stopping said means. 3. The fryer according to claim 1, wherein the comparison of the detected temperatures is performed after the temperature rise of the second temperature detecting means becomes equal to or less than a predetermined slope.

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