JP2019204736A - Cooking equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide cooking equipment capable of accurately extracting quality information such as the amount of fatty material, etc. contained in ingredients under cooking on the basis of weight change of ingredients accompanying heating during cooking and weight change of a reference ingredient in which the content rate of fatty material is known.SOLUTION: The cooking equipment includes: a heating unit 3 for heating ingredients; a control unit 4 for driving the heating unit; a weight measuring unit 7 that measures the weight of the ingredients and outputs the measurement result as weight information; an information storage section 17 that previously stores changes in weight over time when the reference ingredient is heated as reference weight information with respect to the reference ingredient in which the content rate of fatty materials is known; and an extraction part 19 configured to compare the weight information and the reference weight information, and on the basis of the comparison result, derive fatty material information of the ingredients.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooking device installed in a kitchen space in a home, or a commercial kitchen facility such as a restaurant industry, a food retailer, or a hotel.

  As a typical cooking device installed in a kitchen space in a house or a commercial kitchen facility, there is an oven or a stove that heats a pan or frying pan with a heat source such as an IH heater. In addition to the original heating function, these heating cooking apparatuses are also equipped with a function for simplifying cooking, for example, a function for monitoring the amount of cooking such as raw baking and overcooking. In realizing such a function, it is extremely important to know the core temperature of the food during cooking. Generally, the core temperature of a food can be easily measured by directly inserting a temperature sensor having a needle-like tip into the edible portion of the food. However, in its use, there are still problems in terms of the effect on the performance such as the needle holes remaining in the foodstuffs, and the time and labor of the hygiene management and cleanup of the sensor.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an invention has been disclosed in which the internal state of a food being cooked is estimated from the temperature of the container and the weight change of the food (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 5047216 German Patent Application Publication No. 10353299 JP 2017-133780 A

  Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 both have a configuration in which a weight measuring unit that measures the weight of the food together with the container and a temperature detection unit that measures the temperature of the container are provided in the main body of the cooking apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 detects the initial weight of food before heating and the change in weight of the food accompanying heating, and the weight of the food being heated is finished according to the initial weight of the corresponding food stored in the apparatus in advance. The heating is terminated at the timing of reaching the weight.

  However, even with the same kind of ingredients, depending on the form to be provided, individual differences and quality differences may be included, and therefore it is easily estimated that the finish timing varies from individual to individual. For example, when a designated part of livestock meat is cut into a form of food such as a fillet, the cut individual has quality such as shape (surface area, thickness, etc.) and physical properties (fat adhesion degree, sashi degree, etc.) Includes variation. In particular, since the former is mainly related to thermal resistance and heat capacity, and the latter is related to thermal conductivity, specific heat, and the like, variations in food quality affect the way heat is transmitted in the food during cooking. As a result, when the heating of the food is terminated at the timing based on the information stored in advance, there is a problem that it cannot cope with the individual difference or quality difference of the food and deviates from the optimum finish.

On the other hand, Patent Document 2 calculates the chemical potential of a foodstuff from the change in weight per hour of the foodstuff and the temporal transition of the supplied heating energy, and from the change in the chemical potential, the state of the foodstuff is nondestructive. presume. In accordance with this concept, cooking is performed by comparing the chemical potential calculated from the measured change in weight per hour and the temporal transition of the supplied heating energy with the information on the chemical potential of the food stored in the storage device in advance. It is explained that the ingredients that can be estimated.

  However, as described above, even if the ingredients are of the same type, if the quality varies from individual to individual, the chemical potential calculated during cooking and the chemical potential of the ingredients stored in the storage device must be different. Therefore, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to align the core temperature of the food after cooking, that is, the finished state.

  In response to these problems, Patent Document 3 measures the change in the weight of a food material during a predetermined period, and refers to the measurement result in an information table corresponding to the difference in the quality of the food material or individual differences. It is described that cooking is terminated under a weight loss condition corresponding to the difference. On the other hand, in actual device operation, it is necessary to subdivide and manage quality and individual differences in order to accurately align the finished state, which complicates the information table and increases the labor required for creating the table. Concerned.

  The present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and based on the change in the weight of the food with heating during cooking and the change in the weight of the reference food with a known lipid content, the food being cooked The purpose is to extract quality information, such as the amount of lipid contained in, with higher accuracy.

In order to solve the conventional problems, the cooking device of the present invention is
A heating unit for heating the ingredients;
A control unit for driving the heating unit;
A weight measuring unit that measures the weight of the food and outputs the measurement result as weight information;
An information storage unit for preliminarily storing, as reference weight information, a time-dependent change in weight that occurs when the reference ingredient is heated, with respect to a reference ingredient whose lipid content is known;
An extraction unit that compares weight information with the reference weight information and derives lipid information of the food based on the comparison result is provided.

  With this configuration, by deriving the amount of lipid contained in the food material from the change in the weight of the food material due to heating, the user can easily determine the quality of the food material and can provide cooking according to the quality of the food material.

  Since the cooking device of the present invention can derive the lipid content of the food from the change in the weight of the food accompanying heating, the finish timing can be accurately determined even for foods with different amounts of lipid. Regardless of the skill level of cooking, cooking ingredients can be optimally finished.

Sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the heating cooking apparatus in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The perspective view which shows schematic structure of the heating cooking apparatus Sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the same heating cooking apparatus Operation explanatory diagram when cooking using the heating cooking device Weight of food ingredients and core temperature characteristics in each cooking step of the same cooking device Operation explanatory diagram in the extraction step of the cooking device Operation explanatory diagram of the extraction unit of the cooking device

The cooking device of the first invention is
A heating unit for heating the ingredients;
A control unit for driving the heating unit;
A weight measuring unit that measures the weight of the food and outputs the measurement result as weight information;
An information storage unit for preliminarily storing, as reference weight information, a time-dependent change in weight that occurs when the reference ingredient is heated, with respect to a reference ingredient whose lipid content is known;
An extraction unit that compares the weight information with the reference weight information and derives the lipid information of the food based on the comparison result is provided.

  Accordingly, by deriving the amount of lipid contained in the food material from the change in the weight of the food material due to heating, the user can easily determine the quality of the food material and can provide cooking according to the quality of the food material.

In particular, the second invention is the first invention,
A calculation unit that calculates the nutrition index of the food based on the weight information output from the weight measurement unit or the information including any of the lipid information derived by the extraction unit, and outputs the nutrition information;
A notification unit for reporting nutrition information is further provided.

  Thereby, since the amount of lipids and the nutritional value can be quantified, it is possible to provide a cooking device that responds to health-oriented needs such as calorie management.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a cooking device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the cooking device according to the present embodiment includes a container 1 for storing food and transmitting heat to the food, a top plate 2 for placing the container 1, and heating for heating the food via the container 1. Unit 3, control unit 4 connected to heating unit 3 to control the heating power of heating unit 3, casing 5 having an upper surface constituted by top plate 2 and incorporating heating unit 3 and control unit 4, and support unit 6 And a weight measuring unit 7 that measures the weight of the food and outputs the measurement result as weight information.

  In addition, an operation display unit 8 for displaying operation input by the user and output information from the cooking device is connected to the control unit 4 and disposed at a position visible to the user. The operation display unit 8 has a function for inputting a menu of ingredients to be heated, thermal power information for adjusting the thermal power of the heating unit 3 during cooking, and a display function for displaying the weight measured by the weight measuring unit 7. ing.

  In the present embodiment, the heating unit 3 is constituted by a heating coil, and an inverter 9 that drives a high-frequency current supplied to the heating unit 3 in the control unit 4 and a drive unit that controls the driving conditions of the high-frequency current. 10 is constituted. With this configuration, the container 1 is induction-heated with a high-frequency magnetic field generated when a high-frequency current is supplied to the heating coil.

  In addition, the drive part 10 cooks by controlling the high frequency current which flows into a heating coil based on the input information from the user via the operation display part 8, and information, such as the electric current of the inverter 9, a voltage, and electric power. It adjusts the thermal power of time, and is mainly composed of a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits.

  The lower half of the housing 5 is composed of a steel plate 11 having a thickness of about 1 mm. The steel plate 11 portion has a box shape with an open upper surface. The box-shaped upper end portion is bent in the outer direction of the box to form a flange. This flange is in contact with the lower surface of the top plate 2 and is fixed to the top plate 2 with screws or the like, thereby forming a substantially sealed space by the steel plate 11 portion and the top plate 2. It is composed. The heating unit 3 and the control unit 4 are built in a substantially sealed space formed by the housing 5.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the cooking device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the peripheral configuration of the support portion 6 is shown.

  1 and 2, the support portion 6 is formed of a box-shaped steel plate having a flange having a shape substantially similar to that of the steel plate 11 forming the lower half of the housing 5, so that the steel plate 11 can be accommodated. It has a large shape. In addition, the bottom surface of the support portion 6 is greatly opened, and consideration is given to keeping the weight as low as possible while ensuring the strength of the support portion 6. The flange of the support portion 6 has a width that does not protrude from the top plate 2 when the housing 5 is stored. Further, the height of the support portion 6 is set so that a gap of about 1 mm is formed between the top plate 2 and the flange of the support portion 6 when the housing 5 is stored. Furthermore, parts other than the flange of the support part 6 are accommodated in the opening part of the kitchen stand which is the mounting base 12 which cooks, etc., and a flange part hangs to the opening part edge part of the kitchen base which is the mounting base 12 Installed as dimensions. That is, the support unit 6 is housed in the mounting table 12 together with the housing 5 and is mounted so that the flange portion is suspended from the opening of the kitchen table that is the mounting table 12. There is a positional relationship such that a gap is provided between the top plate 2 and the top plate 2.

  When the housing 5 and the support 6 are installed on the kitchen table that is the mounting table 12 in such a positional relationship, the height of the portion that protrudes upward from the surface of the kitchen table that is the mounting table 12 is the height of the top plate 2. The total value of the thickness (about 4 mm), the thickness of the steel plate of the support portion 6 (about 1 mm) and the gap (about 1 mm) between the top plate 2 and the flange of the support portion 6 is suppressed to about 6 mm.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the cooking device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the peripheral configuration of the weight measuring unit 7 is shown.

  1 to 3, the weight measuring unit 7 transmits the load of the load cell as the weight sensor 13, the fixed connection unit 14 with the steel plate 11 constituting the housing 5, the load of the housing 5, the container 1, and the like to the support unit 6. It consists of the load transmission part 15 for this. The load cell as the weight sensor 13 is called a beam type provided with a through-hole, and a component with a height of about 2 cm is used with extremely high accuracy. Further, the tip of the load transmitting portion 15 has a convex lens shape, and is placed on a load receiving portion 16 having a concave lens shape provided in a corresponding portion of the support portion 6. This is to prevent a load from being generated in the horizontal direction so that the load transmitting unit 15 and the load receiving unit 16 are connected to each other and the weight measuring unit 7 is loaded in the vertical direction as much as possible. is there.

  The support portion 6 is slightly larger so that the steel plate 11 portion of the housing 5 can be accommodated, and the height of the support portion 6 when the housing 5 is accommodated is the top plate 2 and the flange of the support portion 6. Therefore, the casing 5 and the support 6 are in a positional relationship in which they are connected only via the weight measuring unit 7. That is, the housing 5 is supported by the support unit 6 via the weight measuring unit 7 at a position lower than the opening surface of the opening of the kitchen table that is the mounting table 12, and the weight measuring unit 7 includes the housing 5 and the top. The weight of the object to be placed such as the container 1 placed on the plate 2 is detected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the weight measuring unit 7 is disposed at the four corners of the bottom surface of the housing 5 and detects the load applied to each. The output signal detected by the weight measuring unit 7 is transmitted to the control unit 4 as weight information.

  Further, the weight measuring unit 7 is disposed on the bottom surface outside the housing 5. That is, the weight measuring unit 7 is disposed between the housing 5 and the support unit 6. Even if it becomes a situation where the performance of the weight measuring unit 7 cannot be sufficiently exerted due to the long-term use or impact due to such an arrangement, the entire housing 5 is not replaced. It is easy to replace the weight measuring unit 7 and use it continuously.

  In addition to the drive unit 10 that controls the heating unit 3, the control unit 4 includes an information storage unit 17 that stores cooking information corresponding to a menu of ingredients input by the user through the operation display unit 8, and an information storage unit 17. Based on the stored cooking information, the weight information output from the weight measurement unit 7 during cooking, and the thermal power information during cooking, a determination unit 18 that determines the finish of cooking is provided.

  In addition, the cooking information stored in the information storage unit 17 includes, for example, information on cooking setup such as the preheating temperature of the container 1, the core temperature of the food at the time of finishing, and the heating power setting in each cooking process. A food ingredient having a known rate is used as a reference food ingredient, and a change with time in weight caused when the reference food ingredient is heated is stored in advance as reference weight information. Furthermore, the cooking information stored in the information storage unit 17 includes information on the temperature change of the core of the food. In addition, these cooking information may be based on the knowledge and experience value acquired in the past actual cooking.

  The determination unit 18 refers to the weight information output from the weight measurement unit 7 with reference weight information previously described in the cooking information stored in the information storage unit 17 and extracts the quality of the target food material, The extraction unit 19 that outputs the extraction result as individual information, the degree of progress of cooking of the ingredients based on the individual information extracted by the extraction unit 19, the thermal power information during cooking, and the weight information of the ingredients observed by the weight measuring unit 7 Is provided.

  In the cooking apparatus according to Embodiment 1 configured as described above, a series of operations will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7.

  FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram when cooking is performed using the heating cooking apparatus in the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is from cooking start to completion when cooking is performed using the heating cooking apparatus in the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the weight of the food and the core temperature in each step, FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the extraction step when cooking is performed using the heating cooking apparatus in the present embodiment, and FIG. 7 is the present embodiment. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the extraction part in the case of cooking using the heat cooking apparatus in.

  A series of operations from the start to the end of cooking in the heating cooking apparatus of the present embodiment is sequentially configured by four steps: a preparation step, an extraction step, an estimation step, and a completion step.

(Preparation step)
In the preparation step, the user arranges the container 1 such as a frying pan in the heating area on the top plate 2 and prepares before cooking such as putting oil in the container 1. After the preparation is complete, the user can select the type of food (beef, pork, chicken, fish, etc.), the type of cooking (baked, fried, etc.) and the finish (for example, rare for beef, Enter a cooking menu such as Medium or Weldan, and instruct the start of cooking.

In accordance with this instruction, the weight measuring unit 7 measures the weight of the container 1, stores the measured weight as a reference weight, and uses the net weight obtained by subtracting the reference weight from the subsequent measurement results as the weight information.
Output to. On the other hand, the control unit 4 supplies a high-frequency current to the heating unit 3 so as to reach a preheating temperature when the temperature of the container 1 is associated with the cooking menu in advance, and heats the container 1 and is output from the weight measurement unit 7. Get weight information. The control unit 4 displays the weight information obtained from the weight measurement unit 7 on the operation display unit 8 as the weight of the food.

  For example, when “beef” is input as the food and “baked cooking” is input as the cooking method, the control unit 4 heats the container 1 so that the preheating temperature (170 ° C.) associated with the menu is reached.

  Note that the temperature of the container 1 is measured by a temperature detection unit (not shown) arranged immediately below the heating area of the top plate 2, for example, radiation from a thermistor component whose resistance value changes depending on the temperature or the bottom surface of the container 1. It can be detected by a radiation temperature sensor or the like that detects radiant energy. The temperature information of the container 1 measured by the temperature detection unit is output to the control unit 4.

  Thereafter, when the container 1 reaches the target preheating temperature, the control unit 4 informs the user that the preparation is completed from the operation display unit 8, and in response to this, the user supplies the food to the container. 1 (time ts in FIG. 5).

(Extraction step)
During the extraction step, the control unit 4 heats the introduced ingredients for a predetermined period (for example, 2 minutes) while maintaining the heating power of the preparation step (upper part of FIG. 5). Further, the weight measuring unit 7 continuously outputs the weight information from the preparation step, and the weight information at the time of adding the food material, or the weight information at the timing when the fluctuation of the weight substantially converges after the input, is input. Remember as.

  As shown in FIG. 6, due to the heating in the main extraction step, the temperature of the core of the food increases with time, and along with this, the weight of the food decreases monotonously from the initial weight (M2) (FIG. 5). And a solid line in FIG. 6). This reduction in weight is explained as a phenomenon in which, for example, meat storage takes the protein contained in the food material as a result of the endothermic action, and the water generated at that time is reheated and evaporated in the container 1.

  In the extraction unit 19, the reference weight information of the reference food with the known lipid content described in the cooking information stored in the information storage unit 17 and the weight information output from the weight measurement unit 7 are obtained. Comparing and deriving the quality (lipid content) of the food being cooked based on the comparison result, and estimating the quality and the weight information and the core temperature information associated with the quality as individual information of the food being cooked 20 is output.

  Here, the relation between the quality of the food, weight information during heating, and temperature change of the core will be described by taking the composition and shape of the food in meat storage as an example.

  The edible portion of meat storage is mainly composed of proteins, lipids, etc., and the protein content is relatively small depending on the content of lipids in the food material. Among these, weight loss due to heating mainly occurs in proteins, and for example, in food materials having a low protein content such as marbled meat, the amount of weight reduction per unit time tends to be suppressed.

  Next, the operation of the extraction unit 19 will be described with reference to FIG. For simplicity of explanation, the water separation rate (δ (t)) from the protein per unit time during heating is assumed to be constant.

First, if the lipid ratio (F) and the initial weight (M1 [g]) in the reference food are given, the ratio of the protein in the reference food is M1 · (1-F), and the rate of water separation from the protein at an arbitrary time. Is (δ (t)), the weight (M1 (t) [g]) at any time is
M1 (t) / M1 = 1− (1-F) · δ (t) = 1−Δ
Δ≡ (1-F) · δ (t)
It is expressed by
Similarly, if the lipid ratio (X) and the initial weight (M2) in the cooked food are given, the weight (M2 (t)) at an arbitrary time is as follows.
M2 (t) / M2 = 1− (1-X) · δ (t) = 1−A · Δ
A≡ (1-X) / (1-F)
From both equations, it can be seen that the weight of the food being cooked changes with a slope of A · Δ with respect to the weight change slope (Δ) of the reference food. In particular, by using the weight change A · Δ of the ingredients during cooking to determine the ratio A (= A · Δ / Δ) of the gradient between them, the unknown fat content X of the ingredients being cooked is More obtained.
X = 1-A (1-F1)
With the above operation, by deriving the amount of lipid contained in the food material from the change in the weight of the food material due to heating, it becomes easy for the user to determine the quality of the food material and cooking according to the quality of the food material can be provided. .

  In addition, since the amount of lipid can be quantified, the calculation unit (not shown) calculates the total calories from the weight information of the cooking ingredients and the caloric value of each component (lipid, protein), and displays the operation. By notifying the user via the unit 8, it is possible to meet health-oriented needs such as calorie management.

  For the sake of simplicity, in the present embodiment, the heating power of the preparation step and the extraction step is common, but regardless of this, for example, the cooking information associated with the cooking menu in advance is being extracted. A configuration may be used in which the thermal power is stored and switched to the thermal power at the timing of shifting to the extraction step.

  In addition, about the quantity which can be easily measured using a scale etc., such as thickness of a foodstuff, the calculation amount in the extraction part 19 is reduced by enabling a user to input thickness information together with menu input. be able to.

(Estimation step)
After the extraction of the individual information of the food is completed in the extraction step, in the estimation step, the user can adjust the heat power so as to obtain his / her favorite heat power and heat the food.

  During this estimation step, the operation display unit 8 outputs the current thermal power setting to the control unit 4 as thermal power information. If there is a thermal power adjustment by the user (time tc in FIG. 5), the estimation unit 20 uses the thermal power information and the individual information (quality 2) extracted in the extraction step to calculate the core of the subsequent ingredients. Estimate the time response of temperature.

  Here, the time required to raise the core temperature of the food to a predetermined temperature is substantially inversely proportional to the amount of heat that heats the food, for example, if the influence of heat dissipation from the container 1 or the heat capacity of the container 1 is ignored. For example, if the ingredients have the same quality and weight, the larger the heating power, the shorter the time required to reach a predetermined core temperature. Therefore, even if the thermal power is adjusted according to the user's preference using this relationship, the subsequent core part is obtained by obtaining the temperature rise rate of the core temperature of the food according to the thermal power from the thermal power amount and the individual information. It is possible to accurately estimate the transition of temperature.

In this estimation step, when the estimated core temperature (dotted line in FIG. 5) reaches the target temperature (T1 in FIG. 5), it is determined that the finish of the food being heated has reached an optimal state, and is completed. The process proceeds to step (time te in FIG. 5).

(Completion step)
In the completion step, the control unit 4 stops heating the container 1 by the heating unit 3, completes cooking, and notifies the user via the operation display unit 8.

  In the present embodiment, information such as the initial weight, the net weight of the food, and the core temperature may be sequentially displayed via the operation display unit 8. Accordingly, the user can more visually grasp the state of the food material being cooked, and cooking can be completed at a temperature according to the user's preference, thereby improving usability.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the heating unit 3 is an induction heating coil and the container 1 is inductively heated has been described. However, for example, heating by an electric heater or the like may be performed, or heating by a direct fire such as gas. It may be.

  As described above, the cooking device according to the present invention can derive the lipid content of the food material from the change in the weight of the food material due to heating, and therefore accurately determines the timing of the finish even for foods with different amounts of lipid. Therefore, the cooking ingredients can be finished optimally regardless of the skill level of the user's cooking. Therefore, it can be used for various cooking devices.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 2 Top plate 3 Heating part 4 Control part 5 Case 6 Support part 7 Weight measuring part 8 Operation display part 9 Inverter 10 Drive part 11 Steel plate 12 Mounting base 13 Weight sensor 14 Fixed connection part 15 Load transmission part 16 Load receiving part 17 Information storage unit 18 Judgment unit 19 Extraction unit 20 Estimation unit

Claims (2)

A heating unit for heating the ingredients;
A control unit for driving the heating unit;
A weight measuring unit that measures the weight of the food and outputs the measurement result as weight information;
An information storage unit for preliminarily storing, as reference weight information, a change over time in the weight that occurs when the reference ingredient is heated with respect to a reference ingredient whose lipid content is known;
A cooking apparatus, comprising: an extraction unit that compares the weight information with the reference weight information and derives lipid information of the food based on a comparison result. A calculation unit that calculates the nutrition index of the food based on the weight information output from the weight measurement unit or the information including any of the lipid information derived by the extraction unit, and outputs the nutrition information;
The cooking apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the nutrition information.