JP2692460B2 - High frequency heating equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-frequency heating apparatus having a heat retaining function utilizing the heating output of a microwave heating means in response to a cooking menu such as a stewed menu which needs to be kept warm after completion of cooking. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a high-frequency heating apparatus equipped with a microwave heating means, when a cooked food is to be kept warm after completion of cooking, it is considered that a predetermined microwave output is applied. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the heat retention temperature varies greatly depending on the amount of the cooked food, and good heat retention cannot be performed.

Therefore, in a high-frequency heating apparatus such as a microwave oven equipped with a conventional microcomputer, for example, in the case of an auto menu, the heat retention is performed after the completion of cooking according to the weight of the food measured by the output of the weight sensor. Some of them are provided with a means for temporarily keeping heat after completion of cooking and heating with a heating output according to the weight of the food to be cooked (see, for example, JP-A-3-168529).

[0004]

However, the actual state of the cooked food set in the refrigerator varies, and the finished state also varies depending on the menu and taste. In particular, the residual water content varies from area to area. Therefore, regardless of them, simply by irradiating a predetermined microwave output according to only the weight to keep the temperature warm, an appropriate finishing state according to the cooking menu, desired finishing level, and finishing temperature can be obtained. There are problems that cannot be maintained.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, and includes heating means for heating an object to be heated by microwave output, and heating output of the heating means. A heating output setting means for preliminarily setting when cooking the object to be heated, and a heating output for controlling the output of the heating means according to the cooking process so that the heating output set by the heating output setting means is obtained. In a high frequency heating device comprising a control means and a heat retaining means for operating the heating means within a fixed time after completion of heating by the heating output control means, a humidity sensor for detecting the amount of vapor generated from the object to be heated, An object-to-be-heated amount determining means for determining the amount of the object-to-be-heated based on the amount of steam generated detected by the humidity sensor, and an object to be heated determined by the object-to-be-heated amount determining means. According to the heat retention output setting means for setting the heating output at the time of heat retention of the heating means, and the heat retention output setting means based on the amount of steam generated from the object to be heated in the heat retention execution state detected by the humidity sensor. It is characterized in that a heat retention control means for correcting the set heating output at the time of heat retention and controlling the heat retention is provided.

[0006]

The high-frequency heating device of the present invention, as described above,
Heating means for heating an object to be heated by microwave output,
A heating output setting means for preliminarily setting the heating output of the heating means during cooking of the object to be heated, and an output of the heating means for the cooking process so that the heating output set by the heating output setting means is obtained. In a high-frequency heating device comprising a heating output control unit that controls the heating output control unit and a heat retention unit that operates the heating unit within a fixed time after completion of heating by the heating output control unit, the amount of steam generated from the object to be heated is A humidity sensor for detecting, a heated object amount determining means for determining the amount of the heated object based on the vapor generation amount detected by the humidity sensor, and the heated object determined by the heated object amount determining means Heat-retention output setting means for setting the heating output of the heating means during heat retention according to the amount, and steam generation from the object to be heated in the heat-retention execution state detected by the humidity sensor. Based in the are configured by providing a heat insulation control means for heat keeping control by correcting the heating power at the time of heat insulation which has been set by the warmth output setting means.

Therefore, in the above configuration, the heating output at the time of heat retention set by the heat retention output setting means is always set corresponding to the amount of cooked food after completion of the cooking determined by the heated material amount determining means. As a result, the heating output at the time of heat retention set corresponding to the amount of the cooked food after the completion of cooking is further unnecessary based on the concrete steam generation state from the heated object in the heat keeping execution state. Appropriate correction control is performed so that water is not removed. As a result, it becomes possible to perform heat retention control at an appropriate heat retention temperature that accurately corresponds to the cooking menu of the object to be heated, the desired finishing level, the finishing temperature, etc. set by the user in advance.

[0008]

As a result of the above, according to the high frequency heating apparatus of the present invention, the heating output at the time of heat retention becomes appropriate not only for the amount of the cooked food but also for the cooked food after the completion of cooking. It becomes possible to realize a more appropriate heat retention state by accurately responding to the type, finish temperature, finish level, etc., and to always provide the user with a finished taste.

Further, in the case of the above construction, both the determination of the amount of the object to be heated at the time of heating and the correction of the heat retention output at the time of heat retention are realized by also using the humidity sensor, so that the construction is simple and the cost is low.

[0010]

EXAMPLES (1) First Example FIGS. 1 to 5 show the configuration of a high-frequency heating apparatus (microwave oven) according to a first example of the present invention.

First, FIG. 1 shows the overall structure (housing structure) of the high-frequency heating apparatus 1, in which a heating chamber (cook storage) 2 is provided inside the housing 1a. At the bottom of the heating chamber 2, a turntable 3 for mounting a food is rotatably installed. A door 16 having a finder 17 is attached to the front opening 19 of the heating chamber 2 so as to be openable and closable in the vertical direction.
Further, a door switch 18 is provided on the main body side corresponding to the door 16.

On the other hand, the door 16 on the front side of the housing 1a
Various functions of the high-frequency heating device are operated and operated on the right side of
An operation panel unit 26 for controlling is provided. As shown in detail in FIG. 2, for example, the operation panel 26 includes a display section (liquid crystal display section) 34, a heating time setting key for manual menu (5 minutes, from the upper side to the lower side (or left and right)). (1 minute, 10 seconds consisting of 3 keys) 27, start key 28a, cancel key 28b, manual heating key
(Contains 5 keys for range strong / weak, raw thawing, toaster, pizza heating) 29, Automatic heating key (contains 6 keys for warming, warming milk, sake can, toast, frozen toast and cooking rice) 30 , Finish adjustment keys (finish,
It has two functions of adjusting the burning color, and is composed of two keys, a strong key and a weak key.) 37 and a time setting key 38 are appropriately arranged with good operability.

When the above-mentioned various operation keys on the lower side are turned on, for example, various selection setting states are displayed on the display unit 34 as shown in FIG.
(FIG. 2 shows a state in which all operation information is displayed).

The operation panel section 26 is connected to a control unit 20 for controlling a microwave oven, which is mainly composed of a microcomputer as shown in FIG. It can be sent and received.

Further, as is clear from FIG. 3, inside the housing 1a of the high-frequency heating device 1, the object to be heated (cooking) in the cooking pot 5 housed on the turntable 3 in the heating chamber 2 is cooked. Magnetron 13 that heats an object by radiating and absorbing microwaves, and a heater 36 that heats an object to be heated in the heating chamber 2 by irradiating infrared rays.
The heater circuit 35, the ventilation fan 12a, and the fan motor 12 are installed as shown in the drawing. A turntable motor drive circuit 24 is provided between the control unit 20 and the turntable motor 4.
However, a fan motor drive circuit 25 is provided between the control unit 20 and the fan motor 12, and a magnetron drive unit 22 is provided between the control unit 20 and the magnetron 13. The turntable motor 4 is also provided with a weight sensor (not shown), and the detection value K detected by the weight sensor is also used for determining the amount of food.

On the other hand, as shown in the drawing, an outside air introduction port 8 is formed on one side wall 31 side of the housing 1a and an exhaust port 11 is formed on the other side wall 32 side thereof, and the heating chamber 2 between them is formed. Ventilation openings 9 and 10 are formed in both side walls 6 and 7, respectively. A fan 12a driven by the fan motor 12 is provided between the outside air introduction port 8 and the ventilation port 9, and the outside air introduced through the outside air introduction port 8 is indicated by an arrow in the figure. First, magnetron 1
After cooling 3, the odor and steam during cooking are absorbed through the upper part of the heating chamber 2 and discharged from the exhaust port 11 side. The duct portion 14 is formed between the ventilation port 10 and the exhaust port 11, while the duct portion 1 is provided.
A humidity sensor 15 that faces the inside of the heating chamber 2 and detects the humidity W at the time of boiling and at the time of keeping warm is installed above the entrance of the passage 4. The output signal of the humidity sensor 15 is input to the control unit 20 via a predetermined detection unit 23 and is stored.

When the humidity sensor 15 detects that the object to be heated is in a boiling state during cooking, the control unit 20 heats the magnetron 13 in the subsequent simmering process according to the level. For example, the output is automatically adjusted to realize an appropriate simmering and heating state in which spillage does not occur, and, if necessary, in the heat retention state after completion of cooking, according to the detected humidity W and the output of the weight sensor. It is designed to control the set thermal output more finely.

Next, the cooking control of the object to be heated by the control unit 20 of the present embodiment and the heat retention control after completion of the cooking control will be described.

First, in step S ₁ , operation menu data (cooking menu) is calculated from the operation state of the operation panel section 26.
Is input, and the detection data K of the weight sensor is further input in step S ₂ . Then, after setting the heating output and heating time required for cooking based on these both data, the process proceeds to step S ₃ to drive the magnetron 13 to start heating. The heating is performed until the set heating time elapses.

Next, in step S ₄ , it is judged whether or not the cooking is completed based on the lapse of the heating time, and the cooking is completed.
At the time of (YES), it is further determined whether or not the cooking menu requires heat insulation control thereafter, and then Y
When ES (necessary) is determined, the process proceeds to step S ₆ to execute the heat retention output setting operation.

The setting of the heat retention output is specifically and individually set based on the cooking menu and the weight of the food detected by the weight sensor using a predetermined data map.
As a result, there is no change in the heat retention temperature depending on the amount of the cooked food as shown in FIG. 9, for example, and it is possible to maintain a constant heat retention temperature as shown in FIG.

In steps S ₇ and S ₈ , the magnetron 13 is driven on the basis of the same set output to keep the temperature until the preset heat retention time t (t is about 15 minutes) elapses.

(2) Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, the detection value K (weight) of the weight sensor is used.
The amount of cooked food was judged based on the above, and the heat insulation output corresponding to it was set.

However, the weight sensor is generally expensive, and many high-frequency heating devices do not have the weight sensor.

Therefore, in this embodiment, instead of the weight sensor, the humidity sensor 15 that is generally used for boiling detection is used to determine the amount of food to be cooked, and the heat retention output is set accordingly. I am trying.

Next, the cooking control of the object to be heated of this embodiment using the control unit 20 of FIG. 3 and the heat retention control after completion of the cooking control will be described.

That is, first, in step S ₁ , after inputting operation menu data (cooking menu) from the operation state of the operation panel section 26, the magnetron 13 is driven to start heating in step S ₂ . Then step S ₃
Then, the humidity sensor 15 is turned on, and the detected data W is input in step S ₄ . And then, step S
_{At 5} it is judged whether or not the detected humidity W has reached a predetermined cooking completion reference value W ₁ based on the humidity data W, and the cooking completion time counting timer TM is provided at each cycle until YES.
The count value T of is incremented (TM = T + 1) and the actual cooking time Tn is counted, while if YES, it is judged that the cooking is completed and the process proceeds to step S ₇ to determine whether heat retention is necessary.

Here, the actual cooking time Tn represented by the final count value of the cooking time counting timer TM.
Is determined by the amount of heating and the amount of food when the heating time is constant. Therefore, the time Tn eventually represents the amount of food. Step S ₇ in the cooking menu is equal to or those requiring subsequent heat retaining control, when it is determined YES (required) performs a setting operation of the thermal insulation Output proceeds to step S ₈ .

For setting the heat retention output, a predetermined data map is used, and the cooking menu and the cooking time counting timer T are used.
It is specifically and individually set based on the actual cooking time (weight of the food) Tn counted by M. As a result, as in the case of the first embodiment described above, for example, there is no change in the heat retention temperature due to the amount of cooked food as shown in FIG. 9, and it is possible to maintain a constant heat retention temperature as shown in FIG. Become.

In steps S ₉ and S ₁₀ , the magnetron 13 is driven on the basis of the set output, and the heat retention is performed until the preset heat retention time t (t is about 15 minutes) elapses.

(3) Third Embodiment Further, the flowchart of FIG. 7 is similar to that of each of the above-described embodiments.
3 shows cooking control and heat retention control operations of the high-frequency heating apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention, which is performed using the control unit 20 of FIG.

That is, first, in step S ₁ , the manual operation menu data (cooking menu) is input from the operation state of the operation panel section 26, and in step S ₂ , the heating corresponding to that is set by the user. Time (for example, 1 cup of rice = 1 minute, 2 cups = 2 minutes, etc.)
Enter Then, after setting the heating output required for cooking based on both of these data, the process proceeds to step S ₃ to drive the magnetron 13 to start heating. The heating is
The heating is performed until the set heating time elapses.

Next, in step S ₄ , it is judged whether or not the cooking is completed based on the lapse of the heating time, and the cooking is completed.
At the time of (YES), it is further determined whether or not the cooking menu requires heat insulation control thereafter, and then Y
When ES (necessary) is determined, the process proceeds to step S ₆ to execute the heat retention output setting operation.

The setting of the heat retention output is made specifically and individually based on the cooking menu and the heating time (corresponding to the weight of the food) set by the user using a predetermined data map. To be done. As a result, there is no change in the heat retention temperature depending on the amount of the cooked food as shown in FIG. 9, for example, and it is possible to maintain a constant heat retention temperature as shown in FIG.

In steps S ₇ and S ₈ , the magnetron 13 is driven on the basis of the same set output to keep the temperature until the set heat retention time t (t is about 15 minutes) elapses.

(4) Fourth Embodiment In the above-described first to third embodiments, the weight of the cooked food is detected directly or indirectly in each case of auto / manual, and the heat retention is concretely performed correspondingly. Since the output is set, the heat retention temperature can be maintained constant for the time being as described above.

Strictly speaking, however, when the microwave output which is always set to a predetermined value in accordance with the weight of the cooked food detected directly or indirectly during the heat retention as described above, its output value is Of course, the weight is not limited as long as it is appropriate for the cooking menu, the finishing level according to the taste, the finishing temperature, etc., but sometimes it is too large or too small. If the warming output is too high than the appropriate value corresponding to them, the temperature of the cooked food rises too much and the amount of water evaporation increases, resulting in dehydration, while if the output is too small, The temperature of the cooked food is lowered to lower the finishing level and the finishing temperature.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, for example, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 8, while a predetermined heat retention output is set with respect to the weight of the cooked food, a heat retention execution state under the heat output once set is performed. Moreover, the above problem is appropriately solved by monitoring the humidity change in the refrigerator and finely adjusting the heat retention output accordingly.

Next, the contents of the cooking control of the object to be heated of the present embodiment using the control unit 20 of FIG. 3 and the heat retention control having the above characteristics after the completion of the cooking control will be described.

First, in step S ₁ , operation menu data (cooking menu) is calculated from the operation state of the operation panel section 26.
Is input, and the detection data K of the weight sensor is further input in step S ₂ . Then, after setting the heating output and heating time required for cooking based on these both data, the process proceeds to step S ₃ to drive the magnetron 13 to start heating. The heating is performed until the set heating time elapses.

Next, in step S ₄ , it is judged whether or not the cooking is completed based on the lapse of the heating time, and the cooking is completed.
At the time of (YES), it is further determined whether or not the cooking menu requires heat insulation control thereafter, and then Y
When ES (necessary) is determined, the process proceeds to step S ₆ to execute the heat retention output setting operation.

The setting of the heat retention output is made specifically and individually based on the cooking menu and the weight of the food detected by the weight sensor using a predetermined data map.
As a result, similar to each of the above-described embodiments, there is no change in the heat retention temperature depending on the amount of the cooked food as shown in FIG. 9, for example, and it is possible to maintain a constant heat retention temperature as shown in FIG. It will be possible.

Then, in step S ₇ , the magnetron 13 is driven on the basis of the set output to keep the temperature until the set warming time elapses.

[0044] Then, at the same type the detected value W of the humidity sensor 15 in step S ₈ that follows the same time, detected value W is determined whether a high to a predetermined set value W ₂ or more in the next step S ₉ , YES (high), the heat insulation output is reduced by a predetermined amount in step S ₁₀ , while NO (low) in step S 10.
On the contrary, in step ₁₁ , the heat insulation output is adjusted to an appropriate heat insulation output by increasing the heat insulation output by a predetermined amount.

[0045] Then, the upper finally proceeds to a step S _12, the determining the course of the incubation time t, to stop the microwave warmth output when the time t has elapsed.

Therefore, according to the configuration, the above step S
_{Even if} the heat retention output set by the operation of _{2 to} S ₆ is not the optimum value corresponding to the weight of the food, the cooking menu, the finishing level, the finishing temperature, etc., it can be arbitrarily corrected to the optimum value. become.

As a result, it becomes possible to keep the heat in a state as close as possible to the finished state after the completion of cooking set by the user in advance.

The adjusting system is not limited to the heat retention output setting system (corresponding to the first embodiment) based on the weight sensor method as described above, but may be combined with, for example, the second and third embodiments. However, the same effect can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a housing structure of a high frequency heating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing a structure of an operation panel section of the same device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram mainly showing a control circuit configuration of the device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing cooking and heat retention control operations by the control unit of the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a heat retention characteristic diagram under the control of FIG. 4 described above.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a cooking and heat retention control operation by the control unit of the high-frequency heating apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a cooking and heat retention control operation of the high-frequency heating device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a cooking and heat retention control operation by the control unit of the high-frequency heating apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a heat retention characteristic diagram of a conventional high-frequency heating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a is a housing part, 2 is a heating chamber, 3 is a turntable, 5 is a cooking pot, 13 is a magnetron, 15 is a humidity sensor, 20
Is a control unit, 21 is an operation unit, and 22 is a magnetron drive unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A heating means for heating an object to be heated by microwave output, a heating output setting means for preliminarily setting the heating output of the heating means when cooking the object, and the heating output setting means. Heating output control means for controlling the output of the heating means according to the cooking process so as to obtain a set heating output; and heat retention means for operating the heating means within a fixed time after completion of heating by the heating output control means. In a high-frequency heating device comprising: a humidity sensor for detecting the amount of steam generated from the object to be heated, and an amount of the object to be heated for determining the amount of the object to be heated based on the amount of steam generated by the humidity sensor. The determination means, the heat retention output setting means for setting the heating output at the time of heat retention of the heating means according to the amount of the heated object determined by the heated object amount determination means, and the humidity sensor Therefore, there is provided heat retention control means for correcting the heat output during heat retention set by the heat retention output setting means on the basis of the amount of steam generated from the object to be heated in the heat retention execution state detected, and performing heat retention control. Characteristic high-frequency heating device.