JP3334342B2 - High frequency heater - 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 heater capable of determining the type of food and heating the food to an optimum finishing temperature for each food.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a high-frequency heater, automatic cooking has been put to practical use to complete an optimum temperature without setting a heating time by using a sensor technology, and the usability has been greatly improved. Was. Furthermore, by making full use of sensor technology, as described in JP-A-62-123226, the type of food is determined using an alcohol sensor and a humidity sensor. In order to achieve the optimum temperature, the operability is to be further improved. The above conventional example will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows the temporal change of the output of the alcohol sensor and the humidity sensor when the alcoholic beverage is warmed, and FIG. 4 shows the temporal change of the output of the alcohol sensor and the humidity sensor when the general food is heated. is there.
As shown in FIG. 3, the value of the humidity sensor hardly changes and the value of the alcohol sensor changes when the difference between the output change values reaches a predetermined value after 16 seconds, as shown in FIG. It is determined that there is. In the case of general food, as shown in FIG. 4, the value of the humidity sensor and the value of the alcohol sensor change similarly, and there is almost no difference between the values. In this case, it is determined that the food is a general food. If it is determined that the liquor is warm, the heating time is determined based on the signal detected by the weight sensor, and power is supplied. If it is determined that the food is ordinary food, it is heated by normal sensor control.

[0003]

However, in this configuration, whether the food is alcohol or general food is determined based on whether the difference between the change values of the humidity sensor and the alcohol sensor exceeds a predetermined value. There are many foods that are cooked by adding alcohol.Focusing only on the difference between the humidity sensor and the alcohol sensor may cause misjudgment of general food into alcohol, resulting in poor cooking. Disadvantage.

In general, in high-frequency heating, solids such as rice warm up sufficiently when humidity is generated, but liquids such as stew have a property that they are still lubricious when humidity is generated. However, there is a disadvantage that a good finished state of cooking cannot be obtained by simply heating general foods by a normal sensor control.

Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a high-frequency heater capable of improving the accuracy of food discrimination and performing optimal heating control according to food.

A second object is to provide a food which ends heating almost at the same time when the amount of change of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold, and a predetermined food after the amount of change of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold. It is a first object of the present invention to provide a high-frequency heater capable of discriminating a food to be subjected to additional heating for time and performing optimal heating control according to the food.

A third object is to provide a high-frequency heater capable of warming rice and milk to an optimum temperature.

A fourth object is to provide a high-frequency heater capable of discriminating between alcoholic beverages and prepared foods and warming to an optimum temperature.

A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a high-frequency heater capable of improving food discrimination accuracy by using a gas sensor and a humidity sensor and heating the food to an optimum temperature.

[0010]

In order to achieve the first object, a high-frequency heater according to the present invention comprises: a heating chamber for storing food; a high-frequency heating means for heating the food in the heating chamber; and humidity sensor for detecting the humidity, mainly in the food
A gas sensor for detecting a gas such as alcohol contained therein ,
Food weight detecting means for detecting the food weight, and heating time control means for controlling the heating time based on the information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor, the weight of the food until the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined value. The food that ends the heating in the heating time according to, the food that ends the heating almost simultaneously when the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined value, and the predetermined time after the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined value At least three foods to be subjected to additional heating are subjected to optimal heating control according to the foods.

In order to achieve the second object, it is detected that the amount of change of the gas sensor has reached a predetermined threshold, and when the amount of change of the humidity sensor has reached the predetermined threshold, heating is performed almost simultaneously. It is configured to discriminate into at least two of the food to be finished and the food to be additionally heated for a predetermined time after the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold, and heat the food.

In order to achieve the third object, the heating
The amount of change of the humidity sensor during the operation exceeds the first predetermined threshold
And the change amount of the gas sensor is less than a predetermined threshold value.
If, milk, a change amount of the humidity sensor heated rice second
When the predetermined threshold value is reached, heating is terminated almost simultaneously.

In order to achieve the fourth object, after the gas change amount during heating reaches a predetermined threshold, the change amount of the humidity sensor is changed to a predetermined threshold value based on the gas change amount immediately after the start of heating. At least two foods are determined: foods that finish heating in a heating time according to the food weight before reaching the value, and foods that perform additional heating for a predetermined time after the amount of change in the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold. The food is heated.

In order to achieve the fifth object, it is detected that the change amount of the gas sensor has reached a predetermined threshold value, and the weight of the food is changed until the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold value. Food that ends heating in the appropriate heating time,
At least three types of food: heating that ends heating almost simultaneously when the amount of change in the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold, and food that performs additional heating for a predetermined time after the amount of change in the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold. And the threshold value of the gas sensor is a function of the threshold value of the humidity sensor.

[0015]

According to the high frequency heater of the present invention, the first configuration allows the food to be discriminated into at least three foods, and optimal heating control can be performed for each of the foods, thereby improving the cooking finish.

Further, the high-frequency heater having the second configuration can distinguish food from the amount of change in gas.

Further, the high frequency heater of the third configuration can optimize the finishing temperature of milk and rice.

Further, the high-frequency heater having the fourth configuration can distinguish between alcoholic beverages and prepared foods.

Further, the high-frequency heater of the fifth configuration improves the accuracy of food discrimination.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A high-frequency heater according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a high-frequency heater according to the present invention. A magnetron 3 is connected to a heating chamber 2 for storing food 1 and is driven by a high-voltage power supply 4. Steam, gas, and the like generated in the heating chamber 2 are discharged from the exhaust port 5.
An exhaust duct 6 is connected to the exhaust port 5, and a humidity sensor 7 for mainly detecting humidity and a gas sensor 8 for mainly detecting components such as alcohol and odor are provided inside the exhaust duct 6. The placing plate 9 on which the food 1 is placed is the weight sensor 1
Tied to 0. The operation unit 11 for instructing the high-frequency heater of the present invention to perform heating includes a warming key 12 for warming sake, milk, rice, and prepared foods, and a thawing key 13 for instructing thawing of frozen meat and fish. A start key 14 for instructing start of heating and a display unit 15 for displaying a remaining time of heating are provided. The operation unit 11, the humidity sensor 7, the gas sensor 8, and the weight sensor 10 are connected to a heating time control unit 16, which is configured by an electronic circuit including a microcomputer or the like. , The high-voltage power supply device 4 is controlled.

The operation of the automatic cooking of the warming key of the high-frequency heater of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the warm key is selected and the start key is input, the food weight is measured in step S1. S
High-frequency heating is started in two steps, and in step S3, the elapse of time Tgi is waited. After Tgi, in step S4
The change amount △ g of the gas sensor 8 after the lapse of Tgi is substituted for gi. In this way, it is examined whether or not alcohol has been generated in a state where the food immediately after the start of heating has not accumulated. Gi is a large value in warming alcoholic beverages because alcohol evaporates even at room temperature, whereas gi is a small value in warming prepared foods because the volatile components such as alcohol are small. In step S5, it is checked whether the change amount △ g of the gas sensor does not exceed the threshold value G2 to check for gas detection. In step S6, it is checked whether the amount of change Δh of the humidity sensor 7 does not exceed the threshold value H1, and the presence or absence of humidity detection is checked. While circulating the steps S5 and S6, it waits for either gas detection or humidity detection to occur. When the threshold value H1 of the humidity sensor is a function of the food weight or the initial temperature in the heating chamber, the finished state of the food can be accurately detected. At this time, in order to determine the magnitude of the amount of gas generated from the food, it is desirable to compare the gas amounts in the same finished state. Therefore, G2 is a function of H1. When the gas detection in step S5 occurs first, it is checked in step S7 whether gi taken in step S4 exceeds the threshold value G3. If gi> G3, it is determined that alcoholic beverages are warm because alcohol is generated much immediately after the start of heating. In step S8, the heating time Tos is calculated based on the food weight w measured in step S2. In step S9, the elapse of the time of Tos is waited, and when the time elapses, the heating is terminated. In warming liquor, since a large amount of alcohol is generated before the generation of humidity, it can be determined by the above-described steps.

When gi ≦ G3 in step S7,
Judging that it is prepared food or frozen food instead of warming liquor,
In step S10, the change amount Δh of the humidity sensor 7 is equal to the threshold value.
Step S10 is repeated until it does not exceed H2 and the humidity is detected. When the temperature of the food rises and steam is generated from the food and the variation Δh of the humidity sensor 7 becomes Δh> H2, it is determined that the humidity has been detected, the detection time is set to T1, and the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, the detection time T1 and the reference value
If T1> Tdh1 compared to Tdh1, it is determined that the food is frozen, and T
If 1 ≦ Tdh1, it is determined that the side dishes are not frozen. Tdh1 is a function of the food weight, and is set to a value previously obtained from an experiment. Since the frozen food is frozen and hard to warm up compared to the side dish at normal temperature, the detection time T1 is greatly lengthened, and the frozen food can be distinguished. If the food is a frozen food, the high-frequency output is changed to a weak output in step S12, and additional heating determined by Kd · T1 is performed in step S13, and the heating is terminated. If the frozen food is continuously heated at a high output, the temperature difference between the center and the surroundings of the food tends to increase. Therefore, the heating is performed while changing the output to a weak output and averaging the temperature rise. If it is determined in step S11 that there is no side effect, the process proceeds to step S14, where additional heating of K · T1 is performed, and the heating is terminated. Before the whole dish is warmed, steam is likely to be generated by local heating, and when the humidity is detected, the dish is not sufficiently heated, so it is necessary to perform additional heating in this way.

While circulating steps S5 and S6,
If the humidity detection in step S6 occurs first, the process proceeds to step S15, and the gas change Δg at step S6 is Δg>
If G1, the process proceeds to step S10, where it is determined that the food is a side dish or a frozen food, and the food is heated as described above. G1 is also G2
It is assumed that the function of H1 is the same as described above. If Δg ≦ G1, rice,
Heating is terminated as soon as it is determined that the milk is warm. The optimal temperature of rice is 80-90 ° C, while the optimal temperature of milk is significantly different from 55-60 ° C.
Steam does not come out until it reaches ~ 90 ° C, whereas milk does
Since steam is generated at a lower temperature, rice and milk can be brought to an appropriate temperature by detecting that steam has been generated. Further, rice and milk do not contain a substance to which the gas sensor reacts, and can be distinguished from side dishes.

[0026]

As described above, according to the cooking device of the present invention, the food which stops heating in the heating time corresponding to the food weight until the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined value, When the change amount reaches a predetermined value, heating is terminated at almost the same time as foods that finish heating almost at the same time, and food that performs additional heating for a predetermined time after the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined value is determined and heated. Thereby, it is possible to optimally heat each food, and the finish of cooking is improved.

In addition, it is possible to discriminate between milk, rice and prepared foods from the amount of change in gas.

Also, the finishing temperature of milk and rice can be optimized.

Further, it is possible to distinguish between alcoholic beverages and prepared dishes.

Further, even if the amount of food or the state of the heating chamber changes, the accuracy of food determination is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a high-frequency heater according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program of a microcomputer of the high-frequency heater according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an output of a sensor when liquor is heated in a conventional high-frequency heater.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an output of a sensor when a general food is heated by a conventional high-frequency heater.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Food 2 Heating chamber 3 Magnetron (high frequency heating means) 7 Humidity sensor 8 Gas sensor 10 Weight sensor (food gravity detecting means) 11 Operation part 16 Heating time control part

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued from the front page (72) Inventor Tomomi Uchiyama 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Examiner, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Tetsuo Sekiguchi (56) References JP-A-59-29396 (JP, A) JP-A-63-204028 (JP, A) JP-A-64-38529 (JP, A) JP-A-64-41005 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24C 7 / 02 325 F24C 7/02 301

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A heating chamber for storing food, a high-frequency heating means for heating food in the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity, a gas sensor for detecting gas, and a food weight detecting means for detecting food weight. And a heating time control means for controlling the heating time based on the information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor, and an operation unit for instructing the heating, wherein the weight of the food is controlled until the variation of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold value. The food that ends heating in the heating time according to the food and the food that ends heating almost simultaneously when the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold value, and the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold value After that, it is configured to discriminate at least three of the foods to be additionally heated for a predetermined time and heat the foods, and the operation unit is provided with at least one operation switch that can warm up at least alcohol, milk, rice, and prepared foods. High frequency heater. 2. A heating chamber for storing food, a high-frequency heating means for heating the food in the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity, a gas sensor for detecting gas, and a food weight detecting means for detecting food weight. And a heating time control means for controlling a heating time based on the information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor, and an operation unit for instructing heating, and detecting that a change amount of the gas sensor has reached a predetermined threshold value. At least two types of foods are provided: heating the food to be terminated almost at the same time when the variation of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold, and food for performing additional heating for a predetermined time after the variation of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold. A high-frequency heater having a configuration in which the food is heated and the operation unit is provided with at least one operation switch capable of warming alcoholic beverages, milk, rice, and prepared foods. 3. A heating chamber for storing food, high-frequency heating means for heating the food in the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity, a gas sensor for detecting gas, and a food weight detecting means for detecting food weight. If, and an operation unit for instructing the heating and the heating time control means for controlling the heating time based on information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor, the middle heating humidity Se
The amount of change of the sensor exceeds a first predetermined threshold, and
If the change amount of the gas sensor is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the milk and rice are heated almost simultaneously when the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the second predetermined threshold value.
A high-frequency heater having at least one operation switch capable of warming alcoholic beverages, milk, rice, and prepared foods in the operation unit. 4. A heating chamber for storing food, high-frequency heating means for heating food in the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity, a gas sensor for detecting gas, and a food weight detecting means for detecting food weight. A heating time control means for controlling the heating time based on the information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor; and an operation unit for instructing the heating, wherein the gas change amount during the heating is predetermined by the gas change amount immediately after the start of the heating. After the threshold value is reached, the food whose heating is completed for a heating time according to the food weight until the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold value, and the change amount of the humidity sensor is the predetermined threshold value After reaching at least two foods to be additionally heated for a predetermined time, the food is discriminated into at least two, and the operation unit is provided with one operation switch capable of warming at least alcoholic beverages, milk, rice, and prepared foods. High-frequency heater. 5. A heating chamber for storing food, high-frequency heating means for heating food in the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity, a gas sensor for detecting gas, and a food weight detecting means for detecting food weight. And a heating time control means for controlling a heating time based on the information of the humidity sensor and the gas sensor, and an operation unit for instructing heating, and detecting that a change amount of the gas sensor has reached a predetermined threshold value. When the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold value, the food is heated for a heating time corresponding to the food weight, and when the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches the predetermined threshold value, the heating is finished almost simultaneously. Food, and at least three foods that perform additional heating for a predetermined time after the amount of change of the humidity sensor reaches a predetermined threshold, and the threshold of the gas sensor is the threshold of the humidity sensor. Seki A high-frequency heater, wherein the operation unit includes at least one operation switch capable of warming alcoholic beverages, milk, rice, and prepared dishes.