JP6371969B2 - Equipment, processing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device provided with a means for estimating the heat conduction characteristics of a stored item stored inside.

  In recent years, some refrigerators and microwave ovens for home use detect non-contact temperature sensors to detect food temperature and change cooling strength or heating strength. For example, there is a refrigerator that includes a movable infrared temperature sensor and detects a temperature rise due to the addition of food and actively supplies cold air (see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view showing the switching room of the refrigerator compartment of the conventional refrigerator described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. 9, the moving thermopile 102 (infrared temperature sensor) provided in the switching chamber 101 determines the input of food and actively supplies cold air.

Japanese Patent No. 5147922

  However, since the configuration of Patent Document 1 detects the temperature of a wall surface other than food that falls within the viewing angle of the infrared sensor, it is difficult to perform highly accurate sensing. Moreover, only the surface temperature of food can be detected, and the temperature inside the food cannot be estimated. For this reason, even if the cooling sequence is varied based on the detected temperature, it cannot be said that a cooling sequence suitable for each type of food can be selected.

The present invention is the one that solves the conventional problem, and an object thereof asking you to heat transfer characteristics of the food accurately.

In order to solve the conventional problems, the device of the present invention includes a first specifying unit that specifies a surface temperature of food, a second specifying unit that specifies an outer dimension of the food, and the food for a predetermined time. Based on the amount of change in the surface temperature of the food that rises by heating, based on the third specifying means for specifying the heat conduction characteristics of the food, the surface temperature, the outer dimensions, and the heat conduction characteristics And a fourth specifying means for specifying the center temperature of the food.

Equipment of the present invention can be obtained heat transfer characteristics of the food accurately.

The front view of the storage in Embodiment 1 of this invention Control block diagram of storage in Embodiment 1 of the present invention 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. Schematic diagram of sensing in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which showed an example of the sensor detection data in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which showed an example of the temperature conductivity characteristic discrimination | determination of the foodstuff in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart of center temperature estimation in Embodiment 1 of this invention The time chart figure of the decompression | decompression sequence in Embodiment 1 of this invention Side cross-sectional view of a conventional refrigerator switching chamber

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a refrigerator as an example. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a front view of a storage case according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the storage case according to the embodiment.

  In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the heat insulating box constituting the refrigerator 11 includes an outer box mainly using a steel plate, an inner box formed of a resin such as ABS, and heat insulation injected between the outer box and the inner box. It is composed of materials. Further, the heat insulation box is partitioned into a plurality of storage chambers, and a refrigeration chamber 12 is provided at the top, and an ice making chamber 13 or a switching chamber 14 is provided side by side below the refrigeration chamber 12 and is switched to the ice making chamber 13. A freezer compartment 15 is disposed at the bottom of the chamber 14, and a vegetable compartment 16 is disposed at the bottom. A heat insulating door for partitioning with the outside air is formed at the front opening of the refrigerator main body at the front of each storage room. In the vicinity of the central portion of the refrigerator compartment door 12a, which is a heat insulating door of the refrigerator compartment 12, it is possible to make settings such as the temperature inside the compartment, ice making and quick cooling, and the detection result of the storage state and the operation of the refrigerator A display unit 17 capable of displaying the situation and the like is arranged.

  The machine room formed in the uppermost rear region in the refrigerator compartment 12 houses components of the refrigeration cycle such as the compressor 30 and a dryer for removing moisture.

  A cooling chamber for generating cold air is provided on the back of the freezer compartment 15, and in the cooling chamber, the cooler and the cooling air cooled by the cooler are refrigerated chamber 12, switching chamber 14, ice making chamber 13, A cooling fan 31 for blowing air to the vegetable compartment 16 and the freezer compartment 15 is disposed. Further, an air volume adjusting damper 32 for adjusting the air volume from the cooling fan 31 is installed in the air path. In addition, a radiant heater, a drain pan, a drain tube, an evaporating dish and the like are configured to defrost frost and ice adhering to the cooler and its surroundings (not shown).

  The refrigerator compartment 12 is normally set to 1 ° C. to 5 ° C. at the lower limit of the temperature at which it is not frozen for refrigerated storage. In addition, the freezer compartment 15 is set in a freezing temperature zone, and is usually set at −22 ° C. to −15 ° C. for frozen storage. For example, in order to improve the frozen storage state, −30 ° C. or − It may be set at a low temperature of 25 ° C.

  The ice making chamber 13 creates ice with water sent from a water storage tank in the refrigerator compartment 12 by an automatic ice maker provided at the upper part of the room and stores it in an ice storage container disposed at the lower part of the room.

  The switching chamber 14 also has a heating function in addition to a cooling function that is a refrigeration temperature set at about 1 ° C. to 7 ° C. and a refrigeration temperature set at about −22 ° C. to −15 ° C. As the heating means, heater heating, electromagnetic induction heating, microwave heating or the like can be considered.

  The switching chamber 14 is a storage chamber provided with an independent door arranged in parallel with the ice making chamber 13, and is often provided with a drawer-type door.

  In the present embodiment, the switching chamber 14 is a storage chamber that enables freezing to heating, but may be a storage chamber specialized for refrigeration and freezing or only in a heating temperature zone.

  3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 in the same embodiment. As shown in the figure, in the switching chamber 14 of the present embodiment, an infrared sensor array 23 for detecting the temperature distribution and area of the stored food 42 is provided on the top surface. Further, a distance measuring sensor 24 for detecting the height of the food 42 is provided. Further, the bottom surface 41 is provided with a heater 25 as a heat source for heating the food 42, a detection heater 26 used for obtaining the temperature conduction characteristics of the food 42, and a discharge port 43 through which cold air is sent by the cooling fan 31. ing.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of sensing in the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of sensor detection data in the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an example of determining temperature conduction characteristics of food in the embodiment. FIG.

  A method for estimating the heat conduction characteristics of the food 42 and the center temperature Tc according to this configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the infrared sensor array 23 temporarily detects the temperature of each “8 × 8” grid. The detection range 51 is an area of “A × A”, and the value of A is obtained from the dimension H in FIG. 3 and the viewing angle α of the infrared sensor array. The side dimension per grid 52 is a obtained by dividing A into 8 (step 101).

After the opening and closing of the switching chamber door 14a is determined by the door opening / closing detection sensor and the food is estimated to be input (step 102), the food 42 detected by the top infrared sensor array 23 is the surface temperature of the food as shown in FIG. Tf is detected by a plurality of gratings. The bottom surface 41 is detected as the bottom surface temperature Tb (step 103). When there is a certain difference between Tf and Tb (step 104), the bottom surface 41 and the food 42 are distinguished from each other by the boundary surface 53 (step 105).

  For example, if the food 42 is stored in the switching chamber 14 in a cooled state, the values of Tf and Tb are almost the same, and there is a high possibility that the boundary surface 53 cannot be determined. At this time, the bottom surface 41 is formed of an aluminum plate or the like having high thermal conductivity, and heated by the heater 25 for a short time (step 106). Since the bottom surface 41 has a higher temperature than the food 42 having a relatively low thermal conductivity, there is a difference between Tf and Tb, and the boundary surface 53 can be discriminated (step 107).

  By determining the boundary surface 53, the breadth W of the food is “3 × a” and the depth D is “4 × a” (step 108). Further, the distance sensor 24 measures the distance Hs from the top surface to the food 42. Since the height H of the switching chamber 14 is known in advance, the height h of the food is obtained from “H−Hs” (step 109).

  Thus, it is possible to detect the surface temperature Tf of the food and to estimate the size of the food (step 110).

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the surface temperature of the food is all Tf regardless of the part, but in reality, there is some difference, and the distribution is also detected.

  In addition, although the food 42 is assumed to have a shape close to a rectangular parallelepiped, it is possible to determine the size of a food having a complicated shape. For more accurate detection, it is desirable to increase the number of grids.

  Next, the heat conduction characteristics of the food 42 are estimated. First, the food 42 is heated by the detection heater 26 (step 111). The amount of heat of the detection heater 26 is Q1 within a range that does not adversely affect the food 42.

  After the elapse of a certain time t, the detection result by the infrared sensor array 23 is as shown in FIG. 6. For example, the surface temperature distribution of the food 42 is a distribution of T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 from the side closer to the detection heater 26. And rises according to the heating time. This temperature rise is regarded as ΔT1, ΔT2, ΔT3, ΔT4, and ΔT5, respectively, and the change with time is confirmed (step 112).

  In addition to these detected temperatures, the characteristics relating to the heat conduction of the food are calculated by using, for example, Fourier's law or the like together with the dimensions of the food 42 acquired in advance (step 113). In addition, in order to obtain | require the weight and density of a foodstuff and to perform more exact calculation, you may provide the sensor which detects a weight.

  As described above, since the surface temperature, the external dimensions, and the heat conduction characteristics of the food 42 are obtained, the amount of heat Q2 due to the heating of the heater 25 or the amount of heat Q3 of the cold air from the discharge port 43 is clarified in advance. A change in the center temperature Tc of the food 42 due to heating or cooling can be estimated.

  As an example using this calculation result, the thawing sequence of the frozen food 42 will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG.

  In the initial state t0, it is assumed that the food 42 has been frozen in the switching chamber 14 for a certain period of time, and both the surface temperature Tf and the center temperature Tc are stable at T0.

  First, heating is started by the heater 25. Since the surface temperature Tf is larger than the center temperature Tc, the temperature change due to heating is assumed to be heated for the time of Δt1 in order to prevent the difference between the two. At this time, the temperature rises of Tf and Tc are ΔTt1 and ΔTt1 ′, respectively.

  Next, in order to reduce the temperature difference between Tf and Tc to a certain level or more, cooling with cool air from the discharge port 43 is performed for a time of Δt2. If the temperature changes of Tf and Tc due to cooling are ΔTt2 and ΔTt2 ′, respectively, “ΔTt2> ΔTt2 ′” is satisfied, so that the temperature difference between Tf and Tc is reduced to some extent.

  Thereafter, such a heating / cooling cycle is repeated until the center temperature Tc reaches the thawing achievement temperature Tm to complete the thawing.

  During this time, the surface temperature Tf of the food 42 is managed so as to be lower than the temperature Tq at which the food 42 is altered. The center temperature Tc and the temperature change ΔTtn of the food 42 are calculated as needed based on data such as the amount of heat Q2 by the heater 25, the amount of heat Q3 by the cold air, the surface temperature Tf detected by the infrared sensor array 23, and the external dimensions. .

  In this way, since the thawing is performed while managing not only the surface temperature of the food 42 but also the center temperature, for example, the conventional problems such as thawing only outside the food and the center being frozen can be solved. Moreover, since it heats after calculating | requiring the temperature conductivity characteristic of the foodstuff 42, the heat amount more than necessary is given, for example, the malfunction which a meat is burned by a thawing | decompression sequence does not occur.

  In the above description, the heater 25 and the detection heater 26 are not separate components, and one part may serve both roles.

  Further, the heating by the heater 25 and the detection heater 26 may be replaced with cold air from the discharge port 43 or cooling by another means.

  Further, in order to calculate precise data, complicated arithmetic processing is required, and the arithmetic control unit 21 installed in the storage 11 is required to have high speed and high storage area performance. However, since it is unrealistic to install a high-performance calculation control unit 21 in each storage, the calculation control unit 21 in the storage 11 only acquires data and uses cloud computing by network connection. It is desirable to calculate with a shared high-performance processing unit.

  As described above, the storage according to the present invention can not only accurately detect the surface temperature state of food, but also can estimate the temperature at the center of food and select an optimal heating or cooling sequence. It can be expected to be applied to devices that require food temperature control, such as commercial thawing machines and microwave ovens.

11 Refrigerator (storage)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Refrigeration room 12a Refrigeration room door 13 Ice making room 14 Switching room 14a Switching room door 15 Freezing room 16 Vegetable room 17 Display part 21 Computation control part 22 Door open / close detection means 23 Infrared sensor array 24 Distance sensor 25 Heating heater 26 Detection heater 30 Compressor 31 Cooling Fan 32 Airflow Control Damper 41 Bottom 42 Food 43 Discharge Port 51 Detection Range 52 Grid 53 Boundary Surface

Claims (8)

Based on the first specifying means for specifying the surface temperature of the food, the second specifying means for specifying the outer dimensions of the food, and the amount of change in the surface temperature of the food that rises by heating the food for a predetermined time. And third specifying means for specifying the heat conduction characteristics of the food, and fourth specifying means for specifying the center temperature of the food based on the surface temperature, the outer dimensions, and the heat conduction characteristics. Equipment characterized by comprising. The said 1st specific means divides | segments into several divisions, specifies the said surface temperature, The variation | change_quantity of the said surface temperature shows the variation | change_quantity of each of these multiple divisions, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. machine. The first specifying means further specifies a bottom surface temperature of a bottom surface of the storage chamber in which the food is stored, and the second specifying means is configured to determine the food and the bottom surface based on the surface temperature and the bottom surface temperature. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the second specifying unit specifies the outer dimension based on the boundary surface and a height of the food. 4. The second specifying means can specify a distance from the top surface of the storage chamber to the food, and the height of the food is a distance from the top surface to the food from the height of the storage chamber. The device according to claim 3, wherein the device is specified by subtracting. It is further provided with a determination unit that determines whether the boundary surface can be specified, and when the determination unit determines that the boundary surface cannot be specified, the second specification unit heats the food to The device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the boundary surface is specified by increasing a difference between a surface temperature and the bottom surface temperature. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the determination unit determines whether the boundary surface can be specified when opening / closing of the door of the storage chamber is detected. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the device is a microwave oven. A processing method for specifying a central temperature of the food, which is executed by a device that stores the food, the step of specifying the surface temperature of the food, the step of specifying the outer dimensions of the food, and the food Based on the amount of change in the surface temperature of the food that rises by heating for a predetermined time, identifying the heat conduction characteristics of the food, on the basis of the surface temperature, the outer dimensions, and the heat conduction characteristics, And a step of specifying a center temperature of the food.

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