JPH0518539A - Heating cooking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure the safety operation of a heating cooking device by automatically judging kinds of foods to automatically perform cooking suitable for any food, and detecting firing of any food caused by abnormal heating and interrupting at once heating means. CONSTITUTION:There are provided heating means 4,5 for heating foods 13 in a cooking device body, a control circuit 21 for driving the heating means 4, 5, and an odor sensor 22 for detecting the odor of the food 13. The control circuit 21 includes food identify means 23 for identifying the kind of the food 13 based upon odor information from the odor sensor 22 and heating control means 24 for controlling the heating means 4, 5 based upon odor information from the odor sensor 22. There is further provided heating means interruption means 36 for detecting firing of the food 13 based upon the odor information from the odor sensor 22 to interrupt the operation of the heating means 4, 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating cooker such as a microwave oven, a microwave oven and an oven toaster, and more particularly to a heating cooker which detects an odor rising from food to detect the type and finish state of the food. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, heating cookers such as microwave ovens have become more and more complex in functions, and have functions such as defrosting by microwave heating, warming cooking functions, oven cooking by heater heating, and grill cooking functions. .. Also, due to the rationalization of household chores, there is an increasing need for an automated range that can be easily, easily and quickly cooked. Therefore, regardless of the type and amount of food, heating time and heating control (microwave output or heater output) were automatically controlled using a sensor, and anyone who could cook delicious food without failure was put into practical use. ..

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a schematic structure of a conventional microwave oven. In the figure, 1 is a cooker body, 2 is a heating chamber in the cooker body 1, 3 is a turntable arranged at the bottom of the heating chamber 2, and 4 is a heating means for supplying microwaves into the heating chamber 2. A magnetron, 5 is also a heater for convection heating, and 6 is a circulation fan for convection heating.

This microwave oven was provided with various sensors as described below. That is, a finish sensor 8 for automatically detecting the finish of food and adjusting the degree of fire, a weight sensor 9 for detecting the weight of food,
Oven temperature sensor 10 for oven cooking and grill cooking
And a room temperature sensor 11 for adding information on the surrounding room temperature.
Was provided. Sensor 8 for detecting the finish of food
Was generally arranged in a passage 16 * where an atmospheric flow 14 evaporating from the food 13 leads to an exhaust port 15 at the rear of the cooker body 1.

As a kind of the method, a method of detecting an increase in ambient temperature due to heating of food by a thermistor.
A method for detecting the average water vapor content generated by heating food with a humidity sensor. A method for detecting changes in food surface temperature due to food heating with an infrared sensor. Are known.

Further, as the weight sensor 9, one using a strain gauge or one using an electrostatic capacity type piezoelectric sensor has been put into practical use.

On the other hand, the safety aspect of the heating cooker is also emphasized, and as a safety measure when food is overheated and ignites due to an abnormality of the heating cooker, the heating means such as a magnetron or a heater is urgently stopped. It is an absolute requirement to promote safety. For this reason, as a safety device, a thermo-cut fuse or the like that shuts off the power source when the temperature in the heating chamber 2 exceeds a certain temperature is generally used.

[0008]

However, although the conventional finish sensor and weight sensor can detect the finished condition and weight of food, they cannot identify the type of food. Therefore, the heating sequence suitable for the food item cannot be automatically selected, and after the user selects or inputs the food item by a key operation such as a microwave oven in advance,
Fully automatic cooking was not possible, such as starting cooking.

Further, in the thermo-cut fuse which has been conventionally used as a safety device, it takes a long time until the fuse is blown due to heat, and when the fuse is blown, the temperature in the heating chamber etc. is considerably high. The damage to the vessel was great, making the user anxious and making it difficult to handle the service.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to automatically determine the type of food and automatically perform cooking suitable for the food without the user's key selection. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a heating cooker that minimizes damage to the heating cooker by immediately stopping the heating means when detecting ignition of food due to abnormal heating.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the heating cooker of the present invention comprises a heating means for heating the food in the cooker main body and a control circuit for driving the heating means. In the heating cooker, provided with an odor sensor for detecting the odor of the food, the control circuit, food identification means for identifying the type of food based on the odor information from the odor sensor, the food from the food identification means A heating control means for controlling the heating means based on information, and a heating stop means for detecting the ignition of the food based on the odor information from the odor sensor and stopping the operation of the heating means. ..

[0012]

With the above construction, when the food is put in the heating chamber and the cooking is started, the heating means starts the operation to start the heating and the food is heated to generate a unique odor from the food. The odor sensor detects this odor, and the food identifying means identifies the food based on the odor detected by the odor sensor.

Based on this identification result, a cooking sequence suitable for the food is selected, and the heating control means controls the heating means to heat and cook the food. As described above, since the type of food is determined by the odor sensor, the user need only start heating and cooking at the start of heating, and can omit operations such as selecting other food.

Further, the heating stopping means detects the ignition of the food based on the odor information from the odor sensor, and immediately stops the operation of the heating means, thereby minimizing the damage to the heating cooker due to the ignition of the food. Suppress to.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the heating cooker according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a control device of an embodiment of a microwave oven according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing an odor sensor, and A is a perspective view of an odor recognition body,
B is a perspective view of the odor sensor, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the microwave oven, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart of food heating control by the odor sensor. Since the schematic configuration of the microwave oven according to the present invention is the same as the conventional one shown in FIG. 5,
The components having the same functions as those of the conventional components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and since these components have been described in the section of the related art, they are omitted here and only the characteristic portions of the present invention will be described.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the microwave oven according to the present invention includes a magnetron 4 and a heater 5 for heating the food 13 in the cooker body 1, and a control circuit 21 for driving and controlling the magnetron 4 and the heater 5. An odor sensor 22 for detecting the odor of the food 13 is provided, and the control circuit 21 identifies the type of the food 13 based on the odor information of the odor sensor 22 and the food identifying means 2
The magnetron 4 and the heater 5 are provided with the heating control means 24 based on the food information from 3.

The odor sensor 22 is arranged at the same position in place of the finishing sensor shown in FIG.
As described above, the odor recognition body 27 in which the pigment film 25 that changes depending on the odor component emitted from the food 13 is formed on the substrate 26,
Color tone detection unit 28 for reading the color change of the odor recognition body 27
It consists of and.

The odor recognizer 27 is formed of a "solvatochromic material" and a "coloring pigment material" which are functional organic pigments whose color changes by adsorption and desorption of odor molecules. The "solvatochromic material" is a betaine dye 25a, a merocyanine dye 25b, or the like, whose internal energy is changed by adsorption and desorption of odor molecules, and thereby the color (visible absorption spectrum) is changed, and the "coloring dye material" is The triphenylmethanephthalide dye 25c, the indolylphthalide dye 25d, and the like, whose molecular structure is changed by adsorption and desorption of odor molecules, and the color (absorbance) of which is changed, are thus included. Then, these color materials are melted with a polymer solution and applied onto one glass transparent substrate 26 and dried to form a pigment film 25.

The color tone detecting section 28 includes a light emitting element (LE
D) 31, a light receiving element (phototransistor) 32, and a color filter 33. The light receiving element 31 irradiates the odor recognition body 27 with light, and the light passing through the odor recognition body 27 is received by the light receiving element 32. A color filter 33 is arranged in front of the light receiving element 32, and the light receiving element 32 is configured to receive only a specific color. That is, if the transmittance of a plurality of dye films at a specific wavelength is measured by the color filter 33 that passes only the specific wavelength and the measured values are expressed as a transmittance pattern, the type of odor can be determined from the pattern.

The control circuit 21 is composed of a general one-chip microcomputer, and in addition to the food identifying means 23 and the heating control means 24 as described above, the food 13 based on the odor detected by the odor sensor 22. A heating stop means 35 for detecting the ignition (smoke generated from the food 13), turning off the safety switch 34 and immediately stopping the operation of the magnetron 4 and the heater 5, and based on the food heating information. A food finish determination means 36 for determining the finish condition of 13 is provided. This food heating information is provided from sensors such as the weight sensor 9 and the oven temperature sensor 10 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, 37 is a display element for displaying heating time and the like, 38 is a sounding device for notifying the user of the finish of food 13, abnormal heating (ignition of food 13), 39 is a power supply unit, and 40 is a key input. It is a device.

In the above structure, when the cooking start button is pressed to start cooking, heating of the food 13 is started,
A unique odor is generated from the food 13, and the generated odor is detected by the odor sensor 22. That is, the color tone of the pigment film 25 on the substrate 26 changes due to the adsorption of the peculiar odor component generated from food to the odor recognition body 27 of the odor sensor 22.

For example, in odorless air, the four dye film 25
a, 25b, 25c, 25d are sequentially "green, brown, blue, red"
However, in the smell of banana (isoamyl acetate), "green, brown,
"Light blue, light red", and for irritating odor (methanol), "red purple,
Yellow, light blue, light red ".

This change is irradiated with light from the light emitting element 31,
The color patterns of the four colors are identified from the difference in the transmittances through the dye film 25 and the color filter 33, and the color patterns are compared with the color patterns stored in the control circuit 21 in advance according to the food. The food identifying means 23 identifies the type of food. Based on this identification result, a cooking sequence suitable for the food item is selected, the weight sensor 9 detects the weight of the food item 13 and the heating time corresponding to the food item 13 is set to set the magnetron 4 and the heater 5. Control and cook.

Then, the odor sensor 22 again detects the odor generated from the food 13, and the odor detection again detects whether or not the food 13 is ignited. That is, when the food 13 is overheated due to an abnormality of the heating control means 24 or the like to generate smoke, the smoke sensor 22 detects the smoke generation, and the heating stop means 35 turns off the safety switch 34 according to the detection result. The operation of the magnetron 4 and the heater 5 is stopped, and at the same time, the sounding device 37 notifies the abnormality to ensure the safety of the cooking device.

When it is judged that there is no abnormality by the detection by the odor sensor 22 again, the heating cooking by the magnetron 4 and the heater 5 is continued, and the finished state of the cooking is detected by the oven temperature sensor 10 or the like, and the food finish judging means 36. If the cooked state is confirmed and it is determined that the cooked state is finished, the operations of the magnetron 4 and the heater 5 are stopped, and at the same time, the sounding device 38 gives a notification to end the cooking.

As described above, the odor sensor 22 allows the food 1
Since the 3 types are discriminated, at the start of heating,
By pressing only the cooking start button on the operation panel, cooking can be done automatically and other key operations can be omitted.

Since each dye film 25 of the odor recognition body 27 of the odor sensor 22 uses a triphenylmethane phthalide dye and an indolyl phthalide dye whose shade changes with heat, this temperature change dye film is used. The finished condition of the food 13 may be determined based on the food heating information according to.

[0028]

The cooking device of the present invention is provided with an odor sensor, and the type of food is discriminated by the odor sensor. Therefore, the heating output and the like are automatically set only by starting heating, and cooking is performed. Therefore, the operation can be simplified and the key for the operation can be largely omitted.

When the food is ignited due to an abnormality in the heating cooker, the heating means is immediately stopped, so that the damage to the heating means due to the high temperature can be minimized.
The safety can be greatly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a control device of an embodiment of a microwave oven according to a heating cooker of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an odor sensor of a microwave oven according to the present invention,
A is a perspective view of an odor recognition body, and B is a perspective view of an odor sensor.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a microwave oven of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of food heating control by the odor sensor of the microwave oven of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an example of a microwave oven according to a conventional heating cooker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Magnetron 5 Heater 22 Odor Sensor 23 Food Identification Means 24 Heating Control Means 25 Pigment Film 26 Substrate 27 Odor Recognizer 28 Color Tone Detecting Unit 31 Light Emitting Element 32 Light Receiving Element 33 Color Filter 34 Safety Switch 35 Heating Stopping Means 36 Food Finishing Discriminating Means

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A heating cooker comprising heating means for heating food in a cooker main body and a control circuit for driving the heating means, wherein an odor sensor for detecting an odor of the food. The control circuit includes a food identifying means for identifying the type of food based on the odor information from the odor sensor, and a heating control means for controlling the heating means based on the food information from the food identifying means. A heating cooker comprising: a heating stopping unit that detects the ignition of food based on the odor information from the odor sensor and stops the operation of the heating unit.