JPH05284928A - Resonator for producing popcorn and container for producing popcorn - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a resonator for producing popcorn capable of providing a wide band at a low production cost and a resonator type container for producing the popcorn. CONSTITUTION:The objective resonator 52 for producing popcorn having plural resonating elements 11, 12 and 13, tilted to the center and provided in the bottom of a container 50 for producing the popcorn. The respective plural resonating elements 11, 12 and 13 are constructed of 1/4 wavelength Lecher wires resonating elements having the length and binding degree set so as to resonate at the frequency of a microwave oven. The electromagnetic fields of at least the adjacent resonating elements are arranged so as to mutually intersect at right angles.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating resonator for manufacturing popcorn using a microwave oven and a disposable popcorn container using the resonator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a container for producing popcorn in a microwave oven, the present applicant has already proposed a disposable container as shown in FIG. 7 (Japanese Patent Application No. 3-22861).
7). In this container, a slit type resonator 71 that resonates at the frequency of a microwave oven is provided at the bottom of a cylindrical container 70 such as a paper cup, and a microwave electric field is focused on a cone particle 72 to cause the cone particle 72 to pop. It is a thing.

[0003]

According to the conventional popcorn manufacturing container as described above, the electric field in the microwave oven,
Since it has an open-type resonator structure that is coupled to any magnetic field, a microwave electric field can be generated around the cone grain regardless of the microwave oven mode (model), resulting in high cone grain repelling efficiency and resonance. The plate is also configured to reduce the size.

However, according to such a configuration, the cone grain is added to the resonance circuit as a capacitive load, so that the resonance condition is changed as the cone grain is repelled. Therefore, there has been a demand for a design in which the resonance frequency is in a wide band.
Even if multiple resonators with different resonance frequencies are installed in order to broaden the resonance frequency band, this type of resonator has a very strong coupling between the resonators and may resonate at a single frequency. There were many.

Further, since the resonator is composed of one metal plate, there is also a disadvantage that the weight of the metal portion becomes large and the manufacturing cost becomes high, which makes commercialization very difficult.

Therefore, the present invention provides a resonator for manufacturing popcorn and a resonator-type popcorn manufacturing container which can be manufactured at a low cost and have a wide band.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a popcorn manufacturing resonator having a plurality of resonant elements which are provided at the bottom of a popcorn manufacturing container with an inclination toward the center. Each has a length and degree of coupling set to resonate at the frequency of the microwave oven.
Provided is a resonator for popcorn manufacturing, which is composed of a wavelength lechel line resonant element and is arranged such that at least electromagnetic fields of adjacent resonant elements are orthogonal to each other.

The above-mentioned quarter-wave Lecher line resonance element is
It may be a hairpin line resonant element having a length of 1/4 wavelength.

Further, according to the present invention, a dish member made of a heat-resistant insulating material is provided at the bottom of the container in a shape inclined downward toward the center, and a plurality of resonance elements inclined toward the center. 1/4 of which the length and degree of coupling are set so as to resonate at the frequency of the microwave oven while each of the resonance elements is arranged under the dish member.
There is provided a popcorn manufacturing container provided with a resonator for popcorn manufacturing, which is composed of a wavelength lecher line resonant element and is arranged so that electromagnetic fields of at least adjacent resonant elements are orthogonal to each other.

[0010]

A quarter-wave Lecher line resonance element such as a hairpin line resonance element having a quarter-wavelength can be formed by simply bending a metal wire. Therefore, a coaxial line resonator or a waveguide resonator It can be made much smaller and lighter than the above, and can be constructed at a lower cost than open-type resonant elements such as slot lines. By arranging at least the electromagnetic fields of the adjacent resonance elements so as to be orthogonal to each other, each resonance element is not excited in the same phase, it is possible to use even mode and odd mode generated between each resonance element,
As a result, the resonance frequency can be broadened.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below. Figure 1
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of an embodiment of a resonator for producing popcorn according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a funnel-shaped plate member made of a heat-resistant insulating material, which is provided at the bottom of the popcorn manufacturing container, and constitutes a corn grain storage tank and hopper. Specifically, the dish member 10 is made of silicon-impregnated paper having heat resistance of about 200 to 250 ° C. An electric field applicator (resonator) is provided on the lower surface of the dish member 10.
As one of three open hairpin line resonant elements 11, 1
2 and 13 are attached.

These hairpin line resonant elements 11, 12,
And 13 are such that the electromagnetic fields of two adjacent resonant elements are orthogonal to each other, and their open ends 11 are
b, 12b, and 13b are arranged so as to be located near the bottom of the dish member 10 (in FIG. 1, the open end portion 11).
The arrows 14, 15 and 16 of b, 12b and 13b represent the directions of the electric fields that can be coupled). The dish member 10 for storing the corn grains has a funnel shape, and the open ends 11b, 1 of the hairpin line resonant elements 11, 12 and 13 are provided at the bottom thereof.
Since 2b and 13b are located, a strong electric field is intensively applied to the bottom portion of the funnel-shaped hopper. By limiting the range to which a strong electric field is applied, that is, the range in which the cone grains can bounce, when the cone grains bounce off, the cone grains with a high specific gravity that have not yet bounced fall into the electric field focusing part at the bottom. Therefore, the corn grains will fly in order, and the amount of unbroken residue will decrease.

Further, the hairpin line resonant elements 11 and 1
Reference numeral 2 is attached so as to be inclined downward toward the central axis 17 of the resonator, and the hairpin line resonant element 13 is attached so that the direction 16 of the electric field thereof is parallel to the central axis 17 of the resonator. As a result, the electric field can be focused regardless of the microwave oven mode, as described later.

Hairpin line resonant elements 11, 12 and 1
In the present embodiment, the tip of 3 is bent, thereby relaxing the electric field concentration and preventing the generation of sparks. The length of each of the hairpin line resonant elements 11, 12 and 13 is 25 mm, and the line spacing is 6 mm.

Next, the hairpin line resonator used in this embodiment will be described in more detail.

FIG. 2 shows a general hairpin line resonant element which is an example of a Lecher line resonant element (Lechel wire with a line length of ¼ wavelength and a short circuit at one end). This resonant element
By bending the metal wire and setting its length to about 1/4 wavelength, resonance occurs at a frequency Fr corresponding to this wavelength. Such a hairpin resonant element can be made much smaller and lighter than a coaxial line resonator, a waveguide resonator, etc., and the strongest electric field part can be exposed in a microwave oven, so that the cone grain It is extremely excellent as a means for applying an electric field in a concentrated manner. Further, it can be constructed at a lower cost than the slot line resonant element.

In such a hairpin line resonant element, the short-circuited end 20a of the hairpin 20 serves as an inductor and the open end 20b serves as a capacitor. A microwave magnetic field having a resonance frequency equal to the resonance frequency of the hairpin line resonance element is generated in the hairpin 20.
When applied so as to interlink with the inductor, the inductor at the short-circuited end 20a absorbs energy and becomes a resonance state, and when the electric field is applied across the hairpin 20, the capacitor at the open-end 20b absorbs energy. It becomes a resonance state. In the resonance state, the electric field and the magnetic field are alternately generated every half cycle, so that the hairpin 2 is applied even when only the magnetic field is applied.
An electric field is always generated at the open end portion 20b of 0.

The length of the hairpin 20 is determined in consideration of the fact that the dielectric constant of the cone grains affects the resonance frequency. That is, when the cone grain is not yet popped, the dielectric constant of the cone grain in the vicinity of the hairpin resonance element increases the additional capacitance of the resonance element and lowers the resonance frequency. On the contrary, as the corn grains pop and become popcorn, the density of the corn grains decreases, the effective dielectric constant also decreases, and the resonance frequency increases.

In order to deal with such a change in the resonance frequency, a resonance circuit having a plurality of resonance frequencies is configured to broaden the resonance frequency band. When a plurality of hairpin line resonant elements having the same resonant frequency are coupled to each other, the line spacing can be adjusted to provide the same number of resonant frequencies as the number of resonant elements to broaden the band. FIG. 3 shows this state, and FIG.
Shows a state in which an even mode is generated between the resonance elements 30 and 31 and the resonance frequency Fr−Δ is obtained. In the same figure (B), an odd mode is generated between the resonance elements 30 and 31 and resonance occurs. The state where the frequency Fr + Δ is obtained is shown.

When a resonator in which a plurality of resonant elements are arranged in parallel as described above is placed in an electric field such as a microwave oven, since the respective resonant elements are driven in the same phase, an odd mode as shown in FIG. 3B occurs. Since the resonance does not occur and the broadband resonance is not realized, each resonance element is arranged such that the directions of the electromagnetic fields of two adjacent resonance elements are orthogonal to each other as in the present embodiment. By arranging in this way, since each resonance element is not excited in the same phase, both even modes and odd modes occur, and it becomes possible to widen the band.

Since the electromagnetic field in the microwave oven is parallel to the peripheral surface (inner wall surface) of the microwave oven, the surface of the hairpin resonant element 40 is inclined (in this case, with respect to the vertical surface) as shown in FIG. If it is tilted at an angle of 45 ° so as not to be parallel to the inner wall surface, the resonant element 40 can be coupled with either the electric field or the magnetic field within the range.
In an ordinary microwave oven, the object to be heated is configured to rotate on the mounting table.
If the hairpin resonant element 40 is installed at an inclined position, the hairpin resonant element 40 is always coupled to a strong electric field or magnetic field in the microwave oven to continue resonance, and an electric field always exists at the open hairpin end 40b. In this case, it does not couple with the vertical electric field,
Since the inductor is coupled to the magnetic field in the horizontal plane where the vertical electric field is generated, it can be coupled to the electromagnetic field in all directions. That is, since an electric field can be generated at the open end 40b by resonance regardless of the mode in the microwave, popcorn can be produced regardless of the model of the microwave by placing a corn grain in the vicinity of the open end 40b.

Hairpin line resonant elements 11, 12 and 1
If the opening angle of the electric field applicator composed of 3 is 90 °, it is optimal because the surface of the resonance element can be coupled to the electromagnetic field in the microwave oven at an angle of 45 °, but the dish member 10 becomes thick. The capacity of corn grains is reduced. According to the experiment, even when the opening angle is about 135 °, it is sufficiently coupled with the electromagnetic field.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view schematically showing the construction of an embodiment of a disposable popcorn manufacturing container according to the present invention. In the figure, 50 is a container made of paper cup or the like, and the container 50 is hermetically sealed at its mouth with a lid member 51 which is also used to prevent the corn from popping off.
At the bottom of the container 50, the resonator 52 and the funnel-shaped dish member 53 shown in FIG. 1 are provided, and cone grains are placed on the dish member 53.

When this container was placed in a microwave oven with no cone particles and an electromagnetic field was applied, it resonated at about 2.6 GHz, 2.7 GHz and 2.8 GHz as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 6 also shows the directions of the electric fields on the respective resonance elements at the respective resonance frequencies.
2.25 GHz, 2.3 with corn grains
It resonated at 5 GHz and 2.45 GHz, and it was experimentally confirmed that the highest resonance frequency matches the frequency of the microwave oven (2.45 GHz). When the cone grains are popping, the effective permittivity of the cone grains decreases, so the resonance frequency rises, and the intermediate resonance frequency or the lowest resonance frequency matches the microwave frequency (2.45 GHz).

When 15 grams of corn grains were put into the container shown in FIG. 5 and popcorn was actually produced in the microwave oven, popping started 5 seconds after the operation of the microwave oven began, and 1 minute 40 seconds later The grain burst. This was almost the same when using microwave ovens of other models with different electromagnetic field modes, and popcorn could be efficiently produced regardless of the model. By the way, when the same amount of corn grains was put into a commercially available cup-shaped resistor heating type popcorn manufacturing container and popcorn was actually manufactured in the microwave oven, about 20 seconds after the start of operation of the microwave oven. It took more than 2 minutes to start and finish popping, and about 10% of the corn grains were left. In addition, when using a microwave oven of another model, there is more unpopped residue, and since it is kept in the microwave for a long time until the corn grains have finished popping, there is also the problem that popped popcorn will begin to burn. Occurred.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the hairpin line resonator is arranged at the inner bottom of the container. However, the hairpin line resonator is arranged at the outer bottom of the container. Good.

According to the popcorn producing container of the present invention,
Since microwaves are directly focused and applied to the corn grains to make them pop, it is not necessary to use a heat medium such as fats and oils, which contributes to non-oil foods and reduced calories.

Further, the container for producing popcorn of the present invention is
It may be used for popping grains other than corn, such as rice.

If a part or all of the heat-resistant insulating container is made of a transparent heat-resistant material such as glass, the process of popping corn grains can be monitored from the outside and the end of cooking can be easily known.

[0031]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a resonator for popcorn manufacturing having a plurality of resonant elements which are inclined toward the center and are provided on the bottom of the popcorn manufacturing container, a plurality of resonant elements are provided. Each of which is composed of a quarter-wave Lecher line resonance element whose length and degree of coupling are set so as to resonate at the frequency of the microwave oven, and at least electromagnetic fields of adjacent resonance elements are orthogonal to each other. Since the resonators are arranged, it is possible to provide a resonator for manufacturing popcorn and a resonator-type popcorn manufacturing container, which can be manufactured at a low cost and have a wide band.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of an embodiment of a resonator for producing popcorn according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining a hairpin line resonant element in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining a hairpin line resonant element in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining a hairpin line resonant element in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view schematically showing the configuration of an embodiment of the popcorn manufacturing container according to the present invention.

6 is a characteristic diagram showing a resonance frequency characteristic of the popcorn manufacturing container of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a conventional popcorn manufacturing container.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 53 Dish member 11, 12, 13, 20, 30, 31, 40 Hairpin line resonant element 14, 15, 16 Open end 50 Container 51 Lid member 52 Resonator

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A popcorn manufacturing resonator having a plurality of resonant elements provided on a bottom portion of a popcorn manufacturing container with an inclination toward the center, wherein each of the plurality of resonant elements resonates at a frequency of a microwave oven. The length and coupling degree are set so that the electromagnetic fields of at least adjacent resonance elements are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other. Resonator for popcorn production. 2. The quarter-wave Lecher line resonance element is one.
The resonator for producing popcorn according to claim 1, wherein the resonator is a hairpin line resonant element having a length of / 4 wavelength. 3. A resonance member for popcorn production according to claim 1, wherein a dish member made of a heat-resistant insulating material is provided at a bottom portion of the container in a shape inclined downward toward the center, and the dish member is arranged below the dish member. A container for producing popcorn, characterized by having a container.