JPS61163584A - Heater - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a heater such as a microwave oven with a heater, and in particular to a heater for automatically setting and controlling the height of the heater according to the height of food. It is related to position control.

<Prior art> Conventionally, in a microwave oven equipped with a heater, when performing grill heating (the menu for browning fish, gratin, etc. is generally referred to as grill heating), the heater 1 must be manually raised and lowered, or the heater 1 must be turned up and down as shown in Figure 6. By changing the voltage or polarity of the electric motor 2A connected to the electric motor 1, the user can move the heater position according to the height of the food 7 on the food tray 3 in the cooking chamber 5. The location was set properly. However, in order to set the heater position, the user forgot to bring heater 1 close to food 7.
The food 7 may not be charred, or the heater position may be inappropriate and the food 7 may be charred due to underheating or may be overly charred, resulting in large variations in the finish of the food 7 and making it troublesome to set the heater position.

<Purpose> In view of the above, the present invention detects the height of food on a tray in a cooking chamber by using a height detection sensor,
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a heater that can automatically set the heater according to the height of the food.

<Example> An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic structure of a microwave oven which is an embodiment of the present invention. In this microwave oven with a heater, a heater 1 is installed in a cooking chamber 5 so that the height can be freely adjusted, and an adjustment drive device 2 is used to adjust the height of the heater 1.
A placing plate 3 for placing food 7 in the cooking chamber 5 is rotatably installed around a rotating shaft 8, and a rotation drive device 9 is provided for rotationally driving the placing plate 3. A control device 10 for controlling the adjustment drive device 2 and the rotation drive device 9 is provided, and a height detection sensor 11 for detecting the height of the food 7 in the cooking chamber 5 is installed on the wall of the cooking chamber in a vertical direction. The control device 10 drives the rotary drive device 10 to rotate the placing plate 3 by 180 degrees or more and detects the height of the food 7 based on the output signal of the height detection sensor 11. It has a function of outputting a signal for controlling the adjustment drive device 2.

The height detection sensor 11 is a light sensor, and the light emitting element 1
The light emitting elements 12 are interposed between one side wall of the cooking chamber 5 and the heater main body 14 that interiors the cooking chamber 5 and are arranged in the vertical direction. 1
A plurality of small holes 15 are formed in the side wall of the cooking chamber 5 at the same position as the cooking chamber 2. Further, the light receiving element 13 is arranged on the outside of the other side wall of the cooking chamber 5 facing the light emitting element 12 at the position (height) of the light emitting element 12.
A small hole 1 is provided in the side wall of the cooking chamber 5.
6 is formed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the microwave oven, in which the light receiving element 13
and the light emitting element 12 are arranged opposite to each other in point-symmetrical positions with respect to the axis A of the rotating shaft 8 of the mounting plate 3. As the light emitting element 12, an open lamp or a light emitting diode is used6.The light receiving element 13 is as shown in FIG.
The emitter side of each light receiving element 13 is connected to the pace side of the transistor 18. When light enters the light receiving element 13, the transistor 18 becomes ONL and the collector voltage of the transistor 18 becomes L. level (OV), and when no light enters, the collector voltage of the transistor 18 becomes H level (+Ve).
). The signal level of each transistor 18 is then sent to the interface 22 of the main control circuit 21 of the control device 10.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control device, in which the control device 10
is a main control circuit 21 (microcomputer) that controls the heater heating device B, high-frequency heating device C1, and rotation drive device 9, and a setting that outputs signals such as the selection key 23A and cooking start key 23B to the main control circuit 21. The setting device 23 and the main control circuit 21 are connected via an interface 22.

The adjustment drive device 2 is composed of a DC motor 27 and a motor control circuit (IC) 25 that controls the motor to rotate, reverse, and stop, and signals for forward/reverse rotation and stop are sent via the interface 22. It is output from the main control circuit 21.

The rotary drive device 9 includes a tray drive motor 26, a relay switch 27a that turns the motor 26 ON10FF, and a relay coil 2 that operates the relay switch 27a.
7b, and a transistor 28 that drives the relay coil 27b by an output signal from the main control circuit 21. The motor 26 and relay switch 27a are connected to a power plug 30 via a door switch 29.

The heater heating device B includes a heater 1 and a
It consists of a relay switch 31a that controls N10FF, a relay fill 31b that operates the relay switch 31m, and a transistor 32 that drives the relay coil 31b by the output signal of the main control circuit 21, and the heater 1 and the relay switch 31a are used as a door switch. It is connected to a power plug 30 via 29.

The high-frequency heating device C also includes an oscillation circuit 36 including a magnetron 4, a resonant capacitor 33, a diode 34, a transformer 35, etc., a relay switch 37a that conducts to the oscillation circuit, and a relay coil 37b that operates the relay switch 37a. , a transistor 38 that drives the relay fill 37b by the output signal of the main control circuit 21, and the primary side of the transformer 35 and the relay switch 37.
a is connected to a power plug 30 via a door switch 29.

Note that 39 in Figures 4 and 5 is a cooking grate, which is a special accessory used to drain the oil when grilling fish.

Next, the operation will be explained. First, press the selection key 23A of the setting device 23.
When the grill key is pressed and the heating start key 23B is pressed after selecting the menu, the main control circuit 21 operates the tray drive relay coil 31b, closes the relay switch 27a, and rotates the tray 3.

Next, if the light emitting element 12 is made to emit light and there are a plurality of outputs of the transistors 18 that change according to the input of the light receiving element 13,
Since a signal indicating the rLJ level or rHJ level of the number of foods is sent, it is read into the main control circuit 1 circuit 21. If detection is performed without rotating the food tray 3, detection may not be possible depending on the location of the food.

4 and 5 are schematic diagrams (each figure (a)) when food 7 is actually put on the cooking grid 39 and operated, and diagrams showing the output of the transistor 18 at that time (each figure (a)). b)) As shown in FIG. 4, if the food 7 reaches the light receiving element 13 without blocking the light from the light emitting element 12, the output of the transistor 18 will be at the rLJ level. As shown in the HS diagram, when the food 7 is high, light does not reach the light receiving element 13, and the output of the transistor 18 in the shaded area becomes rHJ level. As the mounting plate 3 rotates, the light may or may not be irradiated, so the output is "L" as shown in Figure 5 (B).
The "H" level often moves.

Therefore, until the mounting plate 3 rotates by 180 degrees, the light receiving element 13
The output is read by the main control circuit 21. Then, it is checked which of the plurality of light receiving elements 13 has reached the rHJ level at least once, and if there is a light receiving element 13 that has reached the rHJ level at least once, the height of that light receiving element 13 is determined by the height of the food 7. This indicates that there is a corresponding height. Therefore, if the heater 2 is lowered to the position of the light receiving element 13 that has reached the "H" level, the food 7 will be hit by the heater 2, so the main control circuit 21 lowers the heater 2 to the position of the light receiving element 13 directly above it. , sends a signal to the control circuit 25 of the adjustment drive device 2, rotates the DC motor 24, and rotates the heater 2.
lower. When it reaches the detected heater height,
The main control circuit 21 sends a stop signal to the control circuit 25 in the same manner as described above.
and stops the motor 24.

Next, the main control circuit 21 operates the heater relay coil 31b, operates the relay switch 31a, and turns the heater 2 on.
NL, the main control circuit 21 sends a signal to the motor control circuit 25 to perform grill heating to char the food 7, and after a certain period of time has elapsed, to stop the heating and automatically return the heater 1 to its original position (upward). send.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention. For example, in this embodiment, the sensor e is an optical sensor, but a sensor using reflection from ultrasonic waves or the like may be used.

<Effects> As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a heater in which a heater is installed in a cooking chamber so that its height can be freely adjusted, and an adjustment drive device for adjusting the height of the heater is provided. A placing plate for placing food in the cooking chamber is rotatably installed around a rotating shaft, a rotational drive device is provided for rotationally driving the placing plate, and the adjustment drive device and the one-rotation drive device are provided. A plurality of height detection sensors for detecting the height of food in the cooking chamber are arranged vertically on a wall of the cooking chamber, and the control device drives the rotary drive device. and rotating the food tray by 180 degrees or more, detecting the height of the food based on the output signal of the height detection sensor, and outputting a signal for controlling the adjustment drive device 2. The invention relates to a heater for

That is, the present invention uses a plurality of height detection sensors, detects the height of the food according to the output from these sensors, and controls the heater to a predetermined height. The height of the food is determined by rotating the food and reading the output of the height detection sensor during that time, so no matter where the food is on the food tray, the food is rotated, so the height must be adjusted somewhere. Since the detection sensor detects the height of the food, the height of the food can be detected well without malfunctions, and it can be done with a simple operation of rotating the placing tray, so it can be done at low cost, and has many other advantages.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing a schematic structure of a microwave oven which is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a control device, Figs. Figure 5 (a) is a schematic diagram of when food is actually placed on the cooking grid and operated.
FIG. 5(b) and FIG. 5(b) are diagrams showing the output of the transistor at that time, and FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a conventional microwave oven. 1: Heater, 2: Adjustment drive device, 3: Placement plate, 5: Cooking chamber, 7: Food, 8: Rotation shaft, 9: Rotation drive device, 10:
Control device, 11: Height detection sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a heater in which a heater is installed in a cooking chamber so that its height can be freely adjusted, and an adjustment drive device for adjusting the height of the heater is provided, a placing plate for placing food in the cooking chamber rotates. A rotary drive device is installed rotatably around an axis to rotate the placing tray, and a control device for controlling the adjustment drive device and the rotation drive device is provided to control the height of the food in the cooking chamber. A plurality of height detection sensors are arranged vertically on the wall of the cooking chamber, and the control device drives the rotary drive device to rotate the mounting plate by 180 degrees or more to detect the height. A heater characterized in that it has a function of detecting the height of food based on an output signal of a sensor and outputting a signal for controlling the adjustment drive device 2.