JPS6120776B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a high-frequency heating device in which a heating sequence of an object to be heated can be easily set.

In high-frequency heating, dielectric loss differs depending on the object to be heated, so it is not good at cooking that involves mixing multiple ingredients, such as mixed vegetables. In other words, the beans may be cooked but the carrots may still be cold. Therefore, in this type of cooking, it is necessary to prepare ingredients that are difficult to boil by heating them individually first. Therefore, for purposes other than heating a single ingredient, sequential heating is effective, such as preparing root vegetables in the first step and adding leafy vegetables to the prepared root vegetables in the second step.

Another disadvantage of high-frequency heating is that if the amount of the object to be heated changes, the heating time must be adjusted accordingly. In other words, if a cookbook is written for 4 servings, if you want to serve 3, you will need to set the timer to about 3/4 of the cooking time.

The present invention simplifies the troublesome heating time setting operation unique to high-frequency heating, and enables failure-free cooking by simply selecting a menu name and correcting the number of people by heating in a predetermined sequence.

The configuration of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main body of an apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the operation panel thereof, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same essential parts.

On the front surface of the main body 1, a door body 2 which covers the opening of the heating chamber in an openable and closable manner and an operation panel 3 are arranged. The operation panel 3 includes a timer knob 4, an output switching button 5 for switching high frequency output, and a cooking start button 6.
, a drum 8 rotated by an operation piece 7 serving as a cooking category selection means, a cooking name display section 9 disposed on the circumference of the drum 8, and a see-through window 10 that displays only a group of these cooking names on the operation panel. , a cooking item selection button 11 serving as cooking name selection means for selecting any one of these cooking items, an indicator light 12 indicating the selection, and a number of people correction button 1 for correcting the number of people.
3, and a number display section 14 for displaying the number of people.

Now, with this configuration, we will first describe how to manually cook using a conventional timer. This is completely the same as before, and after calculating the heating time from a cookbook or the like, setting the heating time using the timer knob 4, selecting a predetermined output using the output switching button 5, and starting heating using the cooking start button 6.

On the other hand, automatic cooking according to the present invention is performed in the following procedure. First, turn timer knob 4 further to the left from the zero point to switch to "automatic". FIG. 4 shows this circuit configuration. In addition to the time switch 15 and the timer motor 16, the timer is equipped with a manual/automatic changeover switch 17. By setting the timer knob 4 to "auto", the time switch 15 is switched on. At the same time, the time relay 18 is inserted into the main circuit and the drum lamp 19 is turned on. In other words, by setting the timer knob 4 to "auto", the light enters the see-through window 10, the cooking name display section 9 rises, and the control section is electronically controlled from the manual time switch 15 for automatic operation. The time relay 17 is transferred to the time relay 17.

Next, the operations are performed in the order numbered in FIG. First, select the group of food items using operation panel 7.
(2), one of them is determined by the cooking item selection button 11.
(3). As a result, the corresponding indicator light 12 lights up.
Next, by tapping or holding down the number of people correction button 13, a display indicating "how many servings" appears on the number of people correction display section 14 (4). If you can set a certain number of people,
Heating is started by pressing the cooking start button 6 (5).

As described above, in this embodiment, switching between manual and automatic mode is extremely clear, and automatic operation is extremely simple. The usability will be further improved if the recipe name display section 9 includes the page of the cookbook in addition to the finished photo and recipe name.

Next, the circuit configuration of this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a timing chart of the same.

As shown in FIG. 3, a cam 20 is provided at one end of the rotating drum 8, and a cooking type switch 21 that is opened and closed by the cam 20 is disposed. Fourth
_G1 to _G4 in the figure are the cooking type switches (hereinafter referred to as G switches). This G switch 21 inputs group information of large cooking items such as "defrosting" and "stewing" to the microcomputer 22 which is the main control section.

On the other hand, the cooking item selection button 11 is provided with corresponding cooking item selection switches M ₁ to _{M 4} (hereinafter referred to as M switches), which input the name of the cooking item to the microcomputer 22 together with the G switch.

In addition to this, the input section is arranged in two sets: an S switch corresponding to the number of people correction button 13, an S switch corresponding to the cooking start button 6, a P switch corresponding to the output switching button 5, and a manual/automatic changeover switch 17. A switch A that detects the opening and closing of the door body 2, and a door switch D that detects the opening and closing of the door body 2.
23, forming a key matrix. The door switch 23 is also arranged in the main circuit.
Each element of the key matrix (marked with a circle at the intersection) consists of a switch and a diode.

Now, the microcomputer 22 time-shares the system into six timings A to F. FIG. 5 shows the sweep signals _S0 to _S5 . The three columns of the key matrix are swept by these six timings, and the keystrokes of each button are recognized. For example, when "oden" _M3 of "stew" _G2 is pressed, input port _i2 becomes H level at timing E. Therefore, 16 types of cooking can be distinguished using the four G switches and the four M switches.

Here, timings E and F are longer than the others because
This period is indicated by the indicator light 12 (LED in this example).
This is because it is also used to display the number of people correction display unit 14 (in this embodiment, a 1-digit 7-segment LED). D ₀ to _{D 6} are display data buses, 24 is a driver for the display section 14 , C ₀ is a control signal that controls the output switching relay 25 , and C ₁ is a control signal that controls the time relay 18 .

When the pressed food selection button 11 is identified within the microcomputer 22, a predetermined heating sequence is transferred from the memory ROM within the microcomputer to the RAM. Next, the cooking start button 6 is pressed to execute a predetermined output and a predetermined heating time (if the number of people is corrected, the microcomputer recalculates this correction for the heating time).

Note that by using a humidity sensor, an infrared sensor, etc., the number of people correction can be omitted.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a complex type high-frequency heating device that incorporates a heater in a heating chamber, such as a microwave oven commonly known as an oven range. FIG. 7 is the same circuit diagram.

In addition to the heating time, you also have to set the temperature with a microwave oven. In the example shown in Figure 6, to manually cook in the oven, first set the heater selector switch 26 to "oven", then select the predetermined temperature with the temperature control knob 27, and finally set the heating time with the timer knob 4. After that, the cooking button 6 starts energizing the heater. Moreover, "preheating" is essential for oven cooking, and the preheating temperature also varies depending on the menu. This makes oven operation extremely complicated.

However, in oven cooking, the heating time is less affected by the amount of food. In other words, automatic cooking using a fixed pattern of heating sequences according to the menu according to the present invention works very effectively.

An example of automatic oven cooking operation is given below. First, switch to "Auto" with timer knob 4 (1). Next, select "Oven" using selection piece 7 (2). If you select "butter roll" from among these and press the corresponding cooking item selection button 11 (3), the control system 28
A predetermined preheating temperature, baking temperature, and heating time are preset within the box. Finally, when the cooking start button 6 is pressed, the preset heating sequence is faithfully executed under the supervision of the microcomputer.
29 is a thermistor that inputs the temperature inside the refrigerator to the microcomputer, and 30 is a heater 31 based on this thermistor information.
This is a relay that controls the power supply to.

The power supply between the heater 31 and the magnetron 32 can be switched by arranging a switch 33, which opens and closes with a cam provided on the drum, in parallel with the G switch. 34 is a switch that similarly switches to the grill mode. 35 is a switch for manually turning off the top heat using the heater switching knob 26.

Although the amount of food has a slight effect on the internal temperature, the microcomputer adjusts the heating time based on the internal temperature information from the thermistor 29, thereby automating oven cooking. . With this configuration, the procedure for quantity correction can also be omitted.

36 is a humidity sensor whose resistance value changes greatly depending on humidity. During high-frequency heating, if the humidity inside the refrigerator is detected by the humidity sensor 36 and the high-frequency oscillation is controlled, variations in the heating time due to the amount of the object to be heated will appear as variations in the time until humidity detection, and thus this time By counting the amount of heat, the amount of the object to be heated can be estimated. Therefore, even in high-frequency heating, the procedure for correcting the quantity of the object to be heated can be omitted. Other temperature sensors such as infrared sensors and thermistors can also be used as this sensor.

With this configuration, menus can be selected with the pleasure of flipping through a cookbook, and searching is easy because the general categories are categorized by selection pieces. You can also see the pages in the cookbook at the same time, making it very easy to use. Also, the switching from manual to automatic is clear, and there is no risk of the user confusing the two.
As a control system, many menu names can be selected with a small number of switches, resulting in low cost and high reliability. The heating sequence can be freely configured, such as stopping heating at any time during the preparation step and notifying the user to proceed with finishing operations, or setting up a heating sequence that continuously switches the output from high heat to low heat like in simmering. can. In so-called microwave ovens that have a heater built into the heating chamber, you can set the heating time and temperature all at once by selecting the menu.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a high-frequency heating device showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the same operation panel,
Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same essential parts, Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of the same,
FIG. 5 is a timing chart of the same, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main body showing another embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of the same. 3...Operation panel, 4...Timer knob, 7
... Selection piece, 8 ... Drum, 9 ... Cooking name display section, 11 ... Cooking item selection button, 22 ... Microcomputer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A high-frequency generator that irradiates high-frequency waves to the object to be heated, a main control unit that controls the generation of this high-frequency wave, a transparent window provided on the operation panel, and cooking names arranged in a matrix, and a line in the transparent window. Alternatively, a cooking name display section for displaying a plurality of cooking names belonging to a column, a cooking category selection means for selecting a plurality of cooking names related to a certain cooking category from the cooking name display section, and a cooking name display section for selecting a plurality of cooking names related to a certain cooking category from the cooking name display section; and a memory for storing a heating sequence corresponding to the cooking name arranged in the cooking name display section, and the cooking category selecting means Accordingly, a plurality of cooking names related to a certain cooking category belonging to the row or column of the cooking name display section are displayed on the transparent window, and when a certain cooking name is selected from among these cooking names by the cooking name selection means. The high frequency heating device is configured such that the main control section calls up a heating sequence corresponding to the cooking name selected from the memory and controls the high frequency generation section based on this.