JPS63241354A - Taste detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect relish of cooking simply with a high reproducibility, by providing sweet, salty, sour taste sensors and a temperature sensor to compare signals of the sensors with a range of relish of cooking previously stored for computation. CONSTITUTION:A temperature sensor 0, a sweet taste sensor 1 such as refraction sugar gauge, a salty taste sensor 2 such as conductivity meter and a sour taste sensor 3 such as pH meter are provided and connected to a detection signal computation processing section section 5 for computation processing of detection signals of the sensors. An information memory section 7 has information for comparison previously stored in terms of preference of taste per cooking item from an external information input section 4. As relish per cooking items is plotted on a fixed straight line in the ratio between output of the salty and sweet taste sensors, outputs of the sweet and salty sensors are combined to enable detection of relish per cooking item.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an artificial taste detection device suitable for vI4 food and delicious cooking according to taste.

[Conventional technology]

Traditionally, human taste has been defined by Hennig (Henn1nr).
Based on the tetrahedron theory, he concluded that all kinds of tastes can be expressed simply by combining the four basic tastes: sweet, acidic, and young. Furthermore, it is known that the intensity of human taste for these four primary tastes has a temperature characteristic. In other words, it is known that salty taste becomes less noticeable as the temperature rises, sweetness is felt most strongly near body temperature, sourness is almost unrelated to temperature, and bitterness becomes less perceptible as temperature rises.

Taking the above matters into consideration, the conventional device was
As described in Japanese Patent No. 7459, a taste detection device has been proposed which is equipped with four taste sensors for sweet and sour groups and a temperature sensor, and comprehensively detects and evaluates the taste of food (cooked products) from the output data of these sensors. ing. Comprehensive evaluation like this,
It becomes possible to detect tastes including contrasting effects of tastes, which has great advantages. However, the above-mentioned publication does not disclose a specific sensor for detecting taste, but states that it will be possible if various types of senna are developed in the future.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In other words, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-87459, a sensor that independently detects the concentration of each cool taste is currently under research and has not yet been completed. is the current situation.

However, on the other hand, it is impossible to completely separate and measure only the salty taste, but as a sensor that can be used as a salty taste sensor, a salt concentration meter using a glass electrode method (for example, Zenkensha "NA-05") or There is a conductivity meter (e.g. Yokoma Hokushin Denki ``5C-51'') that measures electrical conductivity instead.Also, as a sweetness sensor, it can be measured using a lighting plate, a prism, a lens, or a scale plate with a Prixti scale. There is a hand-held refractometer (for example, Atago's "ATC-1").

Hydrogen ion index meters with glass electrodes (for example, Toa Den Kaihatsu "") are conventionally available as sour senna, making it possible to easily and accurately measure the hydrogen ion index (PH). However, each of these sensors above detects salty taste,
It is not possible to measure only sweetness and sourness, but simply using a combination of these causes problems such as a salty taste sensor sensing sourness in addition to salty taste, making it impossible to detect taste.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the conventional taste detection device described above and the taste sensors that are its constituent elements,
It is possible to make delicious food with good reproducibility (according to the food and taste) using an artificial taste detection device without relying on human taste for seasoning foods.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the technical means described below.

As each taste sensor, a conventional sensor is used.

That is, a thermistor element or a thermocouple is used as the temperature sensor, a refractometer is used as the sweetness sensor, a conductivity meter is used as the salty sensor, and a hydrogen ion sourness meter (pH meter) is used as the sourness sensor. Each of these sensors also detects signals from objects other than the objects they want to detect, but by devising a method for processing the obtained signals, we can determine the relationship between the taste of the food and the taste of the food without determining the true concentration of each cooling taste. This can be achieved by discovering and adopting new things that can be sought.

[Effect]

In other words, if you calculate the ratio of the detection signals from the sweet sensor and the salty sensor for each cooked product, there is a correlation between the deliciousness of each cooked product and this value, and this ratio and the signal output of the sweet sensor Alternatively, by defining the range of the signal output of the salty taste sensor, it is possible to detect the taste of cooked products without being affected by disturbances received by the sensor (signals from tastes other than the taste to be detected). .

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a taste detection device according to the present invention. 0 is a temperature sensor consisting of a thermistor that measures the temperature of the cooked product, and 1 is a sweetness sensor used to measure sweetness, which is a refractometer. 2 is a salt taste sensor used to measure salty taste, which is a conductivity meter consisting of a pair of electrodes.

3 is an acidity senna used to measure acidity and is a PH meter. Reference numeral 4 denotes an information input section consisting of a keyboard, etc., for inputting information such as the name of the cooked product and taste preference (stronger or weaker taste) from the outside during cooking; and 5, arithmetic processing is performed on the detection signals of each of the sensors 0 to 3. A detection signal calculation processing unit 6 receives information from an external information input unit and calls a comparison signal from an information storage unit 7, which stores comparison information in advance for each cooking product and taste preference, and performs detection. This is a comparison section for comparing the signal from the signal calculation processing section 5 and sending a signal related to seasoning addition to the control section. 8 displays signals such as seasoning completion, seasoning addition stop, etc. based on the signal from the comparing section 6;
This is a control unit that is not used for making notifications.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram according to the present invention for showing the range of deliciousness of each cooked product. The abscissa axis shows the frequency signal obtained from the sweet sensor, and the vertical axis shows the electrical conductivity signal obtained from the salt sensor. For example, A
:9 is the characteristics of maggot soup mainly salty, B:10 is miso soup, C:11 is a sauce whose main ingredients are soybean oil and sugar,
D: 12 is 3 tablespoons of vinegar consisting of vinegar, soybean oil, and sugar, E: 1
3 is the characteristic of Oshiruko. Note that curves 14 and 15 indicate the range of deliciousness, and curves 15 to 1
The taste becomes darker as you move toward 4, and the adjustable range of taste such as light, normal, and strong taste is shown. That is,
As can be seen from FIG. 2, it has been newly discovered that the ratio of the salty taste sensor output and the sweet taste sensor output is on a constant straight line in terms of taste for each buried product.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to create an artificial taste detection device that closely approximates the human sense of taste, and it can be used with good reproducibility even when processing a large amount of food under the same flavoring conditions. ,
It can be easily carried out. Furthermore, by using the current simple sensor, an artificial taste detection device that can detect taste without any malfunction can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of the characteristics of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Sweetness sensor, 2... Salty sensor, 3... Sourness sensor, 4... Information input part, 7... Information storage part. Good 2. Oh Ogawa, male U1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A taste sensor consisting of sweetness, saltiness, sourness and temperature sensors, a detection signal calculation processing section of the taste sensor, an information input section for inputting external information such as the name of the cooked product, taste preference, etc. An information storage unit stores the range of deliciousness of cooking corresponding to external information such as product name and taste preference, and information corresponding to the signal from the information input unit is retrieved from the information storage unit and detected by the taste sensor. It consists of a comparison section that compares the signal with the signal from the signal calculation processing section, and a control section that issues a seasoning addition stop signal, a seasoning completion display, and an alarm based on the signal from the comparison section. A taste detection device characterized in that the information on the taste is obtained from the ratio of the signal output of the sweet taste sensor and the signal output of the salty taste sensor, and the combination information of the salty taste sensor signal output or the sweet taste sensor signal output.