JPWO2011114682A1 - Cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

The heating cooker of the present invention includes a heating chamber including a bottom surface on which an object to be heated is placed, a heating device for heating the object to be heated in the heating chamber, and light emission that emits light in at least an infrared wavelength region in the heating chamber. The apparatus includes an infrared sensor that detects information on an object to be heated by detecting reflected light from the bottom surface, and a control device that controls at least the heating device and the light emitting device. Thereby, since the information of a to-be-heated object can be acquired and the heating can be controlled at the initial stage of heating using an infrared sensor, an inexpensive and compact heating cooker can be realized.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooking device using a light emitting device and an infrared temperature detection sensor.

  Conventionally, a heating cooker that uses an infrared sensor to measure a temperature distribution in a heating chamber is generally well known.

  However, when heating food at room temperature with a conventional heating cooker, the temperature in the heating chamber of the food and the heating cooker is almost the same. Information such as could not be obtained. Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a cooking device that detects the temperature distribution of food that rises during heating with an infrared sensor and recognizes the shape of the food.

  FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a conventional cooking device shown in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. 29, the heating cooker includes a heating chamber 125 for storing food in a heating cooker body 124, and a magnetron 126 for heating the food and microwaves generated by the magnetron 126 are heated in the heating chamber 125. It is comprised from the waveguide 127 led in and the infrared temperature sensor 128 which measures the temperature in the heating chamber 125. FIG.

  The cooking device recognizes the shape of the food by raising the temperature of the food to a certain level or more by heating and detecting the temperature distribution of the food with the infrared temperature sensor 128. However, when it is desired to heat the food at a temperature below a certain level, there is a problem that the food is heated too much.

  Below, the case of the setting which recognizes the shape of a foodstuff with the infrared temperature sensor 128 of a heating cooker is demonstrated to an example about the factor of the said subject, when it raises 10 degreeC or more from the temperature of the foodstuff before a heating, for example.

  That is, for example, when milk once heated to 50 ° C. is heated again to 55 ° C., the infrared temperature sensor 128 does not recognize the milk temperature unless the temperature of the milk rises at least 10 ° C. from 50 ° C. to 60 ° C. Therefore, the milk is heated to a temperature (60 ° C.) higher than the desired temperature (55 ° C.).

  Therefore, in the case of a configuration in which heating is stopped when the temperature of somewhere in the heating chamber 125 reaches 55 ° C. without recognizing the shape of the food, the following problem occurs.

  That is, when dirt is attached in the heating chamber 125, the temperature of the attached dirt rises faster than the temperature of milk due to heating. Therefore, although the temperature of milk has not risen to the desired temperature (55 ° C.), the heating cooker finishes heating.

  Moreover, when using a heating cooker again immediately after heating another foodstuff, the temperature in the heating chamber 125 may have risen rather than desired temperature. In this case, the infrared temperature sensor 128 detects the desired temperature immediately after the start of heating, and the heating cooker ends the heating.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 disclose a cooking device that recognizes the shape of a food at room temperature in the early stage of heating. Patent Document 2 is an imaging device such as a CCD, for example, and Patent Document 3 is a configuration that recognizes the shape of food at room temperature using a sensor that measures the brightness in the heating chamber.

  However, the imaging device such as the CCD of Patent Document 2 and the CCD that detects infrared rays is generally expensive. Further, in order to analyze the captured image and classify whether it is food, advanced processing is required, and an expensive arithmetic unit is required to improve the processing speed. Therefore, the cooking device incorporating the imaging device is very expensive and difficult to mount on inexpensive home appliances.

  Then, the cooking device which recognizes the shape of a foodstuff using the sensor which measures comparatively cheap brightness as shown to patent document 3 is disclosed.

  FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a conventional cooking device shown in Patent Document 3. As shown in FIG. 30, the heating cooker includes a heating chamber 125 for storing food in a heating cooker main body 124, and a magnetron 126 for heating the food and microwaves generated by the magnetron 126 are heated in the heating chamber 125. It is comprised from the waveguide 127 guided in, the infrared temperature sensor 128 which measures the temperature in the heating chamber 125, the brightness sensor 130, and the illuminating device 129 for illuminating the heating chamber 125.

  The infrared temperature sensor 128 and the lightness sensor 130 are driven to detect the temperature distribution and lightness distribution in the heating chamber 125, and the shape of the food is recognized at the initial stage of heating.

  Thereby, in the said heating cooker, even if the temperature of a foodstuff does not raise more than fixed, since the shape of the foodstuff of room temperature can be detected in the heating initial stage, a foodstuff is not heated too much. For example, even when it is desired to heat milk heated to 50 ° C. to 55 ° C., the heating can be stopped before the temperature of the milk reaches 60 ° C., so that overheating hardly occurs.

  However, in the structure of the heating cooker of patent document 3, since the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the brightness sensor 130 which detect the temperature of a foodstuff are needed, cost goes up. In addition, the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the lightness sensor 130 are installed close to each other to make the visual field equal and to adjust the visual field to be equal. Further, when the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the lightness sensor 130 are installed close to each other, the sensor case for storing them becomes large and heavy. Therefore, it is necessary to drive the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the brightness sensor 130 with a motor having a large driving force, resulting in high cost.

  In addition, since the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the brightness sensor 130 have a heat resistance of generally about 80 ° C., it is necessary to cool them with a cooling air in consideration of temperature rise due to the invasion of steam generated from heated food. is there. However, since the infrared temperature sensor 128 and the brightness sensor 130 are provided in a small sensor case, there is a problem that the cooling performance is reduced because the pressure structure is large even if the cooling air is flowed, resulting in a reduction in cooling performance.

  On the other hand, for example, Patent Document 4 discloses a cooking device that uses a plurality of infrared sensors to three-dimensionally grasp the shape of food in a heating cabinet. However, mounting a plurality of infrared sensors is expensive. Moreover, when using at high temperature of 100 degreeC or more, since the structure which cools an infrared sensor becomes essential, it was difficult to comprise an infrared sensor compactly.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 5 discloses a heating cooker that captures an object to be heated such as food three-dimensionally with one infrared sensor.

  Hereinafter, the heating cooker shown by patent document 5 is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a conventional cooking device shown in Patent Document 5.

  As shown in FIG. 31, the conventional cooking device includes a heating chamber 125 for storing food in a heating cooking device body 124, and measures a temperature in the heating chamber 125 and a heater 131 for heating the food. The infrared temperature sensor 128, a rotating dish 132 for placing food, and a rotation driving device 133 that rotationally drives the rotating dish 132.

  And, for example, in the case of a cooking course for baking cake, immediately after the cake material is put after preheating, first, based on the shape of the heated object determined by the infrared temperature sensor, the rotating dish 132 of the lowermost surface of the heated object The distance X between the center and the end point is measured. Next, the height Y is calculated based on the measured distance X and the shape of the object to be heated. Thereby, the method of grasping | ascertaining the shape of a to-be-heated object three-dimensionally is disclosed.

  However, the calculation method for three-dimensionally grasping the shape of the object to be heated has the following problems.

  For example, it can be applied only when the center of a cylindrical cake that is rotationally symmetric with respect to the center of the rotating dish 132 is placed in alignment with the rotational center of the rotating dish 132. Furthermore, in the case of a microwave oven or a cooking device without a rotating dish, there is no guarantee that the heated object will always be placed in the center. Various shapes of food are stored.

  Moreover, when storing the cake dough (25 degreeC) of room temperature in the heating chamber 125 after preheating (for example, 200 degreeC), a shape can be recognized with an infrared sensor from the temperature difference. However, when a room-temperature object to be heated is stored in a room-temperature heating chamber, there is no temperature difference between the heating chamber and the object to be heated, so that the infrared sensor cannot recognize the shape of the object to be heated at the beginning of heating. There was a problem.

Japanese Patent No. 34052051 Japanese Patent No. 1780983 JP 2003-287232 A Japanese Patent No. 2999661 JP 2001-355854 A

  The cooking device of the present invention includes a heating chamber including a bottom surface on which an object to be heated is placed, a heating device for heating the object to be heated in the heating chamber, and light emission that emits light in at least an infrared wavelength region in the heating chamber. The apparatus includes an infrared sensor that detects reflected light from the bottom surface to acquire information on the object to be heated, and a control device that controls at least the heating device and the light emitting device.

  Thereby, it is possible to realize a cooking device capable of effectively heating by acquiring information such as the shape of an object to be heated such as food at room temperature at an early stage of heating with a low-cost and compact infrared sensor.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a heating cooker according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the heating cooker. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the cooking device. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 6 is an operation sequence diagram of the cooking device. FIG. 7A is a detection result diagram by an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 7B is a detection result diagram by an infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 7C is a detection result diagram by an infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 8 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 9A is a plan view of the bottom surface of the heating cooker. FIG. 9B is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 9C is a plan view of the bottom surface of the heating cooker. FIG. 10A is a diagram showing the temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor of the cooking device in a matrix. FIG. 10B is a diagram showing the temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor of the cooking device in a matrix. FIG. 10C is a diagram showing in a matrix the temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a main part of the cooking device. FIG. 13A is a plan view of an essential part of the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 13B is a plan view of a principal part of the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 14: is a figure which shows the temperature distribution detected with the infrared sensor of the same heating cooker in a matrix form. FIG. 15A is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 15B is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 15C is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 16A is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 16B is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 16C is a diagram illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 18: is a figure which shows the detection result by the infrared sensor of the same heating cooker. FIG. 19A is a diagram illustrating detection by an infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 19B is a diagram illustrating detection by an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 19C is a diagram illustrating detection by the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 20A is a diagram illustrating detection by an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 20B is a diagram illustrating detection by an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 20C is a diagram illustrating detection by the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 21: is a figure which shows the detection result by the infrared sensor of the same heating cooker. FIG. 22 is an operation sequence diagram of another example of the cooking device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 24 is an operation sequence diagram of the heating cooker. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of another example of the heating cooker. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a conventional cooking device. FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of another conventional cooking device. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of another conventional cooking device.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
Below, the cooking-by-heating machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using FIGS. 1-9C.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a heating cooker according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the heating cooker. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the cooking device. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. FIG. 6 is an operation sequence diagram of the cooking device. FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C are detection result diagrams by an infrared sensor of the heating cooker. FIG. 8 is a plan view of the bottom surface of the cooking device. 9A to 9C are plan views of the bottom surface of the cooking device.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the heating cooker according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a heating cooker body 1, a heating chamber 2 that is opened forward to store food, and a heating chamber 2. And a door 3 for opening and closing the front of the door.

  In the heating cooker body 1, at least a heating device 4, a waveguide 5, a diffusion device 6, an infrared sensor 7, a control device 8, a power failure detection device 9, a cooling fan 10, and a door open / close detection And a device 3b. And the heating apparatus 4 consists of magnetrons, and heats food. The waveguide 5 guides the microwave emitted from the magnetron of the heating device 4 to the heating chamber 2. The diffusion device 6 effectively diffuses the microwave induced in the waveguide 5 into the heating chamber 2. The infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature distribution in the heating chamber 2. The control device 8 controls the infrared sensor 7 and the heating device 4. The power failure detection device 9 detects whether or not a power failure has occurred. The cooling fan 10 cools the heating device 4, the infrared sensor 7, the control device 8, and the like. The door opening / closing detection device 3b detects opening / closing of the door 3.

  At this time, the diffusing device 6 includes a motor 6a and a rotating blade 6b, and the motor 6a rotates the blade 6b to diffuse the microwave into the heating chamber 2. The blade 6b of the diffusing device 6 has directivity. Therefore, when the control device 8 changes the direction in which the blades 6b of the diffusion device 6 are stopped and oscillates the microwave, the heating place in the heating chamber 2 can be changed by the directivity of the blades 6b of the diffusion device 6. .

  In addition, the heating chamber 2 includes a light emitting device 11 including at least infrared light provided on the bottom surface 2a of the heating chamber 2, and an internal temperature sensor 12 that detects the temperature in the heating chamber 2. . The light emitting device 11 is a device that emits light in a planar shape, and almost the entire bottom surface 2a emits light substantially uniformly. The internal temperature sensor 12 is provided in the upper part of the heating chamber 2 and detects the space temperature in the heating chamber 2.

  Furthermore, the heating cooker body 1 illuminates the inside of the heating chamber 2 from the outside of the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2b provided on the side surface of the heating chamber 2, for example, an illumination made of organic EL, inorganic EL, or the like. A device 13 is provided. At this time, a glass plate is fitted in the opening 2b so that dirt or the like does not adhere to the illumination device 13. On the side surface of the heating chamber 2 facing the opening 2b, the infrared sensor 7 has an opening 2c that is a simple through hole so that the temperature inside the heating chamber 2 can be detected. The illumination device 13 is disposed on a side surface on the side different from the infrared sensor 7 so that the microwave does not reach the illumination device 13.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the door 3 has a display device 14 and a plurality of operation buttons 15 in the lower front portion in the closed state, and a handle 16 in the upper front portion. The door 3 has a rotating shaft 3 a at the lower part of the door 3. And if the handle 16 of the door 3 is pulled, it will rotate centering on the rotating shaft 3a, and it is comprised so that the handle 16 may fall as the door 3 opens. A central portion of the door 3 is constituted by a transparent plate 17 so that the inside of the heating chamber 2 can be seen. A part of the door 3 is provided with a room temperature detection sensor 18. And the room temperature detection sensor 18 is provided in the position which leaves | separates from the heating chamber 2 of the door 3, and is easy to detect room temperature.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the infrared sensor 7 provided on the outer side of the upper side of the heating chamber 2 shown in FIG. 1 has the infrared detection lens 7 a directed obliquely downward so that the bottom surface 2 a of the heating chamber 2 enters the field of view. Are arranged as follows. The infrared sensor 7 has eight infrared detection elements 7b that detect the infrared rays collected by the infrared detection lens 7a together with the self-temperature detection sensor 7e.

  Then, by rotating the infrared sensor 7 about the rotation axis 7d at a constant angle by the motor 7c, for example, about 10 times, the entire bottom surface 2a of the heating chamber 2 is scanned in the field of view, and the bottom surface 2a is scanned. Temperature can be detected. In the following description, the visual field detected at one time by one infrared detection element 7b of the infrared sensor 7 may be described as a point.

  In the cooking device having the above configuration, the operation and action of the cooking device will be described below based on a food heating program for heating food.

  First, the outline of the heating procedure using the heating cooker will be described.

  First, the user opens the door 3 of the heating cooker, places food on the bottom surface 2 a of the heating chamber 2, and closes the door 3. At this time, the control device 8 detects that the door 3 is closed by a signal from the door opening / closing detection device 3b. Note that the control device 8 stops driving the heating device 4 in a state where the door 3 is open, and detects that the door 3 is closed, thereby enabling the heating device 4 to be driven.

  Next, the user presses the operation button 15 to select an appropriate heating menu and heating target temperature from the heating menu displayed on the display device 14. And the control apparatus 8 drives the heating apparatus 4 and the spreading | diffusion apparatus 6 based on the selected heating menu, and starts a heating. Simultaneously with the start of heating, the control device 8 turns on the lighting device 13. The user can confirm the state of the food in the heating chamber 2 through the transparent plate 17 by the lighting device 13 that is turned on.

  When the heating is started, the control device 8 rotates the infrared sensor 7 by the motor 7c at every fixed angle, and detects the temperature distribution in the heating chamber 2 by the infrared sensor 7.

  Thereafter, when the infrared sensor 7 detects that the temperature of the food has reached the heating target temperature, the control device 8 stops driving the heating device 4 and the diffusion device 6. At the same time, the lighting device 13 is turned off, and the end of heating is notified to the user by the display device 14 or a buzzer (not shown). Thereby, the heating of the foodstuff by a heating cooker is complete | finished.

  Hereinafter, the detection operation of the infrared sensor 7 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As described above, the infrared sensor 7 shown in FIG. 3 includes, for example, eight infrared detection elements 7b. The infrared sensor 7 is attached to be inclined so as to measure the temperature of the bottom surface 2a of the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2c of the heating chamber 2, and is rotationally driven by the motor 7c. At this time, the detection range B (hereinafter referred to as a visual field B) of each of the infrared detection elements 7b has eight independent elliptical shapes as shown in FIG. Further, the length b in the front-rear direction of the oval heating cooker main body 1 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is partially overlapped in consideration of the rotation angle of the infrared sensor 7 and the bottom surface 2a. Is set. And by rotating and driving the infrared sensor 7 with the motor 7c, substantially the entire bottom surface 2a (including the whole) of the heating chamber 2 is covered with each field of view C shown in FIG.

  Specifically, first, when the heating starts, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c to move the infrared sensor 7 to a predetermined position.

  After the infrared sensor 7 stops, the control device 8 sequentially inputs temperature information detected by the eight infrared detection elements 7b. After inputting the temperature information of the eight infrared detection elements 7b, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c again to move the infrared sensor 7 by a certain angle (for example, 1 degree). That is, the control device 8 repeats the movement of the infrared sensor 7 for each fixed angle, for example, 10 times, and stores the temperature detected by each infrared detection element 7b for each angle.

  After that, when the infrared sensor 7 finishes moving a certain angle for 10 times, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c to rotate in the reverse direction. Note that the period from when the infrared sensor 7 starts to move in one direction until the driving direction is changed is hereinafter referred to as detection of one turn. Further, it will be described below that it takes 10 seconds to complete detection of one turn of the infrared sensor 7.

  When the infrared sensor 7 detects the heating target temperature while detecting the temperature, the control device 8 stops driving the heating device 4. At the same time, the infrared sensor 7 is moved so as to be completely hidden from the opening 2c. Thereby, a part of food scattered from the inside of the heating chamber 2 is prevented from being scattered outside the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2c and soiling the infrared sensor 7.

  Below, the operation | movement which recognizes the shape of the foodstuffs in the early stage of heating, and the operation | movement of the heating cooker after recognition are demonstrated using FIG. 6, FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C. 7A to 7C show the temperature detected by the infrared sensor 7 during one turn, the lower side in the figure is the front (door) side of the heating cooker body 1, and the bottom surface 2a is imitated in a matrix shape. expressing.

  As shown in FIG. 6, first, the control device 8 causes the light emitting device 11 to emit light when the user presses the operation button 15. After a few seconds have passed since the light emitting device 11 has emitted light, the control device 8 rotates the infrared sensor 7 with the motor 7c to detect the first turn. At this time, the time to wait for executing the detection is substantially equal to the time required for the light emitting device 11 to emit light stably. That is, the temperature detection accuracy can be improved by starting detection after the illuminance and the light quantity are stabilized.

  As a result, the control device 8 makes points corresponding to 10 angles of the eight infrared detection elements 7b (corresponding to a fixed angle × 10 movements), that is, 80 pieces of temperature data (for example, the temperature at the point A is 60 ° C.). Remember. Note that the light emitting device 11 normally includes infrared rays such as infrared light. Therefore, the infrared sensor 7 that detects infrared rays simultaneously detects infrared light corresponding to the temperature of the bottom surface 2 a and infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 11. As a result, the infrared sensor 7 detects a temperature higher than the actual temperature of the bottom surface 2a.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the food is placed on the bottom surface 2a, light from the light emitting device 11 provided on the bottom surface 2a is blocked by the food. Therefore, the infrared sensor 7 detects only infrared light emitted from food. As a result, the infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature of the food by detecting one turn in FIG. 6 as indicated by the blacked area (for example, 20 ° C.) in FIG. 7A. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the control device 8 turns off the light emitting device 11.

  After the light emitting device 11 is turned off, the infrared sensor 7 detects the second turn by further operating the motor 7c. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7B, temperature information composed of 80 pieces of temperature data obtained by the infrared sensor 7 (for example, the temperature at the point A is 20 ° C.) is stored separately. In addition, the area | region enclosed with the black frame of FIG. 7B is a point equivalent to the place where the food is put.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 7B, in the detection of the second turn, since the light-emitting device 11 is not lit, the infrared sensor 7 is temperature only by infrared light from the bottom surface 2a or food corresponding to the ambient temperature. Detect temperature information such as.

  After that, as shown in FIG. 7C, the control device 8 calculates the difference in temperature data at each point (for example, 60 ° C.−20 ° C. = 40 ° C.) based on the first turn detection and the second turn detection of the infrared sensor 7. To do. Then, the control device 8 determines that food is present at a point (a black frame region in FIG. 7C) where the difference in temperature data is a certain value (eg, 5 ° C.) or less.

  That is, in a place where food is placed, since only infrared light is detected from the food regardless of whether the light emitting device 11 is turned on or off, there is a difference in temperature detected by the infrared sensor 7 between the first turn and the second turn. (For example, the range surrounded by the black frame in FIG. 7C is 0 ° C.). On the other hand, in a place where the bottom surface 2a where food is not placed is exposed, the light emitting device 11 emits light and is turned off by the light emission of the light emitting device 11 to the temperature detected by the infrared sensor 7 in the first turn and the second turn. A difference is caused by the amount of infrared light.

  That is, according to the present embodiment, the food is placed by obtaining the temperature difference detected by the infrared sensor 7 between the first turn due to the light emission of the light emitting device 11 and the second turn due to the light emitting device 11 being turned off. Can be determined. However, in the above discrimination method, when the food is placed on the bottom surface 2a in a state of being placed on a larger dish, the outer shape of the food cannot be discriminated, and only the shape of the dish is discriminated.

  When the place where the food or the dish is placed is known by the above method, the control device 8 adjusts the rotation speed, the direction of stop and the stop time of the diffusion device 6 to increase the heating of the place where the food is placed, for example. Can be controlled efficiently. As a result, the food can be heated more efficiently.

  In addition, when the size of the food is small and below a certain level, the control device 8 can control to reduce the amount of heating by reducing the input of the heating device 4. Thereby, it can prevent that a small foodstuff becomes overheating.

  Therefore, the food can be optimally heated by changing the amount of heating according to the size of the food or changing the interval between driving and stopping of the heating device 4.

  The control after recognizing the shape of the food will be described below with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the control device 8 discriminates the shape of the food based on the temperature difference detected by the infrared sensor 7 between the first turn due to the light emission of the light emitting device 11 and the second turn due to the light emission device 11 being turned off. Thereafter, the field of view of the infrared sensor 7 is narrowed according to the shape of the food.

  That is, the control device 8 limits the drive width of the infrared sensor 7 by controlling the movement of the motor 7c so that the infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature of the portion where the food D is present rather than the entire bottom surface 2a. Specifically, the field of view of one turn of the infrared sensor 7 is made smaller than that in FIG. 5 and limited to the region E indicated by the solid line in FIG. At this time, for example, the detection time for one turn can be shortened to about 3 seconds.

  Accordingly, in the third turn and after in FIG. 6, the interval or time for detecting the temperature of the point that needs to be detected, that is, the point where the food is in the field of view is shortened, and the food is reduced in a finer interval or in a short time. Can be detected by the infrared sensor 7.

  Thereafter, the control device 8 stops heating when the temperature at any point in the detection range of the infrared sensor 7 reaches the heating target temperature.

  Thereby, it is possible to detect in a shorter time that the food has reached the heating target temperature, compared to the case where the temperature of the food is detected with the entire bottom surface 2a in view during the detection of one turn.

  Hereinafter, the above operation will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 9A to 9C. 9A to 9C, an example in which the heating target temperature of the drink D is set to 70 ° C. and the drink D is placed at the approximate center of the bottom surface 2a will be described. Further, it is assumed that the infrared sensor 7 sequentially performs detection in the direction of the arrow in the drawing.

  First, at the timing shown in FIG. 9A, the infrared sensor is detecting the G row in FIG. 9A. The temperature of the drink D detected at a certain point F was 69 ° C. At this time, since the control device 8 has not detected the heating target temperature of 70 ° C. of the drink D, it does not stop the heating.

  However, immediately after the field of view of the infrared sensor 7 shifts to the next row, if the point at 69 ° C. becomes 70 ° C., the control device 8 continues to drive the motor 7c. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9B, after the detection of row H in FIG. 9B is completed and detection of one turn is finished, it takes about 10 seconds until the detection of point F in row I of FIG. 9C is executed again. Time passes. Then, as shown in FIG. 9C, when the infrared sensor 7 detects the point F again and detects the temperature of the drink D at 81 ° C., the control device 8 stops the heating of the drink D.

  In other words, in the detection method described above, the temperature rises by more than a predetermined temperature (5 ° C.), such as 11 ° C. as in the example of FIG. 9A to FIG. The temperature may increase. This is unnecessary heating for the user. As a result, the heating time of the food is extended, the consumption energy of the cooking device is increased, and the deliciousness of the food is impaired by overheating.

  Therefore, as described with reference to FIG. 8, the time required for detecting one turn can be shortened (for example, 10 seconds to 3 seconds) by recognizing the shape of the food in advance and narrowing the detection range of the infrared sensor. Thereby, as compared with the case where the entire bottom surface 2a is always detected as in the above example, detection can be performed in half or less of the time. As a result, the time required for heating and energy consumption can be reduced, and the food can be finished deliciously.

  Below, the case where a several foodstuff is mounted in a heating chamber and heated is demonstrated.

  Generally, the bottom surface 2a of the cooking device has a horizontally long shape when viewed from the door side of the cooking device body 1. Therefore, when a plurality of food items are placed on the bottom surface 2a and heated, the food items are often arranged on the left and right in the longitudinal direction of the bottom surface 2a for heating. At this time, when the infrared sensor 7 is disposed on the back side of the heating cooker body 1, it is necessary to detect a very wide range of temperature distribution even if the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 is limited to the width of the food. is there.

  So, in this Embodiment, the infrared sensor 7 is provided in the heating chamber 2, for example, the upper part of the right side surface. Therefore, even when a plurality of foods are placed on the left and right in the longitudinal direction of the bottom surface 2a, the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 can be set to a narrow width substantially equal to that of a single product. As a result, it is possible to more quickly detect that a plurality of foods have reached the heating target temperature, and to prevent overheating.

  When the food is placed on a dish larger than the food, first, the shape of the large dish can be determined by recognizing the shape of the food by the above method. Thereafter, when the heating is continued, the temperature rise width of the food is larger than the temperature rise width of the dish or other portion (bottom surface). As a result, it is possible to determine at which position in the dish the food is based on the difference in temperature rise.

  However, when the food has a certain weight or less (for example, 100 g or less), the heating is concentrated and the temperature rises rapidly. Therefore, when heating is continued, problems such as abnormal heating of food may occur.

  Therefore, the conventional cooking device cannot determine the size of the food, so it judges only by the rate of temperature rise and stops heating the food to prevent abnormal heating that is likely to occur with a small amount of food. It was.

  However, in the above-described method, the heating is stopped even when there is no danger with a large food due to the rate of temperature rise.

  Accordingly, the conventional cooking device determines the heating stop temperature within a temperature range that prevents abnormal heating with a small amount of food and does not cause insufficient heating with a large amount of food. However, in order to stop heating a small amount of food early, it is difficult to lower the heating stop temperature. For this reason, it has been difficult to heat a small amount of food more safely.

  However, according to the present embodiment, when the light emitting device 11 emits light and extinguishes, the shape of the food or the dish is determined by the infrared sensor, and when the temperature of the food in the dish rises quickly, the control device 8 Judge that the food is small and stop heating.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, by limiting the detection width of the infrared sensor 7, the temperature of the food can be detected at shorter intervals than in the past. That is, by detecting the tendency of whether the rate of temperature rise of food is high or not at an earlier stage, heating of the food can be stopped at an earlier stage. Thereby, in the case of a small amount of food, the heating stop temperature can be set low, so that abnormal heating can be prevented more safely.

  Hereinafter, a control method for discriminating the type of food using the shape information of the food and heating the food will be described.

  That is, the heating is controlled by determining the type of food by combining the shape information of the food or the dish on which the food is placed, the detected temperature rise history, and the temperature rise distribution. This makes it possible to distinguish between liquids such as tea and milk, side dishes in small bowls such as meat potatoes, and main dishes placed on relatively large and short dishes.

  Specifically, each temperature distribution of the liquid, the side dish, and the main dish will be described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C. FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C are diagrams showing the temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor 7 of the heating cooker in a matrix form. Note that the containers such as the dishes are the same size as viewed from the infrared sensor 7 and are all placed at substantially the center of the bottom surface. 10A shows the temperature distribution of the liquid, FIG. 10B shows the temperature distribution of the side dishes, FIG. 10C shows the temperature distribution of the main dishes, and the thick frames in the figure show the shapes of the respective containers.

  First, as shown to FIG. 10A, in the case of a liquid, the temperature of the part close | similar to the infrared sensor 7 rises within the range of the thick frame which is the shape of a container. At this time, the temperature distribution varies depending on the amount of liquid placed in the container. However, since liquid always exists at the bottom of the container, the heat of the heated liquid is transmitted to the container and the outer wall surface of the container also rises in temperature.

  Therefore, in the case of liquid, the temperature on the infrared sensor 7 side of the shape of the food corresponding to the bottom of the container always rises. Further, since the liquid spreads throughout the inside of the container, the portion where the temperature rises quickly spreads to the upper and lower ends of the container.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 10B, in the case of side dishes, the temperature rise in the portion opposite to the infrared sensor 7 is accelerated within the range of the thick frame that is the shape of the container. In the case of side dishes, since there are many solids in addition to the liquid, it is difficult for heating to concentrate on the liquid. Further, since the solid does not adhere to the small bowl-shaped container without a gap, it is difficult to transfer heat to the wall surface of the container. For this reason, the temperature of the solid material itself is more likely to rise than the wall surface of the container. As a result, the temperature rise of the portion opposite to the infrared sensor 7 having the shape of food corresponding to the portion where the solid matter can be seen from the infrared sensor 7 is accelerated.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 10C, in the case of a main dish, the temperature rise increases in the inner portion of the container within the range of the thick frame that is the shape of the container. This is because when a main dish is placed on a flat plate, the main dish is often placed in the center of the plate, and a certain distance is likely to occur between the plate and the main dish.

  At this time, if the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 is limited by recognition of the shape of the food, the temperature of the food can be detected at short intervals. As a result, the difference in the rate of temperature rise of the food can be more clearly discriminated, so that the type of food, the food, the container, the bottom, etc. can be more easily discriminated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the combination of the shape information such as the size of the container, the temperature rise history in which the temperature rise rate is detected in a short time, and the temperature rise distribution is combined. It becomes possible to discriminate the type. As a result, the food can be deliciously heated by determining the subsequent heating time of the food based on the discrimination of the type of food.

  When the liquid is contained in a tall container, the liquid level often does not enter the field of view of the infrared sensor 7 because the container is tall. Therefore, in most cases, the actual temperature of the liquid is higher than the temperature detected by the infrared sensor 7. Therefore, when at least the infrared sensor 7 detects a predetermined temperature, it is necessary to immediately stop heating.

  On the other hand, in the case of main dishes and side dishes, a difference occurs between the temperature of the outer surface of the food and the internal temperature depending on the state and shape of the food, and the internal temperature is often detected to be relatively low. Therefore, even if the temperature detected by the infrared sensor 7 reaches the heating target temperature, it is often better to continue heating.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, when it is determined that the food is liquid, the control device 8 immediately stops heating when the heating target temperature is reached. On the other hand, when determining that the food is a side dish or a main dish, the control device 8 continues the heating for a predetermined time according to the size of the food and the time required to reach the heating target temperature. Of course, when a small amount of side dish or main dish, that is, the size of the food is small, it is not necessary to stop the heating at the heating target temperature and continue the heating.

  According to the present embodiment, it is necessary to change the heating control depending on the type of food, but it is possible to determine the size of the food by recognition of the shape of the food and to control the heating optimally by determining the type of food. it can. As a result, the food can be heated more deliciously.

  Below, the display when the shape of the food is recognized in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  First, while the control device 8 recognizes the shape of the food by turning on and off the light emitting device 11, the display device 14 shown in FIG. 2 displays a display indicating that the shape of the food is recognized. Do. For example, the characters “smart sensor” are blinked on the display device 14. Thereby, a user can be informed of an operation condition and can use a heating cooker in comfort.

  Below, in the heating cooker of this Embodiment, the process at the time of a power failure generate | occur | produces during a heating is demonstrated.

  First, when a power failure occurs within a certain time during heating, the control device 8 detects that a power failure has occurred by a signal from the power failure detection device 9 after recovering from the power failure. In addition to the above, when the power failure detection device 9 detects a power failure, the cooking device may be disconnected from the power source and energized again. In this case, the control device 8 continues heating after returning from a power failure or after energization is resumed.

  However, food and dishes may be moving during a power outage. That is, when the control device 8 ends the recognition of the shape of the food and narrows the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 and detects a power failure, if the food or the like is moving in the heating chamber 2, the temperature of the food is detected. There are cases where it is not possible.

  Therefore, when a power failure is detected, first, the control device 8 returns the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 to the entire bottom surface 2a. Thereafter, the control device 8 turns on and off the light emitting device 11 again to recognize the shape of the food. And by restricting the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 using information on the shape of food newly acquired after a power failure, the cooking device can be used safely even if the food is moving at the time of the power failure.

  Below, in the heating cooker of this Embodiment, the process when a door is opened in the middle of a heating is demonstrated.

  First, when the door 3 is opened during heating, the control device 8 detects a signal from the door opening / closing detection device 3b and immediately stops heating. Thereafter, when the control device 8 detects that the door 3 is closed again by the door opening / closing detection device 3b, the control device 8 recognizes the shape of the food again according to the following.

  That is, first, as described above, the light emitting device 11 is turned on and off to recognize the shape of the food. And when it recognizes that a foodstuff exists in the heating chamber 2, the control apparatus 8 restarts heating. At this time, after recognizing the shape of the food, the control device 8 restricts the drive width of the infrared sensor 7 to the same drive width as before the door 3 is opened, and the region where the temperature distribution is detected by the infrared sensor 7 is detected. Limited to the area to include. Thereafter, the control device 8 stops heating when the infrared sensor 7 detects the heating target temperature.

  Thereby, even when the door 3 is opened during heating, overheating can be prevented in the same manner as before the food door is opened. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that warms food deliciously in a short time and with energy saving.

  Below, the memory | storage of the information regarding a foodstuff and the utilization method are demonstrated in the cooking-by-heating machine of this Embodiment. That is, for the food that has been heated once, the control device 8 stores and uses information such as the shape of the food, the history of the temperature rise, and the determination content of the type of food.

  Since the conventional cooking device does not have a device for recognizing and storing the shape of the food, the shape of the food is finally detected at the end of heating. For this reason, it has been difficult to properly heat food from the beginning of heating.

  However, according to the present embodiment, the shape of the food can be recognized in the early stage of heating even in a normal temperature food, so that information about the food can be stored in advance.

  Therefore, first, it is verified from the shape of the food to be heated, temperature information, and the like whether the stored food information matches the food to be heated. At this time, if the shape and temperature information of the food are almost the same, the food is recognized as the same kind of food.

  Then, the food heating control is performed using the stored determination information of the equivalent food. The food determination information is information obtained by determining the type of food from the heating time until the predetermined temperature is reached and the size of the food. Based on this information, the control device 8 determines a plurality of heating control methods corresponding to the type of food and heats the food. Note that the heating control method is to control by changing the heating amount of food, the timing of heating, and the like.

  That is, in a general home, a dish on a specific menu is often heated frequently, or the same container is frequently used. Therefore, by storing these characteristics and automatically selecting a heating method suitable for a container and cooking suitable for each household, it is possible to reduce heating failures and the like.

  However, some foods have different heating characteristics even though they have the same food shape. In this case, first, the food is heated based on the stored information on the food. At this time, when the food determination information and the temperature rise history are different from each other by a certain amount (for example, the time to reach a predetermined temperature is different by 30% or more), the control device 8 performs heating based on the stored food determination information. Stop. And based on the said method, the determination information of a foodstuff is newly acquired. Thereafter, the food is heated based on the newly acquired food determination information. As a result, even foods having completely the same food shape and completely different heating characteristics can be appropriately heated.

  In addition, for example, when the shape of the food to be heated is recognized in the initial stage of heating, when the information matches two or more stored food information, the information on the food with a short heating time among the stored food information, Alternatively, food information with a low degree of heating is selected and the food is heated.

  However, if the history of the temperature rise of the food to be heated largely differs from the stored food information, the control device 8 first stops using the stored food information. Then, it is checked whether there is information on the same type of food from the storage information of other foods. At this time, if there is information on the same type of food, the food control is executed using the information on the food. If the stored food information is significantly different from the stored food information, the information on the food to be newly heated is acquired and the food is heated without adopting any stored information.

  Below, the control of additional heating is demonstrated in the heating cooker of this Embodiment. In addition, in addition to the case where the power failure or the door 3 is opened during the heating described above, the additional heating is an operation of heating again when the additional heating is performed after the warming is once performed.

  In this case, since all foods are once heated, the control device 8 stores food information such as the temperature distribution and temperature history of the heated food and the shape of the food for a certain period of time.

  First, the control device 8 holds data such as a temperature distribution at the time of warming, a temperature history, and determination information for a certain period (for example, 3 hours) for additional heating.

  And when the heating of food starts again, the control apparatus 8 determines whether it is the same as the food heated last time in the following procedures.

  First, as described above, the shape of the food is recognized by turning on and off the light emitting device 11. At this time, it is determined whether or not the shape of the food matches the shape of the previous food.

  Next, it is determined whether the temperature distribution or temperature level of the food is similar to the previously detected temperature distribution or temperature level. At this time, in general, immediately after heating, the temperature of each part of the food is often different, but since the heat diffuses into the food as time passes, the temperature of each part of the food is uniform. (Average temperature). Therefore, by determining whether the average temperatures of the foods are the same, it is possible to more accurately determine whether the foods are the same.

  When the shape of the food and the temperature distribution and temperature level of the food are substantially the same, the control device 8 determines that the food to be heated is the same as the previous food, and the previous temperature rise history and the determination content To determine the heating time of the food.

  With conventional heating devices, it has been difficult to properly warm food that has been warmed to some extent again. The reason is that the heating time cannot be appropriately determined because the heating time is short and there is no time for discriminating what kind of characteristic the food is compared with the case of heating the food having a temperature of about room temperature. Therefore, the control device 8 of the conventional heating device basically stops heating when the infrared sensor 7 detects the heating target temperature.

  In the case of a large food of a certain degree or more, the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the food becomes large. However, since the infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature of the outer surface of the food, the temperature inside the food is often not reflected in the determination. That is, the temperature of the outer surface of the food product reaches a predetermined temperature, but the temperature inside the food product does not reach the temperature or vice versa. For example, rice in a bowl has a higher internal temperature than the outer surface, and when a plurality of food items such as Shumai are heated, the internal temperature tends to be lower than the outer surface. In this case, with rice, the lower temperature of the outer surface is detected and heating is stopped. On the other hand, in Shumai, heating is added even after the outer surface reaches a predetermined temperature. Thereby, according to foodstuffs, it can heat appropriately.

  At this time, it is determined whether to stop heating immediately or perform additional heating according to the heating time until the temperature of the food reaches a certain temperature.

  However, when heating a food that has been heated to a certain extent, the heating time is short until the temperature reaches a certain temperature, and the initial warmed temperature is also varied, so it is difficult to determine by the heating time. For this reason, it has been difficult to properly heat a food that has been heated to some extent in the case of additional heating.

  However, since it is possible to easily determine that it is additional heating by the method described above, based on the stored determination information such as the history of temperature rise of the previous food and the determination content, for example, whether it is Shumai, rice, The heating time of the food can be determined. Thereby, also in additional heating, a more suitable heating time can be determined and a foodstuff can be heated.

  In addition, when a certain time or more has passed since the end of the previous heating, the food is cooled to some extent. In this case, the control device 8 has a time measuring function, and measures the time from the end of heating to the start of the next heating as, for example, a “cooling count time”.

  Therefore, for example, when the food is taken out of the heating chamber 2, the temperature distribution or temperature level of the food is changed even if the temperature level or the temperature difference of the temperature distribution is reduced based on the cooling count time and the temperature detected by the room temperature detection sensor 18. Recognize and correct the same food and heat.

  According to the present embodiment, when the shape of the food and the temperature distribution or temperature level of the food are substantially equal during additional heating, the control device 8 determines that the food is the same as the previous food, and the previous temperature rise history. The heating time of the food can be determined based on the determination contents. As a result, the food can be appropriately heated even during the additional heating.

  In addition, when food is returned to the heating chamber 2 again for additional heating, the direction and position of the food may be different. In this case, although it is different from the temperature distribution stored at the time of the previous heating, the shape of the food, particularly the size of the food, can be detected almost equally. At this time, if the maximum temperature of the food is the same, the control device 8 determines that the food is the same as the previous food, and determines the heating time of the food based on the previous temperature rise history and the determination content. As a result, in the case of additional heating, it is possible to further increase the conditions under which heating can be performed appropriately.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the light-emitting device provided on the bottom surface is turned on (emits light) immediately after the start of heating, and the detection result obtained by detecting the entire interior of the heating chamber with the infrared sensor, and the light-emitting device Information such as the shape of the food at normal temperature and the position on which it is placed can be recognized by comparing it with a detection result obtained by turning off the light and detecting the entire area inside the heating chamber with the infrared sensor. Thereby, according to the magnitude | size and position of a foodstuff, a foodstuff can be efficiently heated with the optimal heating amount and the heating distribution in a heating cabinet. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that can be heated deliciously while preventing overheating of food.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the temperature distribution of the food is detected by the infrared sensor after a lapse of a certain time since the light emitting device is turned on (emitted). Shape recognition can be performed. As a result, food can be heated more efficiently based on information with high detection accuracy.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, a user-friendly cooking device can be realized by giving a sense of security to the user by displaying the fact on the display device during the shape recognition of the food.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, even after a power failure, by recognizing the shape of food, even if the position and content of food change during a power failure, the food can be appropriately heated. Furthermore, by providing a power failure detection device, when heating is automatically resumed when power is restored from a power failure, the shape of the food is recognized again, so a cooking device that can heat food safely even during a power failure can be realized. .

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, the temperature of a foodstuff can be detected in a shorter space | interval and time by restrict | limiting the detection width | variety of an infrared sensor according to the shape of foodstuff. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that can prevent overheating of the food, save energy, and heat the food deliciously in a short time.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, immediately after detecting the shape of a foodstuff, the temperature rise of a foodstuff can be detected in a short space | interval by restrict | limiting the detection width | variety of an infrared sensor according to a foodstuff. Thereby, the accuracy of discriminating the type of food is improved, and the food can be heated more optimally.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, after restrict | limiting the detection width | variety of an infrared sensor, the small food overlooked in the early stage of heating can be detected by performing whole detection again. Thereby, in the stage which is not unsafe, heating of small food can be stopped and abnormal heating can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker with higher safety.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, when the temperature of the food is within 5 ° C. of the heating target temperature, the detection accuracy of the temperature rise is improved by always detecting the temperature of the food without performing the whole detection. In addition to preventing overheating of the food, it is possible to achieve both energy saving and short-time heating.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, the optimal heating control according to the kind of food can be performed by discriminating the kind of food according to the shape of food and the speed of temperature rise. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device that heats food deliciously by heating without excess or deficiency.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, by arranging the infrared sensor above the side surface of the heating chamber, even when a plurality of food items are placed in the heating chamber, the temperature of the plurality of food items is detected with the same detection width as that of a single item. Can be detected. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device capable of preventing food from being overheated and heating the food deliciously when heating a plurality of foods.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, by providing the door opening / closing detection apparatus 3b, when heating is automatically restarted after door opening / closing, food shape recognition can be implemented again. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that safely heats food even when the door is opened and closed during heating.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, by storing the shape of the food, the temperature rise history, the determination information of the food, and the like, by comparing the information acquired at the time of heating the food with the stored and stored information In the case of the same kind of food, the heating control can be performed using the judgment information of the stored food. Furthermore, at the time of additional heating, if the average temperature of the food is within a certain range, it can be determined that the food is the same food, and heating control can be performed using the stored determination information of the food. As a result, a cooking device capable of efficiently heating food can be realized.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, heating control can be performed also with respect to the food cooled after the fixed time progress by providing the control apparatus with a time measuring function, and a room temperature detection sensor.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when heating is performed using stored food information, if the temperature rise history is significantly different, the use of the stored information is stopped, and the temperature of the new food Heating control can be performed based on the rise history and shape information. Furthermore, by limiting the detection width of the infrared sensor to the width of the food and measuring the temperature rise at short intervals, it is possible to quickly detect a difference from the stored temperature rise history. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device that can optimally heat foods that have the same size but differ greatly in heating characteristics.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, by determining the kind of foods, such as a liquid, a side dish, and a main dish, according to the shape of food, it can heat by changing heating control according to the kind of food. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that prevents food from being overheated or insufficiently heated and that heats the food deliciously.

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the room temperature detection sensor 18 is provided on the door 3 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the self-temperature detection sensor 7e of the infrared sensor 7 may be used. Thereby, since the room temperature detection sensor 18 becomes unnecessary newly, a compact and cheap heating cooker can be comprised.

  Moreover, although this Embodiment demonstrated in the example which detects the temperature rise of the whole foodstuff, it is not restricted to this. For example, the control device 8 predicts the point at which the temperature rises earliest, and controls the motor 7c at a time when the temperature at that point is expected to reach the heating target temperature, thereby reliably detecting the temperature at that point. May be. Thereby, it can be detected in a shorter time that the food has reached the heating target temperature. At this time, as described above, after recognizing the shape of the food, the temperature of each part of the food can be detected at a shorter interval than before by narrowing the detection width of the infrared sensor 7. Thereby, since temperature can be detected at a fine time interval, the temperature rise of food can be predicted more accurately.

  In the present embodiment, after the shape of the food is recognized, the control device 8 limits the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 to the width of the food and detects all data of the infrared detection element 7b read within the detection width. However, this is not a limitation. For example, the temperature data read by the control device 8 may be configured to read only the temperature data of the point of the portion recognized as food in advance without reading all the data of the infrared detecting element 7b element within the detection width. Thereby, the time to read data of points other than those recognized as foods can be shortened. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that can save more energy and heat the food deliciously without overheating in a short time.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the example in which the infrared sensor 7 is provided on the right side surface in the heating chamber 2 has been described. Furthermore, if there is no problem in the detection time, the infrared sensor 7 may be provided on the inner surface of the heating chamber 2.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although organic EL and inorganic EL which light-emit in planar shape were demonstrated as an example as the light-emitting device 11, it is not restricted to this. For example, it is good also as a structure which diffuses the light from light sources, such as several LED, and light-emits it planarly. At this time, the light emitting device 11 may be configured integrally with the bottom surface 2a. Furthermore, if the bottom surface 2a is formed of an infrared light transmitting member, the light emitting device 11 may be provided below the bottom surface 2a. Moreover, you may use the apparatus which light-emits in all directions as the light-emitting device 11 whose directivity is not strong. At this time, for example, since it often reflects on the wall surface of a container such as a cup containing liquid, the accuracy of shape recognition of the food is lowered. Therefore, in this case, a light emitting device with low directivity can be used by using a method for recognizing the shape of food as compared with the basic reflection temperature distribution, which will be described in detail in the second embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, when heating is automatically continued after a power failure, the detection range of the infrared sensor is limited after heating is restarted. However, the entire detection is not performed without limiting the detection width. You may continue. Similarly, in the present embodiment, when the door is opened and closed in the middle of heating, the example in which the detection width of the infrared sensor is limited after restarting heating has been described. However, the entire detection is continued without limiting the detection width. May be.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The heating cooker according to the second embodiment is different from the heating cooker according to the first embodiment in that a slide driving device 24 that slides the infrared sensor 7 is provided while excluding the light emitting device. Other configurations and operations are basically the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 11, the heating cooker according to the second embodiment excludes the light emitting device and uses a slide drive device 24 shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B to be described later to open between the openings 2 c and 2 d shown in FIG. 12. The infrared sensor 7 slides and moves. Thereby, the shape of the to-be-heated object in the heating chamber of a cooking-by-heating machine can be detected three-dimensionally.

  The operation and function of the slide drive device 24 that slides the infrared sensor 7 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 12, 13A, and 13B. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a main part of the cooking device. Drawing 13A and Drawing 13B are the principal part top views of the infrared sensor of the cooking-by-heating machine.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the opening 2 c and the opening 2 d of the heating chamber 2 that serve as the detection window of the infrared sensor 7 are arranged at substantially the same height (including the same height) in the front-rear direction of the heating cooker body 1. Is provided. The opening 2c is provided on the side wall of the heating cooker body 1 substantially above the front and rear center line of the bottom surface 2a. On the other hand, the opening 2d is provided on the far side (the side facing the door 3) from the opening 2c with a distance a (for example, about 2 cm).

  And the infrared sensor 7 is comprised so that the position of the opening part 2c of FIG. 13A and the opening part 2d of FIG. 13B may reciprocate, for example by the slide drive devices 24, such as a solenoid.

  The detection operation of the infrared sensor 7 of the cooking device configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 and FIG. 14 with reference to the first embodiment. FIG. 14: is a figure which shows the temperature distribution detected with the infrared sensor of the same heating cooker in a matrix form.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the infrared sensor 7 including eight infrared detection elements 7 b is attached to be inclined so as to measure the temperature of the bottom surface 2 a of the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2 c of the heating chamber 2. The detection range B (hereinafter referred to as the visual field B) of each infrared detection element 7b is composed of eight independent elliptical shapes as shown in FIG. Each oval shape partially overlaps as shown in FIG. At this time, for example, the length b in the front-rear direction of the elliptical heating cooker body 1 is about 2 cm. Since the rightmost visual field B of the visual field B in FIG. 4 is the region closest to the infrared sensor 7, the depth and the left and right lengths of the visual field B are the smallest.

  At this time, when the infrared sensor 7 is rotationally driven by the motor 7c, the entire bottom surface 2a of the heating chamber 2 is covered with the visual field C shown in FIG.

  Then, when the heating starts, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c to move the infrared sensor 7 to a predetermined position.

  After the infrared sensor 7 stops, the control device 8 sequentially inputs temperature information detected by the eight infrared detection elements 7b. Thereafter, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c again to rotate the infrared sensor 7 by a certain angle (for example, 1 degree). And the control apparatus 8 memorize | stores the temperature information which the infrared detection element 7b for every fixed angle detected by repeating the said operation | movement and rotating the infrared sensor 7 for every fixed angle. Thereafter, when the infrared sensor 7 finishes moving a certain angle, for example, 10 times, the control device 8 drives the motor 7c to rotate in the reverse direction, and reversely drives the infrared sensor 7. In the following description, the period from when the infrared sensor 7 starts to move to one side until the driving direction is changed will be described as one-turn detection.

  Here, it takes about 10 seconds to complete the detection of one turn. When the control device 8 detects the heating target temperature selected by the user during the detection, the control device 8 stops driving the heating device 4 and moves so that the infrared sensor 7 is completely hidden from the opening 2c. Let This is to prevent a part of food scattered from the inside of the heating chamber 2 from being scattered outside the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2c and contaminating the infrared sensor 7.

  Thereafter, the infrared sensor 7 is moved from the opening 2 c to the opening 2 d by the slide drive device 24. Similarly to the above, the control device 8 rotationally drives the infrared sensor 7 by the motor 7c, so that the infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature distribution of the bottom surface 2a through the opening 2d.

  Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 14, the visual field C detected by the infrared sensor 7 through the opening 2c is different from the visual field N detected by the infrared sensor 7 through the opening 2d, and therefore the temperature distribution of different visual fields is detected. become. Specifically, the visual field C drawn by a solid line in FIG. 14 is a visual field detected by the infrared sensor 7 through the opening 2c, and the visual field N drawn by a dotted line is a visual field detected by the infrared sensor 7 through the opening 2d. Equivalent to. Although the visual field C and the visual field N are partially offset, the visual fields of the same element with the same angle are basically set to overlap at least partially. That is, the start angle of the infrared sensor 7 that starts detection for one turn is different depending on whether the detection is made through the opening 2c or the opening 2d.

  Below, the method to detect the shape of the to-be-heated object in the heating chamber of a heating cooker three-dimensionally is demonstrated.

  First, when the user presses the operation button 15 and puts the room temperature food into the heating chamber 2 to start heating, the control device 8 uses the infrared sensor 7 to open the temperature in the heating chamber 2 through the opening 2c. Start detecting the distribution. At this time, when heating food at room temperature, the infrared sensor 7 cannot determine the shape of the food or the position where the food is placed in the initial stage of heating.

  This is because there is no difference between the temperature of the food and the temperature of the bottom surface 2a. Therefore, in the initial stage of heating, the control device 8 arranges the infrared sensor 7 in accordance with the opening 2c. Thereafter, the infrared sensor 7 is rotationally driven by the motor 7c to detect the temperature distribution. Thereby, the temperature of food rises as it heats.

  The temperature of food tends to rise as compared with the container, bottom surface 2a, and heating chamber 2 wall surface. Therefore, when the temperature of the food rises to some extent (for example, rises by 10 ° C. from the initial temperature), the size of the food and the position where the food is placed can be determined.

  When the detection of one turn for detecting an increase in the temperature of the food is completed, the control device 8 drives the slide drive device 24 to slide the infrared sensor 7 to the position of the opening 2d. After that, the control device 8 rotates and drives the infrared sensor 7 at the position of the opening 2d by the motor 7c to detect one turn.

  Thereafter, the control device 8 drives the slide driving device 24 again to slide the infrared sensor 7 to the position of the opening 2c. Thereafter, the infrared sensor 7 is rotationally driven at the position of the opening 2c as described above, and the temperature distribution in the heating chamber 2 is detected.

  Next, a method for three-dimensionally detecting the shape of the object to be heated in the heating chamber of the cooking device will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 15A to 15C and FIGS. 16A to 16C. FIG. 15A to FIG. 15C are diagrams for explaining detection by the infrared sensor of the cooking device. FIG. 16A to FIG. 16C are diagrams illustrating detection of an infrared sensor of the cooking device.

  First, the temperature distribution of the tall cup O shown in FIG. 15A and the low flat plate P shown in FIG. 16A is detected through the opening 2c using an infrared sensor. In this case, the temperature distribution as shown in FIGS. 15B and 16B is detected by the infrared sensor 7. At this time, as can be seen from FIGS. 15B and 16B, the tall cup O and the low flat plate P are determined to be exactly the same.

  This is because only the shape projected two-dimensionally onto the infrared sensor 7 of the container can be determined from the detection result of the temperature distribution through the opening 2c. As a result, it cannot be determined whether the container is a tall container having a small cross section or a container having a large cross section, and the placement position of the container cannot be accurately determined. That is, it cannot be determined whether the cup O shown in FIG. 15A is placed in the center or whether the flat plate P shown in FIG. 16A is placed on the left side. This is based on the same principle that humans cannot get a three-dimensional effect when looking at an object with only one eye.

  Therefore, the slide drive device 24 is driven to move the infrared sensor 7 from the opening 2c to the position of the opening 2d, and the temperature distribution of the container in the heating chamber 2 is detected. At this time, it is detected that the temperature distributions of the cup O shown in FIG. 15C and the flat plate P shown in FIG. 16C are different. This is because the positional relationship between the container and the infrared sensor 7 differs depending on whether the detection is made through the opening 2c or the opening 2d.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 15C, the temperature distribution of the cup O is detected as if it was inclined in the forward direction of the heating cooker body 1. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16C, the shape of the temperature distribution of the flat plate P is almost the same as the temperature distribution of the cup O, but it is detected that a part of the temperature distribution is inclined backward in the heating cooker body 1. Is done.

  That is, a tall container like the cup O of FIG. 15C is inclined in the front direction of the heating cooker body 1 in the detection result through the opening 2d as compared with the detection result through the opening 2c. Detected.

  Therefore, by comparing the temperature distributions detected through the opening 2c and the opening 2d, the height, cross-sectional area, and placement position of the container or food in the heating chamber 2 can be determined. This is the same principle as that when a person sees an object through both eyes and can be viewed three-dimensionally using parallax when viewed from two viewpoints.

  Below, the basic procedure which discriminate | determines the height and cross-sectional area of a foodstuff, and a mounting position is demonstrated.

  First, the result detected through the opening 2c is compared with the result of the temperature distribution detected through the opening 2d, and the portion of the heating cooker main body 1 shifted in the forward direction is determined as the height of the food.

  Next, a portion other than the portion determined to be the determined height is determined as the width of the cross-sectional area of the food.

  Finally, the depth of the food is determined as the depth of the cross-sectional area of the food, and this is multiplied to determine the cross-sectional area. And it determines with the range of the point which shows a cross-sectional area showing the mounting position of a foodstuff.

  For example, when detected as shown in FIG. 15C, compared to the range detected as food in FIG. 15B (indicated by the range surrounded by the thick line in FIG. 15C), the cooking device body 1 is moved forward. The width Q in the left-right direction of the shifted portion is determined as the height of the food. Next, the left and right width R of the portion not included in the width Q of FIG. 15C is the width of the cross-sectional area of the food, the depth S in the front-rear direction of the food is the depth of the cross-sectional area of the food, and the cross-sectional area is width R × depth. S is determined. Further, the range of width R × depth S is determined as the food placement position.

  On the other hand, when it is detected as shown in FIG. 16C, it is compared with the range detected as food in FIG. 16B (the range shown in black in FIG. 16B and the range indicated by the thick line in FIG. 16C). In this case, since there is no portion shifted in the forward direction of the heating cooker body 1, the height of the food is determined to be very low.

  Next, the left and right widths of a part obtained by subtracting the height from the part detected as food are determined. In this case, since there is no height portion, the left and right width T of the entire portion detected as food is determined as the width of the cross-sectional area of the food. And the depth U of the front-back direction of a foodstuff is made into the depth of the cross-sectional area of foodstuff, and the cross-sectional area of foodstuff is determined to be width Tx depth U. Further, the range of width T × depth U is determined as the food placement position.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the temperature distribution is detected by the infrared sensor 7 at the opening 2c and the opening 2d, and the detection results are compared, whereby the food height, the cross-sectional area, and the loading are loaded. The position can be detected. Thereby, the control apparatus 8 can control the spreading | diffusion apparatus 6, and can adjust a heating distribution according to the mounting position of a foodstuff. As a result, food can be efficiently heated in a short time with energy saving.

  Moreover, it becomes possible to classify | categorize the kind of food based on the determined height and cross-sectional area of the food. For example, it can be classified into a liquid in a tall cup and a solid placed on a flat plate. Thereby, the liquid and solid which differ in a heating method can be determined, and it can heat with the optimal heating method.

  For example, when the liquid is heated, the infrared sensor 7 cannot detect the temperature of the liquid surface, and thus often detects the temperature of the container wall surface lower than the actual temperature of the liquid. Therefore, when the liquid is determined to be liquid, the heating is stopped as soon as any temperature in the container reaches the heating target temperature, and the temperature of the liquid is brought close to the heating target temperature.

  On the other hand, when a solid is heated, the temperature at the central part often does not rise compared to the temperature near the surface of the solid. Therefore, when it is determined that the temperature is solid, even if the temperature of any of the containers reaches the heating target temperature, the heating is continued for a while, so that the temperature of the surface of the solid and the temperature of the center are changed to the heating target temperature. Move closer.

  Moreover, since it is preferable to heat with a low heating amount when it determines with a foodstuff being small, a heating amount is adjusted according to the volume of a foodstuff. Thereby, the rapid heating of foodstuff can be prevented beforehand.

  That is, according to the present embodiment, the food can be heated without excess or deficiency by determining the type and size of the object to be heated such as food and changing the heating control method.

  On the other hand, when the object to be heated is frozen food or the like, the temperature of the bottom surface 2a and the frozen food are greatly different, so the shape of the object to be heated is determined at the initial stage of heating. At this time, if the three-dimensional detection is performed by detecting the second turn or the third turn of the infrared sensor 7, the three-dimensional shape of the food can be determined at an earlier stage. Thereby, since a heating method can be controlled according to a three-dimensional shape, frozen food etc. can be heated more optimally.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the infrared sensor 7 is slid to detect the temperature distribution, thereby detecting the height of the object to be heated and optimal heating control according to the object to be heated. It can be performed. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that can heat an object to be heated such as food more efficiently.

  In the present embodiment, the movement distance for sliding the infrared sensor 7 is described as an example of about 2 mm. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the width may be equal to or greater than the minimum visual field width of the infrared sensor. Thereby, since the detection result of the to-be-heated object in two opening parts differs enough, the discrimination | determination precision of height becomes high. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device that accurately discriminates the shape of the object to be heated and heats it more efficiently.

  When measuring temperature distribution from two different positions, the first method is to slide the infrared sensor 7 every time it rotates by one angle, and repeat this (rotation by one angle and two times). It is necessary to repeat the slide movement 10 times). On the other hand, as a second method, there is a method in which the infrared sensor 7 is slid after detecting one turn (there is no need to repeat the sliding movement by rotation for 10 angles and two sliding movements). In this case, the second method is preferable to the first method because the number of slide movements of the infrared sensor 7 can be greatly reduced. Thereby, the temperature of food can be detected quickly and at short intervals. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device that prevents overheating of food and quickly stops heating.

  Below, the cooking-by-heating machine in another example of Embodiment 2 of this invention is demonstrated.

  That is, in the heating cooker shown in FIG. 11, the light emitting device 11 described in the first embodiment is provided so as to cover the entire bottom surface 2 a, and the food is detected by the infrared sensor 7 having the slide driving device 24. Is. As a result, the shape of the food can be recognized efficiently as in the first embodiment, and the three-dimensional detection of the food can be performed by sliding the infrared sensor 7.

  At this time, the food width may be three-dimensionally detected by limiting the drive width of the infrared sensor 7. In this case, the place where the infrared sensor 7 detects through the opening 2c and the opening 2d is different. Therefore, the drive width of the infrared sensor 7 is changed from the width limited by the opening 2c to the detection width when detecting by the opening 2d. That is, when the temperature of the food rises by a certain temperature (for example, 10 ° C.), the control device 8 moves the infrared sensor 7 to a place corresponding to the position of the opening 2d after the detection of one turn of the infrared sensor 7 is completed. Move.

  According to another example of the cooking device of the present embodiment, by limiting the field of view of the infrared sensor 7 according to the shape of the object to be heated, the three-dimensional detection of food can be performed in a short time. Thereby, the heating cooker which can produce a food deliciously earlier is made.

  In the present embodiment, a solenoid is described as an example of the slide drive device 24. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the infrared sensor may be driven by a motor or another drive source.

  In the present embodiment, the infrared sensor 7 has been described as an example of moving between the two openings, the opening 2c and the opening 2d. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is good also as a structure of one big opening part containing the opening part 2c and the opening part 2d. In the case of a large opening, it is preferable to provide a noise blocking structure in the drive unit of the infrared sensor 7 in order to prevent the microwave from leaking to the infrared sensor side. At this time, first, when the infrared sensor 7 is located at a position corresponding to the opening 2c, the noise blocking structure is positioned so as to shield the opening not including the opening 2c. Moreover, when the infrared sensor 7 exists in the position equivalent to the opening part 2d, it is set as the structure which a noise interruption | blocking structure is located so that opening parts other than the opening part 2d may be shielded. Thereby, in the detection of the infrared sensor 7, the bad influence of noise can be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the opening 2c is provided above the front and rear center of the bottom surface 2a has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, you may provide in another part in the back surface, top surface, etc. of the heating chamber 2. FIG. At this time, the opening 2d may be provided in front of the heating cooker body 1 from the opening 2c, and the opening 2c and the opening 2d are not necessarily arranged at the same height.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  The heating cooker according to the third embodiment is different from the heating cooker according to the first embodiment in that a linear radiant heater is used as the light emitting device 19 on the top surface 2e in the heating chamber 2. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the light-emitting device 19 is composed of a radiation heater that emits at least infrared light and shines linearly. And the light-emitting device 19 is arrange | positioned so that the part which light-emits in the heating chamber 2 may be exposed in the approximate front-back center of the top surface 2e vicinity of the heating chamber 2. FIG. In addition, the light-emitting device 19 which consists of a radiation heater is used also as a heater for radiation heating, such as scorching food.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the light emitted from the light emitting device 19 is reflected by the bottom surface 2 a and the reflected light is detected by the infrared sensor 7. At this time, the bottom surface 2a has a high reflectance of infrared light radiated from the light emitting device 19, for example, a material made of metal such as aluminum that performs mirror reflection like a mirror, or a glass micro hollow sphere on the surface. It is preferable that the glass beads, prisms, and thin films of polymer material are stacked in a multilayer structure to be made of a material having an improved reflectivity.

  About the cooking-by-heating machine of this Embodiment, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below. Since the basic operation is the same as that of the first embodiment, different points will be described in detail. In the following description, the method in which the light emitting device is provided on the bottom surface 2a described in the first embodiment is described as a light emitting method, and the method in which the light emitting device described in the present embodiment is on the top surface 2e is described as a reflective method.

  Hereinafter, the difference between the light emission method and the reflection method will be described with reference to FIGS. 18 to 20C from three viewpoints. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a detection result by the infrared sensor of the cooking device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the difference between the light emission method and the reflection method in the operation for recognizing the shape of food will be described.

  In the case of the light emission method, as described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C in the first embodiment, the control device 8 detects the difference in temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor 7 when the light emitting device 11 emits light and turns off. The shape of the food is detected by calculating.

  On the other hand, in the case of the reflection method of the present embodiment, the light emitted from the light emitting device 19 is reflected by the bottom surface 2a. The shape of the food is recognized by detecting the reflected light reflected by the infrared sensor 7.

  However, since the light emitting device 19 is a linear radiation heater, the intensity of the reflected light is not uniform depending on the location of the bottom surface 2a. That is, as shown in FIG. 18, for example, when nothing is placed in the heating chamber 2, the front and rear center of the bottom surface 2 a is relatively strong, and further closer to the infrared sensor 7. Is done.

  Therefore, first, the control device 8 stores the reflected light in a state where nothing is placed in the heating chamber 2 as a basic reflection temperature distribution. Then, the control device 8 detects the shape of the food by comparing the basic reflection temperature distribution with the temperature distribution when the light emitting device 19 emits light.

  That is, the difference between the light emission method and the reflection method is due to the difference in the detected temperature distribution because the position of the light emitting device is different.

  That is, in the light emitting method, the light emitting device 11 provided on the bottom surface 2 a side emits light, so that even if it is reflected by a dish or container in the heating chamber 2, the reflected light is reflected in a direction that is extremely difficult to reach the infrared sensor 7.

  On the other hand, in the reflection method, since the light emitting device 19 provided near the top surface 2e in the heating chamber 2 emits light, the light reflected by the dish or the container is relatively easy to reach the infrared sensor 7. For this reason, when the light emitting device 19 is turned on, infrared light reflected by the dish or container is added in addition to the infrared light radiated from the dish, container, or food. Therefore, it is easier to detect the temperature than the light emitting method. As a result, as compared with the temperature distribution when the light emitting device 19 is turned off, the temperature difference detected across the entire bottom surface 2a is increased. In other words, in the case of the reflection method, even if the temperature distribution difference between the light emitting device 19 and the light emitting device 19 is calculated, a large temperature difference is generated at any point, so that the shape of the food is difficult to detect.

  However, since there is a large difference between the basic reflection temperature distribution when there is nothing in the heating chamber 2 and the temperature distribution when food is placed, the shape of the food can be detected by comparing with the basic reflection temperature distribution. .

  However, since it is necessary to detect the temperature distribution by causing the light emitting device 19 to emit light in a state where there is nothing in the heating chamber 2 before heating, convenience is reduced. Therefore, the basic reflection temperature distribution can be detected in advance and stored in the control device 8 to improve convenience. However, in the basic reflection temperature distribution detected and stored at a predetermined initial temperature, if the initial temperature in the heating chamber is different, the temperature distribution changes, so that a difference from the basic reflection temperature distribution occurs.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the basic reflection temperature distribution is corrected based on the temperature when the light emitting device 19 is turned off and detected. For example, when the temperature of a certain point group is high when the light emitting device 19 is turned off, the basic reflection temperature distribution is corrected to be high. Specifically, the basic reflection temperature distribution is corrected based on the temperature detected by the self-temperature detection sensor 7e of the infrared sensor 7. That is, when the temperature in the heating chamber 2 is increased, the self-temperature detection sensor 7e is also increased, so that the basic reflection temperature distribution is also corrected. Thereby, even when the reflected light is detected by the infrared sensor 7, the shape of the food can be recognized at the same time as the first turn of the infrared sensor 7 is completed.

  Next, the difference in shape detected by the infrared sensor 7 between the light emission method and the reflection method will be described with reference to FIGS. 19A to 20C.

  19A to 20C are diagrams illustrating detection by the infrared sensor of the heating cooker according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  In the light emission method, when the tall container J shown in FIG. 19A is placed on the heating chamber 2, the infrared light shown in FIG. 19C is incident on the infrared sensor 7, and the temperature distribution as shown in FIG. 19B is detected. . At this time, the shape of the food can be detected by detecting a low temperature in the portion shown in black in FIG. 19B. That is, only the size of the food can be detected.

  On the other hand, in the case of the reflection method, as shown in FIG. 20A, when the same tall container J as FIG. 19A is placed on the heating chamber 2, the temperature distribution as shown in FIG. 20B is obtained. At this time, a point indicated by black painting at a low temperature is detected in a shape in which only the portion K is enlarged on the infrared sensor 7 side as compared with FIG. 19B. As shown in FIG. 20C, a light ray (shown by a dotted line in FIG. 20C) that should be reflected at a portion of the bottom surface 2 a where nothing is originally placed is blocked by the tall container J. For this reason, an enlarged portion K such as a shadow is generated on the infrared sensor 7 side shown in FIG. 20B according to the height of the container J.

  In addition, when the light emitting device 19 and the infrared sensor 7 are arranged as shown in FIG. 20A, the enlarged portion K that is a shadow is always generated on the infrared sensor 7 side, and in the front-rear direction (door direction) of the bottom surface 2a. Not enlarged. Therefore, there is no influence on the operation for limiting the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 after the shape of the food is recognized.

  Next, the difference in control after recognizing the shape of the food in the light emission method and the reflection method will be described with reference to FIGS. 20B and 21.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a detection result by the infrared sensor of the cooking device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the reflection method, as described above with reference to FIG. 20B, for example, in the case of a shape of a tall food, it is detected by enlarging to the infrared sensor 7 side according to the height. However, when heating is started, the heated portion where the rate of temperature rise is large is not a shaded portion but a portion where food is actually present. Therefore, when the food is heated to a certain extent and warmed, it can be determined which part corresponds to the shadow.

  That is, when heating is actually started, the temperature rising speed is fast at the hatched points in FIG. 21, and the detected shadow portion K shown in FIG. 20B is slow in the temperature rising speed. Can easily be determined. In general, food or liquid is faster than the bottom 2a than food and liquid, so it is relatively easy to determine whether it is a shadow. As a result, since it can be determined that the portion K shown in FIG. 21 is a shadow, the height of the container J can be determined.

  On the other hand, in the light emission method, as shown in FIG. 19C, when the height of the container J is higher than the straight line connecting the left end of the bottom surface 2a and the infrared sensor 7, the height of the container J is only equal to or higher than the detected height. The container height could not be accurately determined because it could not be determined.

  However, according to the reflection method of the present embodiment, the width and height of the container J in the front-rear direction can be accurately determined. As a result, even a container J that is narrow to some extent and relatively tall can be easily determined as a container containing liquid.

  When the control device 8 determines that the liquid is liquid, the control device 8 immediately stops heating when the heating target temperature is reached.

  However, if the container is placed at a position that is tall to some extent and is separated from the infrared sensor 7 by a certain amount or more, the infrared sensor 7 cannot detect the liquid itself. In that case, since the infrared sensor 7 detects the temperature of the outer wall surface of the container, it becomes higher than the temperature of the liquid itself. Therefore, it is necessary to stop heating particularly quickly when heating the liquid contained in a tall container.

  Therefore, according to the reflection method of the present embodiment, the heating target temperature can be lowered when the height is known by determining the container containing the liquid from the height and width. As a result, overheating of liquid or the like contained in a tall container can be prevented.

  In the case of a container such as a relatively short mug containing liquid, it is difficult to discriminate because there is little difference in shape from a small bowl. However, in this case, since the container is short and the frontage is wide, the temperature of the liquid itself can be directly detected, so that no major problem occurs.

  Further, when the height of the container can be determined by the reflection method of the present embodiment, for example, the position where the container or food is placed can be grasped. And if the place where it was mounted is known, the control apparatus 8 can control the heating of the place where it was adjusted by adjusting the rotation speed, the direction of stop, and the stop time of the diffusion device 6 so as to increase, for example. it can. As a result, a cooking device that heats food more efficiently can be realized.

  Below, the control in operation | movement which recognizes the shape of the foodstuff in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  First, the light emitting device 19 is turned on (emitted), and the infrared sensor 7 detects one turn. Next, the light emitting device 19 is turned off, and the infrared sensor 7 detects one turn to recognize the shape of the food.

  However, if the food is not heated at all while recognizing the shape of the food, the heating is started after the detection time of two turns, for example, about 20 seconds later than the conventional cooking device that heats from the beginning.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, heating is started from the detection of the first turn, that is, the stage where the light emitting device 19 is turned on (emitted) and detected by the infrared sensor 7. At this time, except when a too small food is placed or nothing is placed, heating for about 20 seconds does not greatly change the temperature of the food. Therefore, although the accuracy of detecting the shape of the food is slightly lowered, there is no practical problem. As a result, since heating can be performed in substantially the same time as before, food heating time can be shortened.

  Below, the 2nd food shape recognition method in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  As described above, in the case of the reflection method of the present embodiment, when the light emitting device 19 is turned on and off, the second food shape recognition method recognizes the shape of the food by comparing the temperature distribution in the heating chamber 2. It is difficult to detect food because the temperature difference is difficult. This is because light is reflected by the wall surface of the container and the temperature of the wall surface of the container is detected as higher than the actual temperature.

  However, in foods, since infrared rays are absorbed by foods, the degree of reflection is extremely low, which is usually negligible. That is, comparing the temperature distribution when the light emitting device 19 is turned on and off, the infrared sensor 7 detects only the shape of the food, not the container. For example, when the liquid level is not visible from the infrared sensor 7 due to the liquid contained in a tall container, the second food shape recognition method detects that there is no food (not visible).

  On the other hand, the method for recognizing food shape (hereinafter referred to as “first food shape recognition”) in comparison with the basic reflection temperature distribution described above can recognize the shape of food including containers such as tableware. It is. Therefore, the shape of the food can be recognized even in a liquid contained in a tall container.

  Therefore, if the relationship between the shape of the food determined by the first food shape recognition method and the second food shape recognition method is used, the type of food can be determined more accurately.

  For example, the liquid contained in the tall container is thin and high in the first food shape recognition method, and it is determined that there is no food in the second food shape recognition method. For steaks and the like placed on a short dish, the shape of the dish is determined by the first food shape recognition method, and the shape of the steak is determined by the second food shape recognition method.

  In addition, in the first food shape recognition method, the side shape of the side dish in the small bowl, the rice in the bowl, etc., the whole shape of the tea bowl, small bowl and food is determined. In the second food shape recognition method, Only side dishes and rice are judged.

  In the first embodiment, the portion where the degree of temperature rise is high due to the progress of heating is determined as the location of the food, but if the second food shape recognition method is used, the shape of the food is determined at the initial stage of heating. it can. As a result, it is possible to appropriately heat the food by recognizing the range of the food at an earlier stage and changing the heating control method according to the type of food estimated by the above method.

  As a specific example of the heating control method, for example, in the case of a small food, the control device 8 reduces the amount of heating and controls the diffusion device 6 having a directional antenna according to the place where the food is placed to heat it. The heating distribution in the cabinet 2 is optimally controlled. In the case of food contained in a tall container, the control device 8 corrects and controls the heating target temperature.

  In the case of a plurality of dispersed foods, for example, the control device 8 performs control to extend heating for a certain time after detecting the heating target temperature. In the case of foods whose internal temperature tends to rise, the control device 8 corrects and controls the heating target temperature.

  Below, the control after recognizing the shape of the foodstuff in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 is limited and controlled to a width increased by a certain number of columns (for example, two columns) around the width of the shape of the recognized food. .

  That is, it is the structure which adds the point which makes the boundary line of food and the bottom face 2a a visual field to a detection target. Thereby, the heating target temperature of food can be detected more reliably.

  Furthermore, after the start of heating, after a lapse of a certain time, the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 is canceled and the entire bottom surface 2a is detected as a detection range. This is to cope with a case where a food having a surface area equal to or smaller than the visual field of a predetermined point is not recognized as a food when the detection width is limited when the shape of the food is recognized.

  Thereby, the temperature of the small food which was not detected in the early stage of heating rises after the start of heating, and it can be detected whether the temperature of the container or the bottom is raised by the heat. As a result, abnormal heating of small foods can be prevented and a safer cooking device can be realized.

  In addition, the timing which cancels | releases the detection width | variety of the infrared sensor 7, and changes to the detection of the whole bottom face 2a is after the time (for example, 1 minute) when the temperature of a small food rises to predetermined temperature. Therefore, when the heating of the food is completed within the time (1 minute), the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 is not canceled. In addition, even when the temperature of the food is soon to be completed (for example, within 10 ° C. from the heating target temperature), the temperature is not changed to the detection of the entire bottom surface 2a.

  Below, after recognizing the shape of the foodstuff in the heating cooker of this Embodiment, the advantage which narrows the detection width | variety of the infrared sensor 7 is demonstrated. Basically, this is the same as in the first embodiment.

  First, the food temperature can be detected at shorter intervals. Since this can be used for determining the type of food, stopping heating of small food, and the like, it is preferable to execute it at an early stage of warming the food.

  Second, by shortening the food temperature detection interval, the target heating temperature is detected as soon as possible to reduce overheating as much as possible. This exerts a great effect when the temperature of the food is close to the heating target temperature.

  In addition, if the detection range of the infrared sensor 7 is expanded in the middle of warming food, the first effect is reduced. However, if the detection width is narrowed when the temperature of the food is heated to a certain level or more, the second effect can be obtained.

  In other words, for example, when the infrared sensor 7 has already detected a temperature within 10 ° C. from the target heating temperature, it does not detect the entire bottom surface 2a, thereby realizing a heating cooker that deliciously heats food in an energy-saving manner in a short time. it can.

  Below, in the heating cooker of this Embodiment, the process at the time of a power failure generate | occur | produces during a heating is demonstrated.

  First, when a power failure occurs within a certain time during heating, the control device 8 detects that a power failure has occurred by a signal from the power failure detection device 9 after recovering from the power failure. In addition to the above, when the power failure detection device 9 detects a power failure, the cooking device may be disconnected from the power source and energized again. In this case, the control device 8 continues heating after returning from a power failure or after energization is resumed.

  However, food and dishes may be moving during a power outage. That is, when the control device 8 ends the recognition of the shape of the food and narrows the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 and detects a power failure, if the food or the like is moving in the heating chamber 2, the temperature of the food is detected. There are cases where it is not possible.

  Therefore, when a power failure is detected, first, the control device 8 detects the temperature distribution by returning the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 to the entire bottom surface 2a. And the control apparatus 8 detects without narrowing the detection width | variety of the infrared sensor 7 until the heating of a foodstuff is complete | finished. Thereby, the heating cooker which can be used safely at the time of a power failure is realizable.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by using the light emitting device 19 provided in the upper part of the heating chamber, the shape of the food is recognized by the reflected light from the bottom surface, thereby allowing the shape of the food at room temperature to be recognized. Can be determined. Thereby, according to the magnitude | size and position of a foodstuff, a foodstuff can be efficiently heated with the optimal heating amount and the heating distribution in a heating cabinet. As a result, the food can be heated deliciously while preventing overheating. Further, by combining the shape information of the food and the temperature detection information, the height of the object to be heated such as food and the accurate placement position can be determined, so that the food can be heated more efficiently.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, food can be heated in the same time as before by recognizing and discriminating the shape of food simultaneously with the start of heating. As a result, a heating cooker that heats food deliciously in a short time can be realized by heating in accordance with the food.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, the kind of foodstuff can be discriminate | determined by detecting the height of foodstuff. Thereby, the most suitable heating method can be selected according to food. As a result, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that prevents overheating of food and that is safe, energy-saving, and heated in a short time.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, the shape of a foodstuff can be recognized at the time of completion | finish of the 1st turn of an infrared sensor by recognizing the shape of a foodstuff using the basic reflection temperature distribution memorize | stored and preserve | saved. As a result, the shape of the food can be accurately recognized even if the food starts to be heated from the detection of the first turn of the infrared sensor.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, even when a liquid is contained in a tall container, the shape can be easily recognized and determined. As a result, by correcting the heating target temperature corresponding to the liquid in the tall container, it is possible to reduce problems such as a sudden boiling of the liquid after heating.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, by arranging the light emitting device above the bottom surface, it becomes easier to reflect on the bottom surface than when the light emitting device is arranged obliquely above the bottom surface. As a result, the shape of the food can be detected with higher accuracy.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, by using a linear light emitting device, the range of light emission is wider than that of a point light source, so that reflection occurs more efficiently on the bottom surface. Therefore, the shape of food can be detected with high accuracy even with a small amount of light.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, the kind of cooking can be increased by using a light-emitting device also as a heater. As a result, it is possible to simultaneously realize new cooking such as grill cooking at a low cost and shape detection of food at room temperature.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since heating is not performed when the light emitting device 19 is caused to emit light and the first turn is detected by the infrared sensor 7, the temperature rise can be reduced even when the second turn is detected even for small foods. . As a result, the accuracy of detecting the shape of the food can be increased. Heating may be performed when the infrared sensor 7 detects the first turn. In this case, heating is performed with a very low power (for example, an effective power of 150 W). At this time, since the temperature of the food does not rise rapidly, the same effect can be obtained. Furthermore, heating may be performed with a low output (for example, effective power of 300 W) until the second turn of the infrared sensor 7 is detected. At this time, as described above, the temperature of the food does not rise rapidly, so that the shape of the food can be detected with high accuracy. Further, it is possible to cope with warming of foods that are preferably not heated with high power at the initial stage of heating, such as frozen foods, semi-thawed products, or small amounts of foods.

  In the present embodiment, the basic reflection temperature distribution is corrected based on the temperature of a certain point group detected in the second turn of the infrared sensor 7. In this case, the shape of the food may not be recognized until the detection of the second turn of the infrared sensor 7 is completed.

  Therefore, in the initial stage of warming the food, the basic reflection temperature distribution is corrected based on the temperature of the self-temperature detection sensor 7e of the infrared sensor 7, and compared with the detection result of the first turn of the infrared sensor 7 detected without heating. And you may implement provisional shape recognition of foodstuffs. Thereby, although the detection accuracy of the shape of food decreases, the initial stage of heating can determine the size and shape of the food with a certain degree of accuracy. As a result, depending on the shape and area of the food, it can be warmed more safely and in a short time. Specifically, when the food has a certain area or more and is not a small amount, the food is heated with high power (for example, effective power 1000 W) from the detection of the second turn of the infrared sensor 7. On the other hand, when the food has a certain area or less and is in a small amount, the food is heated at a low output (for example, effective power 150 W) from the detection of the second turn of the infrared sensor 7.

  However, when the temperature of the self-temperature detection sensor 7e of the infrared sensor 7 is high (for example, 80 ° C. or higher), the temporary shape recognition is not performed. The reason for this is that there is a high possibility that other cooking, such as grill cooking, oven cooking, and warming, is performed until just before, so the temperature distribution on the bottom surface 2a is often not uniform, so temporary shape recognition is performed. However, this is because the detection accuracy is extremely lowered and the risk of erroneous detection is increased.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, it is not restricted to this demonstrated in the example which correct | amends basic reflection temperature distribution using the self-temperature detection sensor 7e of the infrared sensor 7. FIG. For example, the basic reflection temperature distribution may be corrected using the temperature of the room temperature detection sensor 18 disposed on the door 3 or the temperature of the interior temperature sensor 12 disposed in the heating chamber 2.

  Below, the cooking-by-heating machine in another example of Embodiment 3 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. 22, referring FIG.

  That is, food is detected by the infrared sensor 7 having the slide driving device 24 described in the second embodiment in the cooking device shown in FIG.

  Then, the detail of the control operation | movement which is recognizing the shape of the foodstuff of the heating cooker of another example of this Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 22 is an operation sequence diagram of another example of the heating cooker according to the third embodiment.

  First, in order to recognize the shape of the food, the control device 8 lights (emits light) the light emitting device 19 and detects one turn with the infrared sensor 7 through the opening 2c. Thereby, the food shape is determined.

  Next, the control device 8 moves the infrared sensor 7 to the position corresponding to the opening 2d by the slide drive device 24. Then, one turn of detection is performed through the opening 2d while the light emitting device 20 is turned on. Thereby, the three-dimensional detection of food is performed.

  At this time, the shape of the food is determined by the infrared sensor 7 when the first turn detection through the opening 2c is completed. Therefore, when the infrared sensor 7 detects one turn through the opening 2d, the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 can be limited to a range including food. As a result, food can be three-dimensionally detected in a short time.

  Thereafter, the control device 8 turns off the light emitting device 20. And the control apparatus 8 drives the heating apparatus 4, and starts the heating of a foodstuff.

  According to another example of the cooking device of the present embodiment, the shape of the object to be heated can be recognized at the initial stage of heating, and the three-dimensional detection can be performed at an early stage. Thereby, it is possible to determine the height, cross-sectional area, placement position, and the like of the object to be heated, and perform heating according to the type, shape, and place of the object to be heated. As a result, it is possible to realize a cooking device that can heat the food to be heated optimally, save energy, and heat the food deliciously in a short time.

  In addition, in another example of the present embodiment, the example in which the three-dimensional detection is performed by the first turn detection in the opening 2d has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the detection may be performed by detecting the second turn in the opening 2d or after that.

  In another example of the present embodiment, the example in which the visual field of the infrared sensor 7 is limited at the time of the first turn detection in the opening 2d is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the entire bottom surface 2a is detected. May be.

(Embodiment 4)
FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  The heating cooker according to the fourth embodiment includes a bottom surface 2a structure that reflects the light from the light source to the infrared sensor 7 as the light emitting device 20 using a point light source provided on the upper side of the heating chamber 2. In that respect, it differs from the heating cookers of the first and second embodiments. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 23, the light-emitting device 20 is composed of a light source that emits at least infrared light and shines in a substantially dotted shape (including a dotted shape). And the light-emitting device 20 is arrange | positioned at the outer side of the left side of the heating chamber 2, for example. In addition, the bottom surface 2a is configured in a mortar shape, for example, which reflects the infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 20 in the direction of the infrared sensor 7 and has a low center and high four corners. The light emitting device 20 may be provided anywhere as long as the infrared light can be condensed on the infrared sensor 7 by the bottom surface 2a, and can be arranged at an arbitrary position.

  The operation and action of the heating cooker according to the present embodiment will be described below. Since the basic operation and action are the same as in the first and second embodiments, different points will be described in detail.

  Below, the control before recognizing the shape of the food in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG.

  FIG. 24 is an operation sequence diagram of the heating cooker according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 24, first, the control device 8 performs temperature detection without turning on the light emitting device 20 during detection of the first turn of the infrared sensor 7 after the operation button 15 is pressed by the user. To do. Then, after the detection of the first turn of the infrared sensor 7 is completed, the light emitting device 20 is turned on (light emission), and the shape of the food can be recognized by the same method as in the second embodiment.

  When the food is a frozen food, the frozen food can be quickly determined by detecting the first turn of the infrared sensor 7. This is because, in the case of frozen food, the temperature of the frozen food is different from the ambient temperature in the heating chamber 2, so that the shape of the frozen food can be recognized without turning on the light emitting device 20.

  And when it detects that it is frozen food by the detection of the 1st turn of the infrared sensor 7, the 2nd turn of the infrared sensor 7 is detected, without making the light-emitting device 20 light-emit. Thereby, since the shape of the food can be recognized without causing the light emitting device 20 to emit light, the food can be heated in a short time with energy saving.

  With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, even when a light emitting device composed of a point light source is provided outside the heating chamber, the reflected light is effectively collected on the infrared sensor 7 by the mortar-shaped bottom surface 2a. It can shine and recognize the shape of food. Thereby, it is possible to realize a cooking device that prevents food from being overheated with a simple configuration, and that can save energy and heat the food deliciously in a short time.

  In addition, in this Embodiment, although the mortar-shaped bottom face 2a was demonstrated to the example, it is not restricted to this. For example, as shown in the figure explaining the configuration of the main part of another example of the heating cooker in FIG. 25, the bottom surface 2a may have a stepped shape. Thereby, the enlargement of the heating cooker by the thick mortar-shaped bottom face 2a can be avoided, and a compact heating cooker can be realized. In this case, since the mortar-shaped bottom surface 2a and the step-shaped bottom surface 2a are less convenient for the user, for example, a material that transmits infrared light is formed on the upper side of the bottom surface 2a, and the mounting surface of the object to be heated is flat. Is preferable.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although the light-emitting device 20 demonstrated in the example which light-emits the infrared light which recognizes the shape of foodstuff, it is not restricted to this. For example, the light emitting device 20 may be used as a lighting device. In this case, the light emitting device 20 is preferably controlled by selecting the illuminance in two stages. That is, when recognizing the shape of food, light is emitted with high illuminance, and when the heating chamber 2 is illuminated, control is performed so that light is emitted with low illuminance. Thereby, the energy-saving of a heating cooker can be achieved.

(Embodiment 5)
FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

  In the heating cooker according to the fifth embodiment, the light emitting device 21 is integrally provided adjacent to the infrared sensor 7, and the surface of the bottom surface 2a is retroreflected with infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 21. It differs from the heating cooker of Embodiment 1, 2 by the point provided with a structure. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first and second embodiments, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Here, the retroreflection means that the light beam emitted from the light emitting device is reflected in the same direction as the emitted direction. Then, the retroreflective processing is realized by forming, for example, a very small prism shape or spherical shape on the surface of the bottom surface 2a.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 26, the light emitting device 21 is integrally provided immediately next to the infrared sensor 7 on the outside of the right side of the heating chamber 2, for example, and is rotationally driven integrally with the infrared sensor 7 by the motor 7c. The

  The infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 21 toward the bottom surface 2a is reflected by the infrared sensor 7 on the retroreflected surface of the bottom surface 2a, thereby recognizing the shape of the food.

  The operation and action of the heating cooker according to the present embodiment will be described below. Since the basic operation and action are the same as in the first and second embodiments, different points will be described in detail.

  In the present embodiment, since the light emitting device 21 is integrally provided adjacent to the infrared sensor 7 side, the shape of the food as in the reflection method of the second embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 20A to 20C is detected. The detected shadow does not occur. That is, it is not detected larger than the actual shape of the food as in the second embodiment. Therefore, the shape of the food can be detected more accurately at the beginning of heating.

  With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, a light emitting device is provided outside the heating chamber, and even if the infrared sensor and the light emitting device are arranged on the same side, the reflected light is effectively collected on the infrared sensor by the bottom surface. Can shine. Thereby, the shape of food can be accurately detected with a simple configuration. In addition, it is possible to realize a heating cooker that can prevent the food from being overheated and can heat the food deliciously in a short time with energy saving.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, by providing a light-emitting device in the infrared sensor side, it can prevent that the shape of a foodstuff is detected larger than actual. As a result, the shape of the food can be accurately recognized at the initial stage of heating, so that a more appropriate heating method can be selected at the initial stage of heating. As a result, food can be deliciously finished by a heating method with less overheating.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the infrared sensor 7 has eight infrared detection elements 7b in one row and has been described as an example in which the temperature distribution is measured by rotating by 10 angles, but is not limited thereto. For example, the number of infrared detection elements other than 8 or the number of movements other than 10 angles may be used. At this time, if the number of infrared detection elements and the number of movements are increased, the number of points to be detected increases, and the temperature of the bottom surface 2a can be detected finely. Thereby, the detection accuracy of the temperature distribution of food improves.

  In addition, it is not always necessary to arrange the infrared detecting elements 7b in a one-dimensional manner, and for example, the eight elements may be configured in a two-dimensional manner such as two rows. That is, if a large number of infrared detection elements 7b are two-dimensionally arranged, the temperature distribution can be measured even with a small number of rotational movements or without rotational movement. Therefore, the movement time can be shortened and the shape of the food can be detected in a shorter time. If the cost permits, detection with higher accuracy can be achieved by using an infrared detection element having a high resolution such as an infrared CCD.

(Embodiment 6)
FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

  The cooking device of the sixth embodiment is different from the cooking device of the third embodiment in that the bottom surface on which the object to be heated is placed is a rotating dish 22. Since other configurations are the same as those in the fourth embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 27, a rotating tray 22 for placing food or the like in the heating chamber 2 is provided. The rotating dish 22 is made of, for example, a substantially circular shape (including a circular shape) and a material that easily transmits microwaves. The rotating dish 22 is made of a material that transmits infrared rays in at least a part of the range.

  And the rotation tray 22 is rotationally driven by the rotation drive device 23 provided in the lower side of the bottom face 2a outside the heating chamber 2 fundamentally during food heating.

  The waveguide 5 is connected to the heating chamber 2 at the side surface of the heating chamber 2, and microwaves are radiated from the side surface into the heating chamber 2 through the waveguide 5.

  The light emitting device 20 is fixedly provided outside the heating chamber 2 on the opposite side to the infrared sensor 7 including, for example, eight infrared detecting elements 7b. That is, the infrared sensor 7 of the present embodiment is not rotationally driven unlike the above-described embodiment.

  In addition, at least a region indicated by a portion L in FIG. 27 on the bottom surface 2 a reflects infrared rays emitted from the light emitting device 20. At this time, the portion L of the bottom surface 2a that reflects infrared rays has a rectangular shape with a width of about 3 cm, for example. And the infrared sensor 7 is arrange | positioned so that the visual field of the infrared sensor 7 may contain the part L which reflects infrared rays.

  The operation and action of the heating cooker according to the present embodiment will be described below. Since the basic operation and action are the same as those of the fourth embodiment, different points will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 27, first, when the user presses the operation button 15, the control device 8 starts heating. At the same time, the control device 8 drives the rotation driving device 23 to rotate the rotating dish 22. For this reason, in the heating cooker of this Embodiment, a spreading | diffusion apparatus is unnecessary and it can heat on average by putting a foodstuff on the rotating tray 22 and rotating it.

  Below, the method to recognize the shape of the foodstuff in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  First, when heating starts, the control device 8 causes the light emitting device 20 to emit light. At this time, the infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 20 passes through the rotating dish 22 and reaches a portion L of the bottom surface 2a shown in FIG. Thereafter, the reflected light reflected by the portion L passes through the rotating dish 22 again and enters the infrared sensor 7. And the shape and temperature distribution of food are detected by the infrared sensor 7. According to this method, the region that reflects infrared light is only the portion L of the bottom surface 2a. Therefore, since the light-emitting device 20 can detect with low illuminance compared with each said embodiment, the shape of the foodstuff of normal temperature can be performed with low power consumption.

  Below, the control at the time of completion | finish of the heating of the foodstuff in the heating cooker of this Embodiment is demonstrated.

  First, when the temperature of the food approaches the heating target temperature by heating (for example, within 5 ° C. of the heating target temperature), the control device 8 seems to always have a part of the food within the detection width of the infrared sensor 7. Next, the rotating dish 22 is moved by the rotation driving device 23. At this time, the food is placed within the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 by repeating the forward / reverse rotation of the rotating dish 22 or stopping the rotational driving of the rotating dish 22. Thereby, it can detect in a short time that the temperature of food becomes heating target temperature, and can stop heating of food.

  According to the present embodiment, the configuration including the rotating tray 22 can efficiently recognize the shape of the food even in the light emitting device 20 with low illuminance. Further, by using the fixed infrared sensor 7 which does not require rotational driving, the shape of the food can be detected at low cost and energy saving.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when the food temperature falls within 5 ° C. of the heating target temperature, the rotating dish 22 is moved so that the infrared sensor can always detect the food temperature. Thereby, the detection accuracy of the temperature rise of the food can be improved to prevent overheating of the food, and a cooking device that can save energy and can be heated in a short time can be realized.

  Below, the heating cooker in another example of Embodiment 6 of this invention is demonstrated.

  That is, food is detected by the infrared sensor 7 having the slide drive device 24 described in the second embodiment in the cooking device shown in FIG.

  According to another example of the heating cooker of the present embodiment, the configuration including the rotating dish 22 can efficiently recognize the shape of the food, and perform three-dimensional detection of the food, even with the light emitting device 20 with low illuminance. Can do. That is, it is possible to detect the three-dimensional shape of the food in three dimensions by eliminating the need for a motor that rotationally drives the infrared sensor 7 and slidingly driving the infrared sensor 7. Thereby, the cooking device which can recognize and heat the shape of a three-dimensional food with an inexpensive structure is realizable.

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the rotating tray 22 is made of a material that transmits infrared rays has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the rotating dish 22 only needs to have a structure in which infrared light reflected by the bottom surface 2 a reaches the infrared sensor 7, such as by forming a hole in a part of the rotating dish 22.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although demonstrated in the example which has arrange | positioned the light-emitting device 20 to the side surface of the heating chamber 2, it is not restricted to this. For example, it may be provided on the bottom surface 2a corresponding to the portion L shown in FIG. 27, and the same effect can be obtained.

  In the present embodiment, when the temperature of the food approaches the heating target temperature, the example is described in which the food is moved within the detection width of the infrared sensor 7 and controlled. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, immediately after the control device 8 recognizes the shape of the food, the food is moved by controlling, for example, the driving direction of the rotary drive device 23 so that the food is always present within the detection range of the infrared sensor 7. May be. Thereby, the rate of temperature rise of food can be detected at finer time intervals. As a result, the food type discrimination accuracy is further improved.

(Embodiment 7)
FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the heating cooker according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention.

  The heating cooker according to the seventh embodiment is different from the heating cooker according to the fifth embodiment in that the entire upper surface of the rotating dish 22 is coated with a material that reflects infrared rays in at least a part of the wavelength range. Since other configurations are the same as those in the sixth embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The operation and action of the heating cooker according to the present embodiment will be described below. Since the basic operation and action are the same as in the sixth embodiment, different points will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 28, first, light such as infrared light emitted from the light emitting device 20 is reflected in the range of the portion M in FIG. Thereafter, the reflected light reflected by the portion M enters the infrared sensor 7. And the shape and temperature distribution of food are detected by the infrared sensor 7. At this time, the portion M of the rotating dish 22 that reflects infrared rays has a rectangular shape with a width of about 3 cm, for example. And the infrared sensor 7 is arrange | positioned so that the visual field of the infrared sensor 7 may contain the part M which reflects infrared rays.

  In this case, when there is no food on the rotating dish 22, the reflected light reflected by the portion M enters the infrared sensor 7. On the other hand, when there is food on the rotating dish 22, since the infrared light does not reach the portion M due to the food, the infrared light from the food enters the infrared sensor 7, and the actual temperature of the food is detected.

  In the present embodiment, as in the third embodiment, a shadow of food or a container is generated. Therefore, the height of food or the like can be detected.

  According to the present embodiment, since the light of the light emitting device 20 is reflected by the portion M of the rotating dish 22, the area of the portion M to be reflected can be reduced. Thereby, even in the light emitting device 20 having a relatively low illuminance, the shape of the food can be recognized efficiently. Moreover, the cooking device which recognizes the shape of food with low cost and energy saving can be realized.

  Below, the cooking-by-heating machine in another example of Embodiment 7 of this invention is demonstrated.

  That is, the food cooking is detected by the infrared sensor 7 having the slide drive device 24 described in the second embodiment in the cooking device shown in FIG.

  According to another example of the heating cooker of the present embodiment, the configuration including the rotating dish 22 can efficiently recognize the shape of the food, and perform three-dimensional detection of the food, even with the light emitting device 20 with low illuminance. Can do. That is, it is possible to detect the three-dimensional shape of the food in three dimensions by eliminating the need for a motor that rotationally drives the infrared sensor 7 and slidingly driving the infrared sensor 7. Thereby, the cooking device which can recognize and heat the shape of a three-dimensional food with an inexpensive structure is realizable.

  In the present embodiment, the entire upper surface of the rotating dish 22 has been described as being coated with a material that reflects infrared rays. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, you may provide the surface structure which affixes the member etc. which reflect infrared rays, and reflects infrared rays in the whole upper surface of the rotating tray 22. FIG.

  In each of the above embodiments, the example in which the waveguide 5 is connected to the lower portion of the heating chamber 2 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the waveguide 5 may be connected to a portion other than the lower portion of the heating chamber 2.

  Further, in each of the above embodiments in which food is detected by the rotational drive and slide drive of the infrared sensor 7, a drive mechanism that combines the rotational drive and slide drive of the infrared sensor 7 by the motor 7c may be provided. In this case, for example, the motor 7c is provided with a gear A, and is constituted by a gear B for rotation driving and a toothed guide for converting the movement of the gear A into a movement in the sliding direction. When the infrared sensor 7 is rotationally driven, the gear A and the gear B of the motor 7 c are engaged with each other and driven by a control signal from the control device 8. On the other hand, when the infrared sensor 7 is driven to slide, the gear A of the motor 7c and the guide are engaged with each other and driven by the control signal of the control device 8. Accordingly, the infrared sensor 7 can be driven in two directions of rotation drive and slide drive by one drive mechanism. As a result, the configuration of the infrared sensor 7 can be made compact and the cost can be reduced.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, information on a heated object such as food can be acquired, and the heated object can be identified and applied to a technical field such as a heating apparatus or a cooking apparatus that is required to be efficiently heated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,124 Heating cooker main body 2,125 Heating chamber 2a Bottom surface 2b, 2c, 2d Opening 2e Top surface 3 Door 3a Rotating shaft 3b Door open / close detection device 4 Heating device 5,127 Waveguide 6 Diffusion device 6a Motor 6b Blade DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 7 Infrared sensor 7a Infrared detection lens 7b Infrared detection element 7c Motor 7d Rotating shaft 7e Self temperature detection sensor 8 Control apparatus 9 Power failure detection apparatus 10 Cooling fan 11, 19, 20, 21 Light-emitting device 12 Chamber temperature sensor 13,129 Illumination apparatus DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Display apparatus 15 Operation button 16 Handle 17 Transparent plate 18 Room temperature detection sensor 22,132 Rotating dish 23,133 Rotation drive apparatus 24 Slide drive apparatus 126 Magnetron 128 Infrared temperature sensor 130 Lightness sensor 131 Heater

Claims (13)

A heating chamber including a bottom surface on which an object to be heated is placed;
A heating device for heating the object to be heated in the heating chamber;
A light emitting device emitting at least light in the infrared wavelength region in the heating chamber;
An infrared sensor that detects reflected light from the bottom surface and acquires information of the object to be heated;
A control device for controlling at least the heating device and the light emitting device;
Having a heating cooker. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the information is a shape, an arrangement position, a height, a type, a temperature rise speed, or a temperature rise history of the object to be heated. The control device turns on the light emitting device, acquires the information on the object to be heated, and then turns off the light emitting device.
Thereafter, operating the heating device, obtaining temperature information of the object to be heated by heating of the heating device,
The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein stoppage of the heating device is controlled based on the information on the object to be heated and the temperature information. The infrared sensor drives a plurality of infrared detection elements or infrared detection elements to detect reflected light from the bottom surface of the heating chamber,
The said control apparatus controls the said light-emitting device so that the light emission of the said light-emitting device may be continued until the said infrared sensor detects distribution of the reflected light from the said whole bottom face of the said heating chamber at least. Cooking device. The bottom surface is a rotating pan that rotates the object to be heated in the heating chamber,
The infrared sensor drives a plurality of infrared detection elements or infrared detection elements to detect a distribution of reflected light in the radial direction on the rotating dish,
The control device controls the rotation of the rotating dish, and continues to emit light from the light emitting device until the infrared sensor detects the distribution of reflected light from the rotating dish at least once around the rotating dish. The heating cooker according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting device is controlled to do so. A slide driving device that slides the infrared sensor;
The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional information of the object to be heated is acquired by sliding the infrared sensor. When the infrared sensor acquires the temperature information of the object to be heated based on the information of the object to be heated acquired from the distribution of the reflected light, the detection range of the infrared sensor is limited to the area of the object to be heated. The cooking device according to claim 1. The said control apparatus determines the kind of said to-be-heated object based on the said information acquired with the said infrared sensor, and changes the control method of the said heating apparatus according to the said kind of to-be-heated object. The cooking device described. The control device compares the detection result of the infrared sensor detected while the light-emitting device is turned on with the detection result of the infrared sensor detected after the light-emitting device is turned off to obtain the information on the object to be heated. The cooking device according to claim 1 to be acquired. 2. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein, after the light emitting device is turned off, the control device starts the operation of the heating device even when detection of the infrared sensor at the time of turning off is not finished. The controller previously stores the basic reflection temperature distribution detected by the infrared sensor by causing the light emitting device to emit light in a state where there is nothing in the heating chamber,
The information on the object to be heated is acquired by storing the object to be heated in the heating chamber, causing the light emitting device to emit light, comparing the detection result detected by the infrared sensor and the basic reflection temperature distribution. Item 10. The heating cooker according to item 1. The controller stores the information on the object to be heated after heating, compares the information on the object to be heated with each stored heating, determines the object to be heated, and heats the object to be heated. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the same kind as an object, heating is controlled based on the information of the object to be heated. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting device is also used as a heater for heating the object to be heated.

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