JP7517951B2 - Heating and cooking system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cooking system that includes a stove burner having a burner head portion in which multiple flame ports are formed, a stove that heats an object to be heated by combustion in the stove burner, and a burner surroundings monitoring means that monitors at least the monitoring area around the stove burner.

Conventionally, this type of cooking system is known to be designed to limit combustion by, for example, reducing the flame power of the burner when monitoring information obtained from a burner periphery monitoring means indicates that a user's hand or the like has come too close to the burner (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

With this type of stove, combustion is restricted at all points on the stove burner, regardless of whether the user's hand approaches the front, back, left or right side of the stove burner. This results in insufficient heat from the stove burner, which adversely affects cooking performance.

To ensure safety, it is sufficient to limit combustion at the burner where the user's hands or other objects come into contact. In order to avoid adverse effects on cooking performance, it is desirable to suppress excessive combustion restrictions.

JP 2016-20749 A

In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide a cooking system that can suppress unnecessary combustion restrictions on the stove burner.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a cooking system including a stove with a stove burner having a burner head portion in which multiple flame ports are formed, which heats the heated object by combustion in the stove burner, and a burner periphery monitoring means for monitoring at least the monitoring area around the stove burner, the burner head portion having a plurality of divided head areas divided in the circumferential direction, the stove including a valve means capable of individually adjusting the heat power of the plurality of divided head areas and a control means for controlling the valve means, the monitoring area by the burner periphery monitoring means being divided into a plurality of divided areas corresponding to the plurality of divided head areas, and the control means being configured to execute combustion restriction control in the divided head area corresponding to the divided area that satisfies the predetermined condition when the monitoring information in each divided area acquired by the burner periphery monitoring means satisfies a predetermined condition.

According to the present invention, combustion is restricted only in the division head region corresponding to the division area where the monitoring information in each division area acquired by the burner surroundings monitoring means satisfies a predetermined condition, so that unnecessary combustion restriction is suppressed and adverse effects on cooking performance are suppressed.

Here, it is preferable that the above-mentioned predetermined condition is a case where the monitoring information within the classification area includes intrusion information indicating the presence of an intrusion within the classification area. In this way, the intrusion can be prevented from being heated too strongly by limiting the combustion of the classification head region corresponding to the classification area in which the intrusion exists.

The above-mentioned predetermined condition may also be a case where the monitoring information within the divided area includes handle information indicating that the handle of a cooking container, which is an object to be heated, is present within the divided area. In this way, the handle can be prevented from being heated too much by limiting the combustion of the divided head region corresponding to the divided area where the handle is present, and the user will not feel hot when grabbing the handle.

In this case, a temperature detection means may be provided that can detect the temperature of the handle, and if the temperature of the handle detected by the temperature detection means is below a predetermined temperature, combustion restriction control may not be executed in the division head region corresponding to the division area in which the handle is located. In this way, unnecessary combustion restrictions are not imposed when the temperature of the handle is low, and adverse effects on cooking performance can be more effectively suppressed.

1 is a perspective view showing an installation state of a heating and cooking system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a stove provided in the heating and cooking system of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2 . 3 is a perspective view of a disassembled state of a stove burner provided in a stove included in the heating and cooking system of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of an operation panel section provided on a top plate of a stove provided in the heating and cooking system of the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a range hood provided in the cooking system of the embodiment, viewed obliquely from below. FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a monitoring area set in the cooking system of the embodiment. 4 is a flow chart showing the control contents regarding the combustion limiting control performed by the control means of the stove provided in the heating and cooking system of the embodiment. FIG. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the contents of a monitoring information determination process included in the control of FIG. 8 .

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the stove 1 provided in the heating and cooking system of the embodiment of the present invention is a built-in type stove in which the stove body 2 is placed so as to drop into the stove opening CTa formed in the counter top CT of the system kitchen, and is equipped with two stove burners 3, 3 on the left and right. Each stove burner 3 has a burner head part 31 exposed on the top plate 4 through a burner opening 41 opened in the top plate 4 covering the open upper surface of the stove body 2. The stove 1 also has a trivet 5 installed on the top plate 4 so as to surround each burner opening 41. The top plate 4 is equipped with a ring member 42 that closes the gap between each burner opening 41 and the burner head part 31 of each stove burner 3. In addition, a pair of left and right operation panel parts 43, 43 for the stove burners 3, 3 and a power switch 44 in the center are provided on the front part of the top plate 4.

4, the burner head 31 of each burner burner 3 has four divided head regions 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ , which are divided in the circumferential direction. More specifically, the burner head 31 is composed of an annular lower head member 32 and an annular upper head member 33 installed on the lower head member 32. Four radial ribs 321 are erected at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the upper surface of the lower head member 32, and four radial ribs 331 are also erected at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the lower surface of the upper head member 33. Furthermore, a phase-determining notch 332 is provided on the inner periphery of the upper head member 33 to engage with an upward protrusion 322 provided on the inner periphery of the lower head member 32. Then, by placing the upper head member 33 on the lower head member 32 in a phased state, the lower edges of the radial ribs 331 of the upper head member 33 come into contact with the upper edges of the radial ribs 321 of the lower head member 32, so that the burner head section 31 is divided into a first divided head region _31-1 at the front, a second divided head region _31-2 on the right, a third divided head region _31-3 at the rear, and a fourth divided head region _31-4 on the left. Also, a number of flame ports 34 are formed on the outer periphery of the upper head member 33, from which the air-fuel mixture is ejected from each of the divided head regions _31-1 to _31-4 .

The burner head section 31 is installed on an annular burner body 30 having a plurality of vertically extending supports 301, the lower ends of which fit into a plurality of support holes 211 formed in a burner holder 21 fixed inside the stove body 2. A mixing tube section 302 is vertically extended downward from the center of each of the divided head regions _31-1 to _31-4 in the burner body 30. The burner holder 21 is provided with first to fourth nozzles 35-1 to _35-4 facing the lower end openings of the mixing tube section 302 extending from the _first to fourth divided head regions _31-1 to _31-4 . The lower head member 32 is provided with a guide plate section 323 which faces the upper end openings of each of the mixing tube sections 302 with a small gap therebetween. The fuel gas injected from each of the nozzles _35-1 to _35-4 collides with each of the guide plate sections 323 and diffuses into each of the divided head regions _31-1 to _31-4 , causing a radial venturi effect in which primary air is sucked in from the lower end openings of each of the mixing tube sections 302, thereby generating an air-fuel mixture. In addition, in Fig. 4, the upper head member 33 is shown in a perspective view seen obliquely from below, and the lower head member 32 and the burner holder 21 are shown in a perspective view seen obliquely from above.

Each burner 3 is provided with an ignition electrode 36 that sparks under the control of the controller 6 as a control means when the burner is ignited by the ignition/extinction button 432 (described later) provided on the operation panel 43, a thermocouple 37 as a flame detection element, and a pot bottom temperature sensor 38 that detects the temperature by contacting the bottom of the cooking vessel as the object to be heated placed on the trivet 5. The ignition electrode 36 is provided facing the flame port 34 of the third divided head region _31-3 , and four thermocouples 37 are provided facing the flame port 34 of each of the first to fourth divided head regions _31-1 to _31-4 . The pot bottom temperature sensor 38 is provided in the central space surrounded by the burner body 30 and burner head portion 31 of each burner 3. The upper head member 33 is provided with a tongue-shaped cover portion 333 that protrudes radially outward directly above the ignition electrode 36 to prevent overflowing liquid from falling onto the ignition electrode 36 .

A safety valve 391 is provided in the gas supply path 39 for each burner 3. The safety valve 391 is opened under the control of the controller 6 when the ignition is performed by the ignition/extinction button 432 provided on the operation panel 43, and is closed under the control of the controller 6 when the ignition is performed by the ignition/extinction button 432, when the pot bottom temperature sensor 38 detects overheating of the cooking vessel, or when a misfire is detected due to a drop in the electromotive force of the thermocouple 37 corresponding to the divided head area that should be burning. The gas supply path 39 is branched into first to fourth branch paths 39 ₁ to 39 ₄ downstream of the safety valve 391, which are connected to the first to fourth nozzles 35 ₁ to 35 ₄ . The first to fourth branch passages 39 ₁ to 39 ₄ are provided with first to fourth on-off valves 392 ₁ to 392 ₄ and first to fourth fire power adjustment valves 393 ₁ to 393 _4. These on-off valves 392 ₁ to 392 ₄ and fire power adjustment valves 393 ₁ to 393 ₄ constitute a fire power adjustment means capable of individually adjusting the fire power of each of the divided head regions 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ , including extinguishing. In this embodiment, the fire power adjustment valves 393 ₁ to 393 ₄ can adjust the fire power of each of the divided head regions 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ in 10 stages, from the minimum 1st stage to the maximum 10th stage.

As shown in Fig. 5, each operation panel 43 has a display section 431 and various buttons including a fire on/off button 432 and a fire power adjustment button 433. The display section 431 has a fire power display section 434 having first to fourth display areas ₄₃₄₁ to ₄₃₄₄ corresponding to the first to fourth divided head areas ₃₁₁ to ₃₁₄ of the stove burner 3. Each display area ₄₃₄₁ to ₄₃₄₄ has an inner and outer triple display line, and the number of lit display lines increases from the inside to the outside as the fire power of each divided head area ₃₁₁ to ₃₁₄ increases. In addition, when any of the first to fourth display areas ₄₃₄₁ to ₄₃₄₄ is pressed and held, the fire power of the divided head area corresponding to this display area can be changed by operating the fire power adjustment button 433.

The cooking system of this embodiment is also provided with a pair of burner periphery monitoring means 7, 7 made of infrared cameras arranged on the underside of the range hood RH located above the counter top CT, as shown in Fig. 6. Each burner periphery monitoring means 7 takes an image of a predetermined range including the periphery of each burner burner 3. As shown in Fig. 7, within the imaging range of each burner periphery monitoring means 7, a square area with a side of a predetermined length (e.g., about 30 cm) centered on the center of each burner burner 3 is set as a first monitoring area S1, and an area within a predetermined distance (e.g., about 30 cm) from the outer edge of the top plate 4 of the burner 1 is set as a second monitoring area S2. Furthermore, the first and second monitoring areas S1, S2 are divided into a first divided area _S11 , S21 in the front, a second divided area S12, _S22 in the right, a third divided area S13, _S23 in the rear, and a fourth divided area _S14 , _S24 in the left, corresponding to the first divided head area ₃₁₁ in front, the second divided head area ₃₁₂ in the right _, the third divided head area ₃₁₃ in the rear, and the _fourth divided head area ₃₁₄ in the left of the stove burner 3. Note that Fig. 7 shows the first and second monitoring areas S1, S2 for the stove burner ₃ on the left side, and the first and second monitoring areas are set similarly for the stove burner 3 on the right side, symmetrically to Fig. 7.

The controller 6 is configured to execute combustion limiting control in the head region corresponding to the area that satisfies a predetermined condition when the monitoring information in each of the areas _S11 to _S14 , _S21 to _S24 acquired by each burner periphery monitoring means 7 satisfies a predetermined condition. This control will be described below with reference to Figs. 8 and 9.

The process related to the combustion limit control starts when the power switch 44 is turned on, and first in STEP 1, the burner periphery monitoring means 7 acquires monitoring information within each of the divided areas _S11 to _S14 , _S21 to _S24 . Next, the process proceeds to STEP 2, where a monitoring information discrimination process is performed to determine whether or not the acquired monitoring information satisfies a predetermined condition.

In the surveillance information discrimination process, first, in STEP 100, it is determined whether or not the surveillance information in each of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ of the first surveillance area S1 includes intruding object information indicating the presence of an intruding object in the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ , which is one of the predetermined conditions. If the surveillance information in any of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ includes the intruding object information, the process proceeds to STEP 101, where the divided area including the intruding object information is stored, and then the process proceeds to STEP 102. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, if an intruding object W such as a cloth is present in the second divided area S1 ₂ to the left of the first surveillance area S1, the second divided area S1 ₂ is stored. If the surveillance information in any of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ does not include the intruding object information, the process proceeds from STEP 100 to STEP 102 without passing through STEP 101.

In STEP 102, it is determined whether the monitoring information in each of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ of the first monitoring area S1 includes handle information indicating that a handle of a cooking vessel, which is an object to be heated, is present in the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ , which is another of the predetermined conditions. If the monitoring information in any of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ includes handle information, the process proceeds to STEP 103, where it is determined whether the temperature of the handle is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature (e.g., 50°C) based on a temperature analysis of an infrared image taken by an infrared camera, which is the burner surroundings monitoring means 7 and also serves as a temperature detection means capable of detecting the temperature of the handle. If the temperature of the handle is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the process proceeds to STEP 104, where the divided area including the handle information is stored, and then the process proceeds to STEP 105. 7, if the handle Pa of the cooking container P is present in the first divided area S11 in front of the first monitoring area _S1 , and the temperature of the handle Pa is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the first divided area _S11 is stored. If the monitoring information in any of the divided areas _S11 to _S14 does not include handle information, the process proceeds directly from STEP 102 to STEP 105, and if the temperature of the handle is lower than the predetermined temperature, the process proceeds directly from STEP 103 to STEP 105.

In STEP 105, it is determined whether or not the surveillance information in each of the divided areas _S2-1 to _S2-4 of the second surveillance area S2 includes human body information indicating the presence of a human body (including clothing) as an intruder in the divided areas _S2-1 to _S2-4 , which is yet another of the predetermined conditions. If the surveillance information in any of the divided areas _S2-1 to _S2-4 includes intruder information, the process proceeds to STEP 106, the divided area including the human body information is stored, and the surveillance information discrimination process is terminated. If the surveillance information in any of the divided areas _S2-1 to _S2-4 does not include human body information, the surveillance information discrimination process is terminated without going through STEP 106. The reason why the area for monitoring the presence of a human body is the second surveillance area S2, which is larger than the first surveillance area S1, is to ensure higher safety for the human body.

After the monitoring information discrimination process is performed in STEP 2, it is then determined in STEP 3 whether or not an ignition operation has been performed using the ignition/extinguishing button 432. Until an ignition operation is performed, the process repeatedly returns to STEP 1, and when an ignition operation is performed, the process proceeds to STEP 4, where the safety valve 391 and the first through fourth opening/closing valves _392.sub.1 through _392.sub.4 are opened to supply gas to all the divided head regions _31.sub.1 through _31.sub.4 of the stove burner 3, and a spark is generated by the ignition electrode 36 to ignite the stove burner 3. Note that the flame power of each divided head region _31.sub.1 through _31.sub.4 at the time of ignition is set to the fourth stage, which is suitable for ignition. Next, in STEP 5, it is determined whether or not ignition is detected by the thermocouple 37. If ignition is not detected, an ignition failure is reported in STEP 6, and then the process proceeds to STEP 7, where extinguishing control of the stove burner 3 is performed by closing the safety valve 391 and the first to fourth opening/closing valves _392-1 to _392-4 .

When ignition is detected, in STEP 8, it is determined whether or not there is a division area stored in the monitoring information discrimination process in STEP 2. If there is a division area stored, proceed to STEP 9 and execute the combustion restriction control in the division head area of the burner 3 corresponding to the stored division area. For example, if the second division area _S12 on the right side where the intruder W of the first monitoring area S1 exists and the first division area _S11 in the front where the handle Pa of the first monitoring area S1 exists are stored as described above, the combustion restriction control is performed to reduce the flame power from the fourth stage at the time of ignition to the third stage in the second division head area ₃₁₂ on the right side of the burner 3 and the first division head area ₃₁₁ in the front.

Next, in STEP 10, the burner surroundings monitoring means 7 again acquires monitoring information for each of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ and S2 ₁ to S2 ₄ , and in STEP 11, the same monitoring information discrimination process as above is performed based on the monitoring information acquired in STEP 10. Next, in STEP 12, it is determined whether or not there is a divided area stored in the monitoring information discrimination process in STEP 11. If there is a divided area stored, the process proceeds to STEP 13, where combustion restriction control is performed in the divided head region of the stove burner 3 corresponding to the stored divided area. Next, in STEP 14, it is determined whether or not an extinguishing operation has been performed using the on/off button 432, and if no extinguishing operation has been performed, the process proceeds to STEP 15, where it is determined whether or not an instruction to change the heat has been issued using the heat adjustment button 433 or automatic cooking. When an instruction to change the flame power is given, the flame power is changed in STEP 16 and then the process returns to STEP 10, whereas when an instruction to change the flame power is not given, the process returns to STEP 10 without going through STEP 16. Note that even when changing the flame power in STEP 16, the combustion restriction control continues in the divided head region of the burner 3 corresponding to the stored divided area. Also, when the extinguishing operation is performed, the process proceeds from STEP 14 to STEP 7 to perform extinguishing control.

If it is determined in STEP 8 that there is no stored divided area, proceed to STEP 17 to determine whether or not an instruction to change the fire power has been issued. If an instruction to change the fire power has been issued, the fire power is changed in STEP 18 and then proceed to STEP 19. If an instruction to change the fire power has not been issued, proceed to STEP 19 without going through STEP 18. In STEP 19, it is determined whether or not a fire extinguishing operation has been performed, and if not, proceed to STEP 10, and if so, proceed to STEP 7 to perform fire extinguishing control. If it is determined in STEP 12 that there is no stored divided area, release the combustion limit control in STEP 20 and then proceed to STEP 17.

According to this embodiment, since the monitoring information in each of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ and S2 ₁ to S2 ₄ acquired by the burner periphery monitoring means 7 is limited to the division head regions corresponding to the divided areas that satisfy a predetermined condition, it is possible to suppress unnecessary combustion limitation and suppress adverse effects on cooking performance. One of the predetermined conditions is when the monitoring information in each of the divided areas S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ of the first monitoring area S1 includes intrusion object information indicating the presence of an intrusion object W in the divided area, or when the monitoring information in each of the divided areas S2 ₁ to S2 ₄ of the second monitoring area S2 includes human body information indicating the presence of a human body, which is one of the intrusion objects, in the divided area, so that the intrusion object W or the human body can be prevented from being strongly heated by the combustion limitation in the division head regions corresponding to the divided areas where the intrusion object W or the human body is present.

Another of the above-mentioned predetermined conditions is when the monitoring information in each of the divided areas _S1 - _S14 of the first monitoring area S1 includes handle information indicating that the handle Pa of the cooking container P is present in the divided area, so that the handle Pa can be prevented from being heated too much by the combustion restriction of the divided head area corresponding to the divided area in which the handle Pa is present, and the user will not feel hot when grasping the handle. Furthermore, when the temperature of the handle Pa is below a predetermined temperature, the divided area in which the handle Pa is present is not stored, so that the combustion restriction control is not executed in the divided head area corresponding to this divided area. Therefore, when the temperature of the handle Pa is low, unnecessary combustion restriction is not performed, and adverse effects on cooking performance can be more effectively suppressed.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in the above embodiment, the burner burner 3 has a flame port 34 on the outer periphery of the burner head portion 31, but the burner head portion 31 may have a flame port on the upper surface thereof. In the above embodiment, the number of divided head regions of the burner head portion 31 is four, but it may be other than four. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the burner periphery monitoring means 7 is installed on the underside of the range hood RH, but it is also possible to install the burner periphery monitoring means on other locations, such as the wall surface behind the burner 1. Furthermore, when the burner 1 has multiple burners 3 as in the above embodiment, the first and second monitoring areas S1, S2 for one burner 3 and the first and second monitoring areas S1, S2 for the other burner 3 may partially overlap.

1...stove, 3...stove burner, 31...burner head, 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ ...divided head area, 34...flame port, 392 ₁ to 392 ₄ ...opening/closing valve (valve means), 393 ₁ to 393 ₄ ...fire power adjustment valve (valve means), 6...controller (control means), 7...burner surroundings monitoring means, S1, S2...monitoring area, S1 ₁ to S1 ₄ , S2 ₁ to S2 ₄ ...divided area, W...intrusion, P...cooking container, Pa...handle.

Claims (4)

A cooking system including a stove having a stove burner with a burner head portion in which a number of flame ports are formed and heating an object to be heated by combustion in the stove burner, and a burner surroundings monitoring means for monitoring at least a monitoring area around the stove burner,
The burner head portion has a plurality of divided head regions divided in a circumferential direction, and the stove is provided with a valve means capable of individually adjusting the heat of the plurality of divided head regions, and a control means for controlling the valve means;
Dividing a monitoring area by the burner periphery monitoring means into a plurality of division areas corresponding to a plurality of division head regions;
A heating and cooking system characterized in that the control means is configured to execute combustion restriction control in a divided head region corresponding to a divided area that satisfies a predetermined condition when monitoring information within each divided area acquired by the burner surrounding monitoring means satisfies a predetermined condition. The cooking system of claim 1, characterized in that the predetermined condition is when the monitoring information within the divided area includes intrusion information indicating the presence of an intrusion within the divided area. The heating and cooking system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the predetermined condition is a case in which the monitoring information within the divided area includes handle information indicating that a handle of a cooking container, which is the object to be heated, is present within the divided area. The cooking system according to claim 3, further comprising a temperature detection means capable of detecting the temperature of the handle, and characterized in that if the temperature of the handle detected by the temperature detection means is lower than a predetermined temperature, the combustion restriction control is not performed in the division head region corresponding to the division area in which the handle is present.

Images