JPH073287B2 - Cooking device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a cooker provided with a gas sensor.

(Prior Art) A cooking device, such as a microwave oven, is equipped with a gas sensor that detects gas, such as steam, smoke, and odor, generated from food in a heating chamber. As shown in FIG. There are some that do automatic cooking.

That is, the output (voltage) of the gas sensor is monitored from the start of cooking, and when the output of the gas sensor reaches the set value α,
The time T ₀ required up to that point is multiplied by a constant β, and the value β
・ Set T ₀ as the subsequent cooking time. And β ・ T ₀
When time passes, cooking is ended there. The set value α is determined according to the type of food, and is selected by the user's key operation before starting cooking.

However, the change in the output of the gas sensor varies depending on the amount of food of the same type. Therefore, proper cooking is difficult by selecting the set value α depending only on the type of food.

Therefore, conventionally, there is a method in which a weight sensor for detecting the weight of food is provided in addition to the gas sensor, and the set value α is corrected according to the weight detected by the weight sensor to solve the above problem. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the amount of food is “small”.
In case of, the set value is α ₁ , when the amount of food is “medium”, the set value is α ₂ , and when the amount of food is “large”, the set value is α ₃ ,
Appropriate heating time for each amount is secured.

However, in this case, there is a new problem that the cost increases due to the provision of the weight sensor.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooker which can always cook in good condition without requiring a weight sensor.

[Configuration of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A heating chamber, a gas sensor for detecting gas generated from food in the heating chamber, and a change in output between the initial time and the measurement time of the gas sensor. Means for detecting the inclination, means for comparing the detected inclination with the set inclination selected according to the type of food, and the time until the detected inclination and the set inclination match based on the comparison result. Detecting means for detecting, and means for controlling the heating amount of the food product based on the detection time by the detecting means are provided.

(Operation) During cooking, the slope of the change in output between the initial time of the gas sensor and the measurement time is detected. And this detected inclination is
When the comparison means detects that the set inclination selected according to the type of food matches, the time until that time is detected by the detection means, and the heating amount for the food is controlled based on the detection time. become.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a heating chamber, and in this heating chamber 1, a shelf plate 2 for placing food is provided. A magnetron 3 which is a high frequency generator is provided on the outer periphery of the side wall of the heating chamber 1, and an antenna 3a of the magnetron 3 is introduced into the heating chamber 1. Further, a ventilation port 4 is formed in the upper portion of the side wall of the heating chamber 1, and a gas sensor 5 is provided near the ventilation port 4.

The gas sensor 5 is connected to the sensor circuit 6, and the output of the sensor circuit 6 is supplied to the main controller 10. This main control unit 10
Consists of a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits, etc., and controls the entire microwave oven. An operation unit 11, a display unit 12, a relay 13, etc. are connected to the outside. 20 is a commercial AC power supply, and relays to this power supply 20.
Magnetron 3 via 13 contacts and high voltage transformer 21
Are connected.

Next, the operation of the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The food is placed on the shelf 2 in the heating chamber 1 and the door (not shown) is closed. Then, the type of food is keyed in on the operation unit 11 and a cooking start operation is performed. Then, the main controller 10 energizes the relay 13 to form an energization path for the magnetron 3. That is, the magnetron 3 oscillates,
Cooking starts.

During this cooking, the main control unit 10 detects the sensor output (output voltage of the sensor circuit 6) V that changes as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 every Δt time, and detects the nth detection point tn (= n · Δt). The slope of a straight line connecting the sensor output Vn and the initial value Va at is sequentially detected (calculated).

Here, a straight line V ′ connecting the initial value Va and the detection point Vn is represented by V ′ = αn · t + Va, and “αn” is the slope.

Then, the inclination αn is αn = {1 / (n · Δt)} · (Vn−Va).

Then, the main control unit 10 reads the straight line data (the following equation) corresponding to the type of the food that is key-input in advance from the various straight line data stored in the memory, and sets the set inclination included in the straight line data. The α is compared with the detected slope αn. The set inclination α is, for example, “0.
It is 86 ".

V = α · t + Va Thus, when the detected slope αn matches the set slope α (when the two straight lines overlap with each other as shown in FIG. 3), the main control unit 10 shifts to the cooking of the next stage or relays.
Turn off 13 and finish cooking. In this case, the detected slope αn
The time tn until the point coincides with the set inclination α becomes longer when the amount of food is “large”, and becomes shorter when the amount of food is “small”.

In this way, the change in the sensor output between the initial time point and the measurement time point is detected, and the detected inclination and the set inclination set according to the type of food are compared and the cooking time until the coincidence is reached. Accordingly, since the heating time corresponding to the amount of food can be set and the subsequent heating cooking can be executed, it is possible to always perform the cooking in a good condition. In particular, since it is not necessary to provide a weight sensor as in the conventional case, no cost problem occurs.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the heating chamber, the gas sensor that detects the gas generated from the food in the heating chamber, and the change in the output between the initial time and the measurement time of the gas sensor. Means for detecting the inclination of, a means for comparing the detected inclination and the set inclination selected according to the type of food,
Detecting means for detecting the time until the detected inclination and the set inclination match based on the comparison result, and means for controlling the heating amount for the food based on the detection time by the detecting means are provided. The heating amount corresponding to the weight of the food is controlled by the control means based on the time until the set inclination that is configured and set according to the type of food in advance and the detected inclination of the change match. Therefore, it is possible to provide a cooker that always enables good cooking without requiring a weight sensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sensor output change for explaining the operation of the embodiment, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of conventional cooking, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing sensor output changes depending on the amount of food. 1 ... Heating chamber, 3 ... Magnetron, 5 ... Gas sensor, 10 ... Main control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A heating chamber, a gas sensor for detecting gas generated from food in the heating chamber, means for detecting a slope of a change in output between the gas sensor at an initial time point and a measurement time point, and a kind of food. Means for comparing the detected inclination with the set inclination selected according to, a detecting means for detecting the time until the detected inclination and the set inclination match based on the comparison result, and the detecting means And a means for controlling the heating amount of the food based on the detection time.