Automatic cooking machine and control method and electric control module thereof

Abstract

The invention provides an automatic cooking machine, a control method thereof and an electric control module. The automatic cooking machine comprises a bin body, a bin door, a bin door driving motor, a bin door driving shaft, a stirring driving motor and a stirring driving shaft, the bin door driving motor drives the bin door driving shaft to drive the bin door to rotate relative to the bin body; the stirring driving motor is used for driving the stirring driving shaft to rotate, and the stirring driving shaft penetrates through the hollow cavity of the bin door driving shaft; the automatic cooking machine further comprises a stirring assembly. The stirring assembly comprises a stirring support, a first wheel, a second wheel and a stirring shovel. The first wheel is rotatably connected to the center of the stirring support, the stirring shovel is rotatably connected to the eccentric side of the stirring support, the second wheel and the stirring shovel are in coaxial transmission connection or fixed connection, and the first wheel and the second wheel are in transmission connection; the stirring support is in coaxial transmission connection with the stirring driving shaft, and the first wheel is in coaxial transmission connection with the bin door driving shaft. The automatic cooking machine not only can feed materials at different times, but also can stir and stir-fry more sufficiently.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of cooking machine technology, and in particular to an automatic cooking machine, its control method, and its electronic control module. Background Technology

[0002] The inventor previously filed a patent CN119014693A disclosing an automatic cooking machine that enables timed ingredient addition. However, its stirring effect is poor, and during the stirring process, it tends to push the food instead of stirring it, which prevents the food in the wok from being fully stirred and stir-fried, affecting the taste and cooking quality of the food. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide an automatic cooking machine and its control method and electronic control module, which aims to solve the problems of the prior art mentioned above, and can not only add ingredients in stages, but also stir and stir more thoroughly.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows: An automatic cooking machine includes a chamber, a door, a door drive motor, a door drive shaft, a stirring drive motor, and a stirring drive shaft. The door drive motor drives the door drive shaft to rotate the door relative to the chamber, and the chamber includes at least two storage compartments. The stirring drive motor drives the stirring drive shaft to rotate, and the stirring drive shaft passes through a hollow cavity of the door drive shaft. The automatic cooking machine also includes a stirring assembly, which includes a stirring bracket, a first wheel, a second wheel, and a stirring spatula. The first wheel is rotatably connected to the center of the stirring bracket, and the stirring spatula is rotatably connected to an eccentric side of the stirring bracket. The second wheel and the stirring spatula are coaxially driven or fixedly connected, and the first wheel is driven by the second wheel. The stirring bracket is coaxially driven by the stirring drive shaft, and the first wheel is coaxially driven by the door drive shaft.

[0005] The beneficial effects of the above technical solution are as follows: The door drive motor drives the door to rotate relative to the container body via the door drive shaft, achieving time-based feeding. During stirring, the door drive motor remains stationary while the stirring drive motor rotates. This causes the door drive shaft to block the rotation of the first wheel, while the stirring drive motor drives the stirring support to rotate. The second wheel rotates around the first wheel, which in turn drives the stirring spatula to rotate around its axis. Simultaneously, the stirring support drives the stirring spatula to rotate around the axis of the stirring drive shaft. This allows the stirring spatula to more thoroughly stir and stir-fry the ingredients in the cooking container. Such an automatic cooking machine not only achieves a compact, time-based feeding design but also ensures thorough stirring and stir-frying.

[0006] Furthermore, the stirring drive shaft and the door drive shaft are coaxial.

[0007] Furthermore, the lower end of the door drive shaft is fixed with a driving tooth, and the first wheel is fixed with a driven tooth. The driving tooth and the driven tooth cooperate to achieve coaxial transmission between the first wheel and the door drive shaft.

[0008] Furthermore, the relative positions of the stirring bracket and the stirring drive shaft after connection are unique or only two are separated by 180 degrees.

[0009] Furthermore, the stirring bracket and the stirring drive shaft are axially detachable via magnetic attraction or spring clips.

[0010] Furthermore, it also includes a stirring zero-position sensor, which detects the zero position of the stirring drive shaft by detecting the zero-position characteristics on the stirring drive shaft.

[0011] Furthermore, it also includes a potentiometer or encoder, which is used to detect the position of the stirring drive shaft or the output shaft of the stirring drive motor.

[0012] Furthermore, after the stirring support is rotated to a suitable angle, the stirring support can avoid the area below the storage hopper.

[0013] The present invention also provides an automatic cooking machine control method, applied to the above-mentioned automatic cooking machine, comprising the following steps: Step S1: Before discharging material into the designated storage hopper, control the stirring drive motor to drive the stirring bracket, so that the stirring bracket rotates within a certain position range or stops at a certain position, so that the stirring bracket avoids the area below the storage hopper to be discharged, until the material discharge from the storage hopper is completed.

[0014] The beneficial effect of the above-mentioned automatic cooking machine control method is that it can prevent food falling from the storage compartment from landing on the mixing rack.

[0015] The present invention also provides an electronic control module for an automatic cooking machine, the electronic control module being used to store and execute a computer program, which, when executed, implements the steps of the above method. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0017] Figure 1 This is a top view of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A cross-sectional view at point AA.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the combined structure of the hopper assembly 1 and the drive assembly 2 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 4 This is a top view of the combined structure of the stirring assembly 8 and the drive assembly 2 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 5 for Figure 4 Cross-sectional view at BB.

[0022] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the stirring assembly 8 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the stirring assembly 8 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention (with the top cover 802b hidden).

[0024] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the stirring bracket 802 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention (with the top cover 802b hidden).

[0025] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the combined structure of the hopper assembly 1, drive assembly 2 and stirring assembly 8 of the automatic cooking machine provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention (when a certain storage hopper is discharging material).

[0026] Figure 10 The flowchart of the steps of the automatic cooking machine control method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention is as follows. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. Examples of these embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and intended to explain the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "length," "width," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

[0028] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this invention, "a plurality of" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0029] In this invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components; installation can refer to fixed installation, hinged installation, relatively sliding installation, or installation driven by power that allows relative movement, etc. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0030] The specific implementation of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to specific embodiments. Example 1

[0031] like Figures 1-3 This embodiment provides an automatic cooking machine, which includes: a food storage assembly 1, a drive assembly 2, a frame 3, a cooking container 4, a heating device 5, an electronic control module 6, and a touch screen 7. The food storage assembly 1 includes a storage body 101 and a door 102, with the door 102 located at the bottom of the storage body 101. The storage body 101 includes three vertically connected storage bins 101a. The door 102 has a notch; when the notch of the door 102 is below a designated storage bin 101a, the food in that bin is released. The drive assembly 2 drives the door 102 to rotate to different angles at different times, thereby allowing the food storage assembly 1 to release food from different storage bins 101a at different times. The cooking container 4 has its opening facing upwards to receive the food released by the food storage assembly 1 at different times. The heating device 5 is positioned and installed within the frame 3, and the cooking container 4 is placed on the heating device 5. The electronic control module 6 is installed within the frame 3, and the touch screen 7 is located at the front end of the frame 3. The user selects the dish to be cooked via touch screen 7, and then touch screen 7 transmits the information to the electronic control module 6, which controls the movement of drive component 2 and heating device 5.

[0032] The structure of drive assembly 2 is described as follows: Door drive motor 204 drives bevel gear 203 to rotate. The upper end of door drive shaft 201 is a bevel gear that drives bevel gear 203. A swing arm 202 is installed at the lower end of door drive shaft 201. There is a protruding structure 102d below door 102. The swing arm 202 rotates door 102 by moving the protruding structure 102d, thus driving door drive motor 204 to rotate door 102. Proximity switch 205 determines the origin of door drive shaft 201 by detecting the protruding structure on door drive shaft 201. The upper end of stirring drive shaft 206 is connected to the output shaft of stirring drive motor 207. The lower end of stirring drive shaft 206 is fixed with magnetic shaft 206a, which is connected to stirring assembly 8. Thus, stirring drive motor 207 can drive stirring assembly 8 to rotate. Preferably, magnetic shaft 206a is a flat shaft that mates with a waist hole. The door drive motor 204, the stirring drive motor 207, and related transmission structures are all housed inside the housing 208.

[0033] like Figures 3-8 The mixing assembly 8 includes: a mixing spatula 801, a mixing support 802, a first wheel 803, a second wheel 804, bearings 805 and 806, and a magnet 807. The mixing support 802 includes a housing 802a, a top cover 802b, and a boss 802c. The boss 802c is fixed at the center of the housing 802a (the centers of the mixing support 802, housing 802a, top cover 802b, and boss 802c are all set as its mixing rotation axis). The top cover 802b is fixed at the upper end of the housing 802a. The mixing spatula 801 is rotatably connected to the eccentric side (right side in the figure) of the mixing support 802 via bearings 805 and 806. The second wheel 804 is coaxially fixed to the upper part of the mixing spatula 801. The second wheel 804 can also be coaxially driven connected to the upper part of the mixing spatula 801, allowing the mixing spatula 801 to elastically float up and down relative to the second wheel 804, thus making the mixing spatula 801 fit more closely to the cooking container 4. The boss 802c is cylindrical with a central slot. The first wheel 803 is rotatably mounted on the boss 802c. Rotation of the first wheel 803 drives the second wheel 804 to rotate. Preferably, both the first wheel 803 and the second wheel 804 are gears; alternatively, they can be pulleys or sprockets, driven by a belt or chain; or they can be indirectly driven by other wheels. A magnet 807 is fixed to the underside of the boss 802c. Preferably, the stirring support 802 also includes an auxiliary spatula 802d, which is fixed to the left side of the stirring support 802. During stirring and rotation, the auxiliary spatula 802d can scrape off food adhering to the sidewalls of the cooking container 4.

[0034] The waist hole of the boss 802c is detachably fitted onto the magnetic shaft 206a. The bottom of the magnetic shaft 206a is attracted to the magnet 807, allowing the stirring drive shaft 206 to drive the stirring bracket 802 to rotate. The stirring drive shaft 206 and the stirring bracket 802 are coaxially connected. The door drive shaft 201 is coaxial with the first wheel 803. Two driving teeth 202a are symmetrically fixed to the bottom of the swing arm 202. The top of the first wheel 803 has a ring of driven teeth 803a, which engage with the two driving teeth 202a. This allows the door drive shaft 201 and the first wheel 803 to be coaxially connected. When the door drive shaft 201 is not rotating, it can prevent the first wheel 803 from rotating. The stirring assembly 8 can be connected or disconnected from the drive assembly 2 simply by plugging and unplugging it, achieving quick assembly and disassembly and facilitating the disassembly and cleaning of the stirring assembly 8. In this example, the stirring assembly 8 and the stirring drive shaft 206 are preferably connected axially and detachably by magnetic attraction, but they can also be connected axially and detachably by spring clips.

[0035] During stirring, the door drive motor 204 remains stationary, while the stirring drive motor 207 rotates. This causes the door drive shaft 201 to block the rotation of the first wheel 803. The stirring drive motor 207 drives the stirring support 802 to rotate, and the second wheel 804 rotates around the first wheel 803. The second wheel 804 drives the stirring spatula 801 to rotate around its axis. Simultaneously, the stirring support 802 drives the stirring spatula 801 to rotate around the axis of the stirring drive shaft 206. In this way, the stirring spatula 801 can more thoroughly stir and stir the ingredients in the cooking container 4.

[0036] like Figure 5 and 9Because the stirring spatula 801 is eccentrically positioned on the right side of the stirring support 802, causing the stirring support 802 to protrude to the right, the stirring support 802 needs to be in the appropriate position when the designated storage bin 101a is filled. Otherwise, the food falling from the storage bin 101a may land on the right protrusion of the stirring support 802 or the auxiliary spatula 802d on the left, thus preventing it from being cooked. Therefore, the stirring assembly 8 requires position control. A first preferred solution is that the stirring zero-position sensor 209 determines the origin of the stirring drive shaft 206 by detecting the protrusion 206b on the stirring drive shaft 206, and then the stirring drive motor 207 controls the position of the stirring support 802 through delay control, stepping control, or servo control. A second preferred solution is to detect the position of the stirring drive shaft 206 or the output shaft of the stirring drive motor 207 through a potentiometer or encoder, and then the stirring drive motor 207 controls the position of the stirring support 802 through delay control, stepping control, or servo control. After the stirring support 802 is rotated to a suitable angle, it can avoid being below the storage bin 101a. Since the stirring shovel 801 and the auxiliary shovel 802d are distributed 180 degrees apart, in order to prevent the food falling from the storage bin 101a from landing on the right protrusion of the stirring support 802 or the left auxiliary shovel 802d, the relative position of the stirring support 802 and the stirring drive shaft 206 after connection is unique or only two positions separated by 180 degrees. In this example, preferably, the waist hole of the boss 802c can be fitted onto the magnetic shaft 206a (flat shaft) in two postures (180 degrees apart), so that the relative position of the stirring support 802 and the stirring drive shaft 206 after connection is uniquely separated by 180 degrees.

[0037] To prevent food falling from the storage compartment 101a from landing on the mixing rack 802, the control method of the automatic cooking machine includes the following steps (e.g. Figure 10 ): Step S1: Before discharging material into the designated storage silo 101a, control the stirring drive motor 207 to drive the stirring support 802, so that the stirring support 802 rotates within a certain position range or stops at a certain position, so that the stirring support 802 avoids the storage silo 101a under which material is to be discharged, until the material discharge into the storage silo 101a is completed.

[0038] The electronic control module 6 is used to store and execute computer programs, which, when executed, implement step S1.

[0039] This section provides specific details regarding all the above embodiments. An automatic cooking machine can be an automatic stir-fry machine, an automatic steamer, an automatic soy milk maker, or other similar cooking machines.

[0040] The above description is only a few preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic cooking machine, comprising a bin body, a bin door, a bin door driving motor, a bin door driving shaft, a stirring driving motor, a stirring driving shaft; the bin door driving motor drives the bin door to rotate relative to the bin body by driving the bin door driving shaft, the bin body comprising at least two storage bins; the stirring driving motor drives the stirring driving shaft to rotate, the stirring driving shaft passing through the hollow cavity of the bin door driving shaft; characterized in that further comprising a stirring assembly, the stirring assembly comprising a stirring support, a first wheel, a second wheel, a stirring shovel; the first wheel is rotatably connected at the center of the stirring support, the stirring shovel is rotatably connected at the eccentric side of the stirring support, the second wheel and the stirring shovel are coaxially transmission connected or fixedly connected, and the first wheel is transmission connected with the second wheel; the stirring support is coaxially transmission connected with the stirring driving shaft, and the first wheel is coaxially transmission connected with the bin door driving shaft.

2. The automatic cooking machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the stirring driving shaft and the bin door driving shaft are coaxial.

3. The automatic cooking machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the lower end of the bin door driving shaft is fixed with a driving gear, the first wheel is fixed with a driven gear, and the driving gear and the driven gear are matched to realize coaxial transmission of the first wheel and the bin door driving shaft.

4. The automatic cooking machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the relative position of the stirring support and the stirring driving shaft after being connected is unique or the second unique with a separation of 180 degrees.

5. The automatic cooking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the stirring support and the stirring driving shaft are axially detachably connected by magnetic attraction or elastic buckle.

6. The automatic cooking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein: further comprising a stirring zero position sensor, the stirring zero position sensor detects the zero position of the stirring driving shaft by detecting the zero position feature on the stirring driving shaft.

7. The automatic cooking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein: further comprising a potentiometer or an encoder, the potentiometer or the encoder is used to detect the position of the stirring driving shaft or the output shaft of the stirring driving motor.

8. The automatic cooking machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein: after the stirring support is turned to a suitable angle, the stirring support can avoid the below of the storage bin.

9. A control method of an automatic cooking machine, applied to the automatic cooking machine according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, comprising the following steps: step S1: before discharging from the designated storage bin, the stirring driving motor drives the stirring support to rotate within a certain position range or stop at a certain position, so that the stirring support avoids the below of the storage bin to be discharged until the discharging of the storage bin is completed.

10. An electronic control module for an automatic cooking machine, characterized in that: the electric control module is used to store and execute a computer program, and when the computer program is executed, the steps of the method of claim 9 are realized.

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