Heating cooker

The heating and cooking device addresses the challenge of uneven heating in toaster ovens by using a combination of near-infrared and far-infrared heaters controlled by a specific program, ensuring even heating and improved cooking quality.

JP2025071442AActive Publication Date: 2025-05-08TWINBIRD CORP
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2023181610
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2023-10-23
Publication Date
2025-05-08
Estimated Expiration
2043-10-23

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing heating and cooking devices, such as toaster ovens, face challenges in evenly heating objects due to the differences in heating characteristics between near-infrared and far-infrared heaters, leading to uneven browning and incomplete internal heating.

Method used

A heating and cooking device with a main body featuring a firing chamber, a near-infrared heater at the bottom, a far-infrared heater at the top, and a control circuit that executes programs with specific time periods for energizing both heaters and the near-infrared heater alone, ensuring even heating of both the upper and lower parts of the object.

Benefits of technology

The device achieves even heating of both the upper and lower parts of the object, preventing uneven browning and ensuring that the interior is heated effectively, thereby improving cooking quality.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

To be able to heat an object to be cooked favorably, in a heating cooker using heaters having different characteristics.SOLUTION: An oven toaster 1 as a heating cooker includes: a body 2; a door 3 whose opening part 5 can be opened / closed; first heaters 6a, 6b which are near infrared heaters provided below a baking chamber 4 in the body 2; second heaters 7a, 7b which are far infrared heaters provided above the baking chamber 4; a gridiron 8 provided between the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b; a temperature sensor 17 as a temperature detection element which detects the temperature in the baking chamber 4; and an operation part 15. The oven toaster includes a control circuit 14 which executes a program that has a first time zone for conducting electricity in the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b and a second time zone for conducting electricity only in the first heaters 6a, 6b in one program; thereby, the inside and outside of an object to be cooked can be favorably heated without unevenness.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4
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Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a cooking device such as a toaster oven, and more particularly to a cooking device having a plurality of types of heaters. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, as this type of cooking device, a toaster oven is known that has a main body with a heating chamber, a door, an upper heater, a lower heater, and a grill net provided in the heating chamber, and has a heating control means that controls the heater to be turned on and off based on input from a temperature sensor and an input from a toasting adjustment dial (Patent Document 1). By configuring it in this way, the inside of the heating chamber can be kept at a predetermined temperature, and food to be cooked, such as bread, placed on the grill net in the heating chamber can be satisfactorily toasted.

[0003] Also, a cooking device is known that has a main body with a cooking chamber, a door, a heater and a cooking table provided in the cooking chamber, and is programmed with cooking patterns for each ingredient (Patent Document 2). By configuring it in this way, it is possible to cook ingredients with heating patterns suitable for each ingredient.

[0004] Furthermore, a toaster oven is known that is provided with a near-infrared heater having a radiation peak in a wavelength band of 1.5 μm or less and a far-infrared heater having a radiation peak in a wavelength band of more than 1.5 μm, and has a control means for energizing these heaters simultaneously or individually (Patent Document 3). With this configuration, the inside of the food to be cooked can be heated by the near-infrared rays, and the surface of the food can be browned by the far-infrared rays, allowing for faster cooking. Note that lamp heaters such as halogen lamp heaters are used as the near-infrared heaters. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-75235 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-14672 [Patent Document 3] JP 2000-55376 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, in a toaster oven like the one in Patent Document 1, the heater is simply turned on and off, so depending on the food to be toasted, there are problems such as the food not being heated through to the center, or the top and bottom sides being toasted differently. On the other hand, in a cooking device like the one in Patent Document 2, although cooking patterns are preprogrammed depending on the food, specific cooking patterns are not disclosed. Furthermore, in a toaster oven like the one in Patent Document 3, a near-infrared heater and a far-infrared heater are provided, and although the characteristics of the infrared rays radiated from these heaters can be used to toast the food to be cooked well, there is still room for improvement in the arrangement of the heaters, the control pattern, etc.

[0007] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a cooking device that uses heaters with different characteristics to heat food satisfactorily. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The cooking device according to claim 1 of the present invention has a main body having an opening and a baking chamber therein, a door attached so as to be able to open and close the opening of the main body, a first heater provided at the bottom of the baking chamber, a second heater provided at the top of the baking chamber, a grill provided between the heaters, a temperature detection element for detecting the temperature inside the baking chamber, and an operating unit, wherein the first heater is a near-infrared heater and the second heater is a far-infrared heater, and the cooking device has a control circuit that executes a program having a first time period during which electricity is applied to both the first heater and the second heater, and a second time period during which electricity is applied only to the first heater.

[0009] In addition, the heating cooking device described in claim 2 of the present invention is the same as claim 1, in which the control circuit executes a program having a first time period in which both the first heater and the second heater are energized, followed by a second time period in which only the first heater is energized.

[0010] Furthermore, the heating cooking device described in claim 3 of the present invention is the same as in claim 1, in which the control circuit executes a program having a first time period in which current is applied to both the first heater and the second heater, followed by a second time period in which current is applied only to the first heater. Effect of the Invention

[0011] The cooking device according to claim 1 of the present invention is configured as described above, and by heating the lower side of the food, the surface of which is relatively difficult to heat by the near infrared rays radiated from the first heater, for a longer period of time than the upper side of the food, the surface of which is relatively easy to heat by the far infrared rays radiated from the second heater, the upper side of the food can be heated evenly from above and below. Also, by heating for a long period of time with near infrared rays, the inside of the food can be heated well.

[0012] Furthermore, by executing a program in which the control circuit has a first period in which current is passed through both the first heater and the second heater, followed by a second period in which current is passed through only the first heater, the inside of the baking chamber is heated to a high temperature in a short period of time to heat the food to be cooked well, and then the lower and inside parts of the food to be cooked, which are relatively underheated, are heated, thereby allowing the food to be cooked well in a short period of time.

[0013] Furthermore, by having the control circuit execute a program having a first time period during which current is passed to both the first heater and the second heater within one program, followed by a second time period during which current is passed only to the first heater, in the case of a food item such as fried bread stuffed with ingredients that are particularly oily, the oil and moisture contained in the ingredients and the oil contained in the upper part of the bread part enclosing the ingredients can be made to a fried state by heating the underside of the bread part using the first heater before the oil and moisture contained in the ingredients and the oil contained in the upper part of the bread part enclosing the ingredients become more fluid due to heat and are biased downward by gravity, and the downward movement of the oil and moisture is suppressed by heating the ingredients with near-infrared rays, and then the entire food item is heated by both heaters, thereby suppressing uneven heating and effectively reproducing the fried state of the food item. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cooking device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. [Diagram 3] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the waveform of the current flowing through the entire heater when heating starts, and the ON timing of each relay. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature of the baking chamber and the on / off timing of each relay in the toast mode. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature in the baking chamber and the on / off timing of each relay in the curry bread mode. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature in the baking chamber and the on / off timing of each relay in the frozen curry bread mode of the same embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature in the baking chamber and the on / off timing of each relay in the frozen French bread mode of the same embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 7. 1 is a toaster oven as a cooking device of the present invention. This toaster oven 1 is configured to have a main body 2 and a door body 3. The main body 2 has a baking chamber 4 formed therein and an opening 5 on the front side. The opening 5 can be opened and closed by the door body 3. In addition, two first heaters 6a, 6b, two second heaters 7a, 7b, and a grill 8 are provided in the baking chamber 4. The first heaters 6a, 6b are provided below the grill 8 and aligned in the front-rear direction. The second heaters 7a, 7b are provided above the grill 8 and aligned in the front-rear direction. Furthermore, the grill 8 is configured to be pulled forward as the door body 3 is opened and pushed backward as the door body 3 is closed. In addition, 9 is a handle that is grasped when opening and closing the door body 3.

[0016] Both of the first heaters 6a and 6b are lamp heaters, and in this embodiment, both are called halogen lamp heaters. Although not shown, the halogen lamp heater is a heater in which a filament such as tungsten is inserted into a glass tube and halogen gas is sealed in the glass tube. That is, the halogen lamp heater has the same structure as an incandescent light bulb. Tungsten, which is the material of the filament of the halogen lamp heater, has a characteristic that the higher the temperature, the higher the electric resistance value, and the electric resistance value at the temperature when heating is 10 times or more compared to the electric resistance value at room temperature. Therefore, the first heaters 6a and 6b, which are halogen lamp heaters, are prone to a large inrush current at the moment of starting to be energized. Incidentally, the halogen lamp heater is a near-infrared heater that radiates a large amount of near-infrared rays. On the other hand, both of the second heaters 7a and 7b are carbon heaters. Although not shown, the carbon heater is a heater in which a carbon heating element is inserted into a glass tube and an inert gas is sealed in the glass tube. The carbon heating element has a small difference between its electrical resistance at room temperature and its electrical resistance at the temperature at which it heats up. Therefore, the second heaters 7a and 7b, which are carbon heaters, hardly have an inrush current when they are turned on. The carbon heaters are far-infrared heaters that radiate a large amount of far-infrared rays.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the electric circuit of the toaster oven 1. As shown in this figure, the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b are connected in parallel to an AC power source 10. The first heater 6a and the first heater 6b are also connected in parallel to the AC power source 10. The second heaters 7a, 7b are connected in series. A first relay 11a is connected in series to the first heater 6a. Similarly, a first relay 11b is connected in series to the first heater 6b. Furthermore, a second relay 12 is connected in series to the series circuit of the second heaters 7a, 7b. The first relays 11a, 11b and the second relay 12 are each a normally open type. A relay drive circuit 13 for operating these relays 11a, 11b, 12 is provided. Reference numeral 14 denotes a control circuit, 15 denotes an operation unit, 16 denotes a display unit, and 17 denotes a temperature sensor serving as a temperature detection element for detecting the temperature inside the baking chamber 4.

[0018] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, a user connects a power plug (not shown) to the AC power source 10, opens the door 3, places bread or the like as an object to be cooked on the grill 8, and then closes the door 3. Then, by operating the operation unit 15, the control circuit 14 turns on the normally open relays 11a, 11b, and 12 via the relay drive circuit 13. To explain in more detail, the relay drive circuit 13 first turns on the first relay 11a, turns on the first relay 11b one second later, and turns on the second relay 12 one second later.

[0019] By turning on each of the relays 11a, 11b, and 12 in this way, a current flows through the entire heater of the toaster oven 1 as shown in FIG. 3. That is, at the moment when the first relay 11a is turned on, an inrush current flows through the first heater 6a. At this point, the current flowing through the first heater 6a becomes the current flowing through the heater of the toaster oven 1. The inrush current at this time is an inrush current flowing through the first heater 6a alone, so it can be kept relatively small. This inrush current decreases over time. Then, the current flowing through the heater of the toaster oven 1 converges to the rated current value of the first heater 6a within one second until the first relay 11b is turned on. Next, at the moment when the first relay 11b is turned on, an inrush current flows through the first heater 6b. At this point, the current flowing through the first heaters 6a and 6b becomes the current flowing through the heater of the toaster oven 1. The inrush current at this time is an inrush current flowing through only the first heater 6b, so it can be kept relatively small. This inrush current decreases over time. The current flowing through the heaters of the toaster oven 1 converges to the total value of the rated currents of the first heaters 6a and 6b within one second until the second relay 12 is turned on. Furthermore, when the second relay 12 is turned on, no inrush current flows through the second heaters 7a and 7b, and a current of the rated current value flows from the beginning. At this point, a current flows through all the heaters of the toaster oven 1. Therefore, at the moment when the second relay 12 is turned on, a current that is the total value of the rated currents of the heaters flows through the entire heaters of the toaster oven 1.

[0020] In this way, when the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b are energized and the temperature in the baking chamber 4 rises, the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b are controlled to be turned on and off based on the temperature in the baking chamber 4 detected by the temperature sensor 17. At this time, the first heaters 6a, 6b, which are halogen lamp heaters that radiate a lot of near infrared rays, and the second heaters 7a, 7b, which are carbon heaters that radiate a lot of far infrared rays, are controlled to be turned on and off in conjunction with each other. However, the control circuit 14 is configured to be able to execute programs of several heating patterns, and some programs have a first time period in which all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are energized and a second time period in which only the first heaters 6a, 6b are energized in one program. When all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are energized, they are controlled to be turned on and off in conjunction with each other. In this case, as in the case of starting heating, the first relay 11a is turned on to energize the first heater 6a, one second later the first relay 11b is turned on to energize the first heater 6b, and one second later the second relay 12 is turned on to energize the second heaters 7a and 7b. On the other hand, when energizing only the first heaters 6a and 6b, these are controlled to be turned on and off in conjunction with each other. In this case, as in the case of starting heating, the first relay 11a is turned on to energize the first heater 6a, and one second later the first relay 11b is turned on to energize the first heater 6b. Even during on / off control of the first heaters 6a, 6b, an inrush current flows through the first heaters 6a, 6b the moment the first relays 11a, 11b are turned on, so by energizing the first heaters 6a and 6b with a time lag, the inrush current of the entire heater of the toaster oven 1 can be mitigated. However, unlike when heating starts, the filaments of the first heaters 6a, 6b are in a slightly warm state, so the inrush current during on / off control is smaller than the inrush current at the start of heating. Note that when the first heaters 6a, 6b are on / off controlled, the timings at which they are both turned off may be simultaneous or may be shifted by one second.

[0021] In this way, the first heaters 6a, 6b, which are near-infrared heaters, and the second heaters 7a, 7b, which are far-infrared heaters, can effectively heat food items such as bread placed on the grill 8. In particular, by appropriately controlling the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, the food items can be appropriately heated according to the type of food items.

[0022] The control patterns and the actions of the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature of the baking chamber 4 in the toast mode and the on / off timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12. When heating the food in the toast mode, the food is placed on the grill 8, the door 3 is closed to accommodate the bread in the baking chamber 4, and the operation unit 15 is operated to select the toast mode and start cooking. In this toast mode, first, the relays 11a, 11b, 12 are turned on to energize all of the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b. Note that the on timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 is shifted by one second, as described above. Also, the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are not repeatedly turned on and off, but are continuously energized. Then, when a predetermined time tt1 has elapsed from the start time tt0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the first relays 11a and 11b are kept on to keep energizing the first heaters 6a and 6b, and the second relay 12 is turned off to turn off the energization to the second heaters 7a and 7b. After that, when a predetermined time tt2 has elapsed from the start time tt0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the first relays 11a and 11b are turned off to turn off the energization to the first heaters 6a and 6b. That is, in a first time period from time tt0 to time tt1, both the first heaters 6a and 6b and the second heaters 7a and 7b are energized. Also, in a second time period from time tt1 to time tt2, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are energized. The times tt1 and tt2 are preset according to the browning and the number of slices of bread.

[0023] When the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b are energized in this manner, the bread is first heated from above and below. At this time, the inside of the baking chamber 4 is heated by all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b, so it quickly becomes hot. The surface of the bread is then baked by the infrared rays radiated from the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b. As described above, the first heaters 6a and 6b are near-infrared heaters and bake the bread from below, whereas the second heaters 7a and 7b are far-infrared heaters and bake the bread from above. The near-infrared rays radiated from the first heaters 6a and 6 have a strong effect of heating the inside of the bread, whereas the far-infrared rays radiated from the second heaters 7a and 7b have a strong effect of baking the surface of the bread. Therefore, at the end of the first time period at time tt1, the toasted surface of the bread is darker on the top than on the bottom. Then, during the second time period from time tt1 to time tt2, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are energized, so that the bottom of the bread continues to be heated by the infrared rays emitted from the first heaters 6a and 6b. In this way, not only can the top and bottom surfaces of the bread be toasted to an almost equal color, but the inside of the bread is heated for a long period of time by the near-infrared rays, resulting in toasted bread with a lightly browned surface and a hot, heated interior.

[0024] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature of the baking chamber 4 and the on / off timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 in the curry bread mode. When heating the food in the curry bread mode, the curry bread is placed on the grill 8, the door 3 is closed to store the curry bread in the baking chamber 4, and the operation unit 15 is operated to select the curry bread mode and start cooking. The food to be heated in the curry bread mode is not limited to curry bread, but may be fried bread stuffed with ingredients containing a lot of oil, but here, "curry bread" is described as a representative example. In this curry bread mode, first, the first relays 11a, 11b are turned on to energize the first heaters 6a, 6b. The on timing of the first relays 11a, 11b is shifted by one second each, as described above. Moreover, the heaters 6a and 6b are repeatedly turned on and off by controlling the relays 11a and 11b on and off based on a signal from the temperature sensor 17. Then, when a predetermined time tc1 has elapsed from the start time tc0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the second relay 12 is turned on to turn on the second heaters 7a and 7b. That is, after the time tc1, the relays 11a, 11b, and 12 are turned on and off to energize all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b while controlling them on and off. After that, when a predetermined time tc2 has elapsed from the start time tc0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the relays 11a, 11b, and 12 are turned off to turn off the energization of the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b. That is, in a second time period from time tc0 to time tc1, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are energized while being on / off controlled, and in a first time period from time tc1 to time tc2, both the first heaters 6a and 6b and the second heaters 7a and 7b are energized while being on / off controlled.

[0025] When the first heaters 6a and 6b are energized in this way, the curry bread is first heated from below in the second time period by infrared rays containing a large amount of near-infrared rays. By first heating the curry bread from below in this way, the oil and moisture contained in the ingredients of the curry bread, and the oil contained in the upper part of the bread part that wraps the ingredients, become highly fluid due to heat, and before they are biased downward by gravity, the oil contained in the lower part of the bread part is heated and fried by the first heaters 6a and 6b. At the same time, the ingredients of the curry bread are heated to a high temperature by the near-infrared rays radiated from the first heaters 6a and 6b. At this time, the downward movement of the oil contained in the upper part of the bread part of the curry bread is suppressed. After that, the curry bread is heated as a whole by all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b in the first time period, and uneven heating is suppressed. In particular, since the second heaters 7a and 7b are far-infrared heaters, the oil contained in the bread part on the upper surface of the curry bun is heated well by far-infrared rays, and the deep-fried state of the bread part can be reproduced well. Also, the ingredients that tend to be biased downward due to gravity in the curry bun can be heated well by heating from below for a long period of time by the first heaters 6a and 6b, which are near-infrared heaters.

[0026] The inventor also tested the case where the curry bread was heated by passing electricity through the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, as in the toast mode, and then the curry bread was heated by passing electricity through only the first heaters 6a, 6b, i.e., the first time period was set before the second time period. When controlled in this way, the oil and moisture contained in the curry bread became more fluid due to heat, and were biased to the lower part of the curry bread by gravity. As a result, the lower part of the curry bread was not fried, and it became too oily and too moist just by being warmed up. Therefore, when heating fried bread filled with ingredients containing a lot of oil, such as curry bread, unlike other breads, it was found that it is appropriate to heat the lower part of the curry bread, etc., by the first heaters 6a, 6b, which are near-infrared heaters, and then heat the entire curry bread by the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, i.e., to set the second time period before the first time period.

[0027] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature of the baking chamber 4 and the on / off timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 in the frozen curry bread mode. When heating the food in the frozen curry bread mode, the food is placed on the grill 8, the door 3 is closed to store the frozen curry bread in the baking chamber 4, and the operation unit 15 is operated to select the frozen curry bread mode and start cooking. The food to be heated in the frozen curry bread mode is not limited to frozen curry bread, but can be any fried bread that is frozen and filled with ingredients that contain a lot of oil, but here, "frozen curry bread" is described as a representative example. In this frozen curry bread mode, unlike the curry bread mode, first, the relays 11a, 11b, 12 are turned on to energize all of the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b. The on timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 is shifted by one second, as described above. Further, the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b are repeatedly turned on and off by controlling the relays 11a, 11b, and 12 on and off based on a signal from the temperature sensor 17. Then, when a predetermined time tf1 has elapsed from the start time tf0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the first relays 11a and 11b alone are continuously controlled on and off to continue energizing the first heaters 6a and 6b while controlling them on and off, and the second relay 12 is stopped and turned off to turn off the energization to the second heaters 7a and 7b. After that, when a predetermined time tf2 has elapsed from the start time tf0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the first relays 11a and 11b are turned off to turn off the energization to the first heaters 6a and 6b. That is, in a first time period from time tf0 to time tf1, both the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b are energized while being on / off controlled, and in a second time period from time tf1 to time tf2, only the first heaters 6a, 6b are energized while being on / off controlled.

[0028] When the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b are energized in this manner, the frozen curry bread is first heated from above and below. At this time, the inside of the baking chamber 4 is heated by all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b, so it quickly becomes hot. Then, the oil contained in the bread portion on the surface of the frozen curry bread is heated by the infrared rays emitted from the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b. As a result, the bread portion on the surface of the frozen curry bread becomes fried. As described above, the first heaters 6a and 6b are near-infrared heaters that heat the frozen curry bread from below, while the second heaters 7a and 7b are far-infrared heaters that heat the frozen curry bread from above. The near infrared rays emitted from the first heaters 6a and 6b have a strong effect of heating the inside of the frozen curry bread, whereas the far infrared rays emitted from the second heaters 7a and 7b have a strong effect of heating the oil on the surface of the frozen curry bread. Therefore, at the time tf1 when the first time period ends, the surface of the frozen curry bread is fried better on the upper side than on the lower side. Then, in the second time period from time tf1 to time tf2, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are controlled to be on and off while being continuously energized, so that the lower side of the frozen curry bread continues to be heated by the infrared rays emitted from the first heaters 6a and 6b during the second time period. In this way, not only can the entire frozen curry bread be fried to a substantially equal degree, but the inside of the frozen curry bread is heated for a long time by the near infrared rays, so that the curry bread is fried well on the surface and heated hot inside.

[0029] As described above, in the frozen curry bread mode, unlike the curry bread mode, first, in the first time period, the relays 11a, 11b, and 12 are on / off controlled to continue energizing all of the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b while controlling them on / off, and then, in the second time period, only the first relays 11a and 11b are on / off controlled to continue energizing only the first heaters 6a and 6b while controlling them on / off, and the on / off control of the second relay 12 is stopped and turned off to turn off the second heaters 7a and 7b. That is, in the frozen curry bread mode, the first time period is provided before the second time period. This is because, in the case of frozen curry bread, the temperature at the start of cooking, especially the temperature of the ingredients packed inside, is low, so the fluidity of oil and water is low, and even if the entire frozen curry bread is heated, the lower part of the frozen curry bread is unlikely to become excessively oily and excessively watery, unlike curry bread at room temperature. Therefore, in the case of the frozen curry bread, it is better to heat the oil contained in the bread part that encases the ingredients during the first time period so that the bread part is fried, and then heat the ingredients inside to a high temperature during the second time period.

[0030] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the temperature of the baking chamber 4 and the on / off timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 in the frozen French bread mode. When heating the food in the frozen French bread mode, the food is placed on the grill 8, the door 3 is closed to store the frozen French bread in the baking chamber 4, and the operation unit 15 is operated to select the frozen French bread mode and start cooking. In this frozen French bread mode, first, the relays 11a, 11b, 12 are turned on to energize all of the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b. Note that the on timing of each relay 11a, 11b, 12 is shifted by one second, as described above. Also, the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are repeatedly turned on and off by controlling the relays 11a, 11b, 12 on and off based on the signal from the temperature sensor 17. Then, when a predetermined time tb1 has elapsed from the start time tb0 of energizing the first heater 6a, only the first relays 11a and 11b are kept on / off controlled to continue energizing only the first heaters 6a and 6b while controlling them on / off, and the second relay 12 is stopped and turned off to turn off the energization to the second heaters 7a and 7b. After that, when a predetermined time tb2 has elapsed from the start time tb0 of energizing the first heater 6a, the first relays 11a and 11b are turned off to turn off the energization to the first heaters 6a and 6b. That is, during a first time period from time tb0 to time tb1, both the first heaters 6a and 6b and the second heaters 7a and 7b are energized while being controlled on / off. Also, during a second time period from time tb1 to time tb2, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are energized while being controlled on / off.

[0031] When the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b are energized in this manner, the frozen French bread is first heated from above and below. At this time, the inside of the baking chamber 4 is heated by all the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b, so that the temperature inside the baking chamber 4 quickly rises to a high temperature. The surface of the frozen French bread is then heated by infrared rays radiated from the heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b. As described above, the first heaters 6a and 6b are near-infrared heaters that heat the frozen French bread from below, whereas the second heaters 7a and 7b are far-infrared heaters that heat the frozen French bread from above. The near-infrared rays radiated from the first heaters 6a and 6 have a strong effect of heating the inside of the frozen French bread, whereas the far-infrared rays radiated from the second heaters 7a and 7b have a strong effect of heating the surface of the frozen French bread. Therefore, at the time tb1 when the first time period ends, the upper surface of the frozen French bread is heated more than the lower surface. This tendency is particularly strong in the case of French bread, which is often cut thickly. Then, in the second time period from time tb1 to time tb2, only the first heaters 6a and 6b are controlled to be on and off while continuing to be energized, so that the lower surface of the frozen French bread continues to be heated by the infrared rays emitted from the first heaters 6a and 6b during the second time period. In this way, not only can the upper and lower surfaces of the frozen French bread be heated to approximately the same degree, but the inside of the frozen French bread is heated for a long time by near-infrared rays, so that the whole bread is heated well. In particular, in the case of French bread, the inside is sparser than other breads, so heat is not easily transmitted to the inside. Therefore, the frozen French bread is heated for a long time by near-infrared rays, so that the whole bread is heated well.

[0032] As described above, the present invention provides a toaster oven 1 as a cooking device having a main body 2 having an opening 5 and a baking chamber 4 therein, a door 3 attached so as to be able to open and close the opening 5 of the main body 2, first heaters 6a, 6b provided in the lower part of the baking chamber 4, second heaters 7a, 7b provided in the upper part of the baking chamber 4, a grill 8 provided between the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, a temperature sensor 17 as a temperature detection element that detects the temperature inside the baking chamber 4, and an operation unit 15, in which the first heaters 6a, 6b are near-infrared heaters and the second heaters 7a, 7b are far-infrared heaters. The control circuit 14 executes a program having a first time period during which current is passed to both the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, and a second time period during which current is passed only to the first heaters 6a, 6b. By heating the lower side of the food, whose surface is relatively less susceptible to heating by the near infrared rays radiated from the first heater for a longer period than the upper side of the food, whose surface is relatively more easily heated by the far infrared rays radiated from the second heater, the top and bottom of the food can be heated evenly, and the inside of the food can be heated well by heating for a long period of time with near infrared rays.

[0033] In addition, in the present invention, the control circuit 14 executes a program having a first time period during which current is passed through both the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b, followed by a second time period during which current is passed through only the first heaters 6a, 6b. This makes it possible to heat the food items well in a short time by raising the temperature inside the baking chamber 4 to a high temperature in a short time and heating the food items well, and then heating the lower and inside parts of the food items which are relatively undercooked.

[0034] Furthermore, in the present invention, the control circuit 14 executes a program having a first time period in which electricity is supplied to both the first heaters 6a, 6b and the second heaters 7a, 7b after a second time period in which electricity is supplied only to the first heaters 6a, 6b. In particular, in the case of food to be cooked such as fried bread stuffed with oily ingredients, The first heaters 6a, 6b heat the underside of the bread part to create a fried state before the oil and moisture contained in the ingredients packed inside and the oil contained in the upper part of the bread part encasing the ingredients become highly fluid due to heat and are forced downward by gravity, and the ingredients are heated with near-infrared rays to prevent the oil and moisture from moving downward.Then, the entire food to be cooked is heated by both heaters 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, thereby preventing uneven heating and effectively recreating the fried state of the food.

[0035] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the toast mode, the curry bread mode, the frozen curry bread mode, and the frozen French bread mode are exemplified, but other bread heating modes may be set in the same manner, and the present invention may be applied to heating cooking devices other than toaster ovens. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first heater and the second heater are controlled to be turned on and off in conjunction with each other in the first time period, but the first heater and the second heater may be controlled to be turned on and off independently. In short, the control circuit may execute a program that allows the first heater and the second heater to be energized in the first time period. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1. Toaster oven (heating cooking device) 2 Main unit 3 Doors 4. Firing Room 5 Opening 6a, 6b First heater 7a, 7b Second heater 8 Grill 11a, 11b First relay 12 Second Relay 14 Control circuit 15 Control section 17 Temperature sensor (temperature detection element)

Claims

1. A cooking device having a main body having an opening and a baking chamber therein, a door attached so as to be able to open and close the opening of the main body, a first heater provided in a lower part of the baking chamber, a second heater provided in an upper part of the baking chamber, a grill provided between the heaters, a temperature detection element for detecting a temperature inside the baking chamber, and an operation unit, The cooking device is characterized in that the first heater is a near-infrared heater and the second heater is a far-infrared heater, and the cooking device has a control circuit that executes a program having a first time period during which power is applied to both the first heater and the second heater, and a second time period during which power is applied only to the first heater.

2. The cooking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control circuit executes a program having a first period during which both the first heater and the second heater are energized, followed by a second period during which only the first heater is energized.

3. The cooking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control circuit executes a program having a first time period in which current is applied to both the first heater and the second heater, followed by a second time period in which current is applied only to the first heater.

Citation Information

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