Heating cooker

Abstract

To provide a heating cooker in which cooking end is easy to recognize.SOLUTION: A heating cooker includes: an inner pot; a lid of the inner pot; a rotary body that is rotatable in the inside of the inner pot; a motor that rotates the rotary body; a control part that derives a scheduled time at which the rotation of the motor is ended, a shortest scheduled time, and a longest scheduled time on the basis of a rotation load of the motor; and a display part that displays the scheduled time, the shortest scheduled time, and the longest scheduled time derived by a derivation part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a cooking appliance. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 below discloses an electric cooker as an example of a cooking device in the background art. In the electric cooker, a drive unit rotates and drives a cooking unit to cook ingredients in a storage unit. In the electric cooker, a suction unit exhausts air in the storage unit to the outside and a load detection unit detects the load on the drive unit to automatically adjust the cooking time. In the electric cooker, a control unit sets the drive time of the drive unit based on the suction time by the suction unit and corrects the drive time based on the load detected by the load detection unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-171531 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the cooking device of the related art, only the corrected drive time is obtained, which causes a problem that it is difficult for a user to know when cooking using the cooking device has finished.

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a cooking device that makes it easy to tell when cooking is complete. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A cooking device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes an inner pot, a lid for the inner pot, a rotating body rotatable inside the inner pot, a motor for rotating the rotating body, a control unit for deriving a planned time, a shortest planned time and a longest planned time for ending rotation of the motor based on the rotational load of the motor, and a display unit for displaying the planned time, the shortest planned time and the longest planned time derived by the derivation unit. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a cooking device in which it is easy to know when the rotation of the motor has ended (i.e., cooking has ended). [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the cooking device with the lid closed. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the cooking device with the lid open; [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a view taken along the arrow A in FIG. 2. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the stirring posture of the arm. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cooking device. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a control unit. [Figure 7] 11A to 11C are diagrams showing various images displayed on the display unit when a dish is selected by a user operation. [Figure 8] 11A to 11C are diagrams showing various images displayed on the display unit from the start of cooking to the end of cooking. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, a cooking device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference characters and the repeated description will be avoided.

[0010] In the following, to facilitate understanding of the present invention, an X direction, a Y direction, and a Z direction that are perpendicular to each other are shown in Figures 1 to 4. For example, the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction indicate the left-right direction, the front-rear direction, and the up-down direction of the cooking device 100 (see, for example, Figure 1).

[0011] [First embodiment] Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of the cooking device 100 with the lid 3 closed. Fig. 2 is an external perspective view of the cooking device with the lid 3 open.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the cooking device 100 includes a housing 1, an inner pot 2, a lid 3, and a stirring unit 4.

[0013] The housing 1 houses the inner pot 2 (see FIG. 2).

[0014] The inner pot 2 is attached inside the housing 1. The inner pot 2 is detachable from the housing 1. The inner pot 2 is a vessel for holding an object to be heated. Hereinafter, the object to be heated is referred to as the "object to be heated." In the embodiment, examples of the object to be heated include ingredients, seasonings, and water. Therefore, the inner pot 2 is a vessel used when boiling ingredients together with seasonings. Also, an object that has been heated by the cooking device 100 is referred to as the "object to be heated." In the embodiment, the object to be heated may also be referred to as food.

[0015] In detail, the inner pot 2 has a generally cylindrical shape with a bottom, and has a bottom wall 21 and a peripheral wall 22 (see also FIG. 4).

[0016] The bottom wall 21 has a generally circular shape in a plan view. The peripheral wall 22 extends upward from the peripheral edge of the bottom wall 21. The upper end of the inner pot 2 is an opening 23 (see also FIG. 4) facing upward. The opening 23 has a generally circular shape in a plan view.

[0017] The inner pot 2 is made of a material with high thermal conductivity. An example of this type of material is aluminum. A magnetic body is preferably attached to the outer surface of the inner pot 2. This improves the heating efficiency of the inner pot 2. The inner surface of the inner pot 2 is preferably coated with fluorine. This makes it difficult for objects to be heated by the cooker 100 to adhere to the inner pot 2.

[0018] The user places an object to be heated into the inner pot 2 through the opening 23. That is, the object to be heated is contained in the inner pot 2. The user also takes out the heated object (hereinafter referred to as the “object to be heated”) from the inner pot 2 through the opening 23.

[0019] The inner pot 2 has handles 21A and 21B (see FIG. 2).

[0020] The handles 21A, 21B are attached to the periphery of the opening 23 of the inner pot 2. The handles 21A, 21B have shapes symmetrical to each other with respect to an imaginary plane F01 (see FIG. 2) that vertically bisects the opening 23. The top surface 11 of the housing 1 is formed with recesses 12A, 12B into which the handles 21A, 21B fit. The recesses 12A, 12B are formed in positions symmetrical to each other with respect to the imaginary plane F01. The inner pot 2 is positioned with respect to the housing 1 by fitting the handles 21A, 21B into the recesses 12A, 12B.

[0021] The lid 3 is attached to a first portion 13 of the housing 1 by a hinge 31. In this embodiment, the first portion 13 is near the rear end of the top surface 11. The hinge 31 is attached to a second portion 32 of the lid 3 and the first portion 13. The second portion 32 is part of the periphery of the lid 3. The hinge 31 rotates the lid 3 relative to the housing 1 around an axis A01. The axis A01 extends in a direction generally perpendicular to the Z direction. In this embodiment, the axis A01 is generally parallel to the X direction.

[0022] The lid 3 is movable in the circumferential direction θ01 (see FIG. 2) about the axis A01 between a closed position that closes the inner pot 2 and an open position that exposes the inner pot 2. The lid 3 in the closed position is shown in FIG 1, and the lid 3 in the open position is shown in FIG 2.

[0023] The lid 3 has a plurality of operation buttons 34 and a display unit 35 on a surface 33 of the lid 3 (see FIG. 1).

[0024] The operation button 34 receives a user operation. This allows the user to select a desired dish from among dishes that can be cooked by the cooking appliance 100. The operation button 34 is a software button displayed on the display unit 35. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the operation button 34 may be a hardware button.

[0025] The display unit 35 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays various information, such as image information required for selecting a dish.

[0026] The surface 33 is provided with an exhaust port 36 and an open button 37. Steam generated in the inner pot 2 is exhausted to the outside from the exhaust port 36. The open button 37 is operated by a user. In response to this operation, the lid 3 moves from the closed position to the open position by the biasing force of a spring (not shown).

[0027] The lid 3 further includes an inner lid 38 (see FIG. 2).

[0028] The inner lid 38 closes the opening 23 of the inner pot 2 when the lid 3 is in the closed position. The lid 3 has an annular gasket 39 on the periphery of the inner lid 38. The gasket 39 is made of an elastic material. When the lid 3 is in the closed position, the gasket 39 fits closely to the upper end of the inner pot 2. This creates a seal between the inner pot 2 and the inner lid 38.

[0029] The inner lid 38 has a surface 381. The surface 381 faces downward when the lid 3 is in the closed position. The stirring unit 4 is attached to the surface 381.

[0030] Fig. 3 is a view seen from the arrow A in Fig. 2, and also shows the non-agitating position of the agitation unit 4. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the agitation position of arms 42A, 42B of the agitation unit 4. Fig. 4 also shows the inner pot 2.

[0031] 3 and 4, the stirring unit 4 has a base 41 and arms 42A and 42B. The arms 42A and 42B are an example of a "rotating body" in the present disclosure.

[0032] The base 41 faces the inner pot 2 when the lid 3 is in the closed position, and is attached to the surface 381 so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction θ02 of the axis A02 (see also FIG. 2).

[0033] The arms 42A and 42B are attached to the base 41 so that their respective postures relative to the base 41 can be changed. In detail, the base end 421A of the arm 42A is attached to one corner 411A of the base 41. The tip 422A of the arm 42A is movable around the axis A11 between a first position and a second position. The axis A11 is perpendicular to the Z direction and intersects the base end 421A and the corner 411A. When the arm 42A is in the first position, it takes a non-stirring posture. In the non-stirring posture, the arm 42A takes a posture in which it extends along the surface 381 on the side of the base 41 from the base end 421A to the tip 422A. When the arm 42A is in the second position, it takes a stirring posture. In the stirring posture, the arm 42A takes a posture in which the base end 421A is located on the side of the base 41 and extends in a direction intersecting the surface 381. Thus, when the arm 42A is in the stirring position with the lid 3 in the closed position, the arm 42A extends inwardly from the base 41 into the inner bowl 2 such that the tip 422A is located inside the inner bowl 2 (see also Figure 4).

[0034] The arm 42B has a shape obtained by rotating the arm 42A by 180° in the circumferential direction θ02. Therefore, a detailed description of the arm 42B will be omitted.

[0035] The stirring unit 4 further includes a shaft 43, a common drive transmission part 44, and individual drive transmission parts 45A and 45B.

[0036] The shaft 43 has an axis A02 as the central axis of the shaft 43. Therefore, the shaft 43 rotates in one and the other circumferential directions θ02. In Fig. 3, rotation in one (i.e., counterclockwise) and the other (i.e., clockwise) circumferential direction θ02 may be described as "forward rotation" and "reverse rotation", respectively.

[0037] The common drive transmission unit 44 is, for example, a bevel gear. Each of the individual drive transmission units 45A and 45B includes, for example, a plurality of bevel gears. The drive force transmitted from the shaft 43 is transmitted to the arm 42A via the common drive transmission unit 44 and the individual drive transmission unit 45A. This drive force allows the arm 42A to move between the first position and the second position. That is, the arm 42A takes a non-stirring position and a stirring position. The drive force transmitted from the shaft 43 is further transmitted to the arm 42B via the common drive transmission unit 44 and the individual drive transmission unit 45B. This drive force allows the arm 42A to move between the first position and the second position, and takes a non-stirring position and a stirring position.

[0038] More specifically, when shaft 43 rotates in the forward direction, arm 42A rotates about axis A11, and as a result, arm 42A switches from the non-stirring position (see FIG. 3) to the stirring position (see FIG. 4). Arm 42B switches from the non-stirring position (see FIG. 3) to the stirring position (see FIG. 4) at approximately the same timing as arm 42A. When shaft 43 further rotates in the forward direction, base 41 rotates synchronously with arms 42A and 42B in the stirring positions.

[0039] On the other hand, when the shaft 43 rotates in the reverse direction while the arms 42A, 42B are in the stirring state, the arms 42A, 42B switch to the non-stirring position. When the shaft 43 further rotates in the reverse direction, the base 41 rotates synchronously with the arms 42A, 42B in the non-stirring position.

[0040] Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the cooking device 100. As shown in Fig. 5, the cooking device 100 further includes an induction heating coil 5, a motor 6, a rotation speed sensor 7, and a control unit 8 in addition to the inner pot 2, the lid 3, the arms 42A and 42B, and the display unit 35. The cooking device 100 also includes a temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the inner pot 2 in a non-contact manner. However, since the temperature sensor is not an essential part of the embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0041] Coil 5 is located inside casing 1 below bottom wall 21 (see FIG. 1) of inner pot 2. Coil 5 generates an AC magnetic field under the control of control unit 8. The AC magnetic field causes eddy currents to flow in bottom wall 21. As a result, Joule heat is generated in bottom wall 21. The Joule heat heats the object to be heated.

[0042] The motor 6 is located inside the lid 3 (see FIG. 2) between the surface 33 and the inner lid 38. The motor 6 has a rotating output shaft, and generates a driving force from the output shaft. The driving force is transmitted to the shaft 43 (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4). The driving force causes the arms 42A and 42B to rotate in the circumferential direction θ02 (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).

[0043] The rotation speed sensor 7 detects the rotation speed of the output shaft of the motor 6. That is, the rotation speed sensor 7 outputs a signal indicating the detected rotation speed (hereinafter, referred to as a "rotation speed signal"). The rotation speed sensor 7 is, for example, a rotary encoder.

[0044] The control unit 8 includes, for example, a central processing unit and a storage unit, and controls each component of the cooking device 100. The control unit 8 controls the rotation of the motor 6, the power supply to the coil 5, the image display on the display unit 35, and the like.

[0045] The control unit 8 stores a plurality of recipe data 81 and a plurality of table data 82 in the storage unit.

[0046] The plurality of cooking data 81 is data related to a plurality of dishes. The plurality of dishes are dishes that can be made by the cooking device 100. The cooking data 81 indicates cooking conditions for making the target dish with a standard amount of ingredients. The cooking conditions include the number of rotations of the motor 6 and the power supplied to the coil 5 for the target dish from the start to the end of cooking by the cooking device 100.

[0047] The cooking data 81 further includes a standard estimated time T01, a shortest estimated time T02, and a longest estimated time T03 (see also FIG. 8). In the design and development stage of the cooking device 100, the time required from start to finish of cooking a target dish using a standard amount of ingredients under cooking conditions is measured multiple times. The standard estimated time T01 is, for example, an average value of the multiple estimated times. The shortest estimated time T02 and the longest estimated time T03 are, for example, the minimum and maximum values ​​of the estimated times.

[0048] The cooking data 81 further indicates the change over time in the load torque applied to the motor 6 from the start to the end of cooking a target dish under cooking conditions using a standard amount of ingredients. The load torque is a force that tries to stop the rotation of the arms 42A, 42B inside the inner pot 2, and indicates the amount and hardness of the heated object (i.e., ingredients).

[0049] The table data 82 will be explained later.

[0050] Fig. 6 is a flow diagram showing the processing procedure of the control unit 8. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing various display images on the display unit 35 when a dish is selected by a user operation. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing various display images on the display unit 35 from the start of cooking to the end of cooking. Hereinafter, an example of the operation of the cooking device 100 will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 8.

[0051] After a dish is selected by a user operation according to images G01 to G06 (see FIG. 7) displayed on the display unit 35, the control unit 8 reads out cooking data 81 of the selected dish (hereinafter referred to as “target cooking data 81”) from the memory unit (step S101).

[0052] Next, the control unit 8 sets the arms 42A, 42B to a stirring posture, and starts controlling the rotation speed of the motor 6 and the power supply to the coil 5 according to the target recipe data 81 (step S102). In step S102, the control unit 8 also causes the display unit 35 to display the scheduled time T01, the shortest scheduled time T02, and the longest scheduled time T03 included in the target recipe data 81 (see FIG. 8). That is, as shown in the display image G11 in FIG. 8, the display unit 35 first displays the scheduled time T01, the shortest scheduled time T02, and the longest scheduled time T03 included in the target recipe data 81 after cooking starts.

[0053] After step S102, the control unit 8 continues to control the rotation speed of the motor 6 and the power supplied to the coil 5 in accordance with the cooking data 81 (step S103).

[0054] Here, the user does not necessarily cook food with standard amounts of ingredients according to the recipe data 81. Therefore, even if the cooking device 100 continues cooking at the rotation speed of the motor 6 according to the recipe data 81, cooking will not necessarily be completed within the time from the shortest scheduled time T02 to the longest fixed time T03 displayed in step S102. Therefore, a plurality of table data 82 are stored in the control unit 8.

[0055] Table data 82 is prepared for each dish that can be made by cooking device 100. Table data 82 records combinations of scheduled time T11, shortest scheduled time T12, and longest scheduled time T13 (see also FIG. 8) for each combination of elapsed time from the start of cooking and load torque for the corresponding dish. The combinations of scheduled time T11, shortest scheduled time T12, and longest scheduled time T13 are determined by experiments at the design and development stage of cooking device 100. Here, the longest scheduled time T13 and the shortest scheduled time T12 are determined so that the time difference between the longest scheduled time T13 and the shortest scheduled time T12 becomes smaller over time.

[0056] After step S103, in step S104, the control unit 8 acquires a rotation speed signal from the rotation speed sensor 7. The control unit 8 derives the current rotation speed of the motor 6 from the acquired rotation speed signal. The control unit 8 derives a current value of the load torque of the motor 6 based on the derived rotation speed.

[0057] In step S105, the control unit 8 identifies the table data 82 for the same dish as the target cooking data 81, and reads out from the identified table data 82 a combination of the scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 corresponding to the current load torque.

[0058] In step S106, the control unit 8 causes the display unit 35 to display the scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 read out in step S105 (see FIG. 8). That is, the control unit 8 updates the scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 displayed on the display unit 35, as shown in the display image G12 of FIG. 8. In this way, according to the cooking device 100, the scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 are displayed from the start of cooking to the end of cooking, so that the end time of cooking by the cooking device 100 is easy to understand.

[0059] Steps S102 to S106 are repeatedly executed until cooking is completed. That is, the control unit 8 derives the scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 multiple times from the start to the end of rotation of the motor 6. The display unit 35 displays the scheduled times T01, T11, the shortest scheduled times T02, T12, and the longest scheduled times T03, T13 derived multiple times by the control unit 8. In this way, according to the cooking device 100, the scheduled times T01, T11, the shortest scheduled times T02, T12, and the longest scheduled times T03, T13 are updated multiple times according to the load torque from the start to the end of cooking, so that the user can know the cooking end time more accurately.

[0060] In addition, the time difference between the longest scheduled time T13 and the shortest scheduled time T12 becomes smaller as time passes, so the user can know the cooking completion time more accurately.

[0061] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various aspects without departing from the gist of the present invention. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining multiple components disclosed in each of the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all components shown in the embodiments. Furthermore, components across different embodiments may be appropriately combined. The drawings are mainly shown schematically for ease of understanding, and the thickness, length, number, spacing, etc. of each component shown in the drawings are different from the actual ones due to the convenience of drawing. In addition, the speed, material, shape, dimensions, etc. of each component shown in the above embodiments are examples and are not particularly limited, and various changes are possible within a range that does not substantially deviate from the configuration of the present invention.

[0062] (1) The scheduled time T11, the shortest scheduled time T12, and the longest scheduled time T13 may be determined with further reference to the temperature inside the inner pot 2 obtained by a temperature sensor. [Industrial Applicability]

[0063] The cooking device according to the present disclosure has industrial applicability. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 100: Cooker 2: Inner pot 3: Lid 35:Display section 4: Mixing unit 42A, 42B: Arm (rotating body) 6: Motor 8: Control section

Claims

1. The inner pot and A lid for the inner pot; A rotor that is rotatable inside the inner bowl; A motor that rotates the rotating body; a control unit that derives a scheduled time, a shortest scheduled time, and a longest scheduled time for ending rotation of the motor based on a rotation load of the motor; a display unit that displays the scheduled time, the shortest scheduled time, and the longest scheduled time derived by the control unit; A heating cooker comprising:

2. the control unit derives the scheduled time, the shortest scheduled time, and the longest scheduled time a plurality of times from the start of rotation to the end of rotation of the motor, The cooking device according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit displays the scheduled time, the shortest scheduled time, and the longest scheduled time derived by the control unit a plurality of times.

3. 3. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein a time difference between the longest scheduled time and the shortest scheduled time becomes smaller as time passes.

Images