Oven cooking equipment

Abstract

To provide an oven cooking device which can make erroneous setting less likely to occur in a reservation function.SOLUTION: In an oven cooking device, a user can use an operation panel to set a heating start timing by date information (operation start date and time) and time information (operation start time), and when it is determined that the start timing has come on the basis of the current date information and time information, a controller of the operation panel starts heating of lower and upper heaters. By the above, the user can directly set heating start timing by the date information and the time information when an operation reservation (reservation function) is used, and erroneous setting can be made less likely to occur in the operation reservation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 13

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an oven cooking device for baking food such as bread dough. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a deck oven (oven cooking device) for baking bread dough. This type of deck oven has a preheating function for raising the temperature inside the oven to a set temperature suitable for baking before using the oven, and some models have a timer function for automatically starting such preheating at a preset time. Since deck ovens are often used for commercial purposes, the timer function is used in the daily operations of bakeries and the like to bring the oven to the appropriate temperature for baking when the first bread dough of the day is ready.

[0003] Deck ovens with a reservation function are generally configured so that the user inputs the time to start preheating, and preheating starts when the current time matches the start time. This makes it possible, for example, to start preheating at 6 a.m. every morning. Some deck ovens are also configured so that the user can input the number of days to wait until the next business day (standby days) and the start time of preheating on the next business day, taking into account store holidays. This makes it possible to reserve deck oven preheating for the next business day on the day before a holiday, with several holiday days in between (standby days). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-267104 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] For deck ovens equipped with the reservation function described above, which allow the input of the number of days the oven is closed (number of standby days), there is a risk that the number of standby days will be counted incorrectly depending on the relationship between the timing of the pre-heating reservation and the start time of pre-heating on the next business day (referred to as the "reserved time" in the "Problem to be solved by the invention" column).

[0006] When configuring the reservation function to start preheating when the current time matches the reservation time, for example, the algorithm is simpler to calculate the remaining days by subtracting one day when the current time matches the reservation time, rather than converting the number of standby days into hours and calculating the remaining time including the number of standby days. Therefore, for example, if the preheating reservation is set at 7:00 a.m. on the day before a holiday and the reservation time is 6:00 a.m. on the next business day, the first day is subtracted 23 hours after the reservation is set (6:00 a.m. the following day). In contrast, for example, if the preheating reservation is set at 5:00 a.m. on the day before a holiday and the reservation time is 6:00 a.m. on the next business day, the first day is subtracted one hour after the reservation is set (6:00 a.m. on the same day).

[0007] In other words, when the reservation function is configured to start preheating when the current time coincides with the reserved time, there is a problem that erroneous setting may occur because the reservation setting timing changes relative to the reserved time (ignoring the date and focusing only on the time), which changes the date for starting preheating.The object of the present invention is to provide an oven cooking device that makes it difficult for erroneous settings to occur in the reservation function. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a cooking apparatus that includes a baking oven for baking food, a heater arranged to heat the inside of the baking oven, a control unit for controlling the heating of the heater, and a cooking apparatus that allows a user to set the start timing of heating using date information and time information. At the same time, the user can set the end timing of heating using time information.The control unit is provided with a reservation unit and a clock unit which outputs current date information and time information to the control unit, and the control unit starts heating of the heater when it is determined that the start timing has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the clock unit, When it is determined that the end timing for the start timing date has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the clock unit, heating of the heater is ended. The present invention provides an oven cooking device characterized by:

[0009] In the oven cooking device configured as described above, the user can set the start timing of heating by using the reservation unit with date information and time information. At the same time, it is possible to set the end timing of heating using time information. The control unit starts heating the heater when it determines that the start timing has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the clock unit. When using the reservation function, the user can directly set the start timing of heating using the date information and time information, making it less likely that an erroneous setting will occur in the reservation function. For example, mistakes are less likely to occur even when reserving the next day or later. Furthermore, it is preferable that the control unit ends heating of the heater when it determines that the end timing for the start timing date has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the timer unit. In this configuration, since the end timing of heating can be preset in addition to the start timing of heating, for example, even if a user forgets to turn off the heating switch of the oven cooking device when the store closes, the heating can be automatically ended by using the reservation function.

[0011] In the oven cooking device configured as above, it is preferable that the reservation unit accepts, as the time information of the end timing, setting of time information expressed in a (24+X) hour system or a 12-hour system with information of the next day added, when the time information represents a time between midnight and a predetermined time X. When configured in this way, in the 24-hour system, the time from midnight to 6:00 a.m. after midnight can be expressed, for example, as "24:00-30:00", and in the 12-hour system, the time from midnight to 6:00 a.m. after midnight can be expressed, for example, as "00:00 the next day to 06:00 the next day". By expressing the time information for setting the end timing of heating as "24:00-30:00" or "00:00 the next day to 06:00 the next day", it is possible to easily inform the user that the time information is the time of the next day.

[0012] In the oven cooking device configured as above, the reservation unit preferably accepts setting of date information for a period of up to a predetermined N weeks, which is more than one week, from the current date as date information for the start timing. When configured in this way, for example, even if the store is closed for more than one week (7 days) in succession (e.g., a long period of 2 weeks), the user can directly set the start timing of heating using date information and time information, and can use the reservation function. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a front view of the oven cooking device of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1 with the door open. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a perspective view with the top panel and right panel removed. [Figure 4] FIG. 13A is a perspective view showing the door, the decorative member and the machine room panel moved forward, and FIG. 13B is a perspective view showing the state in which the front main panel has been moved further forward from FIG. [Diagram 5] This is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of an operation panel. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electrical system. [Figure 8] 3 is a flowchart of a main program. [Figure 9] 4 is a flowchart of a normal operation program. [Figure 10] 4 is a flowchart of a manual operation program. [Figure 11] 4A to 4C are explanatory diagrams of each screen displayed in manual driving. [Figure 12] 13 is a flowchart of a device setting program. [Figure 13] 4 is a flowchart of an operation reservation setting program. [Figure 14] 4A to 4C are explanatory diagrams of each screen displayed during operation reservation setting. [Figure 15] This is a continuation of the screen shown in Figure 14. [Figure 16] 13 is a flowchart of a reservation operation program. [Figure 17] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of each screen displayed during reserved operation. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THEINVENTION

[0014] An embodiment of the oven cooking device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the oven cooking device 10 of the present invention heats and bakes dough for bread or baked goods (food to be cooked) in a natural convection oven 20, and allows the food to be carried in and out of the oven 20 through a front opening 20a by opening a door 21 provided on the front of the oven 20. The oven cooking device 10 is installed on a table, counter, or above a device such as a dough conditioner in a store or workshop, and is installed in multiple levels up and down as necessary. A dough conditioner is a device that prepares bread dough or the like in a fermented state suitable for baking (hereinafter referred to as "dough conditioner").

[0015] 1 to 3, oven cooking apparatus 10 has a casing 11 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, with a machine chamber 12 on the right side of casing 11 and a baking furnace 20 disposed in the remaining portion of casing 11. Casing 11 has a base plate 13 corresponding to a bottom wall, a frame 14 provided so as to partition the upper side of base plate 13 into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a panel 15 covering the front, rear, left and right sides and the top surface partitioned by frame 14.

[0016] The frame body 14 includes front and rear frame members 14a, 14b provided at the front and rear of the base plate 13, and a beam member 14c connecting the left and right side portions of the front and rear frame members 14a, 14b. Each of the front and rear frame members 14a, 14b has a support portion erected on the left and right side portions of the base plate 13, and has a U-shape with an open bottom, in which the upper portions of the left and right support portions are connected by a beam portion. The left and right beam members 14c are fixed to the upper ends of the support portions of the front and rear frame members 14a, 14b, and connect the left and right side portions of the front and rear frame members 14a, 14b.

[0017] 2 and 4, a front panel 15a is provided in front of the firing furnace 20 in the casing 11, and a rear panel (not shown) is provided behind the rear frame member 14b. A left panel 15e is provided on the left side between the front frame member 14a and the rear frame member 14b, and a right panel 15f is provided on the right side between the front frame member 14a and the rear frame member 14b. A top panel 15g is provided on the upper sides of the front and rear frame members 14a, 14b and the left and right beam members 14c.

[0018] The front panel 15a includes a front lower panel 15b that covers only the lower part of the front of the baking furnace 20, and a front main panel 15c that covers the upper part of the front of the baking furnace 20 above the lower part. The front lower panel 15b covers the lower part of the front opening 20a of the baking furnace 20 where the lower heater 41 is located. A pair of left and right brackets 16 that support the door 21 are fixed to the front lower panel 15b. The front main panel 15c is roughly U-shaped with an open bottom when viewed from the front so that food can be carried in and out of the front opening 20a of the baking furnace 20, and covers the upper part of the front opening 20a of the baking furnace 20 where the upper heater 42 and steam generating unit 47 are located.

[0019] 3, an electrical equipment box 17 is provided in the machine room 12 in the casing 11 to house electrical components (electronic components constituting a control device 70 described below) that control lower and upper heaters 41, 42, a water supply valve 48 of a steam generating section 47, etc., which will be described later. The electrical equipment box 17 has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the electrical components are housed, and legs 17a are provided at the front and rear of the lower part of the electrical equipment box 17. The legs 17a separate the bottom surface of the electrical equipment box 17 from the top surface of the base plate 13, making it difficult for heat transferred from the firing furnace 20 to the base plate 13 to be transferred to the inside of the electrical equipment box 17.

[0020] As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5, the baking furnace 20 bakes food such as bread dough or confectionery dough, and has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape with a front opening 20a formed at the front for carrying food in and out. A thermal insulation material 22 using glass wool is provided on the outer periphery of the baking furnace 20, and an outer plate 23 made of a stainless steel sheet metal member is further provided on the outer periphery of the thermal insulation material 22 (see Fig. 3). The thermal insulation material 22 makes it difficult for heat in the baking furnace 20 to be transmitted to the surroundings including the casing 11 and the machine room 12. As shown in Fig. 3, a groove 22a extending forward and backward is formed on the left side of the upper surface of the thermal insulation material 22 covering the upper side of the baking furnace 20, and various components of the exhaust mechanism 30 of the baking furnace 20 described later are arranged in this groove 22a.

[0021] An illumination window (not shown) is provided in the approximate center of the top, bottom and front and rear on the right side surface of the baking furnace 20 facing the machine room 12, and a recess (not shown) is formed in the heat insulating material 22 covering the right outer peripheral surface of the baking furnace 20 facing the machine room 12 at a position opposite the illumination window. As shown in FIG. 3, an in-furnace lamp 24 using an LED light for illuminating the inside of the baking furnace 20 is attached to the outer plate 23 using a bracket 25. The in-furnace lamp 24 is turned on and off by a controller of the operation panel 50 described later. In this embodiment, the in-furnace lamp 24 is lit from when the oven cooking apparatus 10 is turned on until it is turned off.

[0022] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a door 21 is provided at the front of the baking furnace 20 so as to be able to be opened and closed, and the door 21 is supported by a bracket 16 provided at the bottom of the front panel 15a so as to be able to rotate about a horizontal axis. As shown in Figures 2, 4 and 5, a ceramic hearth plate 27 is provided at the bottom of the baking furnace 20, and a tray containing food to be cooked can be placed on the hearth plate 27 inside the baking furnace 20. Left and right guides 28 extending in the front-rear direction are provided at both left and right edges of the hearth plate 27, and a guide 29 extending in the left-right direction is provided at the rear edge of the hearth plate 27.

[0023] As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5, an opening / closing mechanism 34 for opening and closing the exhaust passage 31 is provided on the upper side of the firing furnace 20. The opening / closing mechanism 34 includes a shutter 35 provided above the upper end opening of the exhaust pipe 32 so as to be movable back and forth, an operation bar 36 provided in the groove portion 22a of the heat insulating material 22 for moving the shutter 35 back and forth, and an operation knob 37 provided at the front end of the operation bar 36 on the front side of the casing 11. The shutter 35 covers the upper end opening of the exhaust pipe 32 so as to be adjustable in opening degree. When the shutter 35 is in the position shown in Fig. 5, the upper end opening of the exhaust pipe 32 is completely blocked, and when the shutter 35 is gradually moved forward (to the left in Fig. 5), the upper end opening of the exhaust pipe 32 is gradually opened.

[0024] As shown in Fig. 5, a heater 40 is provided in the firing furnace 20. In this embodiment, a lower heater 41 is provided below the hearth plate 27 at the bottom of the firing furnace 20, and an upper heater 42 is provided at the top of the firing furnace 20. The lower and upper heaters 41, 42 use heater elements made of a substantially U-shaped sheathed heater with the right side open, and the lower heater 41 has three heater elements arranged in a front-to-back manner, and the upper heater 42 has four heater elements arranged in a front-to-back manner.

[0025] A lower temperature sensor 43 is provided at the lower right side of the firing furnace 20, and an upper temperature sensor 44 is provided at the upper right side of the firing furnace 20. The lower temperature sensor 43 is disposed between the frontmost heater element and the second heater element from the front of the lower heater 41, and is used to control the lower heater 41. The upper temperature sensor 44 is disposed below the upper heater 42, between the second heater element from the front and the third heater element from the front, and is used to control the upper heater 42. A guard member (not shown) is provided in front of the upper temperature sensor 44 at the upper right side of the firing furnace 20. In FIG. 5, the upper heater 42 and the upper temperature sensor 44 are shown by imaginary lines (two-dot chain lines) because they appear in front of the AA cross section line shown in FIG. 1.

[0026] A steam generating section 47 is provided at the top of the firing furnace 20, and the steam generating section 47 is disposed above the upper heater 42 in the firing furnace 20. The steam generating section 47 heats water supplied from a water supply source through a water supply pipe 49 by the upper heater 42, vaporizes the water, and generates steam in the firing furnace 20. The steam generating section 47 is mainly composed of a steam generating dish, a heat storage plate, a water supply section (all not shown). Water from the water supply source is sent to the upper side of the heat storage plate and vaporizes into steam when it comes into contact with the heat storage plate and the steam generating dish. The vaporized steam rises upward and hits the ceiling surface of the firing furnace 20, and then flows into the lower part of the firing furnace 20 through a passage between the steam generating dish and the inner surface of the firing furnace 20, or flows into the front part of the firing furnace 20. A water supply valve 48 is provided in the machine room 12 in the water supply pipe 49, and when the water supply valve 48 is opened, water from the water supply source is sent through the water supply pipe 49 to the upper side of the heat storage plate.

[0027] As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, a machine room panel 18 is provided on the right front side of the casing 11, and the machine room panel 18 includes an operation panel 50 and a buzzer unit 19. As shown in Fig. 6, the operation panel 50 includes a display unit 51, six operation buttons (steam button 52, home button 53, back button 54, operation on / off button 55, start / stop button 56, timer extension button 57, jog dial 58, and a controller (not shown). The controller is, for example, a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, RAM, ROM (including EEPROM), a clock function (timekeeping unit), etc., similar to the microcomputer of the control device 70, and functions as a control unit in this embodiment.

[0028] In this embodiment, a liquid crystal panel (LCD panel) is used as the display unit 51, and it is controlled by the controller so as to appropriately display the operating state of the oven cooking device 10, various setting states, the detected temperature inside the baking furnace 20, etc. Six operation buttons 52 to 57 and a jog dial 58 are also connected to this controller, and the controller is configured to control normal operation (manual operation and programmed operation), scheduled operation, and various settings related thereto, which will be described later, based on the input from these. A buzzer unit 19 is also connected to the controller of the operation panel 50, and is controlled to output a predetermined buzzer sound in conjunction with operation control, etc.

[0029] 7, the oven cooking apparatus 10 includes a control device 70, which is connected to the lower heater 41, the upper heater 42, the lower temperature sensor 43, the upper temperature sensor 44, the water supply valve 48, and the operation panel 50. The control device 70 has a microcomputer (not shown), which includes a CPU, RAM, ROM (including EEPROM), a timer, and a clock function (timekeeping unit) (all not shown), which are connected via a bus. In this embodiment, the control device 70 mainly controls the lower and upper heaters 41, 42.

[0030] By configuring the hardware of the oven cooking apparatus 10 in this manner, the controller of the operation panel 50 or the control device 70 executes the main control process according to the main program shown in FIG. 8. In this embodiment, the controller of the operation panel 50 executes the main program. This main program is stored in the ROM of the controller. The oven cooking apparatus 10 is supplied with AC power from the outside, and even when the power is turned off by operating the operation panel 50, the driving power converted into DC is supplied to the operation panel 50 and the control device 70 (standby state).

[0031] [Main control processing] As shown in FIG. 8, when the controller of the operation panel 50 is started in the standby state, first, in the initialization process of step 10, the work area and flags secured in the RAM are set to initial values, and each setting information related to the manual operation stored in the previous power off process (S21) is read from a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM. After that, the controller judges whether there is an operation start input in step 11. The operation start input is information input by, for example, the user continuously pressing the operation on / off button 55 of the operation panel 50 for one second or more, and if there is an operation start input, after judging it as "YES", the power switch for supplying power to the lower heater 41 and the upper heater 42 is turned on in the power on process of step 12. Then, the process proceeds to the normal operation process of step 13. This normal operation process (S100) will be described later with reference to FIG. 9 to FIG. 15.

[0032] On the other hand, if there is no operation start input in step 11, the user has not yet operated the operation on / off button 55 of the operation panel 50, so the controller of the operation panel 50 judges "NO" and judges in step 14 whether there is a reserved operation, that is, whether the operation reservation is set to "ON". The reserved operation is an operation mode in which the oven cooking device 10 performs a manual operation process (S200) described later at a preset operation start date and end time, and is performed when the operation reservation is set to "ON" in the operation reservation setting process (S430) of the device setting process (S400) described later. If there is a reserved operation, after judging "YES" in step 14, it is judged in step 15 whether the set reservation date and time has arrived. In the judgment process of this step 15, the current date and time information output from the clock function of the controller of the operation panel 50 is compared with the reservation date and time information, and if the current date and time match the reservation date and time or the reservation date and time have passed, it is judged to be "YES" and proceeds to the reserved operation process of step 16. This reserved operation process (S150) will be described later with reference to FIGS.

[0033] If there is no reserved operation in step 14, or if the current date and time has not reached the reserved date and time in step 15, the result is determined as "NO" in those steps, and the process proceeds to step 17. In step 17, it is determined whether or not there is a do-control interlock. Do-control interlock is an operation mode in which operation information is directly input from the do-control to the oven cooking device 10, and the do-control can operate the oven cooking device 10, and can be set in a do-control interlock setting process (S410) of the device setting process (S400) described later. If there is a do-control interlock, after determining "YES" in step 17, it is further determined in step 18 whether or not there is an input of operation information from the do-control (do-control input). Then, if there is a do-control input, the result is determined as "YES", and the process proceeds to the do-control interlock process in the following step 19. Note that the do-control is an example of an external device, and the do-control input is an example of an external input.

[0034] On the other hand, if there is no control interlocking in step 17 or if there is no control input in step 18, the process judges "NO" in those steps and judges whether there is an operation end input in step 20. The operation end input is operation end information that is input when an operation end process (S140, S153, S158) is performed in the normal operation process (S100) or the reserved operation process (S150) described later, and after judging "YES" if there is an operation end input (operation end information), the power switch that supplies power to the lower heater 41 and the upper heater 42 and the like are turned off by the power off process in step 21. Then, each setting information (set temperature, timer time, etc.) related to the currently set manual operation is stored (stored) in a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM, and then the process returns to step 11.

[0035] On the other hand, if there is no input to end operation in step 20, the oven cooking apparatus 10 is not operating (before operation has started), so the answer is determined to be "NO" and the process returns to step 11 to determine whether there is an input to start operation. In other words, the controller of the operation panel 50 repeatedly performs the determination processes of steps 11, 14, and 17 described above until the process proceeds to either the normal operation process of step 13, the reserved operation process of step 16, or the cooker control linkage process of step 19.

[0036] [Normal operation process] Next, normal operation processing by the normal operation program will be described with reference to Fig. 9. In this embodiment, the normal operation program is stored in the ROM of the controller of the operation panel 50. As shown in Fig. 9, the controller first displays a home menu on the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 in step 110. As shown in Fig. 6, the display screen 60aa of the home menu is composed of, for example, a home icon 61, a manual operation bar 62, a program operation bar 63, a device setting bar 64, and an inspection bar 65. Note that 12:34 displayed in the upper left corner of the display screen 60aa is the current time (12:34) displayed in 24-hour format according to the clock function of the controller.

[0037] The home icon 61 is a pictogram that visually and intuitively indicates to the user that the display screen 60aa is the home menu. The manual operation bar 62, the program operation bar 63, the device setting bar 64, and the inspection bar 65 are item bars that the user can select by rotating the jog dial 58 of the operation panel 50 in the circumferential direction. A white frame is displayed around the selected item bar (in FIG. 6, the manual operation bar 62 is in the selected state). The selection of the selected item bar is determined by the user pressing the jog dial 58 in the axial direction.

[0038] When the controller of the operation panel 50 judges that the manual operation bar 62 has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S110; "manual operation"), the process proceeds to manual operation processing in step 200. The manual operation processing (S200) will be described later with reference to Figs. 10 and 11. Then, when the manual operation processing in step 200 ends, the next step 120 judges whether the operation is off, and if it is not off, the result is "NO", and the process proceeds to manual operation processing (S200) again. If the operation is off, the result is "YES", and the process proceeds to operation end processing in step 140. When the user presses the operation on / off button 55 continuously for one second or more, the information on the operation being off is input. Although not shown, if it is judged in step 120 that the home button 53 or the back button 54 has been pressed by the user, the process returns to step 110 and the home menu is displayed on the display unit 51.

[0039] When the controller of the operation panel 50 judges that the programmed operation bar 63 has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S110; "programmed operation"), the process proceeds to the programmed operation process of step 300. While the manual operation process is carried out by inheriting the operating conditions such as the set temperature and timer time during the previous manual operation, in this programmed operation process (S300), the user selects an arbitrary operating condition from a plurality of set temperatures and timer times previously set by the user, and the process proceeds based on the selected operating condition. In other words, except that the user can select the operating conditions in advance, the programmed operation process (S300) performs the same process as the manual operation process (S200) described later. When the programmed operation process ends, in the next step 130, it is judged whether the operation is off, and if it is not off, it is judged as "NO", and the process proceeds again to the programmed operation process (S300). If the operation is off, it is judged as "YES", and the process proceeds to the operation end process in step 140. Although not shown, if it is determined in step 130 that the user has pressed the home button 53 or the back button 54, the process returns to step 110 and the home menu is displayed on the display unit 51.

[0040] In the operation termination process (S140), an operation termination input (operation termination information) is output to the main control process by the main program described above. When the operation termination process (S140) ends, this normal operation process ends and the process returns to the main control process by the main program (FIG. 8).

[0041] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the device setting bar 64 has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S110; "Device Setting"), the process proceeds to device setting processing in step 400. This device setting processing (S400) will be described later with reference to Fig. 15. In step 400, the device setting processing is repeatedly executed until the home button 53 of the operation panel 50 is pressed, as will be described later.

[0042] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the inspection bar 65 has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S110; "Inspection"), the process proceeds to the inspection process of step 500. In this inspection process (S500), for example, error information and notice information currently occurring in the oven cooking apparatus 10 are displayed as inspection items on the display unit 51 in a list. The error information is, for example, abnormality information of the lower temperature sensor 43, the upper temperature sensor 44, the controller board, etc. The notice information is, for example, detailed content of the error information and a message urging the user to contact a service company, etc. In step 500, the display screen of the inspection process is repeatedly executed until the home button 53 of the operation panel 50 is pressed.

[0043] [Manual operation processing] Next, a manual operation process according to a manual operation program will be described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. In this embodiment, the manual operation program is stored in the ROM of the controller of the operation panel 50.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 10, the controller of the operation panel 50 first sends instruction information (heating start information) to the control device 70 to start heating by the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 by starting preheating in step 201. This heating start information includes each setting information (set temperature, timer time, etc.) related to the previous manual operation stored in the nonvolatile memory by the controller in the power off process (S21 in FIG. 8) described above, and the controller reads out each setting information from the nonvolatile memory. The heating start information includes the heating power levels of the lower and upper heaters 41, 42, the set temperature, the set time of the timer, etc. The heating power level is a step display that allows the output to be set discontinuously for each of the lower and upper heaters 41, 42, and in this embodiment, the ratio (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%) to the maximum heater output can be set in six steps from level 0 (0%) to level 5 (100%).

[0045] When the control device 70 receives such heating start information, it turns on the power switch that controls the power supply to the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 to supply power equivalent to a preset heating power level to these heaters 41, 42, and starts temperature control for the lower and upper heaters 41, 42. As a result, the temperature inside the firing furnace 20 starts to rise, and the lower and upper temperature information output from the lower and upper temperature sensors 43 and 44 by the upper and lower temperature detection in step 202 is acquired via the control device 70. Then, the lower and upper temperature information etc. acquired in step 202 are output to the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 in step 203 for display.

[0046] In step 203, the controller of the operation panel 50 displays, for example, a display screen 60ma shown in Fig. 11(a) on the display unit 51. This display screen 60ma displays, as information immediately after the start of preheating, "Preheating", "M manual operation", the current temperature of the upper fire (referring to the upper side of the furnace) of 30°C, the set temperature of 200°C, and the heat level of 5, the current temperature of the lower fire (referring to the lower side of the furnace) of 30°C, the set temperature of 200°C, and the heat level of 3, the timer time of 10 minutes 00 seconds, etc.

[0047] Then, the controller of the operation panel 50 judges whether the temperature inside the firing furnace 20 has reached the set temperature in step 204. Since the firing furnace 20 of this embodiment is provided with lower and upper heaters 41, 42 inside the furnace, the controller judges that the temperature inside the firing furnace 20 has reached the set temperature when both the temperatures detected by the corresponding lower and upper temperature sensors 43, 44, i.e., the lower temperature and the upper temperature, are equal to or higher than the set temperature.

[0048] If both the lower temperature information and the upper temperature information output from the lower temperature sensor 43 and the upper temperature sensor 44 have reached or exceeded the respective set temperatures and the controller has determined "YES", pre-heating ends, and in step 205, for example, a "standby" display screen 60mb shown in Fig. 11(b) is displayed on the display unit 51 and / or the buzzer unit 19 sounds a specified beep to notify the user that pre-heating has ended. On the other hand, if either the lower temperature information or the upper temperature information has not reached or exceeded the set temperature and the controller has determined "NO", the process returns to step 202 again.

[0049] When the preheating is completed and the main heating begins, step 206 determines whether the start / stop button 56 has been pressed. That is, since the temperature inside the baking furnace 20 has reached the set temperature, the user opens the door 21 of the oven cooking device 10 and carries a tray containing food to be cooked, such as bread dough, into the baking furnace 20. Then, after closing the door 21, the user presses the start / stop button 56 on the operation panel 50 to start a timer that measures the preset baking time (10 minutes and 00 seconds in the example of FIG. 11(c)).

[0050] If there is an input from the start / stop button 56 and it is judged as "YES" in step 206, the timer starts counting down and in the next step 207, for example, a "cooking in progress" display screen 60mc shown in Fig. 11(c) is displayed on the display unit 51. In this example of the display screen 60mc, the lower temperature information, upper temperature information and remaining time information are successively updated and continue to be displayed until the remaining time on the timer reaches zero, that is, the time is up, which is 9 minutes and 59 seconds ("NO" in S208).

[0051] Although not shown in Fig. 10, the algorithm may be configured to determine whether the start-stop button 56 has been pressed even during the period from the start of preheating to the end of preheating. In this case, if it is determined that the start-stop button 56 has been pressed even before the temperature inside the baking furnace 20 has reached the set temperature, the algorithm is configured to start the countdown of the timer and to display, for example, the "cooking in progress" display screen 60mc shown in Fig. 11(c) on the display unit 51 in step 207.

[0052] When the remaining time on the timer reaches zero in step 208 and the controller of the operation panel 50 judges "YES", in step 209, it notifies the user that cooking is complete by displaying, for example, a "Cooking Completed" display screen 60md shown in Fig. 11(d) on the display unit 51 and / or by making the buzzer unit 19 emit a predetermined beep sound. As a result, since it is highly likely that the food in the baking furnace 20 has been completely baked, the user opens the door 21 of the oven cooking apparatus 10 and removes the tray containing the food such as baked bread from the baking furnace 20.

[0053] After that, the controller ends this manual operation process and returns to the normal operation process (FIG. 9), and if the operation is not off in step 120, it judges "NO" and moves to the manual operation process (S200) again. In other words, if the user does not press the operation on / off button 55 on the "cooking complete" display screen 60md, the manual operation process (S200) is executed again. As a result, when the temperature inside the baking furnace 20 drops below the set temperature due to the opening and closing of the door 21 due to the removal of the food to be cooked, etc., the display unit 51 displays the display screen 60ma (FIG. 11(a)), and when the set temperature is reached, the display screen 60mb is displayed (FIG. 11(b)).

[0054] [Device setting process] Next, the device setting process by the device setting program will be described with reference to Figures 12 and 14. In this embodiment, the device setting program is stored in the ROM of the controller of the operation panel 50. As shown in Figure 14(a), when the device setting bar 64 is selected and confirmed by operating the jog dial 58 on the home menu display screen 60ab, the controller first displays the device setting menu on the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 in step 401, as shown in Figure 12.

[0055] As shown in Fig. 14(b), the display screen 60sa of the device setting menu displays, for example, setting items such as "Dry control linkage", "Operation reservation", "Steam time", "Rapid preheat mode", "Timer extension time", etc. on the first page. Although the second page and subsequent pages are hidden at the bottom of the screen and not shown, by switching pages, items such as "Screen brightness", "Buzzer volume", "End buzzer type", "End buzzer interval", and "End buzzer length" are also displayed.

[0056] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the "drum control linkage" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S401; "drum control linkage"), the process proceeds to a drum control linkage setting process in step 410. In this drum control linkage setting process (S410), it is set whether or not to operate the oven cooking device 10 by the drum control (drum control linkage) (no drum control linkage).

[0057] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the item "operation reservation" has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S401; "operation reservation"), the process proceeds to operation reservation setting processing in step 430. This operation reservation setting processing (S430) will be described later with reference to Figs. 13 to 15.

[0058] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the "Steam time" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S401; "Steam time"), the process proceeds to a steam time setting process in step 450. In this steam time setting process (S450), the time (steam time) for generating steam from the steam generating unit 47 when the user presses the steam button 52 on the operation panel 50 is set within the range of 1 second to 5 seconds.

[0059] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the item "rapid preheat mode" has been selected and confirmed by the user operating the jog dial 58 (S401; "rapid preheat mode"), the process proceeds to a rapid preheat mode setting process of step 470. In this rapid preheat mode setting process (S470), it is set whether or not preheating is performed (rapid preheat mode) by setting the outputs of the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 to maximum during the first (initial) preheating after the oven cooking apparatus 10 is turned on (no rapid preheat mode).

[0060] When the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the "timer extension time" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S401; "timer extension time"), the process proceeds to a timer extension time setting process in step 490. In this timer extension time setting process (S490), the time by which the timer time is extended when the user presses the timer extension button 57 on the operation panel 50 (timer extension time) is set in the range of 10 seconds to 60 seconds.

[0061] Note that the explanation will be omitted for the cases where items such as "Screen Brightness", "Buzzer Volume", "End Buzzer Type", "End Buzzer Interval", and "End Buzzer Length" are selected. When each of these setting processes (S410, S430, S450, S470, S490, etc.) is completed, the process returns to step 401 and the device setting menu display screen 60sa is displayed again. When the home button 53 is pressed, the home menu display screen 60ab is displayed.

[0062] [Operation schedule setting process] Next, an operation reservation setting process by the operation reservation setting program will be described with reference to Fig. 13 to Fig. 15. In this embodiment, the operation reservation setting program is stored in the ROM of the controller of the operation panel 50.

[0063] As shown in Fig. 14(b) to Fig. 14(d), when the item "operation reservation" is selected and confirmed by operating the jog dial 58 in the device setting menu, the display on the display unit 51 transitions from display screen 60sa to display screen 60sb to display screen 60sc. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 13, the controller of the operation panel 50 displays the setting items of operation reservation on the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 in step 431. As shown in Fig. 14(e), the display screen 60ra for setting items of operation reservation displays setting items of "operation on date and time", "operation on time", "operation off time", and "confirm". These are selected and confirmed by operating the jog dial 58. "Operation on date and time" is month and day information of the timing of starting heating. "Operation on time" is time information of the timing of starting heating. "Operation off time" is time information of the timing of ending heating.

[0064] When the controller determines that the "operation start date" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S432; "operation start date"), a display screen 60ra as shown in FIG. 14(e) is displayed, and the date at which the reserved operation will start (operation start date) can be input in step 433. If "-- / --" is displayed as the date, it indicates that the date has not been set as a default value and has not been input. As shown in the display screen 60rb shown in FIG. 14(f), the date to be input can be selected by turning the jog dial 58 left or right (clockwise to advance the date to the day of operation or later, and counterclockwise to return the date within the range from the day of operation or later) (S434; NO), and the date selected by the user is confirmed by pressing the jog dial 58 (S434; YES).

[0065] The selectable dates are, for example, within a range of 10 days or 20 days from the day of operation (the current date) on which the user is performing the operation, or within a range of a predetermined N weeks (for example, 2 weeks or 3 weeks) from one week (7 days) onward. This makes it possible to select and determine the date of the next business day after the closure period, even if the store is scheduled to be closed for a long period of two weeks from the day after the operation. Such date information is obtained from calendar information created based on the clock function (timekeeping unit) of the controller of the operation panel 50.

[0066] When the controller determines that the "operation on time" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S432; "operation on time"), a display screen 60rc as shown in FIG. 15(g) is displayed, and the time at which the reserved operation is to start (operation on time) can be input in step 435. When "--:--" is displayed as the time, it indicates that the time has not been set as a default value and has not been input. The time to be input can be selected by turning the jog dial 58 left or right (clockwise to advance the time, counterclockwise to reverse the time) (S436; NO), and the time selected by the user is confirmed by pressing the jog dial 58 (S436; YES). After confirmation, the display returns to the display of the setting items, and a display screen 60rd as shown in FIG. 15(h) is displayed.

[0067] When the controller determines that the "operation off time" item has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S432; "operation off time"), similarly to when the "operation on time" item has been selected and confirmed, step 437 enables input of the time at which the reserved operation ends (operation off time), and enables selection and confirmation of the time using the jog dial 58 (S438). After confirmation, the display returns to the display of the setting items, and is displayed as in the display screen 60re shown in Fig. 15(i).

[0068] In this embodiment, when the time is displayed in a 24-hour format, the operation-on time and the operation-off time can be input in the range of 00:00 to 23:59, but may be configured to be input in the range of 00:00 to 30:00, for example. That is, the time from 0:00 to 6:00 a.m. after 24:00 can be expressed as, for example, "24:00 to 30:00". When the time is displayed in a 12-hour format, the operation-on time and the operation-off time can be input in the range of 00:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., but may be configured to be input in the range of 00:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. the next day. That is, the time from 0:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. after 0:00 a.m. can be expressed as, for example, "00:00 the next day to 6:00 a.m. the next day". This makes it easy for the user to intuitively understand that the time information is the time of the next day. Note that, if it is after midnight, the range may be configured to allow input within the range of, for example, 00:00 to 36:00, or 00:00 the next day to 12:00 the next day.

[0069] Then, when at least the operation-on date and operation-on time, or the operation-off time, among the operation-on date, operation-on time, and operation-off time, are input (S439; YES), the display screen 60rf as shown in Fig. 15(j) is displayed and "OK" can be selected. In other words, if either the operation-on information (operation-on date and operation-on time) or the operation-off information (operation-off time) is input, "OK" can be selected. It is also possible to set only the operation start date and time or only the operation end time as the reserved operation.

[0070] When the user operates the jog dial 58 to select the "OK" item (S432; "OK") and the controller determines that the reservation information has been selected (S440; YES), the input and confirmed reservation information is saved (stored) in the non-volatile memory of the controller in step 441 (S441). After that, a display screen 60rg as shown in Fig. 15(k) is displayed (S442), and then the process returns to the device setting process (S401 in Fig. 12) and a device setting menu display screen 60sd as shown in Fig. 15(m) is displayed. This allows the user to confirm that the operation reservation has been set to "make."

[0071] [Scheduled operation processing] Next, the reserved operation process by the reserved operation program will be described with reference to Figs. 16 and 17. In this embodiment, the reserved operation program is stored in the ROM of the controller of the operation panel 50. The reserved operation process is started when the normal operation process is not performed (S11 in Fig. 8; NO), the operation reservation is set to "ON" (S14 in Fig. 8; YES), and the reserved date and time arrives (S15 in Fig. 8; YES) by the main control process by the main program described above (Fig. 8). In this embodiment, the two reserved operation processes S150a and S150b shown in Figs. 16(a) and 16(b) are executed in parallel. The reserved operation is an operation mode in which the oven cooking apparatus 10 performs manual operation at the preset start date and time and end time of operation, and while the manual operation process (S200) is started when the operation start date and time (reserved date and time) arrives, the manual operation process needs to be ended when the operation end time arrives.

[0072] First, the reserved operation process S150a in FIG. 16(a) will be described. The controller of the operation panel 50 first performs a process to start manual operation in step 151. This starts the manual operation. Details of the manual operation have already been described with reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, so they will be omitted here. The manual operation process in step 151 is repeated until the user presses the operation on / off button 55 continuously for one second or more to input operation off information (S152; NO). When operation off information is input (S152; YES), the operation end process (S153) is performed, and then the reserved operation process S150a is terminated and the process returns to the main control process (FIG. 8). In the operation end process (S153), an operation end input (operation end information) is output to the main control process described above.

[0073] In contrast, in the reserved operation process S150b in Fig. 16(b), the controller of the operation panel 50 first calculates the remaining time until the operation shutoff time in step 154, and then judges whether the remaining time is 3 minutes. If the remaining time is 3 minutes, it judges "YES" and displays the display screen 60rx shown in Fig. 17(a) on the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 in step 155. This display screen 60rx displays, as "notice" information, that the currently reserved operation state is transitioning to "operation reservation setting", that "3 minutes 00 seconds remain until the operation shutoff time" due to the reserved operation, and the like. Also displayed is a button that allows the user to select whether or not to cancel the operation reservation (default is "no").

[0074] The selection of whether to cancel the operation reservation is performed by turning the jog dial 58, which alternates between "No" and "Yes" as shown in the display screens 60rx and 60ry shown in Fig. 17(a) and 17(b), and the selection is confirmed, that is, determined, by pressing the jog dial 58. When the controller determines that "No" has been selected and determined by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 (S156; YES), the operation reservation is not canceled, and when the remaining time becomes zero (S157; YES), the operation end process (S158) is performed, and the reservation operation process S150b is ended and the main control process (Fig. 8) is returned to. In the operation end process (S158), an operation end input (operation end information) is output to the main control process described above.

[0075] On the other hand, if the controller determines that "Yes" has been selected and confirmed by the user's operation of the jog dial 58 before the remaining time until the operation shutoff time reaches zero (S157; NO), the operation reservation will be canceled, and the display screen 60rz shown in FIG. 17(c) is displayed on the display unit 51 of the operation panel 50 to notify the user that the operation reservation has been canceled. Then, this reservation operation process S150b is completed and the process returns to the main control process (FIG. 8). After the operation reservation is canceled, the manual operation process (S151) is repeatedly performed by the reservation operation process S150a (S152; NO) until the user inputs information on operation shutoff by operating the operation on / off button 55 (S152; YES), as in the case of normal manual operation (S120, S140 in FIG. 9).

[0076] In the oven cooking apparatus 10 configured as above, the user can set the heating start timing by date information (operation-on date and time) and time information (operation-on time) from the operation panel 50 as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, and when the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the start timing has arrived based on the current date information and time information (S15 in Fig. 8; YES), it starts heating the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 (S201 in Fig. 10). This allows the user to directly set the heating start timing by date information and time information when using operation reservation (reservation function), making it less likely that erroneous settings will occur in operation reservation. Therefore, for example, mistakes are less likely to occur even when reserving the next day or later.

[0077] In the oven cooking device 10 configured as above, the user can set the end timing of heating by time information (operation off time) from the operation panel 50 as shown in Figs. 14 and 15, and when the controller of the operation panel 50 determines that the end timing on the start timing date has arrived based on the current date information and time information (S157 in Fig. 16(b); YES), it ends the heating of the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 (S158 in Fig. 16(b), S20 in Fig. 8; YES, S21). As a result, since the end timing of heating can be set in advance in addition to the start timing of heating, for example, even if the user forgets to turn off the oven cooking device 10 by operating the operation on / off button 55 at the closing time of the store, the lower and upper heaters 41, 42 can be automatically ended by using the operation reservation (reservation function).

[0078] In the oven cooking apparatus 10 configured as above, the operation panel 50 can accept, as the time information for the end timing, setting of time information expressed in a (24+X) hour system or a 12-hour system with information on the next day added, when the time information represents a time between midnight and a predetermined time X. For example, in the 24-hour system, the time from midnight to 6 a.m. or 12 p.m. after midnight can be expressed as, for example, "24:00-30:00" or "24:00-36:00," and in the 12-hour system, the time from midnight to 6 a.m. or 12 p.m. after midnight can be expressed as, for example, "00:00 the next day to 06:00 the next day" or "00:00 the next day to 12:00 the next day." This makes it possible to intuitively and easily convey to the user that the time information is the time for the next day.

[0079] In the oven cooking apparatus 10 configured as above, the operation panel 50 can accept setting of date information for the start timing within a predetermined N weeks (for example, a range of 10 days or 20 days in the future) that is more than one week from the current date. This allows the user to directly set the start timing of heating using date information and time information and use operation reservation (reservation function) even when the store is closed for more than one week (7 days) in succession (for example, a long period of 2 weeks).

[0080] Although the oven cooking apparatus 10 naturally accepts date settings within one week (7 days) from the current date as the date information for the start timing, the oven cooking apparatus 10 may be configured to accept only date settings within one week and not date settings exceeding one week. This allows the reservation function to be used only for the upcoming week, providing a reservation function suited to the needs of users whose stores cannot be closed for more than one week due to their business format.

[0081] In addition, in the oven cooking apparatus 10 of this embodiment, the above-mentioned control processes etc. are executed by the controller of the operation panel 50, but the main control process (FIG. 8), normal operation process (FIG. 9), manual operation process (FIG. 10), device setting process (FIG. 12), operation reservation setting process (FIG. 13), reservation operation process (FIG. 16), etc. may be executed by the control device 70. Even in such a configuration, technical actions and effects can be obtained by executing the above-mentioned control processes etc., almost similarly to the controller of the operation panel 50 described above.

[0082] In addition, in the oven cooking device 10 of this embodiment, the heater for heating the inside of the baking furnace is described as being provided with two heaters, a lower heater 41 and an upper heater 42, but the inside of the baking furnace 20 may be heated with one heater (the lower heater 41 or the upper heater 42). In addition, the sensor (temperature detection unit) for detecting the temperature inside the baking furnace 20 is described as being provided with two heaters, a lower temperature sensor 43 and an upper temperature sensor 44, but the temperature inside the baking furnace 20 may be detected with one sensor (the lower temperature sensor 43 or the upper temperature sensor 44). With such a configuration, technical actions and effects substantially similar to those described above can be obtained. [Explanation of symbols]

[0083] 10... oven cooking device, 20... baking furnace, 41... lower heater (heater), 42... upper heater (heater), 50... operation panel (reservation section), 70... control device (control section).

Claims

1. A baking oven for baking food to be cooked; A heater arranged to be able to heat the inside of the firing furnace; A control unit that controls heating of the heater; a reservation unit that allows a user to set a start timing of the heating using date information and time information and allows a user to set an end timing of the heating using time information; a timekeeping unit that outputs current date information and time information to the control unit, The control unit starts heating the heater when it determines that the start timing has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the timing unit, and stops heating the heater when it determines that the end timing on the date of the start timing has arrived based on the current date information and time information input from the timing unit.

2. In the oven cooking device according to claim 1, The oven cooking device is characterized in that the reservation unit accepts, as the time information for the end timing, time information expressed in a (24+X) hour system or a 12-hour system with information for the next day added when the time information represents a time between midnight and a specified time X.

3. In the oven cooking device according to claim 1 or 2, The oven cooking apparatus, wherein the reservation unit accepts setting of date information for the start timing within a predetermined N weeks from the current date, the N weeks being more than one week.

Images