Dual-Chamber Sous Vide Container for Precise Temperature Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Sous vide cooking methods face challenges in maintaining precise water temperature control, leading to unpredictable cooking times and safety hazards, especially when cooking multiple items simultaneously, due to the limitations of conventional stovetop heating and immersion heaters.
Innovation Solution
A dual-chamber container system with a control unit that circulates and controls a heat transfer liquid around the food item, maintaining thermal contact without direct contact, and includes a temperature controller, heating elements, and fluid ports for precise temperature management and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional stovetop heating or immersion heaters are used for sous vide cooking, then heating capability is provided, but precise temperature control within ±1°C range cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the heating control function into discrete 100-watt heating elements that can be independently controlled. This segmentation allows precise temperature adjustment by activating specific numbers of heating elements, achieving ±1°C control without requiring a single complex high-power heater.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of active heating elements based on real-time temperature feedback from sensors. This dynamic control enables continuous temperature adjustment within the desired range, maintaining precision while adapting to changing thermal conditions during cooking.
2Productivity
If large volumes of water are used for immersion cooking to accommodate multiple items, then cooking capacity increases, but temperature stability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Temperature sensors continuously monitor the water temperature and provide feedback to the control system. This feedback mechanism allows the system to detect temperature changes caused by multiple food items and adjust the number of active heating elements accordingly, maintaining temperature stability even with large water volumes and multiple items being cooked simultaneously.
3Use of energy by moving object
If immersion heaters with exposed heating surfaces are used, then heating efficiency is improved, but burn hazard to persons near the equipment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses water as an intermediary medium to transfer thermal energy from the heating elements to the food items. The heating elements remain submerged and thermally coupled to the water, which acts as a safe intermediary that eliminates direct contact hazards while maintaining efficient heat transfer to cook the food.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs a flexible cooking bag that seals the food items and immerses them in the heated water. This flexible barrier provides an additional safety layer, preventing direct contact with hot surfaces while allowing efficient thermal transfer from the water to the food through the bag material.
4Use of energy by moving object
If stovetop burners are used to heat water for immersion cooking, then heating capability is provided, but the burners are unavailable for other cooking tasks, tying up kitchen space for hours
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses standard kitchen stovetop burners for their primary heating function to heat the water bath, but the cooking process itself occurs in the insulated water bath rather than directly on the burner. This allows the burner to be used for initial heating and then effectively 'disconnected' from the cooking process, freeing it for other tasks while the sous vide cooking continues in the insulated container.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system allows for precise control of cooking temperature and time, reduces safety hazards by isolating hot surfaces, and enables efficient cooking of multiple items simultaneously with predictable results.
Implementation Method 1
a heating element for transferring thermal energy to the reservoir
Implementation Method 2
The temperature controller is adapted to control a temperature of a liquid held in the reservoir
Implementation Method 3
maintaining thermal contact without direct contact
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A cooking apparatus includes a dual-chamber container with an inner container for holding a food item to be cooked and an outer container for maintaining contact between a temperature-controlled heat transfer liquid and the inner container while the food is being cooked. The dual-chamber container includes an inlet fluid port and outflow fluid port which may be coupled directly to corresponding fluid port connectors on a temperature control unit, or an intervening fluid coupling assembly may convey heat transfer liquid between the control unit and the dual-chamber container. Some control units are adapted to simultaneously control cooking temperature for more than one dual-chamber container. Some dual-chamber containers have a flexible inner container that is separable from an outer container which may be a rigid container or a flexible container.