Heating Cooker Steam Control to Prevent Bread Surface Burning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heating cookers lose moisture and flavor from bread during cooking, leading to burnt surfaces and inefficient water management, with no optimal method for cooking dressed bread or croissants, and require a water tank for steam generation.
Innovation Solution
A heating cooker with a box-shaped housing, a cooking cavity, a heater, a steam generator, a water tray, and a control unit that generates steam for the entire cooking time, ensuring all water is evaporated, eliminating the need for a water tank and preventing surface burning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If steam is supplied continuously during cooking, then moisture is maintained in the bread, but water remains in the boiler requiring cleaning and drainage
Solution Approach 1:
The steam generator operates periodically rather than continuously. The control unit controls the steam generator to operate only during the initial steaming period, then stops operation. This periodic operation allows the given amount of water to be completely evaporated within the given steaming time, eliminating the need for water tank cleaning while still maintaining bread moisture during the critical initial phase.
2Productivity
If heating temperature is increased to cook bread faster, then cooking time is reduced, but bread surface is burnt before inside is heated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary steaming action before main heating. The control unit first activates the steam generator to create a steam-filled cooking cavity, then activates the heater. This preliminary steaming action prepares the environment to prevent surface burning while the heater subsequently cooks the bread interior, achieving both speed and quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the physical state parameter of the cooking environment by introducing steam. The control unit controls the steam generator to evaporate water and fill the cooking cavity with steam, changing the atmosphere from dry air to humid steam environment. This parameter change allows faster cooking without surface burning.
3Adaptability or versatility
If water tank is installed for steam supply, then steam function is provided, but water tank requires cleaning and maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the water tank component from the system. Instead of using a reusable water tank that requires cleaning, the system uses a disposable water tray with a given amount of water that is completely evaporated during each cooking cycle. This extraction simplifies the device structure while maintaining the steam function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the permanent water tank with a disposable water tray containing a given amount of water. The water tray is designed to be simple and inexpensive, with the water being completely evaporated within the given steaming time. This disposable approach eliminates cleaning and maintenance requirements while providing the necessary steam function.
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 design maintains moisture and flavor in cooked bread, prevents surface burning, and ensures a hygienic cooking environment by using up all water, making it suitable for various bread types without the need for a water tank.
Implementation Method 1
a water tray into which a given amount of water is poured, the given amount of water being entirely evaporated within the given steaming time
Implementation Method 2
a heater arranged within the cooking cavity
Data Source
AI summary
Cooking is performed to serve tasty food by appropriately managing moisture of an object to be cooked without burning the surface thereof. A box-shaped housing, a cooking cavity for accommodating an object to be cooked, the cooking cavity being arranged within the housing, an upper-face heater and a lower-face heater arranged in the cooking cavity, a boiler arranged within the cooking cavity, a water tray formed outside the cooking cavity and into which a given amount of water that is entirely evaporated in a given steaming time is poured, a water guide passage within the housing, the water guide passage into which water is supplied from the water tray to the boiler; and a control unit for causing an operation to generate steam from the boiler to be performed for at least a steaming time from when cooking starts are provided.