Ingredient control method and ingredient control device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooking methods using electromagnetic waves to improve food quality are limited in applicability to all types of food and lack understanding of the underlying mechanisms, making it difficult to control ingredients effectively.
Innovation Solution
An ingredient control method using a device with vibration-generating electrodes that apply electromagnetic waves and electric fields to control water activity in food, reducing interfacial tension and binding water into a pearl-chain structure, thereby improving food quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If electromagnetic waves are used to cook food, then eating quality is improved, but the method cannot be applied to all kinds of food
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by utilizing electromagnetic waves in a specific frequency range (predetermined frequency range) to cook food. This frequency parameter optimization enables the method to achieve both improved eating quality and broader applicability to different types of food, resolving the contradiction between quality improvement and versatility.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If electromagnetic waves are used to cook food, then oil oxidation and degradation are prevented, but the underlying mechanism is not understood
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs feedback mechanisms by monitoring and controlling the electromagnetic wave frequency and intensity during the cooking process. This allows for optimization of the cooking conditions to prevent oil oxidation and degradation while systematically understanding the relationship between electromagnetic wave parameters and food quality outcomes.
3Ease of operation
If vibrations are generated between electrodes, then water activity is controlled and interfacial tension is decreased, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical water activity control systems with an electromagnetic field-based approach. By generating vibrations between electrodes to create electromagnetic waves, the system achieves precise water activity control and interfacial tension reduction without requiring complex mechanical structures, thus resolving the contradiction between operational effectiveness and device simplicity.
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
The method effectively reduces interfacial tension and binds water into a stable pearl-chain structure, enhancing food quality by minimizing oil penetration, maintaining juiciness, and reducing cooking time and oxidation, while improving the eating quality of cooked food.
Implementation Method 1
the vibration generating portions may generate electromagnetic waves between the electrodes to increase interfacial polarization between a water phase of the object and another phase and thus decrease an interfacial tension between the water phase and the other phase
Implementation Method 2
the vibration generating portions may be electrodes capable of generating electromagnetic waves and a water activity of the object may be controlled by generating electromagnetic waves between the electrodes
Data Source
AI summary
Food containing water is improved. A fryer controls water which is an ingredient of food as an object placed between a pair of opposed plate antennas, to be more specific, the water activity of the object, by generating electromagnetic waves between the pair of opposed plate antennas. Then, the fryer applies a DC electric field of +100 V as an offset electric field on the water phase side relative to the oil phase in an AC electric field to irradiate food with electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 50 kHz. Thus, the interfacial polarization between the water phase and the oil phase can be increased to decrease the interfacial tension between the water phase and the oil phase by approximately 60% and bind water in a pearl-chain structure, thus decreasing the water activity.