EP0078607A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Automatic heating apparatus with sensor
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
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Filing: 1982-09-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2002-09-29
Abstract
Abstract An automatic heating apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a sensor (10) such as a humidity sensor or a gas sensor (10) which senses water vapor, alcohol, C0 2 gas or the like emitted from a foodstuff being heated for automatically completing cooking. A microcomputer (9), which is a controller, monitors the quantity of emitted water vapor, C0 2 gas, alcohol or the like varying relative to time and, on the basis of the result of monitoring, decides automatically that the foodstuff is covered or not with a plastic sheet or is enclosed or not in a lidded container. According to the result of decision, the heating data including the heating duration and heating output are changed over so as to attain optimum heating regardless of the presence or absence of the cover or regardless of the volume of the lidded container.
Inventors
- 👤 Shigeki Ueda
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 21:38
CPC Classifications
H; H05; H05B; H05B6/00; H05B6/64; H05B6/6435; F; F24; F24C; F24C7/00; F24C7/08; H05B6/6447; H05B6/6458
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
226 words
An automatic heating apparatus comprising: a heating cavity (6) in which an object (7) to be heated is placed; a source (81 of heating energy coupled to said heating cavity; control means (9) for controlling power supplied to said source of heating energy; and sensor means (10) whose property is variable as a result of reaction with at least one of water vapor, alcohol, carbon dioxide gas and their mixture emitted from the object being progressively heated with time, said control means (9) including counter means (18) for counting the period of time elapsed until the level of the output signal from said sensor means attains a predetermined setting, and monitor means (21, 43, 44, 45, 46) for monitoring the sensor output level varying relative to time until the predetermined setting is attained, said control means deciding, on the basis of the result of monitoring by said monitor means, that the object being heated is covered or not with a covering sheet such as a plastic sheet or is enclosed or not in an enclosure such as a lidded container, and multiplying the period of time counted by said counter means by a heating time coefficient which differs depending on whether or not the object being heated is covered with the covering sheet or enclosed in the enclosure thereby calculating an additional heating period of time.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
226 words
An automatic heating apparatus comprising: a heating cavity (6) in which an object (7) to be heated is placed; a source (81 of heating energy coupled to said heating cavity; control means (9) for controlling power supplied to said source of heating energy; and sensor means (10) whose property is variable as a result of reaction with at least one of water vapor, alcohol, carbon dioxide gas and their mixture emitted from the object being progressively heated with time, said control means (9) including counter means (18) for counting the period of time elapsed until the level of the output signal from said sensor means attains a predetermined setting, and monitor means (21, 43, 44, 45, 46) for monitoring the sensor output level varying relative to time until the predetermined setting is attained, said control means deciding, on the basis of the result of monitoring by said monitor means, that the object being heated is covered or not with a covering sheet such as a plastic sheet or is enclosed or not in an enclosure such as a lidded container, and multiplying the period of time counted by said counter means by a heating time coefficient which differs depending on whether or not the object being heated is covered with the covering sheet or enclosed in the enclosure thereby calculating an additional heating period of time.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
226 words
An automatic heating apparatus comprising: a heating cavity (6) in which an object (7) to be heated is placed; a source (81 of heating energy coupled to said heating cavity; control means (9) for controlling power supplied to said source of heating energy; and sensor means C101 whose property is variable as a result of reaction with at least one of water vapor, alcohol, carbon dioxide gas and their mixture emitted from the object being progressively heated . with time, said control means (9) including counter means (18) for counting the period of time elapsed until the level of the output signal from said sensor means attains a predetermined setting, and monitor means (21) for monitoring the sensor output level varying relative to time until the predetermined setting is attained, said control means deciding, on the basis of the result of monitoring by said monitor means, that the object being heated is covered or not with a covering sheet such as a plastic sheet or is enclosed or not in an enclosure such as a lidded container, and if the object being heated is not covered with the covering sheet or not enclosed in the enclosure, changing the value of the predetermined setting and counting by said counter means, and then multiplying the period of time counted by said counter means by a heating time coefficient.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
226 words
An automatic heating apparatus comprising: a heating cavity (6) in which an object (7) to be heated is placed; a source (81 of heating energy coupled to said heating cavity; control means (9) for controlling power supplied to said source of heating energy; and sensor means C101 whose property is variable as a result of reaction with at least one of water vapor, alcohol, carbon dioxide gas and their mixture emitted from the object being progressively heated . with time, said control means (9) including counter means (18) for counting the period of time elapsed until the level of the output signal from said sensor means attains a predetermined setting, and monitor means (21) for monitoring the sensor output level varying relative to time until the predetermined setting is attained, said control means deciding, on the basis of the result of monitoring by said monitor means, that the object being heated is covered or not with a covering sheet such as a plastic sheet or is enclosed or not in an enclosure such as a lidded container, and if the object being heated is not covered with the covering sheet or not enclosed in the enclosure, changing the value of the predetermined setting and counting by said counter means, and then multiplying the period of time counted by said counter means by a heating time coefficient.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
109 words
An automatic heating apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said monitor means (21) detects the time at which the water vapor, alcohol, carbon dioxide gas or their mixture starts to emit from the object being heated or detects a time later than that time, and counts from the above time the period of time elapsed until the output signal level of said sensor means attains the predetermined setting, and said control means decides, on the basis of the result of monitoring by said monitor means, that the object being heated is covered or not with the covering sheet or is enclosed or not in the enclosure.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
75 words
An automatic heating apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said monitor means includes sampling means (.43) for sampling at predetermined sampling time intervals, and memory means (441 for storing sequentially the sampled data, and said control means retrieves the variation relative to time of the data stored in said memory means to detect that the object being heated is covered or not with the covering sheet or is enclosed or not in the enclosure.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
53 words
An automatic heating apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein, when said control means (9) decides that the object being heated is covered or not with the covering sheet or is enclosed or not in the enclosure, the result of decision is announced by announcing means (13) and/or displayed on display means (5).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
39 words
An automatic heating apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, wherein externally correcting means (4) is provided so that, when the result of decision by said control means is not correct, the error can be corrected by said correcting means.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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