High-frequency heating apparatus with alcohol sensor
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorMika Morita
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A microwave oven includes a control circuit provided for properly heating food on the basis of detection by an alcohol sensor. Upon depression of a beverage key of an operation panel, the control circuit detects change rates of signals generated by the alcohol sensor before the heating operation and during the heating operation. When the change rates exceed respective reference values, beverage to be heated is determined to be Japanese sake. When the determination before the heating operation does not coincide with that during the heating operation, the control circuit determines which the beverage is, the sake or the milk or the other type of beverage, on the basis of the determination both before and during the heating operation, setting a driving period of time of a magnetron accordingly.
Claims8
A high-frequency heating apparatus comprising:
- a) a heating chamber;
- b) heating means for heating food accommodated in the heating chamber;
- c) an alcohol sensor for detecting alcohol concentration in the heating chamber and for generating a detection signal based on the detected alcohol concentration;
- d) food determining means connected to the alcohol sensor for classifying the food accommodated in the heating chamber based on the alcohol concentration detected by the alcohol sensor, the food accommodated in the heating chamber being classified as one of a first food group and a second food group, the first food group being characterized by a large alcohol concentration and the second food group being characterized by a small alcohol concentration;
- and
- e) control means connected to the heating means and the food determining means for driving the heating means for a predetermined period of time based on the classification of the food accommodated in the heating chamber;
- the food determining means comprising:
- first classifying means for performing a first classification of the food into the first or second food group based on the detection signal generated by the alcohol sensor after generation of a cooking start command and before the heating means is driven, the first classifying means generating a provisional classification result based on the first classification;
- second classifying means for performing a second classification of the food into the first or second food group based on the detection signal generated by the alcohol sensor while the heating means is driven and subsequent to the classification by the first classifying means and for generating a second classification result based on the second classification;
- and
- difference determining means for generating a command when the provisional classification result differs from the second classification result,
- wherein the control means adjust the length of time the heating means is driven based on the command so that food classified in the first food group is heated for a longer length of time than food classified in the second food group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.