Apparatus for controlling heating time utilizing humidity sensing
AssigneeMatsushita Electrical Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsTetsu Kobayashi, Takato Kanazawa, deceased, Makoto Tsuboi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for controlling heating time for food placed in a cooking apparatus such as a microwave oven in which heating time required for the humidity of the food which varies with the heating of the food to reach a representative humidity value after abrupt change with a positive gradient is measured, and the product of the measured heating time multiplied by a predetermined heating time coefficient which is inherent in the particular food is added to the measured heating time so that the sum represents the total required heating time for the food.
Claims6
A heating time control apparatus for use in a microwave oven having a heating cavity, heating means for heating food-stuff in said heating cavity, and air blowing means for blowing air into said heating cavity, said heating time control apparatus comprising:
- humidity sensing means located in the path of air blown by said air blowing means,
- comparison means connected to said humidity sensing means for comparing the sensed humidity with a predetermined humidity level and for generating a signal when the sensed humidity reaches said predetermined level,
- heating time determining means for determining the total heating time consisting of first and second heating time periods for said food-stuff, said first time period being measured from the application of power to said heating means until the signal from said comparison means is received and said second time period corresponding to the product of a heating time coefficient and said first time period, said heating time coefficient being predetermined depending on the type of food-stuff, and
- heating control means for controlling the supply of power to said heating means in response to a signal from said heating time determining means.
A heating time control apparatus for use in a microwave oven having a heating cavity, heating means for heating a food-stuff in said heating cavity, and air blowing means for blowing air into said heating cavity, said heating time control apparatus comprising:
- vapor sensing means located in the path of air blown by said air blowing means for sensing a vapor generated from said food-stuff, the level of which significantly increases at a particular temperature during heating of said food-stuff,
- comparison means connected to said vapor sensing means for comparing the sensed amount of vapor with a predetermined vapor level value and for generating a signal when the sensed amount of vapor reaches said predetermined level,
- heat time determining means for determining the total heating time consisting of first and second heating time periods for said food-stuff, said first time period being measured from the application of power to said heating means until the signal from said comparison means is received and said second time period corresponding to the product of a heating time coefficient and said first time period, said heating time coefficient being predetermined depending on the type of food-stuff, and
- heat control means for controlling the supply of power to said heating means in response to a signal from said heating time determining means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.