Electric heating – Heating devices – With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-27
2001-08-14
Jeffery, John A. (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
C219S441000, C099S325000, C099S332000, C099S342000, C099S403000, C099SDIG014
Reexamination Certificate
active
06274850
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to deep fat cooking devices generally, and more particularly, to apparatus and methods for identifying subject medium within such cooking devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large capacity, pressurized, deep fat fryer cookers are known in the art and have been devised for cooking food products in a heated or pressurized environment, or both. Such devices may include a cooking vessel, referred to as a fry pot, which may be filled with a subject medium, such as oil, shortening, water, or the like, and heating elements surrounding or immersed in the vessel, or both, for heating the subject medium. Food products may be placed in the cooking vessel, either directly or in a container, such as a wire basket, and are cooked for a desired length of time.
These cooking devices may have a temperature probe, a heating element, and a temperature selector for enabling a user to select a desired cooking temperature. Control means control the heating element in different modes of operation corresponding to the different stages of preparing food products. Moreover, cooking devices usually provide for proper maintenance of the subject medium. Specifically, if shortening is used, it is desirable to filter the shortening periodically to reduce or eliminate adverse effects on cooking quality due to the absorption by the shortening of oils and odor associated with the cooked food products, and degradation of the shortening, e.g., its breakdown due to heat, extended use, and other factors. Thus, the subject medium may be drained periodically in order to be filtered.
After repeated use, the cooking devices themselves also may need to be cleaned and maintained in order to insure quality in cooking operations. Fryer operators often use water-based cleaning solutions in the fry pots within the cooking devices. While generally an effective cleaning method, the use of water to clean the fry pot may cause uncertainty of the proper temperature level needed to operate the cooking device if the operator is not sure if water or cooking oil is placed therein. It is desirable to limit the water temperature to less than the boiling point to prevent boilers. Thus, it is desirable for operators and process controllers to be able to distinguish between water and cooking mediums in a fry pot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In an embodiment, the invention is an apparatus for identifying at least one of a plurality of subject media within a cooking device. The apparatus comprises a cooking vessel for holding at least one subject medium within the cooking device, and a controller, including a timer, which generates a conductivity measurement signal. The apparatus further comprises a conductivity measuring device. The conductivity measuring device receives the conductivity signal and, in response to the conductivity signal, measures a conductivity value of the subject medium surrounding the conductivity measuring device. The controller determines the subject medium's composition by comparing the measured conductivity value to a plurality of predetermined conductivity values for the plurality of subject media.
In another embodiment, the invention is a method for identifying at least one of a plurality of subject media within a cooking device. The method comprises the steps of providing a cooking vessel containing at least one subject medium device and generating a conductivity signal. The method further comprises the step of measuring a conductivity value of the subject medium in response to the conductivity signal. The method comprises the step of comparing the measured conductivity value to a plurality of predetermined conductivity values for the plurality of subject media and matching the measured conductivity value with at least one of the plurality of predetermined conductivity values to identify the subject medium.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that identifies a subject medium using the medium's conductivity. It is a feature of this invention that it includes a controller adapted to measure conductivity to identify the subject medium. It is an advantage of this invention that time and costs are reduced or minimized by accurately identifying whether the subject medium is water or oil.
It is another feature of this invention that it is adapted to perform do these determinations automatically, without operator intervention. It is an advantage of this invention that time and costs are reduced or minimized by not requiring operator intervention.
It is another object of this invention that the identification of a subject medium may be performed by a single apparatus on a plurality of devices. It is a feature of this invention that a controller is adapted to be programmed with data corresponding to a particular system. It is an advantage of this invention that it reduces or minimizes costs by being adaptable to a plurality of systems.
Other objects, features, and advantages will be understood in view of the following description of preferred embodiments with respect to the drawings.
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Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Henny Penny Corporation
Jeffery John A.
LandOfFree
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