Electric heating – Microwave heating – With diverse-type heating
Patent
1997-03-20
1998-07-21
Leung, Philip H.
Electric heating
Microwave heating
With diverse-type heating
219703, 219705, 219707, 219710, 219719, 99325, H05B 668
Patent
active
057838070
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to cooking devices capable of microwave-heating and heating with a heater, and more particularly to a cooking device suitable for processing precooked food.
BACKGROUND ART
A cooking device of interest to the present invention is disclosed by Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-225727. According to the patent application, the cooking device includes a heating chamber for accommodating food to cook, a microwave heater and a heater for heating food placed in the heating chamber, a temperature sensor provided on the surface of the wall of the heating chamber for sensing the temperature within the heating chamber, an exhaust temperature sensor provided at an exhaust portion for letting out the atmosphere of the heating chamber, a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity within the heating chamber and a controller for controlling the entire cooking device. By the function of the controller, the microwave heater heats food until the output change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a prescribed value after starting heating, and then the heater heats the food for a calculated time period corresponding to the temperature change amount of the exhaust temperature sensor and heating time until the amount of humidity change reaches a prescribed value after starting heating.
Generally, food is heated by microwaves until the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a prescribed value, and then the food is finished cooking by evaporating moisture using the heater. The humidity sensor however has a limited sensitivity, and it would be difficult to detect the same condition as for various kinds of cooking. If the output of the humidity sensor is the same, the state of heating is not always the same.
In order to solve such a disadvantage, there is a method of continuing microwave-heating while steaming the food wrapped with plastic wrap with vapor generated on the food. According to the method, the finished food becomes damp and the look is also spoiled. Therefore, after heating food by microwave heating without using wrap, evaporating the food by heating with a heater such as electric heater in order to make the finished food crisp and look delicious.
Recently, consumers use more frozen precooked food such as frozen pilaf and frozen prefried food sold at convenience stores. These kinds of food are thawed, heated and then served at tables of households. The food often becomes damp and looks tasteless.
The above-described method is directed to solving such a disadvantage, but the method is still encountered with the following problem.
Among various kinds of frozen precooked food, each item of frozen prefried food has a small unit value, through which microwaves easily penetrate, and therefore, thawing and heating progress quickly. Meanwhile, it is hard for microwaves to penetrate to the center of food such as frozen pilaf and frozen grilled rice balls in a large lump, and therefore, heating of the center of the food progresses slowly.
Therefore, frozen pilaf and frozen grilled rice balls in a large lump are thawed starting from the surface portion in the progress of heating. As a result, the output of the humidity sensor changes as the heating of the surface of the food proceeds. If therefore, the change amount of the humidity sensor reaches a prescribed value, the center of the food is not thawed enough and not heated enough unlike the surface. If the food is subjected to following heating with the heater with its center still not heated enough, the thawing of the center proceeds by the heat emitted from the heater. The moisture generated by the thawing oozes onto the surface, and the surface of the food finished cooking becomes damp and tasteless.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cooking device capable of appropriately processing precooked food, which overcomes the disadvantage associated with such a conventional cooking device.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A cooking device according to the present invention includes a heating c
REFERENCES:
patent: 4481394 (1984-11-01), Tanabe
patent: 4874928 (1989-10-01), Kasai
patent: 5155339 (1992-10-01), An
patent: 5367145 (1994-11-01), Takagi
patent: 5464967 (1995-11-01), Gong
Tanaka Kazuko
Uehashi Hiroyuki
Leung Philip H.
Sanyo Electric Co,. Ltd.
LandOfFree
Cooking device for appropriately processing pre-cooked frozen fo does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cooking device for appropriately processing pre-cooked frozen fo, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cooking device for appropriately processing pre-cooked frozen fo will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1648851