Electric heating – Microwave heating – With control system
Patent
1993-12-06
1996-04-02
Leung, Philip H.
Electric heating
Microwave heating
With control system
219720, 219506, 219763, 99325, H05B 668
Patent
active
055043119
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the control of the operation of a heating apparatus of a product in an enclosure, and more particularly of a heating or reheating apparatus for food products.
2. Description of the Related Art
In heating apparatus known at present, and particularly microwave ovens, the user must first set the duration and intensity of the desired heating by acting on buttons or pressure points located on a front panel. Satisfactory in the majority of the cases in which the user knows these parameters, either by experience, or by consulting tables, this device quickly becomes inadequate for heating apparatus located in public places at which various users will successively and rapidly heat very different products. Moreover, when the heating apparatus is installed in a public place, it must satisfy security standards, particularly as to thoughtless or even malevolent actions of certain users.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is a control device for the operation of a heating apparatus of a product in an enclosure requiring minimum intervention of the user, preventing the onset of heating if the safety conditions are not satisfied while ensuring an exact heating sequence for very different products.
These objects are obtained thanks to a device comprising optical and/or optoelectronic means to read a distinctive sign inherent to the product or its packaging, a processing module comprising computer means to compare electric signals emitted from a reading of the distinctive sign with memorized reference values corresponding to the predetermined reference signs attributed to the product or to its packaging, and electronic or optoelectronic means to generate operational controls for the heating apparatus if the distinctive sign which is read corresponds to the reference signs.
Preferably, the control device will start the heating apparatus only if the distinctive sign which is read corresponds effectively to a memorized reference sign. Again preferably, the controls as to duration, intensity and spatial distribution of heating are established by the control device in a very exact way as a function of the memorized reference sign matched to the distinctive sign which is read.
Such a control device is applicable for heating apparatus using microwaves, or halogen or infrared lamps.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The invention will be better understood from a study of an embodiment given by way of non-limiting example shown in the accompanying drawing representing in a schematic way a microwave device and the associated control device.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The heating apparatus such as a microwave oven and shown generally by the numeral 10 comprises in a casing 12 an enclosure 16 in which can slide a drawer 14 actuated by means of a handle 15. The enclosure 16 is surrounded by a microwave guide device 18 permitting distributing in a uniform manner microwaves along the longitudinal axis of the enclosure 16. The microwave generator device, not shown, is supplied with electrical current by a line 36 from a processing module 30 itself supplied with line voltage from a line 32.
According to the invention, the product 5 to be reheated, or its packaging, has on its top at least one distinctive sign. This distinctive sign may be a series of black lines called a bar code, but for aesthetic reasons, it is preferred to have a distinctive sign integrated into a general advertising graphic assembly. For example, and as shown in the figure, the distinctive sign 6 is constituted by a letter C on the top of the packaging. The distinctive sign can also be the name or the graphic of the name of a manufacturing company of the product 5 to be reheated. Any other distinctive sign can also be used. Various geometric shapes can constitute a portion of the distinctive sign. These geometric shapes can be, for example, a square to define the duration of heating, a triangle to define the intensity of thi
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patent: 4323773 (1982-04-01), Carpenter
patent: 4628351 (1986-12-01), Heo
patent: 4711979 (1987-12-01), Glasser et al.
patent: 4780588 (1988-10-01), Edamura
patent: 4814571 (1989-03-01), Bowen et al.
patent: 5011042 (1991-04-01), Bunce et al.
patent: 5274209 (1993-12-01), Edamura
Dubuis Jean-Charles
Kongmark Nils
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