JPH04306421A - Cooking pan lifter device in microwave oven - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a height of a cooking pan in an oven to be adjusted without opening a door. CONSTITUTION:Cooking pan supporting members 5, 5 of a rack accepting shape to be disposed at both sides in an oven are supported by a linkage mechanism 6 in such a way as they may be lifted up or descended and the linkage mechanism 6 is lifted up or descended by a motor which can be controlled from an external side and thus a height of a cooking pan 4 in the oven can be freely adjusted from an external side.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooking plate elevating device for a high-frequency heating device equipped with a cooking plate.

0002

[Prior Art] For example, high-frequency heating devices such as microwave ovens with grill and oven functions are generally provided with a heating heater in the upper part of the chamber (for example,
(Refer to Publication No.-110197).

[0003] In addition, generally, in this device, a plurality of convex cooking plate support portions (shelf supports) are formed on both sides of the inside of the refrigerator.
The cooking plate is inserted and set from the front side toward the back using the supporting portion of the desired height, and the food to be cooked is placed on the cooking plate as described above. It is heated in a grill or oven using an upper heater (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-130318).

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] The above-mentioned multi-tiered cooking plate support is originally selected by the user based on the size (height) of the food to be placed on the cooking plate, the required heating temperature, etc. When the size of the food is large or when a very high heating temperature is not required, the lower cooking plate support is used, while on the other hand, when the size of the food is small and the top side is When high heating temperatures are required, the upper cooking plate support is used.

[0005] However, sometimes items that should be placed on the upper side are mistakenly set on the lower side, or conversely, items that should be placed on the lower side are accidentally set on the upper side. Further, depending on the type of food, it may be necessary to change the height position during cooking.

[0006] In such a case, with the above-mentioned conventional configuration, the door must be opened and the position changed (replaced) using a predetermined handle member each time, which is very inconvenient and makes it difficult to open the door. This caused problems such as a decrease in the internal temperature of the refrigerator and an insufficient amount of heating for the food to be cooked.

[0007] For this reason, a structure has been proposed in which the above-mentioned problem is solved by, for example, taking out the heater itself in the upper ceiling part to the inside of the refrigerator and making it possible to raise and lower it. If it is attempted to raise and lower the heater itself, there are many difficulties in terms of wiring and ensuring insulation, and it cannot be realized easily and at low cost.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The invention of the present application was made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, and is constructed as follows.

That is, the cooking plate lifting device of the high-frequency heating device of the present invention is a high-frequency heating device comprising a cooking plate that is to be set at a desired height position in the refrigerator. a pair of support members that support the cooking plate; a link mechanism that raises and lowers the pair of support members, respectively;
The present invention is characterized by being provided with a drive motor that operates the link mechanism to raise and lower the pair of support members by vertically rotating the lower link member of the link mechanism.

0010

[Operations] As a result of the above-described structure, the invention of the present application has the following effects corresponding to the structure.

That is, in the configuration of the high-frequency heating device of the present invention, as described above, there are a pair of support members located on both sides of the refrigerator to support the cooking plate, and a link for raising and lowering the pair of support members, respectively. and a drive motor that operates the link mechanism to raise and lower the pair of support members by vertically rotating the lower link member of the link mechanism, and the drive motor By arbitrarily controlling the amount of rotation and the direction of rotation using a microcomputer or the like, it becomes possible to freely adjust the height position of the cooking plate inside the refrigerator without opening the door at all.

0012

[Effects of the Invention] Therefore, according to the present invention, there is no need to open the door one by one and reset the height position of the cooking plate as in the conventional method, which is very convenient, and there is no drop in the internal temperature. There is no loss of heated heat, and cooking errors due to insufficient heating are eliminated.

[0013] Also, unlike moving the heater itself up and down, there is no need to consider wiring or special insulation measures.
The cost is low and implementation is easy.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (1) First Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 6 show the structure of a cooking plate lifting device of a high-frequency heating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

First, FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the high-frequency heating device itself, and in the figure, first, reference numeral 1 denotes a cabinet on the side of the oven body 20 of the microwave oven with grill and oven function, which is the high-frequency heating device. Similarly, reference numeral 2 denotes a heating chamber (inner space) of a predetermined volume formed inside the cavity 1. For example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in detail in , a pair of left and right cooking plate lifting mechanisms 3a, 3
b are arranged in parallel, and the cooking plate lifting mechanisms 3a, 3b
As shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
is inserted from the front side to the rear side and supported horizontally.

As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, for example, the cooking plate lifting mechanisms 3a and 3b include a support member (support frame) 5 that supports the cooking plate 4, and a support member (support frame) 5 that supports the support member 5 at both front and rear ends. A parallel link consisting of a pair of doglegged link members 6a, 6b, and a mutual link connected via shafts 7a, 7b to the lower ends of each of the doglegged link members 6a, 6b constituting the parallel link. first and second gears 8a and 8b meshing with each other;
It is composed of a third gear 9 having a considerably smaller diameter than the first gear 8a that meshes with the first gear 8a, and a drive-side geared motor 11 connected to the third gear 9 via a reduction gear mechanism 10. ing. In addition, in FIG. 3, the reference numeral 12 indicates the parallel link and the first to third gears 8a, 8b, 9.
This is a housing plate that supports etc.

[0017] The cooking plate elevating mechanism 3a, 3 having the above structure
As shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, b is supported and fixed via the cavity inner walls 2a and 2b on the microwave oven main body 20 side, and only the link side protrudes into the heating chamber 2. Therefore, for example, when the motor 11 is driven, the third gear 9 is driven via the reduction gear mechanism 10, thereby driving both the first gear 8a and the second gear 8b in opposite directions. The above parallel link 6 corresponds to the direction of rotation.
The cooking plate supporting members 4, 4 are raised and lowered by operating them in the upward direction or downward direction.

As a result, the cooking plate 4 is raised and lowered by a distance corresponding to the amount of rotation of the motor 11 at this time, and the height position can be adjusted as desired.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, light-emitting and light-receiving elements 14a and 14b are provided at the upper part of the heating chamber 2, facing each other in the left-right direction, and as described above, the cooking plate lifting mechanism When the cooking plate 4 is raised by 3a and 3b, the food on the cooking plate 4 reaches the predetermined upper limit position (
When the food reaches the ceiling surface 2C), it automatically detects that it has reached that position and stops energizing the motor 11 to prevent the food from coming into contact with the ceiling surface 2C.

Reference numeral 19 is a depth sensor using, for example, a laser emitting element, and the sensor 19 also continuously measures the vertical position of the cooking plate 4 and food.

By the way, the cooking plate lifting mechanism 3a, 3b
The operation is controlled by cooking plate up/down switches 21a and 21b provided on the operation panel section 20a on the front side of the microwave oven main body 20, as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

That is, first, as shown in FIG. 4, the operation panel section 20a has four types of auto menu keys: ``Warm'', ``Milk Warm/Sake Can'', ``Leaf Vegetable Preparation'', and ``Root Vegetable Preparation''. Operation key group 40
, ``Sweet key'' 41, and ``Cooking key'' 42 are provided, as well as manual menu keys such as ``Microwave high'' 31, ``Microwave low'' 32, ``Thaw perishables'' 33, ``Grill'' 34, and ``Microwave low'' 31. An oven"35 etc. are provided. Further, a cancel button 43 and a start button 44 are also provided.

Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned normal operation keys, this embodiment is provided with an up switch 21a and a down switch 21b for operating the above-mentioned cooking plate lifting/lowering mechanisms 3a, 3b up or down, respectively. By turning on the up switch 21a and the down switch 21b, the geared motor 11 is rotationally driven in the upward or downward direction, and the cooking plate lifting mechanisms 3a, 3b are accordingly rotated.
operates to rise or fall. The operating state is controlled by the control unit of the operation panel section 20a.

That is, the control unit section of the operation panel section 20a has two buttons, for example, shown in FIGS. Two types of control programs are built in as shown in the flowchart, and each program has the following functions corresponding to at least two different operation states: manual operation (Figure 5) and automatic menu operation (Figure 6). A specific control operation is performed.

(1) In the case of manual operation, that is, in this case, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the cooking plate 4 is currently at the lowest position as a reference, and if the determination is NO that it is not at the lowest position, then In this case, after moving to the lowest position through the operation in step S2, the process proceeds to step S3, which determines ON/OFF of the up/down switches 21a and 21b.

When it is determined in step S3 that either of the up/down switches 21a, 21b has been turned on, the cooking plate lifting mechanisms 3a, 3b are operated in step S4 to start cooking. Move the plate 4 to the desired position (if the other answer is NO, leave it as is).

Furthermore, when the above processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S5, and the grill key 34, which is the manual menu key shown in FIG. 4 and also requires energization of the heater, is pressed.
Alternatively, it is determined whether the oven key 35 is actually pressed. As a result, if YES (ON), continue step S
At step S6, the grill or oven heating operation is displayed on a predetermined display section, and further, as a cancellation determination, it is determined at step S7 whether or not the cancel button 43 has been pressed.

[0028] As a result, if the determination is NO (that is, the cancel button 43 was not pressed), steps S8 and S
After sequentially determining in step 9 that the door of the microwave oven body is closed and that the cooking start button 44 has been pressed,
If both of them are YES, steps S10 and S1 are performed again.
After determining whether the cancellation operation has been performed and whether the door has been opened in Step 1, the process proceeds to step S12 only when the cancellation operation has not been performed and the door has not been opened. The heater is energized and heated only within a predetermined manually set time.

Finally, in step S13, it is determined whether the set time has elapsed, and when the set time has elapsed, the cooking is completed and the power to the heater is turned off.

On the other hand, when the cancel button 43 is pressed in steps S7 and S10, the user wants to cancel cooking for some reason, so for example, the process first moves to step S14 and the cooking plate 4 is placed in the highest position again. It is checked whether or not it is at the bottom, and if it is not at the bottom, it is moved to the bottom as a reference in step S14, and then the process proceeds to step S15, where all the operations of each step up to that point are canceled (memory clear). ), the processing in the program ends.

Furthermore, if it is detected in step S11 that the door has been opened (YES), it is recognized that there is some interruption such as rework, and the process proceeds to step S17.
, it is checked whether the position of the cooking plate 4 is at the bottom or not, and depending on the check result, if YES, leave it as is, or if NO, proceed to step S18 to always move to the bottom, which is the reference point. After moving, the process advances to step S19.

[0032] Further, in step S19, it is determined whether the door has been closed again (whether the rework has been completed or not), and when the door is closed, step S20 is again performed.
The operation state (reset) of the up/down switches 21a and 21b is determined, and when an ON operation is performed, the cooking plate 4 is moved to the target position in step S21 in accordance with the operation switch and the operation amount. After that, step S22
Then, the ON/OFF state of the start button 44 is determined again.

On the other hand, the up/down switch 21a
, 21b, it is determined that there is no need to change the position of the cooking plate, and in step S23 the cooking plate 4 is returned to its original state before opening the door (
After automatically returning to the state (stored in memory), the process proceeds to the cooking start determination operation in step S22. As a result of the cooking start determination in step S22, when the start button 44 is pressed, the heater energization operation in step S12 is performed after the determination in steps S10 and S11, and the start button 4 is pressed.
If 4 is not pressed, the operation from step S20 onward is repeated and waits for the start button 44 to be turned on.

As described above, in the cooking plate lifting device of this embodiment, the height of the cooking plate 4 can be adjusted freely by manual operation without opening the door. Even later, you can freely control the food depending on the type and amount of food.

(2) In the case of automatic menu operation Next, FIG. 6 shows the contents of the lifting/lowering control of the cooking plate when the grill or oven operation is selected when the automatic menu is selected. The basic system is that the cooking plate 4 is automatically raised to a height position that is automatically set in advance according to the type of food served.

That is, first, in step S1, the auto menu key is pressed and grill or oven cooking is selected in the auto menu state with heater heating, such as when the above-mentioned cooking plate 4 is used. Determine whether or not. If the result is YES (ON), the process proceeds to step S2, where a predetermined display section displays that it is auto menu heating. Further, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the cooking plate 4 has reached the lowermost position, which is the reference. On the other hand, the above step S
If the determination result in step 1 is NO (the auto menu key and the grill or oven cooking operation key are OFF), the control is immediately terminated.

Next, when the cooking plate 4 has already reached the lowest position and the determination is YES in the step S3, the process directly proceeds to steps S3 and S4 to check whether the door is closed or not. Switch 21a, 2
While it is sequentially determined whether or not 1b has been pressed, if the determination is NO that the cooking plate 4 has not yet been lowered to the lowest position, the cooking plate 4 is automatically moved to the lowest position in step S6, and then, The process proceeds to steps S4 and S5 above. If it is confirmed in steps S4 and S5 that the door is closed and that the up/down switches 21a and 21b have not been operated, the process proceeds to step S7 and the memory section of the control unit is Dishes (
The cooking plate 4 is moved to a preset cooking plate position that is individually stored according to the type and quantity. On the other hand, although the door is closed, especially when the user operates the up/down switches 21a, 21b, the process moves to step S8 to give priority to the operation amount of the up/down switches 21a, 21b. The cooking plate 4 is moved to the position corresponding to (auto movement cancel).

Further, in step S9, it is determined that the start button 44 has been pressed, and the determination result is YE.
In the case of S, it is determined again in steps S10 and S11 whether a cancellation operation has been performed and whether or not the door has been opened, and finally it has been determined that the cancellation operation has not been performed and the door has not been opened. For the first time, the process proceeds to step S12, where the oven or grill heating heater is energized and heated only within a predetermined set time.

Finally, in step S13, it is determined whether the set time has elapsed, and when the set time has elapsed, the cooking is completed and the power supply to the heater is stopped.

On the other hand, in step S10 above, the cancel button 4 is pressed.
When 3 is pressed, the user wants to stop cooking for some reason, so for example, the process first moves to step S14 and checks again whether or not the cooking plate 4 is at the bottom. If so, in step S14 it is moved to the lowest point, which is the reference, and then the process proceeds to step S15, where all the operations in the previous steps are canceled (memory cleared) and the processing in the program is ended.

Furthermore, if it is detected in step S11 that the door has been opened, on the other hand, it is determined that there is some reason for interruption such as rework, and the process moves to step S17 to newly prepare the cooking plate 4. Check whether the position is at the bottom or not, and depending on the check result, if YES, leave as is, or if NO, move to the bottom, which is always the reference, in step S18, and then proceed to step S19. .

[0042] Further, in step S19, it is determined whether the door has been closed again (rework completed?), and when the door is closed, the up/down switches 21a and 21b are operated again in step S20. After determining the state and moving the cooking plate 4 in step S20 in response to the ON operation,
Turn on/off the start button 44 again in step S22.
Determine the FF state.

On the other hand, the up/down switch 21a
, 21b, it is determined that there is no need to change the position of the cooking plate, and in step S23 the cooking plate 4 is returned to its original state before opening the door (
After automatically returning to the memory state), the above step S22 is performed.
Proceed to the cooking start determination operation. As a result of the cooking start determination, when the start button 44 is pressed, step S1 is performed.
After the determination of 0, S11, the heater energization operation is performed in step S12, and if the start button 44 is not pressed, the operation from step S20 onwards is repeated and the start button 44 is turned on.

As described above, in the cooking plate lifting device of this embodiment, when operating the auto menu, the height of the cooking plate 4 is automatically adjusted according to the content of the dish selected at that time. In addition, at that time, as in the case of the manual operation described above, it is possible to freely control the food manually if necessary depending on the type and amount of food.

(2) Second Embodiment Next, FIG. 7 shows the structure of a cooking plate lifting device section of a high frequency heating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the configuration of the cooking plate lifting device of the second embodiment, the upper and lower limit positions of the cooking plate lifting position are detected not by the combination of the light emitting element 14a and the light receiving element 14b as in the first embodiment. ON depending on the rotation angle of the second gear 8b
The first and second limit switches LS1 and LS that operate
2, and the energization state of the geared motor 11 is turned off based on these ON signals.

That is, the second gear 8b has a notch 16 formed at a predetermined angle as shown in the figure, and the first gear
A first limit switch LS1 for detecting the upper limit position is provided corresponding to the notch surface 16a, and a second limit switch LS2 is provided corresponding to the second notch surface 16b. Therefore, for example, when the geared motor 11 is driven in the upward direction from the state shown in the figure and the first gear 8a and second gear 8b rotate in the directions of arrows (A) and (B), the link members 6a, 6b are rotated. The cooking plate supporting members 5, 5 are raised through the cooking plate supporting members 5, 5.

When the predetermined upper limit position is reached, the first notch surface 1 of the second gear 8b is exactly
6a presses the first limit switch LS1 and turns O.
Activate N. and the first limit switch L
When the ON signal of S1 is input, the control unit determines that the cooking plate 4 has reached the upper limit position, turns off the power to the geared motor 11, and stops driving the geared motor 11. As a result, the food on the cooking plate 4 is no longer pressed against the ceiling 2c of the heating chamber 2.

On the other hand, for example, when the geared motor 11 is driven in the downward direction from the state shown in the figure and the first gear 8a and second gear 8b rotate in the directions of arrows (c) and (d), respectively, the above-mentioned The cooking plate support members 5, 5 are lowered via the link members 6a, 6b.

Then, when the predetermined lower limit position is reached, the second notch surface 1 of the second gear 8b is just opened.
6b presses the second limit switch LS2 and turns O.
Activate N. and the second limit switch L
When the ON signal of S2 is input, the control unit determines that the cooking plate 4 has reached the lower limit position, turns off the power to the geared motor 11, and stops driving the geared motor 11. As a result, the food on the cooking plate 4 is also set at a predetermined lowermost position in the heating chamber 2.

(3) Third Embodiment Next, FIG. 8 shows the structure of a cooking plate lifting device of a high frequency heating apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[0052] In the apparatus of the third embodiment, the first and second
As in the device of the embodiment, each cooking plate lifting mechanism 3a, 3 on both sides
A single geared motor 11 common to both is provided to drive the two left and right lifting mechanisms 3a and 3b at the same time with the same torque, without separately providing a drive geared motor 11 for each. It is something to do.

That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the third gear 9,
9 are mutually connected by one rotating shaft 18, and the rotating shaft 1
A geared motor 11 equipped with a reduction gear mechanism 10 is connected to and driven at a position exactly in the middle of 8.

Therefore, according to this configuration, only one driving motor is required, leading to a large cost reduction, and there is an advantage that the driving timings of both the lifting mechanisms 3a and 3b can be accurately matched.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cooking plate lifting device of a high-frequency heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the main parts of the device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 of the same device.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the operation panel section of the device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a cooking tray lifting/lowering control operation during manual operation of the control unit section of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of controlling the raising and lowering of the cooking plate during the automatic menu of the control unit of the apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a partially omitted side view showing the configuration of a cooking plate lifting device of a high-frequency heating device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a cooking plate lifting device of a high-frequency heating device according to a third embodiment of the present invention, viewed from above.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a cavity, 2 is a heating chamber, 2a and 2b are side walls of the heating chamber, 3a and 3b are cooking plate lifting mechanisms, 4 is a cooking plate, 5 is a supporting member, 6a and 6b are link members, and 8a is a first gear ,
8b is a second gear, 9 is a third gear, and 11 is a geared motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A high-frequency heating device comprising a cooking plate to be set at a desired height in a refrigerator, comprising: a pair of support members located on both sides of the refrigerator to support the cooking plate; A link mechanism that raises and lowers the pair of support members, and a drive motor that operates the link mechanism to raise and lower the pair of support members by vertically rotating a lower link member of the link mechanism. A cooking plate lifting device of a high frequency heating device characterized by the following.