A MONITORING APPARATUS AND A FOOD PROCESSING DEVICE USING THE SAME

• US 20190320850A1
• Filed: 12/06/2017
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Versuni Holding BV
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: CHEN, Yun, SUN, Ming, SUN, Wen, SU, Guangming, LU, Weihua
• Granted Patent: US 11,612,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 43/046 with tools driven from the bottom side
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 43/06 with a plurality of interchangeable working units , e.g. with a single driving-unit
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 43/0716 for machines with tools driven from the lower side A47J43/0727 - A47J43/08 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1433 using image recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/85 Investigating moving fluids or granular solids
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/14 Measuring resistance by measuring current or voltage obtained from a reference source G01R27/16, G01R27/20, G01R27/22 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/36 with provision for obtaining particular characteristics, e.g. proportional, integral, differential
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence

Abstract

The invention relates to a monitoring apparatus configured to monitor a processing status of a food item under processing in a food processor, the monitoring apparatus comprising a sensor operable to determine characteristic information related to the food item in the food processor, a controller configured to provide a control signal to the food processor to control an operation of the food processor when the determined characteristic 5 information or a rate of change of the determined characteristic information meets a predetermined criteria.

Claims

1. A monitoring apparatus configured to monitor a processing status of a food item under processing in a food processor, characterized in that the monitoring apparatus comprises:

a sensor operable to determine characteristic information related to the food item in the food processor, the characteristic information being associated with a nutrient trend of the food item;

a controller configured to provide a control signal to the food processor to control an operation of the food processor when the determined characteristic information or a rate of change of characteristic information meets a predetermined criteria.

2. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to provide the control signal to terminate the operation of the food processor when the predetermined criteria is met.

3. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a nutrient value based on the determined characteristic information.

4. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined criteria includes the determined nutrient value being equal to or above a predetermined nutrient value.

5. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic information includes, but not limited to, one or more of the following:

a particle size value, an electrical conductivity value, a pH value, a dry matter value, and a soluble solids content value.

6. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a particle image analysis system configured to detect an image of the food item under processing in the food processor and to generate a corresponding image data.

7. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the particle image analysis system is further configured to process the image data to determine a particle size value of the food item.

8. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a conductance sensor when in use is in contact with the food item under processing in the food processor, and the conductor sensor is operable to determine an electrical conductivity, EC, value of the food item.

9. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the conductance sensor comprises a pair of electrodes when in use is arranged in a receptacle for processing a food item of the food processor such that the pair of electrodes are in contact with the food item under processing in order to determine the EC value of the food item.

10. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sensor further comprises a controller unit configured to determine a change in an EC value of the food item based on the EC value determined over a period of time.

11. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the controller unit is further operable to output the determined change in EC value.

12. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a refractive index measurement system arranged to determine a refractive index of the food item under processing.

13. A monitoring apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the sensor further comprises a controller unit operable to determine a soluble solids content value based on the determined refractive index of the food item.

14. A food processor comprising:

a receptacle for receiving a food item to be processed;

a processing unit operable to process the food item in the receptacle; and

a monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1,

wherein the processing unit is arranged to receive a control signal from the monitoring unit and to operate according to the control signal.

15. A method for monitoring a processing status of a food item under processing in a food processor, characterized in that the method comprises:

determining characteristic information related to the food item in the food processor, the characteristic information being associated with a nutrient trend of the food item; and

sending a control signal to the food processor to control an operation of the food processor when the determined characteristic information or a rate of change of characteristic information meets a predetermined criteria.