Intelligent cooking appliance

• US 4,663,710 A
• Filed: 07/08/1983
• Issued: 05/05/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Frymaster Corporation The Shreveport La
• Original Assignee: Frymaster LLC (Ali Holding Srl)
• Inventors: Sullivan, John, Davis, John, Myers, Charley, Waugh, Gerald
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jerry
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US06/512,204
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 99/324-336, 99/329 R, 99/342-344, 99/403, 99/407, 219/490, 219/492, 219/494, 219/497, 219/501, 219/441-442, 364/400, 364/557, 364/149, 331/66, 338/28, 377/20, 236/9, 236/46, 236/15, 236/18
• US Class Current: 700/90
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 37/1219 with means for lowering or raising the frying basket
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 37/1266 Control devices, e.g. to control temperature, level or quality of the frying liquid
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1951 with control of the working time of a temperature controlling device

Abstract

A cooking appliance includes a heating source to provide heat to a cooking medium for cooking food, temperature sensing circuitry for detecting the cooking medium temperature and control circuitry connected to the temperature sensing circuitry for cooking the food according to data stored in the control circuitry by controlling the heating source and removing the food from the cooking medium in accordance with the data. A temperature sensing apparatus is also disclosed that includes a temperature probe for measuring temperature and a reference circuit indicating a referenced temperature. Circuitry is alternately connected to the temperature probe and the reference circuit for alternately providing a first and second output signal indicative of the measured temperature and the referenced temperature respectively. Data processing circuitry is also provided that receives the output signals and computes the measured temperature from the first and second output signals.

Claims

1. A deep fat fryer comprising:

a frypot having heating means for heating cooking oil;

temperature sensing means for producing a signal indicative of the cooking oil temperature;

memory means for storing cooking data;

temperature control means for controlling the heat provided to the cooking oil;

food transport means for placing food in and removing food from the cooking oil;

processing means connected to said temperature sensing means and temperature control means for computing a cooking time and a cooking temperature from said data, periodically adjusting the computed cooking time and cooking temperature by timing the cooking of the food within the cooking oil and determining the temperature of the cooking oil during the cooking time and adjusting the cooking time and cooking temperature to compensate for deviations of cooking temperature from the computed cooking temperature and for activating the food transport means to remove the food from the cooking oil at the expiration of the adjusted cooking time.

2. A deep fat fryer according to claim 1 wherein said memory means further includes a security circuit means for only allowing storage of the cooking data after a predetermined code sequence has been input to the security circuit.

3. A deep fat fryer according to claim 2 wherein said processing means is further connected to a user output of visible indicia.

4. A deep fat fryer according to claim 3 wherein said user output further includes an audio indicia.

5. A deep fat fryer according to claim 4 wherein said processing means further includes input circuitry having a cooking sensitivity input that alters the computation of the cooking temperature.

6. A cooking appliance comprising:

heating means to provide heat to a cooking medium for cooking food;

temperature sensing means for detecting the cooking medium temperature and for generating a frequency proportional to the detected temperature; and

control means connected to said temperature means for receiving said frequency indicating the cooking medium temperature and for cooking the food according to data stored in the control means, by controlling the heating means and removing the food from the cooking medium in accordance with said data, said control means including input storage circuitry for a use to input data, said input storage circuitry including means to protect the stored data from unauthorized access.