EP-4742834-A1 - COOKING APPLIANCE

EP4742834A1EP 4742834 A1EP4742834 A1EP 4742834A1EP-4742834-A1

Abstract

A cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a case forming a cavity in which a load is placed; an antenna configured to radiate radio frequency (RF) energy for heating the load; an RF generator configured to deliver an RF output to the antenna; and a controller configured to receive information related to the load, and set at least one of a target time, which is a total duration for heating the load, and a target temperature, which is a final temperature for heating the load, based on the information related to the load.

Inventors

CHAE, Yunbyung
YANG, JAEKYUNG
SIM, SUNGHUN
Ha, Junghyeong
LEE, SuYong

Assignees

LG Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240226

Claims (13)

A cooking appliance comprising: a case forming a cavity in which a load is placed; an antenna configured to radiate radio frequency (RF) energy to heat the load; an RF generator configured to deliver RF power to the antenna; and a controller configured to receive information related to the load, and set at least one of a target time, which is a total duration for heating the load, and a target temperature, which is a final temperature of the load, based on the received information.
The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the information related to the load includes at least one of a type, a weight, and a thickness of the load.
The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a target doneness level of the load, and set at least one of the target time and the target temperature based on the target doneness level.
The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: obtain a frequency of the RF energy radiated by the antenna and an RF reflectance, wherein the RF reflectance is a ratio of RF energy reflected from the cavity relative to the RF energy radiated by the antenna; and adjust the frequency of the RF energy based on the RF reflectance.
The cooking appliance of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to: determine a scanned frequency as a heating frequency when the RF reflectance is less than a preset threshold; and change the frequency of the RF energy when the RF reflectance is greater than or equal to the preset threshold.
The cooking appliance of claim 1, further comprising an infrared (IR) sensor configured to measure a surface temperature of the load, wherein the controller is configured to estimate a core temperature of the load based on the surface temperature, and obtain the estimated core temperature as the temperature of the load.
The cooking appliance of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the RF power based on heating temperature data including the temperature of the load and a reference heating temperature.
The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to limit the RF power to 200W or less.
The cooking appliance of claim 6, further comprising a heater configured to generate thermal energy, wherein the controller is configured to control an on/off state of the heater based on the temperature of the load and the target temperature.
The cooking appliance of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to perform: a first heating operation in which the RF generator and the heater are both turned on to heat the load; or a second heating operation in which the RF generator is turned on and the heater is selectively turned on to heat the load.
The cooking appliance of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to, upon determining that the temperature of the load has reached the target temperature during the first heating operation, terminate the first heating operation by turning off the heater and initiate the second heating operation.
The cooking appliance of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to: turn on the heater when the temperature of the load is less than the target temperature during the second heating operation; and turn off the heater when the temperature of the load is greater than or equal to the target temperature.
The cooking appliance of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to terminate the second heating operation when a heating duration of the load reaches the target time.

Description

[Technical Field] The present disclosure relates to a cooking appliance, and more specifically, to a cooking appliance that performs sous-vide cooking. [Background Art] Various types of cooking utensils for heating food in homes or restaurants are being used. Conventionally, gas ranges using gas as fuel have been widely distributed and used, but recently, devices that heat an object to be heated, for example, a cooking vessel such as a pot, using electricity instead of gas have been distributed. Methods of heating an object to be heated using electricity are largely divided into a resistance heating method and an induction heating method. The electric resistance method is a method of heating an object to be heated by transferring heat generated when a current flows through a metal resistance wire or a non-metallic heating element such as silicon carbide to an object (e.g., a cooking vessel) through radiation or conduction. The induction heating method is a method of heating the object itself by generating an eddy current in an object made of a metal component using a magnetic field generated around a coil when high-frequency power of a predetermined magnitude is applied to the coil. Meanwhile, recently, various cooking methods such as sous-vide have emerged, and cases of spreading to the general public are increasing. Sous-vide is a cooking method for maintaining nutrients, texture, and taste at their best through a low-temperature vacuum cooking method. Conventional sous-vide methods using an oven are classified into a water bath type and a steam type. The water bath type is a method of cooking ingredients by heating both water and a container in which the ingredients are contained. In addition, the steam type is a method of cooking ingredients by heating the entire oven chamber with steam or air. Such water bath and steam types of sous-vide methods have problems in that energy consumption is high and it takes a long time. [Invention] [Technical Problem] The present disclosure is to provide a cooking appliance that efficiently performs sous-vide cooking using RF energy for sous-vide cooking. The present disclosure is to provide a cooking appliance that efficiently performs sous-vide cooking using RF energy and thermal energy. [Technical Solution] A cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a case forming a cavity in which a load is placed; an antenna configured to radiate RF energy to heat the load; an RF generator configured to deliver RF power to the antenna; and a controller configured to receive information related to the load, and set at least one of a target time, which is a total duration for heating the load, and a target temperature, which is a final temperature of the load, based on the information related to the load. The information related to the load received by the cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include at least one of a type of the load, a weight of the load, and a thickness of the load. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further receive a target doneness level, which is a final degree of cooking of the load, and set at least one of the target time and the target temperature based on the target doneness level. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may obtain a frequency of the RF energy radiated by the antenna and an RF reflectance, which is a ratio of RF energy reflected from the cavity relative to the RF energy radiated by the antenna, and adjust the frequency of the RF energy based on the RF reflectance. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may determine a scanned frequency as a heating frequency when the RF reflectance is less than a preset threshold, and change the frequency of the RF energy when the reflectance is greater than or equal to the preset threshold. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include an IR sensor configured to measure a surface temperature of the load, and the controller may estimate a core temperature of the load based on the surface temperature of the load and obtain the core temperature of the load as the temperature of the load. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may adjust the RF power based on heating temperature data including the temperature of the load and a reference heating temperature. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include a heater configured to generate thermal energy, and the controller may control whether the heater is turned on or off based on the temperature of the load and the target temperature. The cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may perform a first heating operation of heating the load by turning on the RF generator and the heater or a second heating operation