US-12623230-B2 - Food disposer and operating method of the food disposer

US12623230B2US 12623230 B2US12623230 B2US 12623230B2US-12623230-B2

Abstract

A food disposer and an operating method of a food disposer. The method includes measuring a distance from a distance sensing module to a by-product stored in a storage container, through the distance sensing module, which is arrangeable relative to a cover that seals an upper portion of the storage container and spaced apart from a transfer pipe by a certain distance, and outputting a notification related to emptying of the by-product from the storage container based on the measured distance being less than or equal to a critical distance.

Inventors

Mijo KANG
Jungwon Choi
Kyungah CHANG

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230714
Priority Date: 20220713

Claims (19)

1 . A food disposer comprising: a disposal assembly configured to produce a by-product by drying or pulverizing food; a transfer pipe, connectable to the disposal assembly, to transfer the by-product produced in the disposal assembly while the transfer pipe is connected to the disposal assembly; a storage container, connectable to a lower portion of the transfer pipe, to store the by-product in the disposal assembly transferred through the transfer pipe while the storage container is connected to the lower portion of the transfer pipe; a distance sensing module, arrangeable relative to a cover that seals an upper portion of the storage container and spaced apart from the transfer pipe by a certain distance, the distance sensing module being configured to measure a distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product stored in the storage container; and at least one processor configured to control an output interface to output a notification related to emptying of the by-product from the storage container based on the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product, which is measured by the distance sensing module, being less than or equal to a critical distance, wherein the distance sensing module is a first distance sensing module and the food disposer further comprises a second distance sensing module arrangeable on one side of the storage container, and wherein the second distance sensing module arrangeable at a certain distance below the cover that seals the upper portion of the storage container and the second distance sensing module is configured to sense the by-product that is accumulated above a height at which the second distance sensing module is located.
2 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the distance sensing module is tilted by a certain angle relative to a direction along which the transfer pipe is connected to the disposal assembly, and the distance sensing module is on the cover of the storage container.
3 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the distance sensing module is further configured to obtain, as the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product, an average value of distance values excluding a lowest value and a highest value among distance values measured for a certain time, or an average value of distance values excluding a lowest value and a highest value among a certain number of distance values.
4 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the distance sensing module comprises: a sensor comprising a light emitter configured to emit light and a light receiver configured to receive incident light; and a microcontroller (MCU) to process raw data obtained from the sensor.
5 . The food disposer of claim 4 , further comprising a sensor case to which the distance sensing module is couplable, the sensor case comprising: a light emitter slit through which some of the light emitted by the light emitter passes and a light receiver slit through which some of the incident light on the light receiver passes; and a sensing area of the distance sensing module is adjustable by a first width of the light emitter slit and a second width of the light receiver slit.
6 . The food disposer of claim 4 , wherein the sensor is on a surface of the distance sensing module, and the surface is couplable to a transparent cover such that foreign matters are prevented from being attached.
7 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the output interface comprises at least one of a display or a speaker, and based on the by-product being sensed by the second distance sensing module, the at least one processor is further configured to control the display to display the notification related to the emptying of the by-product from the storage container, or to control the speaker to output, as a sound signal, the notification related to the emptying of the by-product from the storage container.
8 . The food disposer of claim 1 , further comprising a capacitive sensor below an outer circumferential surface of the transfer pipe, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify through the capacitive sensor that the by-product in the storage container is full.
9 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: identify a loading amount of the by-product in the storage container, based on the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product, which is measured by the distance sensing module; and provide information about the loading amount of the by-product.
10 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based on the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product being less than or equal to the critical distance, control an opening/closing portion to close a discharge port of the disposal assembly in order to prevent a by-product newly produced in the disposal assembly from being discharged to the storage container through the transfer pipe.
11 . The food disposer of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based on the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product is greater than the critical distance, control the opening/closing portion to open the discharge port of the disposal assembly so that the by-product newly produced in the disposal assembly is discharged to the storage container through the transfer pipe.
12 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based on the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product being less than or equal to the critical distance, control the disposal assembly not to perform an operation of drying or pulverizing the food in the disposal assembly.
13 . The food disposer of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain additional information including at least one of a signal return value, a lighting recognition return value, or a state code from the distance sensing module; and identify whether measurement data including the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product is abnormal data, based on the additional information.
14 . An operating method of a food disposer, comprising: measuring, by a distance sensing module, a distance from the distance sensing module to a by-product that is produced by a disposal assembly by drying or pulverizing food and stored in a storage container, the distance sensing module being arrangeable relative to a cover that seals an upper portion of the storage container and spaced apart from a transfer pipe that transfers the by-product from the disposal assembly to the storage container by a certain distance; and outputting a notification related to emptying of the by-product from the storage container based on the measured distance being less than or equal to a critical distance, wherein the distance sensing module is a first distance sensing module and the food disposer further comprises a second distance sensing module arrangeable on one side of the storage container, and wherein the second distance sensing module arrangeable at a certain distance below the cover that seals the upper portion of the storage container and the second distance sensing module is configured to sense the by-product that is accumulated above a height at which the second distance sensing module is located.
15 . The operating method of claim 14 , wherein the measuring of the distance comprises: obtaining, as the distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product, an average value of distance values excluding a lowest value and a highest value among distance values measured for a certain time, or an average value of distance values excluding a lowest value and a highest value among a certain number of distance values.
16 . The operating method of claim 14 the operating method further comprises: based on the second distance sensing module sensing that the by-product has accumulated above a height at which the second distance sensing module is located, displaying, on a display, the notification related to the emptying of the by-product from the storage container, or outputting, through a speaker, as a sound signal, the notification related to the emptying of the by-product from the storage container.
17 . The operating method of claim 14 , further comprising: identifying a loading amount of the by-product in the storage container, based on the measured distance; and providing information about the loading amount of the by-product.
18 . The operating method of claim 14 , further comprising: based on the measured distance being less than or equal to the critical distance, controlling an opening/closing portion to close a discharge port of the disposal assembly in order to prevent a by-product newly produced in the disposal assembly from being discharged to the storage container through the transfer pipe.
19 . The operating method of claim 14 , further comprising: obtaining additional information including at least one of a signal return value, a lighting recognition return value, or a state code from the distance sensing module; and identifying whether measurement data including the measured distance is abnormal data, based on the additional information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation application, under 35 U.S.C. § 111 (a), of international application No. PCT/KR2023/009945, filed on Jul. 12, 2023, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0086390, filed on Jul. 13, 2022 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0004326, filed on Jan. 11, 2023, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD An embodiment of the disclosure relates to a food disposer and an operating method of the food disposer. BACKGROUND ART A food disposer refers to a device that reduces the amount of food waste by drying, pulverization, microbial fermentation, and the like. In general, by-products produced in a food disposer have to be collected and transferred to a storage box by a user. Because the user has the inconvenience of having to manually transfer by-products to the storage box whenever such by-products are produced, there is a need for automatic transfer of the by-products. However, when the by-products are automatically transferred to the storage box, the by-products may overflow from the storage box when the user does not empty the storage box within an appropriate time. Accordingly, it may be inconvenient for the user to periodically check whether the storage box is full of by-products. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Solution to Problem According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a food disposer includes a disposal assembly configured to produce a by-product by drying or pulverizing food, a transfer pipe, connectable to the disposal assembly, to transfer the by-product produced in the disposal assembly while the transfer pipe is connected to the disposal assembly, a storage container, connectable to a lower portion of the transfer pipe, to store the by-product in the disposal assembly transferred through the transfer pipe while the storage container is connected to the lower portion of the transfer pipe, a distance sensing module arrangeable relative to a cover that seals an upper portion of the storage container and spaced apart from the transfer pipe by a certain distance, the distance sensing module being configured to measure a distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product stored in the storage container, and at least one processor configured to control an output interface to output a notification related to emptying of the by-product from the storage container based on a distance from the distance sensing module to the by-product, which is measured by the distance sensing module, being less than or equal to a critical distance. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, an operating method of a food disposer includes measuring, by a distance sensing module, a distance from the distance sensing module to a by-product that is produced by a disposal assembly by drying or pulverizing food and stored in a storage container, the distance sensing module being arrangeable relative to a cover that seals an upper portion of the storage container and spaced apart from a transfer pipe that transfers the by-product from the disposal assembly to the storage container by a certain distance, and outputting a notification related to emptying of the by-product from the storage container based on the measured distance being less than or equal to a critical distance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a food disposer according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a food disposer according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing a transfer pipe and a storage assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing a distance sensing module according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing a sensor case coupled to a distance sensing module, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 6A is a diagram for describing a sensing area of the distance sensing module, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 6B is a diagram for describing the sensing area of the distance sensing module to which the sensor case is coupled, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing a transparent cover coupled to the distance sensing module, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an operating method of a food disposer, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 9A is a diagram for describing a case where a distance from a first distance sensing module to a by-product is greater than a critical distance, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 9B is a diagram for describing a case where the distance from the first distance sensing module to the by-product reaches the critical distance, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 9C is a diagram for describing a case where the distance from the first d