HOUSEHOLD FOOD PROCESSOR

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a household appliance, in particular a household food processor, for preparing food particularly by chopping, blending and/or heating the food in a food preparation container. The household appliance comprises the food preparation container, into which an ingredient for food preparation can be fed by the user. At least one sensor for determining a feeding quantity of an ingredient as the ingredient is being fed into the food preparation container is provided, and a control device of the household appliance is configured such that the feeding quantity is determined based on a sensor signal of the sensor. A food that requires a uniform feed of an ingredient for a predetermined period of time can thus be prepared particularly reliably and reproducibly by a user.

Claims

1. A household appliance for preparing food comprising, a food preparation container configured to receive an ingredient for food preparation, an at least one sensor configured to provide a sensor signal associated with a feeding quantity of an ingredient as the ingredient is fed into the food preparation container, and a control device configured to determine the feeding quantity based on the sensor signal.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is arranged such that the ingredient travels past the sensor when fed into the food preparation container and the sensor is arranged at the upper side during operation of the food preparation container.

3. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein the sensor is an electrostatic-induction-based sensor.

4. The household appliance according to claim 3, wherein the electrostatic-induction-based sensor comprises an electrode and an electrostatic shield for the electrode.

5. The household appliance according to claim 4, wherein the sensor is shaped as a closed contour such that the ingredient moves past an inner face of sensor when fed into the food preparation container.

6. The household appliance of claim 1, wherein the sensor has a sensor length) in a feed direction of the ingredient, the feed direction of the ingredient being the direction of the ingredient into the food preparation container, the sensor length corresponding to between a range of one to two times a sensor diameter.

7. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the sensor is coupled to a lid of the food preparation container.

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, wherein the control device is configured to determine a feeding quantity based on the sensor signal using a calibration curve.

9. The household appliance according to claim 8, further including a weight sensor configured to generate the calibration curve.

10. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the household appliance is configured to output an indication to the user, the indication configured to indicate to the user whether the ingredient being fed into the food preparation container too quickly.

11. The household appliance of claim 10, wherein the sensor is an electrostatic-induction-based sensor.

12. The household appliance according to claim 11, further including a weight sensor configured to monitor the determined feeding quality.

13. A household appliance for preparing food comprising, a food preparation container configured to receive an ingredient for food preparation, an attachment configured to couple to the food preparation container and formed to include at least one sensor configured to cooperate with the food preparation container to emit a sensor signal indicative of a feeding quantity of an ingredient as the ingredient is fed into the food preparation container, and a control device configured to determine the feeding quantity based on a sensor signal.

14. The household appliance of claim 13, wherein the attachment is coupled to a lid configured to couple to a portion of the food preparation container

15. The household appliance of claim 14, wherein the sensor has a sensor length in a feed direction of the ingredient, the feed direction of the ingredient being the direction of the ingredient into the food preparation container, the sensor length corresponding to between a range of one to two times a sensor diameter.

16. The household appliance according to claim 15, wherein the household appliance is configured to output an indication to the user, the indication configured to indicate to the user whether the ingredient being fed into the food preparation container too slowly.

17. The household appliance according to claim 13, wherein the control device is configured to determine a feeding quantity based on the sensor signal using a calibration curve.

18. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the sensor is integrated into a lid of the food preparation container.

19. The household appliance according to claim 6, wherein the sensor is integrated into an attachment of a lid of the food preparation container.

20. The household appliance according to claim 19, wherein the attachment of a lid of the food preparation container is shaped as a funnel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In the Figures:

[0030] FIG. 1: shows an illustration of an attachment with the sensor for determining the feeding quantity;

[0031] FIG. 2: shows a cross-sectional illustration of a household appliance with the sensor for detecting the feeding quantity on the lid of the food preparation container;

[0032] FIG. 3: shows an illustration of a target curve and an actual curve relating to the feeding quantity over time; and

[0033] FIG. 4: shows an illustration of an exemplary calibration curve for ground coffee.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] FIG. 1 shows an attachment 13 with an optical or, preferably, an electrostatic-induction-based sensor 2. The attachment 13 can be placed on a lid 12 with an opening 17 and/or fitted into the opening 17. One example for such a lid 12 and such a food preparation container 1 of a household appliance for preparing food 10 is shown in FIG. 2, wherein, if the attachment 13 with an electrostatic-induction-based sensor 2 is provided, the lid 12 does not include a second electrostatic-induction-based sensor 2, in contrast to FIG. 2. The attachment 13 has a funnel shape. A central portion of the attachment 13 is formed or lined by the electrostatic-induction-based sensor 2, which therefore has the shape of a truncated cone. The sensor length 9 is greater than the sensor diameter 19. With the exception of the electrostatic-induction-based sensor 2, the attachment 13 is made from an, in particular transparent, plastic.

[0035] FIG. 2 shows the household appliance, in particular the household food processor, for preparing food 10 particularly by chopping or blending by means of a rotatable tool 18 and/or heating by means of a heating element not shown. When the feeds an ingredient 11, in the feed direction 8, into the food preparation container 1 through the opening 17 of the lid 12, the ingredient 11 automatically passes the closed, ring-shaped, cylindrical electrode 5 at the inner face 7 thereof. A shielding means 6 is disposed at the outer circumference of the electrode 5 for electrostatically and electrically shielding it with respect to the food preparation container 1 and/or the lid 12. The sensor length 9 preferably corresponds to about 1.3 times the sensor diameter 19. The weight of the household appliance can be detected with a weight sensor 14. A terminal of the electrode, via which a current signal or sensor signal is transmitted to the control device 3, is not shown. In particular, an amplifier and/or converter unit 20 for amplifying the current signal and/or for conversion into a voltage signal is interposed. When the user feeds an ingredient into the upper side 4 of the food preparation container 1, the feeding quantity is detected by the sensor 2.

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a target curve 21 and an actual curve 22 of the feeding quantity, which are plotted, for example, as an electric voltage in the unit volts over the time t in seconds. By comparing the two curves 21, 22, it can be determined whether an indication too slow 15 or an indication too fast 16 is to be outputted to the user. In principle, a diagram as it is shown in FIG. 3 may also be outputted as an indication.

[0037] By way of example, FIG. 4 shows a calibration curve 23 for ground coffee. Different quantities of ground coffee, which were previously weighed, or weighed by the weight sensor 14, are plotted on the X-axis. The absolute value of the integral, in particular squared, of the sensor signal is plotted on the Y-axis. The depicted calibration curve 23, which runs in a substantially linear manner with an approximately constant gradient, was interpolated and extrapolated from the measurement points.

[0038] If a user now selects a digital recipe via a user interface, which is not depicted, and is requested to uniformly feed ground coffee into the food preparation container, for example, over a period of time of 60 seconds, as indicated in FIG. 3, then, based on the calibration curve 23 of FIG. 3 and the sensor signals, the current actual feeding quantity is continuously determined and compared to a target feeding quantity. If the current feeding quantity deviates by a previously determined difference from the target feeding quantity, the user is automatically informed, and an indication for correction is outputted.