DESC:SMART DEEP FRYER

FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to deep fryers. More specifically the invention relates to deep fryers which has automated means to automate functionalities required for deep frying operations.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Deep frying of food is defined as a process where food is completely submerged in hot oil at predefined temperature range. Different types of foods to be fried has different heat requirement for the oil to properly cook the food both at the outer layer, and from inside. Also, the food is required to be kept for a predefined period in the hot oil for proper cooking. Not following requisite temperature requirements or time period requirements for cooking may result in either burning of the food at outer layer, or improperly cooked from inside. Deep frying of foods requires specific skills which comes with experience and persistence. It is to be noted that only one Chef can handle one deep fryer at a time because his regular involvement is required to complete the cooking of a dish.

In today’s time, when it is desired to have cost efficiency and high throughput in commercial kitchens, to be cost competitive, it is desired that such cooking process should be automated, as well as, deskilled, so that specialized Chef may not be required to carry out such cooking techniques.

In one prior art patent US8850965B2 titled “Device to efficiently cook food”, Deep fryers and associated accessories are disclosed. Preferred embodiments herein also may be versatile enough to, besides deep-frying foods, be able to steam and boil foods. Preferred embodiments may employ multiple cooking cycles and versatile food support means to fully cook foods. These may provide special advantages for larger unitary foods, such as by way of nonlimiting example, a Thanksgiving turkey. Preferred embodiments may provide advantages including, but not limited to: minimizing countertop usage; reduction in the use of frying oil; compact storage; reduced shipping costs; lowering of warehousing costs; reduced manufacturing costs; and being lighter and easier to handle in the kitchen. Preferred embodiments of accessory items may simplify and facilitate production of deep-fried foods, including cutting foods into shapes appropriate to produce French fries and blooming onions. Other accessories may facilitate the transference and maintenance of frying oil including: returning frying oil to original containers for storage and disposal; and filtering frying oil to prolong its useful life. Methods are disclosed which help purify oil for extended life without use of filtration.

Another prior art patent US8875620B2, titled “Automated rack/basket lifting system for deep open vat frying system” discloses a racking system for a deep fryer, wherein the deep fryer contains cooking oil, the racking system includes a housing; at least one rack that carries a food product; an actuator operatively associated with the rack to raise and lower the rack within the housing. The system further includes a sensor that detects a property of the cooking oil; and a controller that receives a signal to initiate a cooking cycle based on the property and sends a signal to permit activation of the actuator to raise and lower the rack.

Another prior art exists CN201767808U, titled “Microcomputer-controlled mesh basket automatic lifting device of an electrothermal frying pan” discloses a microcomputer-controlled mesh basket automatic lifting device of an electrothermal frying pan. The automatic lifting device adopts an automatic lifting execution part consisting of a motor, a gear wheel, a tooth rack, a jacking rod and a mesh basket; a photoelectric switch serves as a spacing and sensing feedback part; a computer board serves as a control part; a mode operation panel and a timing operation panel serve as set input ports; a time display screen adopts an automatic control system device including a setting/executing display window; the motor controlled by the computer board to drive the gear wheel to forwardly and reversely rotate; the rotation is converted into the reciprocating movement through the gear wheel and the tooth rack to drive the jacking rod and the mesh basket to do the lifting motion. Therefore, the utility model overcomes the problem and defect of the prior art that the electrothermal frying pan needs to be attended by a personal and is difficult to control; and microcomputer-controlled mesh basket automatic lifting device of electrothermal frying pan provided by the utility model achieves the purpose that the electrothermal frying pan need not be unattended by the personal and is easy to control through controlling the auto-lifting mesh basket by the microcomputer.

Another prior art exists US4031820A, titled “Automatic lifting and lowering mechanism for deep fryers” discloses regarding converting an open top deep fryer into an automatic device in which the foodstuff to be fried is lowered into the frying fat, retained there for a predetermined pre-set time and then automatically raised out of the fat for use. The mechanism in one form of the invention includes a cover for preventing any of the fumes from the fat from escaping to the atmosphere. A blower and washer are provided for drawing off the cooking fumes and passing them through a water spray for cleaning both fats and odor therefrom before releasing the air to the atmosphere. Both cooking trays and baskets are provided so as to permit the cooking of all types of deep fat fried foods.

The deep fryer disclosed by the prior arts has limitation to efficiently cook the large batches of food regularly, as the prior arts misses out to provide an efficient mechanism to handle the basket both by the Chef, as well as, for automated movement of the basket to move in and out of the oil. Also, these devices may still require specialized Chefs to cook, as there are no mechanisms provided to enable a Novice to cook complex deep-frying dishes. Hence, a lot is left to be desired by the prior arts, and they do not solve the problem of commercial kitchens who have to optimize costs, standardize processes in a widely competitive market.

OBJECTIVE OF INVENTION
The objective of the invention is to provide a deep fryer which do not require high skills to handle and to cook complex dishes consistently, and which reduce cooking efforts of a user by automating deep-frying operations.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The objective of the invention is achieved by a deep fryer according to claim 1.

A deep fryer apparatus includes a removable basket having a holder for holding the basket by a user of the apparatus, an actuator which is functionally coupled to the removable basket to move the basket, and a hook physically coupled to the actuator and adapted to engage the holder to hold the removable basket. The removable basket is moved into and out of a cooking medium with the help of the actuator. This embodiment provides for proper automated handling of removable basket while deep frying cooking operation is taking place.

According to one embodiment of the deep fryer, wherein the actuator is linear actuator which moves the removable basket between two opposite directions. This embodiment provides for one simplified way for moving the basket, in and out of the cooking medium.

According to another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, wherein the actuator is angular actuator which moves the removable basket by rotating the basket around an axis. This embodiment provides for another simplified way for moving the basket. This type of movement allows for moving the basket in and out of the cooking medium, and also tilting of the removable basket to drain out cooking medium left out on surface of the food or the basket, once the basket is moved out of the cooking medium.

According to yet another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, wherein the actuator is adapted to shake the removable basket. This embodiment provides for another way to drain out cooking medium left out on surface of the food or the basket, once the basket is moved out of the cooking medium.

According to one embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, the deep fryer apparatus includes a placement sensor functionally coupled to the hook, and adapted to sense placement of the removable basket to the hook and to generate a placement data, and a microcontroller adapted to receive and process the placement data, and to optimize operation of the deep fryer apparatus. This embodiment helps in optimizing the operations of the deep fryer, if the removable basket is improperly placed. Improper placement of the basket may result in dropping of the basket in the cooking medium in an uncontrolled fashion, which may result in splashing of the cooking medium out of the container holding the cooking medium. This may burn the Chef who is using the deep fryer, if the cooking medium is hot. Also, such splashing may lead to wastage. The optimizing of the operation can be by way of stopping the cooking operation, or setting out a alarm, or any other such kind of mechanism, which can help in making the cooking operation safer.

According to yet another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, wherein the microcontroller generates an error signal, if the microcontroller determines improper placement of the removable basket based on processing of the placement data. The deep fryer apparatus further includes a display which receive the error signal, and renders an error message. This embodiment provides one way to safeguard the cooking operation.

According to one embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, wherein the microcontroller disables movement of the actuator, if the microcontroller determines improper placement of the removable basket based on processing of the placement data. This embodiment provides another way to safeguard the cooking operation.

According to another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, the deep fryer apparatus includes a temperature sensor which senses temperature of the cooking medium, generates a temperature data, and sends the temperature data to the microcontroller for further processing. This provides one way to measure temperature of the cooking medium during the cooking operation, as well as, even before starting the cooking operation. Such temperature measurement can be shown on a display of the apparatus, so that a user can manually control heating means used for heating the cooking medium. This temperature measurement can also be used to control heating means heating the cooking medium automatically by the microcontroller.

According to yet another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, wherein the microcontroller processes the temperature data and controls the actuator for performing various operations like, moving the removable basket into the cooking medium, moving the removable basket out of cooking medium, keeping the actuator locked to remain inside the cooking medium, tilting the removable basket after moving the removable basket out of cooking medium, and shaking the removable basket after moving the removable basket out of cooking medium. This embodiment provides a mechanism to control actuator which moves the basket based on a temperature of the cooking medium at any instance of time.

According to one embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, the deep fryer includes an input unit which receive a recipe input related to select a recipe from a selection of recipes. The microcontroller receives and processes the recipe input and controls the actuator for performing various operations like, moving the removable basket into the cooking medium, moving the removable basket out of cooking medium, keeping the actuator locked to remain inside the cooking medium for a predetermined time, tilting the removable basket after moving the removable basket out of cooking medium, and shaking the removable basket after moving the removable basket out of cooking medium. This embodiment helps to enable functioning of the deep fryer based on recipe selected by the user. As the actuator plays important role in the cooking operation, hence controlling functionality of actuator helps to achieve cooking steps desired for cooking the selected recipe.

According to another embodiment of the deep fryer apparatus, the deep fryer apparatus includes a heating means which heat the cooking medium. The microcontroller generates one or more heating trigger based on processing of the recipe input for varying heating of the cooking medium throughout cooking of a recipe related to the recipe input. This method helps to further control cooking of the recipe by maintaining a desired temperature for each step of cooking the recipe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a deep fryer along with various automation elements, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 illustrates a first perspective view of the deep fryer without removable basket
Fig. 3 illustrates a second perspective view of the deep fryer with removable basket at a first position.
Fig. 4 illustrates the second perspective view of the deep fryer with removable basket at a second position.

The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The best and other modes for carrying out the present invention are presented in terms of the embodiments, herein depicted in drawings provided. The embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes and are subject to many variations. It is understood that various omissions and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, but are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Further, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting. Any heading utilized within this description is for convenience only and has no legal or limiting effect.

The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such a process or method. Similarly, one or more sub-systems or elements or structures or components preceded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other, sub-systems, elements, structures, components, additional sub-systems, additional elements, additional structures or additional components. Appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment", "in another embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but not necessarily do, all refer to the same embodiment.

The invention focuses on providing a smart fryer capable of frying or boiling dishes for a specific time and then lifting a basket out of the oil, or water or any other cooking medium. It also has checks for temperature of cooking medium and frying basket placement.

Fig 1. illustrates schematic representation of a deep fryer 1 along with all the automation components of it. The deep fryer 1 has a container in which a cooking medium like oil or water can be placed. Different type of cooking medium can be used to carry out different type of cooking operations, and to make different type of dishes. The deep fryer 1 has a rod 19 which is movable on being actuated by an actuator 4. This rod has a hook 5 on which a removable basked 2 is hooked. This removable basket 2 can easily be hooked for carrying out cooking operation, and unhooked to remove of the dishes after cooking. For heating the cooking medium, a heating means 16 is provided, which can be a gas burner, or electric based heating element, or any other such type of heating means.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 1, has the linear mechanism to carry the basket 2 in down and up directions to dip the basket 2 in the cooking medium, and to take the basket out of the cooking medium. In one alternate embodiment, the actuator 4 can provide angular motion instead of linear motion to the basket 2, by rotating the basket 2 restrictively for moving the basked down and up to dip the basket 2 in the cooking medium, and to take the basket out of the cooking medium.

In another embodiment, this actuator 4 is enabled to also shake the basket 2, so that to drain of any excess oil in the basket or on the surface of the dish. Vibration mechanism can also be used to shake the basket 2 appropriately. To remove the excess oil, even the angular motion can also be applied by the actuator to tilt basket to one of its sides.

The deep fryer 1 is also provided with a placement sensor 6 which is placed onto or inside the hook 5, or in proximity to the hook 5. Further, the placement sensor 6 is functionally coupled to the hook 5 to sense placement of the removable basket 2 to the hook 5 and accordingly it generates a placement data 7. This placement data 7 is regarding whether the basket 2 is properly placed onto the hook 5 or improperly placed onto the hook 5. The deep fryer 1 also includes a microcontroller 8 which receives the placement data 7 from the placement sensor 6. The microcontroller 8 processes the placement data 7 and determines if the placement of the basket 7 is properly done, or if it is improperly done. In case of improper placement, control the working of the deep fryer 1. Primarily, the microcontroller 8 disables functioning of the actuator 4, so that the basket shall not dip down inside the cooking medium. Such dipping down of the basket 2 in cooking medium may lead to accidents, and splashing of oil out of the deep fryer 1. In case, if the cooking medium is hot, it may lead to further burning of the handler of fryer 1. In furtherance, the microcontroller 8 shall also disable the heating means 16, so that the cooking medium cannot be further heated. This disablement shall be carried out by sending a heating trigger 17 to disable the heating means 16. This shall further help in countering the possibilities of any burns due to splashing of the oil. In one embodiment, either the actuator 4 is disabled or the heating means 16. In another scenario, the actuator 4 may be partially disabled, while the heating trigger 17 may be sent to the heating means 16 for just slowing down the heating.

Additionally, the deep fryer 1 is further provided with a display 10. When the microcontroller 8 determines improper placement of the basket 2, it also generates an error signal 9 and sends it to the display 10. The display 10 renders the signal 9 as an error message 11. In another embodiment, instead of the display 10, an audio device can be provided which can receive the error signal 9 and raises an alarm. It is pertinent to be noted that in one embodiment, either error message 11 is displayed, or functioning of the deep fryer 1 is disabled.

The deep fryer 1 is also provided with a sensor which shall be placed onto or in proximity to the container holding the cooking medium. The temperature sensor 12 senses temperature of the cooking medium, and generates a temperature data 13. The temperature data 13 is further sent to the microcontroller 8 which further processes to identify, if the cooking medium is appropriately hot, or too hot or less hot. If the oil is appropriately hot, the microcontroller 8 shall instruct the actuator 4 to lower down the basket 2 into the cooking medium for further carrying the cooking operation. If the oil is too hot, the microcontroller 8 may either instruct the actuator to pull out the basket 2 to avoid burning of the dish or generates the heating trigger 17 to lower down the heat generated by the heating means 16, or both. If the oil is less hot, than the microcontroller 8 shall instruct the actuator 4 to keep on holding the basket 2 out of the cooking medium, or generates the heating trigger 17 to increase the heat generated by the heating means 16, or both. Based on the temperature feedback, the microcontroller 8 can keep on instructing the actuator to hold the basket 2, if the temperature is in the required range, and dipping in the oil is withing predefined time range.

In one embodiment, where, the heating means is not controller by the microcontroller 8, the temperature at a particular point of time is displayed on the display 10, so that the user of the deep fryer 1 can manually handle the heating means 16 through an electrical interface such as a rotor or push button. In case of a gas heater, the heating means shall have mechanical handling means to lower down or increase the heat.

In one embodiment, where, the actuator 4 is not controller by the microcontroller 8, the user of the deep fryer 1 can manually handles the actuator 4 through an electrical interface such as a rotor or push button. In another embodiment, mechanical means are provided to manually handle the actuator 4 for lowering down the basket 2 and pulling up the basket 2.

The deep fryer 1 is also provided with an input unit 14 which receives a recipe input 15 related to selecting a recipe from a selection of recipes. The input unit 14 is having a rotor as the input unit 14 for providing the recipe input 15 to select a recipe by rotating the rotor 14. In other embodiments, the input unit 14 is either human computer interface having means to receive the recipe input 15, or another type of electrical interface such as one or more push buttons through which the recipe input 15 is selected by pushing one of the buttons provided. The microcontroller 8 receives and processes the recipe input 15 and controls the actuator 4 in one of the following ways at a time. The actuator is controlled for moving the removable basket 2 out of cooking medium, for moving the basket 2 into the cooking medium, for keeping the basket locked for a predetermined time period when it is inside the cooking medium, for keeping the actuator 4 locked to remain inside the cooking medium for predetermined time, for tilting the removable basket 2 after moving the removable basket 2 out of cooking medium, and for shaking the removable basket 2 after moving the removable basket 2 out of cooking medium.

It is to be noted that the microcontroller 8 processes the temperature data 13
and the recipe input 15 together, to control both the heating means 16 and the actuator 4 to carry out the cooking operation to the perfection.

The microcontroller 8 generates one or more heating trigger 17 based on processing of the recipe input 15 for varying heating of the cooking medium throughout cooking of a recipe related to the recipe input 15, and even further switching on and off of the heating means 16.

Fig. 2 shows the deep fryer 1 without a basket. The figure shows the rod 19 in an extended position. This position of rod 19 is generally carried out when the basket which is to be put on hook 5 coupled to the rod 19, is to be kept out of the cooking medium. The deep fryer 1 is also shown with a container 18 into which the cooking medium, like oil or water is placed.

Fig. 3 shows the deep fryer 1 with the removable basket 2, where the basket is extended upwards. While in Fig. 4, the removable basket 2 is shown lowered into the container 18. The basket 2 is shown with the hooking provisions 20, which are provided as part of handle 3 of the basket 2. These hooking provisions 20 shall allow a fitting engagement to the hook 5. It is pertinent to be noted that in some scenario when the hooking provisions are improperly engaged by the hook, there may be a possibility that the basket 3 may fall down. To minimize such cases, the deep fryer 1 shall be provided with alarming mechanisms, so that if the basket 1 is improperly placed or engaged, the alarms shall go off, so that the user can quickly correct the placement. To blow off the alarm similar mechanisms can be used as explained in the embodiment of the Fig. 1

It is pertinent to be noted that the deep fryer apparatus can be fitted into any manual deep fryer. In one embodiment, the cooking medium can be water, and the deep fryer apparatus can also be used for boiling operations. While specific language has been used to describe the invention, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, various working modifications may be made to implement the inventive concept as taught herein.

The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, order of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts need to be necessarily performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples.

List of Reference Numerals:
1 Deep Fryer
2 Removable basket
3 Holder
4 Actuator
5 Hook
6 Placement sensor
7 Placement data
8 Microcontroller
9 Error signal
10 Display
11 Error message
12 Temperature sensor
13 Temperature data
14 Input unit
15 Recipe input
16 Heating means
17 Heating trigger
18 Container containing cooking medium
19 Rod coupled to the hook
20 Hooking provisions on holder of basket


,CLAIMS:We claim:
1. A deep fryer apparatus (1) comprising:
- a removable basket (2) having a holder (3) to hold the basket (2) through the holder (3);
- an actuator (4) adapted to be functionally coupled to the removable basket (2) to move the basket (2); and
- a hook (5) physically coupled to the actuator (4) and adapted to engage the holder (3) to hold the removable basket (2),
wherein the removable basket (2) is adapted to move into and out of a cooking medium with the help of the actuator (4).

2. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the actuator (4) is linear actuator which moves the removable basket (2) between two opposite directions.

3. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in the claim 1 or 2, wherein the actuator (4) is angular actuator which moves the removable basket (2) by rotating the basket (2) around an axis.

4. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in claims 1 to 3, wherein the actuator (4) is adapted to shake the removable basket (2).

5. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in the claims 1 to 4 comprising:
- a placement sensor (6) functionally coupled to the hook (5), and adapted to sense placement of the removable basket (2) to the hook (5) and to generate a placement data (7); and
- a microcontroller (8) adapted to receive and process the placement data (7), and to optimize operation of the deep fryer apparatus (1).

6. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in the claim 5, wherein the microcontroller (8) is adapted to generate an error signal (9), if the microcontroller (8) determines improper placement of the removable basket (2) based on processing of the placement data (7), the deep fryer apparatus (1) further comprising:
- a display (10) adapted to receive the error signal (9), and renders an error message (11).

7. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in the claim 5, wherein the microcontroller (8) is adapted to disable movement of the actuator (4), if the microcontroller (8) determines improper placement of the removable basket (2) based on processing of the placement data (7).

8. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 7 comprising:
- a temperature sensor (12) adapted to sense temperature of the cooking medium, to generate a temperature data (13), and to send the temperature data (13) to a microcontroller (8) for further processing.

9. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the microcontroller (8) is adapted to process the temperature data (13) and to control the actuator (4):
- for moving the removable basket (2) into the cooking medium,
- for moving the removable basket (2) out of cooking medium,
- for keeping the actuator (4) locked to remain inside the cooking medium,
- for tilting the removable basket (2) after moving the removable basket (2) out of cooking medium, or
- for shaking the removable basket (2) after moving the removable basket (2) out of cooking medium, or combination thereof.

10. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 9 comprising:
- an input unit (14) adapted to receive a recipe input (15) related to selecting a recipe from a selection of recipes,
wherein the microcontroller (8) is adapted to receive and process the recipe input (15) and to control the actuator (4):
- for moving the removable basket (2) into the cooking medium,
- for moving the removable backet (2) out of cooking medium,
- for keeping the actuator (4) locked to remain inside the cooking medium for predetermined time,
- for tilting the removable basket (2) after moving the removable basket (2) out of cooking medium, or
- for shaking the removable basket (2) after moving the removable basket (2) out of cooking medium, or combination thereof.

11. The deep fryer apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 10 comprising:
- a heating means (16) adapted to heat the cooking medium, wherein the microcontroller (8) is adapted to generate one or more heating trigger (17) based on processing of the recipe input (15) for varying heating of the cooking medium throughout cooking of a recipe related to the recipe input (15)

Signature:
Name: Raj Latha Kotni
Applicant’s Agent
Patent Agent No: IN/PA-1081
Dated 13th April 2020