Arrangement for measuring humidity particularly in particular food cooking ovens

Abstract: Arrangement for measuring the humidity in ovens, in particular fan-assisted food-cooking ovens, comprising a cooking cavity (8), a further cavity (10) that houses a cooling fan and is separated by said first cavity by a partition wall (9). The arrangement comprises a body (13) made of highly heat-conductive metal, which passes through said partition wall (9) and has its ends (17, 18) introduced in the cooking cavity (8) and the separated cavity (10), respectively. The arrangement further comprises a heat-sink provision (19, 28, 32) connected with the end (18) of said metal body (13), and three temperature sensors (21, 22, 26) that are adapted to measure the temperatures of said two ends (17, 18) and the cooking cavity (8), respectively. These sensors are further connected with a microprocessor means (25) to supply it with the information related to the temperatures they measure, so as to enable the microprocessor means (25) to determine the humidity contents of the air in the oven upon reaching the water-vapour condensation temperature at the end (17) of said metal body (13).

Description: This invention relates to an arrangement for measuring the humidity in ovens in general, and in particular in food-cooking ovens, so as to regulate the degree of humidity to the pre-determined level during food cooking processes performed in appliances of this kind. Food-cooking ovens are known from the prior art to be constituted substantially by a box-like outer casing delimiting an inner cooking cavity in which the food to be cooked is arranged, a forced circulation of hot air being brought about in said cooking cavity through a gas-fuelled or electric heat generator and at least a fan. All such ovens are equipped with appropriate thermostatic control systems to regulate the food cooking temperature, which are associated with temperature selector means that are to be set on the desired temperature value before starting any cooking process to be performed, in accordance with the kind and the amount of food to be cooked. The thermostatic temperature control systems equipping said ovens operate to keep the food cooking temperature within pre-defined limits inside the cooking cavity, in general by energizing and de-energizing both the heat generator and/or the possibly provided steam generator, if the ovens are intended to also cook by steam, and the air-moving fan, so as to vary in an appropriate way the flow of air circulating through the cooking cavity. These ovens, however, are not provided with any arrangement for regulating the humidity of the air inside the cooking cavity, ie. a factor that, in conjunction with the temperature, definitely affects the quality of the cooking results and the taste and flavour of the food items being cooked, since such a humidity is variable depending on various parameters of the cooking process such as the cooking temperature, the kind and the amount of the food to be cooked, the air replacement rate in the cooking cavity, etc., so that these appliances, although possibly ensuring equal performance capabilities, do not after all enable optimal food cooking results to be achieved as this would on the contrary be the case if such a humidity regulation facility were available. On the other hand, humidity measurement devices are known in connection with applications of a different kind. These are generally constituted by semiconductor sensing means which are arranged in the moist environment to be controlled, and are connected with electrical bridge-type measurement circuits that are adapted to detect the corresponding electric quantities generated by said sensing means and to automatically convert them into corresponding humidity levels prevailing in said moist environment. Further humidity measuring devices are constituted by elements measuring the concentration of oxygen in gas mixtures, such as for instance in the case of zirconium oxide cells, according to per sè known principles of operation. However, all these humidity measurement devices, while ensuring correct and accurate measurements all the way, are on the other hand scarcely suited to measure the humidity under typical food cooking temperature conditions, which usually range from 100°C through to 250°C according to the type and the amount of food to be cooked, since said devices would either become damaged, and therefore would be prevented from performing their function, or they would not be able to ensure an adequately reliable operation, since their sensing elements would be subject to soiling under alteration of the measurement values. GB-A-2207514 relates to an apparatus for measuring humidity in ovens based upon determining the dew point. A cavity device with metal plate member is placed inside the oven. This cavity is fed with air to keep one side of the plate at a different temperature to that of the external plate surface. It is therefore a purpose of the present invention to eliminate all these drawbacks and limitations of the above cited humidity measurement devices by providing an arrangement for the measurement of humidity which, based on a different physical principle, is capable of simply and reliably detect the levels of humidity prevailing in ovens, and in particular food cooking ovens, in which the food items are usually cooked under quite high temperature conditions, while at the same time enabling such a humidity to be regulated at pre-set levels so as to perform high-quality cooking processes, no matter which kind and amount of food items are actually involved. Such an arrangement for measuring the humidity is substantially provided with the features and characteristics as recited in the appended claims. It will however be illustrated in closer details in the following description, which is given by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematical view of a cooking oven provided with the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematical, magnified front elevation view of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention, in a first embodiment thereof; Figures 3 and 4, as Figure 2, are schematical front elevation views of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention, referring however to two further possible embodiments thereof; Figure 5 plots a temperature-humidity chart applying to a food cooking oven as the one shown in Figure 1, which is shown here to better understand the principle of operation on which the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention is based. Referring now to Figure 1, it can be noticed that this shows schematically a food cooking oven 6 featuring forced circulation of the hot air generated by appropriate gas-fuelled or electric heat generators of some per sè known type (not shown), or even some further steam alone and/or combined hot air/steam and/or microwave alone and/or combined microwave/hot-air/steam cooking mode facilities, said oven comprising substantially a metal box-like outer casing 7 delimiting an inner cooking cavity 8 in which the food items to be cooked are arranged, and which is equipped with a fan 8a for said forced circulation of the hot air, said cavity being in this particular case (in which the oven with forced hot-air circulation is specially considered) divided internally by a partition wall 9 into a further cavity 10 communicating with the afore considered cavity 8 and housing a fan 11 whose function will be described further on. The oven being considered here further comprises the humidity measurement arrangement 12 according to the present invention, which is housed in the cavities 8 and 10 and is built and operates as described in detail hereinafter. Referring now to Figure 2, it can be noticed that it shows schematically the humidity measurement arrangement 12 according to the present invention, in a first possible embodiment thereof. As it can be seen in that illustration, said humidity measurement arrangement consists substantially of at least a body 13 made of highly heat-conductive metal to various geometrical shapes and extending preferably in a rectilinear direction, which can be seen as being inserted through a corresponding through-passing hole 14 that is made in the partition wall 9 separating the cooking cavity 8 from the cavity 10 that houses the fan 11. Said heat-conductive metal body 13 is in an advantageous way constituted by an internally hollow copper body, while its outer surface 15 is separated by the sheet-metal material of the partition wall 9 by means of a small bushing 16 made of a per sè known heat-insulating material, or by means of some other separating element of similar material, which is inserted through the peripheral edge of said sheet-metal delimiting said through-passing hole 14. Furthermore, the heat-conductive metal body 13 is closed by a small metal bottom plate 17 at its end penetrating for a short length into the cooking cavity 8 of the oven, and is further closed by a similar small metal bottom plate 18 even at its opposite end extending into the other cavity 10 of the oven, the latter metal bottom plate being connected or integrally made with a highly heat-conductive metal element acting as a heat-sink, which in this particular case is constituted by a metal rectilinear plate 19 which is applied at right angle against the corresponding outer surface of the small bottom plate 18 and is provided with a plurality of separate fins 20 directed toward the fan 11 and arranged so as to be hit by the flow of air generated by the same fan, in view of causing in this way the entire surface of the plate 19, and hence the respective end of the metal body 13 defined by the small bottom plate 18, to gradually cool down. At least two temperature sensors are applied inside said metal body 13 , preferably in the form of thermocouples 21 and 22, ie. a first thermocouple 21 applied against the inner surface of the end bottom plate 17 and a second thermocouple 22 applied against the inner surface of the opposite end bottom plate 18, respectively, said thermocouples being connected, through respective electrical lead wires 23 and 24 passing through the inner cavity of said metal body 13, with an appropriate oven control device that, in a most advantageous way, may be made in the form of an electronic microprocessor 25 housed in an appropriate, separate site of the oven to perform the functions that will be better described hereinafter. Furthermore, the humidity measurement arrangement is constituted by at least a further temperature sensor, preferably in the form of another thermocouple 26, which penetrates partially into the cooking cavity 8 of the oven through the afore cited partition wall 9, to the purpose of detecting the temperature of the hot air circulated through said cooking cavity, said temperature sensor being connected with its free end with said electronic microprocessor 25 through a respective electrical lead wire 27. In this way, the described arrangement of the temperature sensors 21, 22 and 26 enables not only the cooking temperature T1 of the food items in the cooking cavity 8 to be measured through said temperature sensor 26, but also the temperatures T2 and T3 of the end bottom plates 17 and 18 of said metal body 13 to be measured through the respective temperature sensors 21 and 22, wherein the temperature T2 of the end bottom plate 17, being in particular subject to direct contact with the hot air circulated in the cooking cavity 8, is higher than the temperature T3 of the end bottom plate 18 which on the contrary is cooled down by the heat-conductive contact with the metal heat-sink element 19. It therefore ensues that, as the end bottom plate 18 is gradually cooled down by said heat-sink element 19, also the end bottom plate 17 of said metal body 13, owing to heat conduction through said metal body 13, tends to cool down gradually, albeit more slowly, said end bottom plate 17 being on the other hand continuously heated up by the hot air in the cooking cavity 8. When this end bottom plate 17 undergoing such a simultaneous heating-up and cooling-down process finally reaches such a thermal equilibrium that the humidity being present in the air of said cooking cavity is caused to condense on the same bottom plate upon reaching the respective condensation temperature, or dew point, so that condensate builds up on the outer surface of said bottom plate, the temperature sensor 21 that is associated therewith will immediately detect said temperature T2 and convey the corresponding information to the electronic microprocessor 25, which will in turn determine the respective measurement value, along with the measurement values relating to both the temperature T3 of the end bottom plate 18 and the temperature T1 of the cooking cavity 8, which are detected by the temperature sensors 22 and 26, respectively. As a consequence, on the basis of the measured values of the temperatures T1, T2 and T3 detected in the afore described way, the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention is capable of automatically and instantaneously determining the humidity content of the air inside the oven, in correspondence of the afore cited dew point, by taking advantage of the physical principle according to which in a gas mixture containing also water vapour (such as in the case of the moist air contained in the cooking cavity of the oven), said water vapour will fully condense in correspondence of its dew point, which is a variable quantity depending on the ambient pressure, whereas the remaining gaseous mixture will on the contrary not be condensable, so that it will remain in its gaseous state. It should further be noticed that this condensation temperature, or dew point, is also dependent on the humidity content of the gaseous mixture. Figure 5 illustrates a chart which should be used in order to better understand the operation of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention. This chart indicates how the condensation temperature, or dew point, (indicated in the ordinates) of the water vapour contained in a gaseous mixture, ie. in this particular case the moist air contained in the cooking cavity of the oven, changes according to the ambient heating-up temperature (indicated in the abscissae), ie. in this particular case the food heating-up temperature in the cooking cavity of the oven. This chart has been plotted with reference to a constant ambient pressure, ie. in this particular case the pressure of the ambient air, on the basis of the Mollier diagram for moist air, and extrapolating the corresponding values of the condensation temperature, or dew point, at said constant pressure. In this way, and considering that the water vapour heating-up temperatures in the cooking cavity of the oven turn out in general to be situated anywhere between ambient temperature and a highest possible value of approx. 250°C, based on said extrapolated values it is possible to determine, for said constant ambient pressure, the condensation temperature, or dew point, of said water vapour, ie. in this particular example for temperatures situated anywhere between the ambient temperature and 100°C, as a function of its humidity content. As it can be seen in this chart, the humidity contents in vol.- percent of the water vapour which, as determined theoretically through the afore cited extrapolation, correspond to its respective condensation temperatures, are indicated with straight horizontal lines running parallelly to each other, each one of them duly marked with the respective humidity content. The straight inclined line B, which starts from the point 0 where the cartesian axes meet, defines the delimitation zone between the air-water vapour mixture in its gaseous state (on the right side with respect to said straight line) and the condensed water vapour, ie. in its liquid state, (on the left side with respect to said straight line). As a consequence, by measuring the temperature T2 of the end bottom plate 17 of the metal body 13 (corresponding to the condensation temperature, or dew point, of the water vapour), the food heating-up temperature T1 in the cooking cavity of the oven and the temperature T3 of the other end bottom plate 18 of said metal body 13, which shall in all cases be detected since it is variable according to the heat-sink element 19 that is used, it is possible to determine the respective humidity content in vol.-percent of the water vapour contained in the same cooking cavity, on the basis of the afore mentioned temperature-humidity contents diagram. However, in the course of practical experimental work that has been carried out in this connection, it could be ascertained that, for equal heating-up temperatures, the humidity contents of the water vapour contained in the cooking cavity of the oven are reached with condensation temperatures that are different and lower than those determined theoretically and represented with straight horizontal lines on the chart. As a matter of fact, during the above mentioned practical experimental work it has been possible to observe that humidity contents have a tendency to progress in the form of curved lines that become gradually straight as the heating-up temperatures increase, as it can be observed in the chart shown in Figure 5, owing assumingly to the fact that the gradual stratification of the water vapour on the end bottom plate 17 of said metal body 13, as a consequence of the gradual cooling-down of the same end bottom plate due to heat dissipation, has the effect of thermally insulating the metal of said plate and said body, thereby affecting the respective sensor 21 for the temperature T2 so as it will detect temperatures that are lower than the actual condensation ones. As a consequence, by knowing beforehand the experimentally determined configuration of these curves for the various actual values of the humidity content, it is possible to store these actual values, in an appropriately coded form, in the memory of the microprocessor 25, along with the corresponding condensation temperatures, or dew points, of the water vapour. Furthermore, even the values of both the temperature T3 of the cooled-down end bottom plate 18 of said metal body 13 and the food cooking temperature T1 will have been preliminarily stored, in an appropriately coded form, in the memory of said microprocessor, which is pre-set so as, in the presence of these temperatures T3 and T1, as detected by the respective sensors 22 and 26, and the above mentioned temperature T2, it will be able to immediately recognize them and determine the corresponding condensation temperature of the water vapour and, hence, the humidity content of the air contained in the cooking cavity of the oven. In this manner, the microprocessor automatically measures the humidity content of the air contained in the cooking cavity of the oven and, at the same time, is also capable of causing said humidity content to be regulated to pre-set values that will have been selected manually by means of appropriate selectors equipping the oven and associated with said microprocessor, by continuously comparing the actual humidity values with the pre-set ones that have been previously stored in a coded form in the memory of said microprocessor, so as to be capable of acting on the various functional component parts of the oven (ie. heat generator, steam generator, etc.) until the desired humidity content, corresponding to the one that has been pre-set through said selectors, is actually reached in the cooking cavity. The inherent advantages of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention are at this point fully and clearly apparent. As a matter of fact, thanks to the simplicity of its construction and the practical absence of parts that may be impaired or damaged by the high cooking temperatures of the ovens, the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention may be used to both measure humidity under any cooking temperature condition, in a very reliable way and to a very accurate extent, and to carry out cooking processes under pre-set and variable humidity level conditions that will each time be appropriately selected by the user in accordance with the amount and the kind of the food items to be cooked, so as to bring about optimal cooking processes for the same food items, by keeping their flavour and properties nearly unaltered, and enable the operation performance and efficiency of the cooking ovens to be rationalized. Referring now to Figure 3, it can be noticed that it shows a second possible embodiment of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention, wherein it can further be noticed that while the metal body 13 is unchanged with respect to the afore described embodiment, the heat-sink provision used in this case is provided in the form of a battery of per sè known Peltier elements, indicated with the reference numeral 28, which is also provided with separate fins 20 arranged so as to face the fan 11 and to be cooled by the flow of air generated by the same fan. Finally, Figure 4 shows a further possible embodiment of the humidity measurement arrangement according to the present invention, wherein it can be noticed that around the terminal portion of the metal body 13 and the corresponding end 18, which are inserted in said separate cavity 10 of the oven, an innerly hollow cool-down metal element 32 is applied in tight contact therewith, the hollow section 33 thereof being such as to enable an appropriate cooling medium from a separate supply source (not shown) to be circulated therein. It will be appreciated that other embodiments of the humidity measurement arrangement, which may differ from the ones that have been described here by way of non-limiting examples, may possibly be conceived and provided to the same purposes and aims as cited above, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Similarly, this humidity measurement arrangement may be used not only in cooking ovens, but also in ovens or heating equipment of a different type or kind, to different purposes or applications, such as for instance in laboratory equipment operating under controlled humidity conditions, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims: Humidity measurement arrangement (12) for a heating and/or cooking appliance, in particular a food cooking oven (6), comprising at least a cooking cavity (8) for the food items which is in communication with a further cavity separated therefrom through a partition wall (9), heat generating means associated with a fan (8a) for forced-convection hot-air cooking of the food items, said fan being accomodated in said cooking cavity (8), characterized by at least a highly heat-conductive metal body (13) which is inserted through said partition wall (9) and is thermally insulated from the same wall, so as to be inserted with a first end (17) thereof in said cooking cavity (8) and with a second end (18) thereof in said further cavity (10), the latter communicating further with heat-sink means (19, 28, 32) arranged preferably within said further cavity (10), and characterized by first and second temperature sensor means (21, 22) associated with said first and second ends (17, 18), as well as third temperature sensor means (26) inserted in said cooking cavity (8), said first, second and third temperature sensor means (21, 22, 26) being connected with control means (25) preferably consisting of at least an electronic microprocessor, said control means (25) being capable of storing coded information corresponding to the range of temperatures that can be reached in correspondence of said first and second ends (17, 18) and said cooking cavity (8), and being further arranged so as to automatically determine, on the basis of the temperature levels measured at the same time by said first, second and third temperature sensor means (21, 22, 26) in correspondence of the dew point of the water vapour in the air inside said cooking cavity (8) as measured by means of said first sensor means (21), the humidity content of the same air, said control means (25) being also arranged to automatically regulate said humidity content of the air to pre-set and variable levels that are selected by means of selector means associated with said control means (25). Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that said metal body (13) is preferably made of copper and is innerly hollow. Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that said first and second ends (17, 18) of said metal body (13) are closed by means of respective bottom plates. Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that said first and second sensor means (21, 22) are applied against the inner surface of the respective bottom plates of said first and second ends (17, 18). Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 4, characterized in that said heat-sink means consist of a metal plate (19) connected with the bottom plate of said second end (18) and provided with a plurality of separate fins (20) that are arranged so as to be facing a cooling fan (11) positioned within said further cavity (10). Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that said heat-sink means additionally consists of Peltier elements (28), provided with said plurality of separate fins (20) that are arranged so as to be facing said cooling fan (11). Humidity measurement arrangement according to claim 4, characterized in that said heat-sink means consist of an innerly hollow metal cooling element (32), arranged tightly around the terminal portion of said metal body (13) and the respective end bottom plate (18) thereof, at least a cooling medium of a per sè known type being circulated in the hollow section (33) of said cooling element (32).

Inventors: DEL FABBRO CLAUDIO, DEL FABBRO, CLAUDIO
Applicants: ZANUSSI GRANDI IMPIANTI SPA, ZANUSSI GRANDI IMPIANTI S.P.A.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G01N25
IPC codes: H05B6, A47J27, A21B3, G01N25