Patent Publication Number: US-2022233014-A1

Title: Smart fried egg cooker

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims benefit from U.S. provisional application No. 63/140,503 filed on Jan. 22, 2021, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to cooking appliances, in particular a device for cooking eggs that can automatically cook a fried egg with different effects by choosing different cooking options. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Currently, when people cook a fried egg, they usually use a flat pan to cook it. An egg is cracked and the inner stuff of the egg, for example, yolk and/or egg white, is put on a flat pan. And the flat pan is placed on an electric or fire stove to be heated. However, an electric or fire stove can easily generate high temperature (higher than 400 Fahrenheit degree/205 Celsius degree), whereas an egg only needs 160 Fahrenheit degree (71 Celsius degree) to be cooked. It is very easy to overcook a fried egg by using pan on a stove. To cook a fried egg to a desirable effect, a lot of experience is required and the cooking needs to be watched all the time. 
     Therefore, there is a need for a device to facilitate cooking a fried egg. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     This disclosure provides a smart fried egg cooker that can detect the pan temperature and control the temperature to a desirable level to cook fried egg for a pre-set duration. With its intelligent function, the smart fried egg cooker can automatically cook a fried egg to different effects such as liquid yolk, solid yolk or fully cooked yolk. The egg cooker of this disclosure enables people without any experience to cook a fried egg to their desired effects without having to watch during the cooking process. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings which show example embodiments of the present application, and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  in the open state. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  from another perspective. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the base housing. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the base housing from bottom. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of the circuit connection structure of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, the technical solutions in the embodiment of present disclosure will be described in conjunction with the drawings of the embodiment of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiment is only a part of the embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiment in this invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work shall fall within the protection scope of this invention. 
     In the following description, the use of “first”, “second”, etc. are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. 
     The present disclosure is related to a smart fried egg cooker. One embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in  FIG. 1  through  FIG. 7  inclusive. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 1 . The egg cooker  1  comprises a lid housing  10  and a base housing  20 . Key buttons  11  are disposed on an exterior surface of the lid housing  10  to receive input. The lid housing  10  is sized and shaped to function as a cover for the base housing  20 . 
       FIG. 2  shows the egg cooker  1  in an open state. 
     A lid  12  and a tray  21  are exposed. The lid  12  is generally round and is adapted to cover the tray  21 . The lid housing  10  is also lifted, and a handle  101  is configured on the lid housing  10 . 
     The lid  12  is utilized cover the tray  21  to keep the heat in the egg cooker  1  when a fried egg is being cooked. 
     The egg cooker  1  includes a hinge  13  that enables the lid  12  to be opened from the tray  21  about the hinge  13 . 
     The tray  21  is disposed at least partially in the base housing  20 . 
     The tray  21  is generally round and is adapted to hold the inner egg stuff after the egg is cracked. In some embodiments, the tray  21  is oval, oblong, or elongated and the lid  12  is of a corresponding shape. The cooking surface  211  is substantially flat. 
     The tray  21  includes a cooking surface  211  and a wall  212  that extends from the edge of the cooking surface  211 . The cooking surface  211  is substantially flat. 
     The tray  21  is made of Aluminum, aluminum alloy, carbon steel, copper, or a combination thereof In some embodiments, the upper surface of the tray  21 , including the cooking surface  211  and the inner surface of the wall  212 , is coated with non-stick material such that when the inner stuff of the egg is put in the tray  21 , the inner stuff of the egg does not stick to the tray  21 . 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 3 . 
     The lid  12  is configured to be at least partially disposed in the lid housing  10 . For example, the lid housing  10  is mounted on the lid. A handle  101  is configured on the lid housing to facilitate moving the lid housing  10 . The lid  12  is connected to the lid housing  10  such that when the lid housing  10  is lifted, the lid  12  is also lifted. 
     A control unit  15  is disposed in the lid housing  10  between the lid  12  and the lid housing  10  and the control unit is operatively connected to the key buttons  11 . In some embodiments, the control unit  15  is disposed in the base housing  20 . In some embodiments, the control unit  15  is integrated with the key buttons  11 , for example, the key buttons  11  are installed on the control unit  15 . 
     The wall  212  is formed on the opening side of the tray  21  surrounding the cooking surface  211 . Thus, the inner stuff of an egg can be kept in the opening side of the tray  21 . 
     The first counterpart  1301  of the hinge joint  13  is formed on an edge of the tray  21 . A second counterpart  1302  of the hinge joint  13  is formed at an edge of the lid  12  The first counterpart and the second counterpart cooperate to form the hinge joint  13  by which the tray  21  and the lid  12  are connected. The hinge joint  13  allows the lid  13  to be opened or closed with respect to the tray  21  about the hinge joint  13 . 
     A heating component  22  is disposed on the side opposite the opening side of the tray  21  inside the base housing  20 . The heating component  22  can generate heat by electrical power. For example, the heating component  22  may be resistance-based or induction-based. The heat can be transferred to the inner egg stuff through the tray  21 . 
     The egg cooker  1  also includes a power unit  23  operatively connected to the heating component  22  and the control unit  15 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a temperature sensor  25  is disposed on the side of the tray  21  opposite the cooking surface  211 . The temperature sensor  25  is configured to detect the temperature of tray  21 . The temperature sensor  25  is operatively connected to the control unit  15  such that the temperature data is transmitted to the control unit  15 . In some embodiments, the temperature sensor  25  comprises one or more of thermistor, resistance temperature detector, or thermocouple. 
     Reference is now made to  FIGS. 5 and 6 . 
     A first opening  26  is formed in the wall of the base housing  20 . The first opening  26  allows the electrical wire to pass through, for example, to connect the power unit  23  and the control unit  15 . 
     In the base housing  20  a compartment  29  is formed. The power unit  23  is disposed in the compartment  29 . 
     On one side of the compartment wall a second opening  27  is formed for allowing electrical wires through. In some embodiments, the electrical wires from the power unit  23  can pass through the second opening  27  and connect to the heating component  22  and the control unit  15 . A third opening  28  is formed on the wall of the compartment for allowing electrical wires. In some embodiments, an electrical wire from the power unit  23  can pass through the third opening  28  and plug in the electrical outlet. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 7 . 
     The control unit  15  is operatively connected to the power unit  23  and the temperature sensor  25 , for example, by electrical wires. The control unit  15  is configured to control the power of heating component  22  through the power unit  23 . When a fried egg is being cooked, the control unit  15  receives the temperature of the tray  21  from the temperature sensor  25 . If the temperature of the tray  21  is under the pre-set temperature, the control unit  15  will turn on the power at the heating component  22  or increase the power at the heating component  22 . If the temperature of the tray  21  is over the pre-set temperature, the control unit  15  will turn the power of the heating component  22  off or decrease the power at the heating component  22 . As such, the fried egg will be heated at within a predetermined range from the pre-set temperature. 
     The control unit  15  also controls the heating time when a fried egg is being cooked. The heating temperature and the heating time determine the cooking effect of a fried egg. 
     The key buttons  11  may include Select, Start, and Stop buttons. The Select button is utilized to select a desired cooking effect such as liquid yolk, solid yolk, or fully cooked. In some embodiments, the key buttons include individual mode buttons each corresponding to one desired effect, for example, liquid yolk, solid yolk, and fully cooked yolk, enabling the effect to be selected by pushing a single button. The Start button is used to start cooking. The Stop button is used to stop cooking. In some embodiments, the control unit  15  is configured to automatically control the whole cooking process, for example, including heating the tray, cooking the egg, and stopping heating of the tray, each for the predetermined time period. In some embodiments, the control unit  15  is configured to trigger an alarm  17  when the cooking is finished. The alarm may be visual, audio, or both. 
     A method for using the egg cooker  1  is also disclosed. One or more eggs were cracked and the inner stuff without the shell was put in the tray  21 . The lid  12  was then closed over the tray  21 . The desired cooking effect of fried egg was selected by using the key buttons. The Start button was pressed such that cooking was started. The cooking process, for example, including the cooking temperature and the heating time were controlled by the control unit  15  and the fried egg was cooked to the selected effect. 
     To cook the egg to have liquid yolk, the tray  21  containing cooking the inner stuff of the egg was heated from room temperature to about 130-140 degrees Celsius, which took about 2.5-3.5 minutes. The tray was kept at the temperature, by heating with the heating component  22  when needed, about 130-140 degrees Celsius for about 1-10 seconds. Preferably, the tray containing the inner stuff of the egg was heated to about 135 degrees Celsius in about 190 seconds and cooked at about 135 degrees Celsius for about 1 second. 
     To cook the egg to have solid yolk, the tray  21  containing the inner stuff of the egg was heated to about 110-130 degrees Celsius, preferably about 115-125 degrees Celsius, and more preferably about 120 degrees Celsius, which took about 2-3 minutes. The tray was then kept at about 110-130 degrees Celsius, preferably about 115-125 degrees Celsius, and more preferably about 120 degrees Celsius, by heating with the heating component  22  when needed, for about 70-90 seconds, preferably for about 75-85 seconds, and preferably for about 80 second. Afterwards, the heating component stopped heating the tray and the inner stuff of the egg was kept in the egg cooker  1  for about 140-160 seconds, preferably 145-155 seconds, and preferably 150 seconds. 
     To cook the egg to have full cooked yolk, the tray  21  containing the inner stuff of the egg was heated to about 110-130 degrees Celsius, preferably to about 115-125 degrees Celsius, and more preferably to about 120 degrees Celsius, which took about 2-3 minutes. The tray was then kept at about 110-130 degrees Celsius, preferably to about 115-125 degrees Celsius, and more preferably to about 120 degrees Celsius, by heating with the heating component  22  when needed, for about 150-170 seconds, preferably about 155-165 seconds, and more preferably about 160 seconds. Afterwards, the heating component stopped heating and the inner stuff of the egg was kept in the egg cooker for about 140-160 seconds, preferably 145-155 seconds, and preferably 150 seconds. 
     Once the cooking process was finished, an alarm  17  was triggered so that the Stop button was pressed to stop the cooking. In some embodiments, the cooking was automatically stopped by the control unit  15 . The alarm  17  may be triggered after the cooking process was finished. 
     The lid  12  was opened and the cooked egg was removed from the egg cooker  1 . 
     In some embodiments, fat, such as cooking oil or butter, was added in the tray  21  before the inner stuff of the egg was put in the tray  21 . 
     Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.