Abstract:
The invention discloses a vacuum low-temperature cooker comprising a housing, an inner pot comprising a basin and a lid, and a heating circulation system comprising a heater, a water pump and connecting pipes. The heater, the water pump and the basin are connected in series through the connecting pipes to construct a closed circulation loop. The basin is equipped with an inlet and an outlet associated with the connecting pipes. The invention makes the temperature inside the inner pot to be constant, such heating circulation loop also makes the water therein to absorb 95% energy emitted by the heater with energy saving. Meanwhile the heater is mounted outside the inner pot, such arrangement makes the inner pot having a maximum space to cook and clean.

Description:
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a cooker, in particular a vacuum low-temperature cooker. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Vacuum low-temperature cooking is a heating cooking method that food can be cooked in the water at a consistent relative lower temperature for a long time. It needs a long time, sometimes even more than 24 hours, to cook food stuffs. Unlike slow cooking, vacuum low-temperature cooking is a method that immerses a sealed plastic bag containing food in hot water at a temperature lower than boiling (e.g. 60° C. or 140T) for a long time. Furthermore, vacuum low-temperature cooking requires an accurate controlling of hot water temperature, since an offset of 1° C. should have impact on the quality of the food cooked. 
         [0003]    For conventional vacuum low-temperature cooker, there are two types of heater. One is provided on the bottom of the inner pot of the cooker closely, while another one is provided inside the inner pot. The temperature inside the inner pot will be kept constant through electrically controlling the heater via a temperature sensor disposed outside the inner pot. 
         [0004]    Its drawback occurred because the foresaid heating types caused in higher temperature in an internal position of the inner pot adjacent to the heater, and an inequal water temperature inside the inner pot, to impact on the quality of food cooked. Further there were no contact between the sensor and water, which also caused in an offset between temperature shown and real water temperature so as to further impact on the quality of food cooked. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    It is an object of the invention to relieve the above drawbacks and to provide a vacuum low-temperature cooker, wherein a heater is disposed outside the inner pot of the cooker without any contact with the inner pot, the water temperature inside the inner pot is evenly unanimous such that the temperature of the food is evenly unanimous and can ensure the quality of food cooked. 
         [0006]    To achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following technical solution: 
         [0007]    A vacuum low-temperature cooker comprises a housing, an inner pot comprising a basin and a lid, and a heating circulation system comprising a heater, a water pump and connecting pipes. Said heater, said water pump and said basin are connected in series through said connecting pipes to construct a closed circulation loop. Said basin is equipped with an inlet and an outlet associated with said connecting pipes. Said heater is secured on said housing via a fixed bracket. 
         [0008]    Further the inlet disposed at the bottom of the basin is equipped with a cored screw and a tee coupling. The first end of said tee coupling is connected to the basin, the second end of said tee coupling is connected to said water pump through said connecting pipe and the third end of said tee coupling is connected to a vent mechanism comprising a handle to make the vent to open or close. 
         [0009]    Furthermore said tee coupling is equipped with a temperature sensor having contact with water directly. 
         [0010]    Furthermore an outer filter component is disposed detachably inside said cored screw, an inner filter component is fixed irremovably between said cored screw and said tee coupling. 
         [0011]    Furthermore said outer filter component comprises an outer filter outer-holder, an outer filter and an outer filter inner-holder. 
         [0012]    Furthermore said outlet is disposed at the side wall of the basin by means of a cored screw and a bend. 
         [0013]    Furthermore head of said cored screw has four orifices, two of which orienting front direction, other two of which orienting left direction and right direction respectively. 
         [0014]    Furthermore said lid comprises an outer lid and an inner lid, said inner lid is equipped with a front buckle and a rear buckle which can be engaged with said outer lid respectively. 
         [0015]    Furthermore a base plate is mounted on the bottom of the housing, said base plate has a recess in which the base is disposed. There are numbers of protuberances with a  20  degree angle each other around the surface of the recess in order to support the base, said housing can be rotated relative to said base. Furthermore a temperature sensor is disposed at a portion inside the bend adjacent to the end of said heater associated with said outlet. 
         [0016]    The present invention has the following advantageous effects as compared with the prior art: 
         [0017]    The present invention makes the temperature inside the inner pot to be constant, and such heating circulation loop also makes the water therein to absorb 95% energy emitted by the heater with energy saving. Meanwhile the heater is mounted outside the inner pot, and secured on the housing via a fixed bracket, so such arrangement makes the inner pot having a maximum space to cook and easy to clean. 
         [0018]    The vent mechanism allows the water inside the inner pot to flow out, which makes the user to discharge the water easily and safely. 
         [0019]    The temperature sensor is disposed at the inlet of water pump and contacts with the water, which enables the sensor to show the real water temperature in order to keep the water temperature constant by means of accurate control. 
         [0020]    The connecting pipe between the inner pot and the pump is equipped with two filter apparatus, one apparatus is fixed in the connecting pipe, and the other one is a removable filter, such arrangement can prevent some stuff from entering into the circulation pipe and blocking the pipe, and enable the user to clean the pipe easily. 
         [0021]    Head of the cored screw has four orifices orienting four different directions, thereby water sprays out from the four orifices to chum up the water inside the basin, such that the temperature of the water in the basin will be evenly identical. 
         [0022]    The lid comprises an outer lid and an inner lid, such structure enables the temperature of outer surface of the lid to be low, and prevents the user from being scalded, and keeps the temperature inside well, and save energy. 
         [0023]    The housing can be rotated at 360 degrees relative to the base, such arrangement enables the user to facilitate adjusting the direction of the cooker conveniently. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]    The invention will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, however, the drawings will not construct a limitation to the invention, wherein 
           [0025]      FIG. 1  depicts an entire exploded view of a vacuum low-temperature cooker according to the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 2  depicts a top view of the vacuum low-temperature cooker according to the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 3  depicts a sectional view along with A-A line of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 4  depicts a sectional view along with B-B line of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0029]      FIG. 5  depicts a sectional view along with C-C line of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0030]      FIG. 6  depicts the direction of waterflow from the water outlet; 
           [0031]      FIG. 7A-7D  depict a schematic detailed views of lid of the vacuum low-temperature cooker according to the present invention; 
           [0032]      FIG. 8  depicts a schematic bottom view of the vacuum low-temperature cooker according to the present invention, wherein the housing of the cooker can be rotated relative to the base of the cooker; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0033]    A preferable embodiment of the present invention will be described here with reference to the accompanying drawings, however, it is appreciated that the embodiment here is used in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. 
         [0034]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a vacuum low-temperature cooker of the present invention comprises an inner pot  100 , a heating circulation system  200  and a housing  400 , wherein the inner pot  100  and the heating circulation system  200  are disposed inside the housing  400 , the inner pot  100  comprises a basin  104  for containing water when cooking, and a lid  101  for covering the basin  104 , the heating circulation system  200  comprises a pump  111 , a heater  107  and an electronic control system  300 , the heater  107  works under the control of the system  300  in order to ensure the constant water temperature inside the inner pot  100 . 
         [0035]    There are no physical touch between the heater  107  and the inner pot  100 .  FIG. 3-5  illustrate the direction of waterflow inside the basin  104  when cooking. Water inside the basin  104  flows from the inlet  116  and enters the water pump  111  through a connecting pipe  114 , and then will be forced into the heater  107  after the water pump  111 , through a connection pipe  110 , a bend  105  and a connecting pipe  106 , the water will be heated and go to the outlet  117  through a connecting pipe  112 , a bend  113  and a connecting pipe  118 , such that the water enters the basin  104  again from the outlet  117 , and thereby a closed water circulation is formed. Preferably the inlet  116  was disposed at the bottom of the basin  104  by means of a cored screw  134  and a tee coupling  138 . The first end of the tee coupling  138  is connected to the basin  104 , the second end of the tee coupling  138  is connected to the water pump  111  through a connecting pipe  114  and the third end of the tee coupling  138  is connected to the vent mechanism  119  through the connecting pipe  123 . A temperature sensor  115  is fixed at the tee coupling  138  to contact with the water inside the tee coupling  138  directly, in order to sample the water temperature. The water pump  111  is fixed in the box  124  beneath the basin  104 , and is connected to one end of the heater  107  through the connecting pipe  110 , the bend  105  and the connecting pipe  106 . The other end of the heater  107  is connected to the basin  104  through the connecting pipe  112 , the bend  113 , the connecting pipe  118  and the outlet  117 . The heater is fixed on the housing  400  by means of a fixed bracket  109 . A protected temperature sensor  108  is fixed on the bend  113 . The outlet  117  is disposed at the side wall of the basin  104  by means of a cored screw  151  and a bend  150 , at the position 30 to 200 mm high from the basin bottom. It is 65 mm high in this embodiment. 
         [0036]    The protected temperature sensor  108  is arranged at the water circulation, and the end of the heater  107  is connected to the connecting pipe  118 . The heater  107  will be controlled by the electronic control system to stop working when high temperature of water flow through the heater  107  is detected by the protected temperature sensor  108 , and the heater  107  can be resumed until back to the normal water temperature. However all power supply will be cut off if the high temperature is found twice during a working period, such arrangement can prevent the connecting pipe  118  from being blocked, avoiding the high water temperature to damage the cooker. 
         [0037]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the basin  104  depicting the arrangement of the inlet  116  and outlet  117  thereon. The inlet  116  comprises an outer filter component  130 , the cored screw  134 , an inner filter component  135  and the tee coupling  138 . The outlet  117  comprises the bend  150  and the cored screw  151 . Preferably the inlet  116  is fixed on the basin  104  by means of the cored screw  134  and the tee coupling  138 . The outer filter component  130  is disposed detachably on the cored screw  134 , and can be separated into an outer filter outer-holder  131 , an outer filter  132  and an outer filter inner-holder  133 , such elements can be separated to clean and combined easily by the user after cleaning. The inner filter component  135  is fixed irremovable between the cored screw  134  and the tee coupling  138 . Such two-layers filter configuration enables a perfect filter effect, and a separable outer filter also enables the user to clean the filter if necessary in order to prevent the water pipe from being blocked. 
         [0038]    The temperature sensor  115  is fixed inside the tee coupling  138 , and the sensing portion is oriented in the bottom of the basin  104 , i.e. the sensor  115  is disposed at the inlet  116 . Such arrangement makes the sensor  115  to contact with water directly, enabling the sensing temperature being identical to real water temperature and the temperature control being more accurate. 
         [0039]    The outlet  117  is disposed at the side wall of the basin  104  by means of a cored screw  151  and a bend  150  as shown in  FIG. 6 , wherein the head of the cored screw  151  has four orifices, two of which in front, other two of which in left and right respectively. Heating water from the heater  107 , driven by the pump  111 , flows into the cored screw  151 , and sprays out from the four orifices to churn up the water inside the basin, such that the water temperature around the basin will be substantially identical so as to ensure the quality of food immersed in the basin  104 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view depicting the way to fix and connect the heater  107 . Preferably the heater  107  is secured at the fixed bracket  109 , two ends of which are fixed on the housing  400 , such that the heater  107  has no direct contact with the basin  104 . One end of the heater  107  is connected to the water pump  111  through the connecting pipe  106 , the bend  105  and the connecting pipe  110 , the other end of the heater  107  is connected to the basin  104  through the connecting pipe  112 , the bend  113 , the connecting pipe  118  and the outlet  117 . Preferably the protected temperature sensor  108  is fixed inside the bend  113 , and the sensing portion is oriented in the end of the heater. Such arrangement makes the sensing temperature to be the water temperature after the heater  107 , such temperature should be the highest temperature within the whole heating circulation system  200 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 3  depicts a sectional view of the vent mechanism  119 . Preferably water within the basin  104  will outflow from the vent mechanism  119  via the inlet  116  and the connecting pipe  123  while a handle  139  was pulled down rotatably at approximate  90  degree to open the vent mechanism  119 . 
         [0042]    The lid  101  comprises an outer lid  102  and an inner lid  103  as shown in  FIG. 7A-7D , the outer lid  102  and the inner lid  103  can be separated. Preferably the inner lid  103  can be raised when pushing in a rear buckle  160 , and the inner lid  103  can be separated from the outer lid  102  while pulling out the inner lid  103  obliquely. However the inner lid  103  and the outer lid  102  can be combined together while inserting the inner lid  103  into a front buckle  161  obliquely and then pushing the inner lid  103  towards the outer lid  102 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 8  depicts that the housing  400  can be rotated at  360  degree relative to the base  122 . Preferably a base plate has a circular recess in which the base  122  is disposed. There are number of protuberances around the surface of the circular recess in order to support the base  122  and reduce their friction thereof. The angle between every two adjacent protuberances is  20  degrees. When rotation occurs, the base  122  is secured on the table, and the housing  400  can be rotated relative to the base  122 . 
         [0044]    It is appreciated that the above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention only and not for purposes of limitation. Although the detailed descriptions have been disclosed with reference to typical embodiment of the invention, it is possible for the people skilled to make alterations or equatable substitutions according to the foresaid technique solutions or a part thereof. Any alterations, equatable substitutions or improvements within the spirit of the present invention should be incorporated into ambit of claims of the present invention.