Food cooking unit

Abstract

Food cooking unit composed of gas burners ( 1 ) and an ignition source ( 2 ) feed with gas through regulation electrovalves ( 3 ) and an ignition source electrovalve ( 13 ); a food monitoring sensor ( 5 ) focused towards the cooking zone and/or a weight sensor ( 15 ); at least one thermocouple ( 6 ) in thermal contact with the flames and in connection with a safety electrovalve ( 4 ) and an electronic control device ( 7 ) connected to said food monitoring sensor ( 5 ), to said at least one regulating electrovalve ( 3 ) and to the ignition source electrovalve ( 13 ) and that stores different regulation programs and that regulates the regulating electrovalve ( 3 ) and/or interrupts the thermocouple connection with the safety electrovalve in response to the signals obtained from the food monitoring sensor ( 5 ) and/or from the weight sensor ( 15 ) and/or the thermocouple ( 6 ).

1 . Food cooking unit comprising:
 at least one cooking zone defined on top of at least one gas burner supplied with gas from at least one regulating electrovalve;   an ignition source for each cooking zone, adjacent to the at least one gas burner of said cooking zone for ignition thereof, each ignition source being supplied with gas from one ignition source electrovalve;   a safety electrovalve for each cooking zone connected to the correspondent at least one regulating electrovalve and ignition source electrovalve for regulation of the gas provided thereto;   at least one food monitoring sensor for each cooking zone configured to monitor a cooking process carried out on the cooking zone and/or a weight sensor for each cooking zone configured to detect weight variations on the cooking zone;   at least one thermocouple for each cooking zone in thermal contact with flames that apply heat to the cooking zone to generate a signal, and in connection with the correspondent safety electrovalve, which is configured to interrupt the gas flow when the signal generated is interrupted;   an electronic control device connected to the at least one regulating electrovalve, to the at least one food monitoring sensor and/or to the weight sensor, the electronic control device stores different regulation programs of the at least one regulation electrovalve and is configured to regulate the at least one regulation electrovalve in application of one of the regulation programs in response to the signals obtained from the food monitoring sensor and/or from the weight sensor; and   the electronic control device is also connected to the at least one thermocouple and is configured to interrupt the regulation program, closing the at least one regulating electrovalve and the ignition source electrovalve in response to an interruption of the signal generated by the at least one thermocouple.   
     
     
         2 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the at least one thermocouple comprises at least one first thermocouple connected to the safety electrovalve, and at least one second thermocouple connected to the electronic control device. 
     
     
         3 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the at least one thermocouple is in contact with the flame produced by the ignition source. 
     
     
         4 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the food monitoring system comprises:
 an infrared sensor placed above the cooking zone and oriented thereto for remotely monitoring a temperature of a food placed on the cooking zone; and/or 
 a camera placed above the cooking zone and oriented thereto for remotely obtaining images of a food placed on the cooking zone, the electronic control device implementing an image recognition algorithm and/or a trained neural network, and/or a trained machine learning model configured to determine a cooking status of the food placed on the cooking zone from the imaged obtained by the camera; and/or 
 a temperature probe placeable on the cooking zone in thermal contact with, or embedded in, a food placed on the cooking zone for monitoring the food temperature, the temperature probe being connected to the electronic control device by wire or by wireless connection. 
 
     
     
         5 . The cooking unit according to  claim 4  wherein the electronic control device is configured to determine, from the information provided by the infrared sensor and/or by the camera, the presence of a cookware placed on the cooking zone or the presence and type and/or size of a cookware placed on the cooking zone, and to automatically select, execute and/or adapt the regulatory program in response to said determination. 
     
     
         6 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the electronic control device is configured to determine, from the information provided by the food monitoring system and/or by the weight sensor, an intervention of a user on the cooking zone and/or the addition of ingredients on the cooking zone, and to automatically select, execute and/or adapt the regulatory program in response to said determination. 
     
     
         7 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the electronic control unit is connected to an interface for selection, by a user, of the applicable regulation program selected from different stored regulation programs corresponding to different kitchen recipes or to different kitchen recipes adapted to different amounts of food and/or to different types and/or sizes of cookware. 
     
     
         8 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the electronic control unit includes a data input to receive modifications of the stored regulation programs. 
     
     
         9 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the data input is a wireless connection, and the modifications of the regulation programs are obtained from a remote data storage through the wireless connection. 
     
     
         10 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the electronic control device is configured to emit warnings in response to the detection of an interruption of the signal of the at least one thermocouple. 
     
     
         11 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein said cooking unit includes, in connection with the electronic control device, a level sensor configured to detect any deviation level from horizontal of at least part of the cooking unit including a cookware support placed below the cooking zone for supporting a cookware thereon, the electronic control device being configured to automatically correct the detected deviation level by automatically actuating level adjusting devices of the cooking unit adapted to modify the inclination of at least part of the cooking unit, or to notify a user of a necessary manually adjustment the level adjusting devices of the cooking unit adapted to modify the inclination of at least part of the cooking unit. 
     
     
         12 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the cooking unit includes at least one vibrator device attached to at least a portion of the cooking unit including a cookware support placed below the cooking zone for supporting a cookware thereon, the vibrator device being controlled by the electronic control device in application of the regulation programs. 
     
     
         13 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the regulation electrovalve feeding each gas burner with gas is a single variable-pitch regulation electrovalve. 
     
     
         14 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the regulation electrovalve feeding each gas burner with gas are several fixed-pitch electrovalves connected in parallel. 
     
     
         15 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the cooking unit also integrates, in connection with the electronic control device, sensors selected from:
 gas supply pressure sensor of a gas feeding the cooking unit, the electronic control device ( 7 ) being configured to apply or adjust the regulation programs in response to the readings of said pressure sensor;   atmospheric pressure sensor, the electronic control device ( 7 ) being configured to apply or adjust the regulation programs in response to the readings of said atmospheric pressure sensor;   environmental humidity sensor, the electronic control device ( 7 ) being configured to apply or adjust the regulation programs in response to the readings of said environmental humidity sensor;   room temperature sensor, the electronic control device ( 7 ) being configured to apply or adjust the regulation programs in response to the readings of said room temperature sensor; and/or   any combination of the above.   
     
     
         16 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one cooking zone are a plurality of spaced apart cooking zones defined by on top of different spaced apart gas burners, the food monitoring sensors and/or weight sensors of the different cooking zones being in connection with a single centralized electronic control device in charge of regulating all the regulation electrovalves and ignition source electrovalves feeding all the cooking zones. 
     
     
         17 . The cooking unit according to  claim 16 , wherein the different cooking zones are spaced apart in a vertical direction, defining overlapping cooking zones. 
     
     
         18 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the cooking unit includes an auxiliary assembly comprising at least the regulation electrovalves, the ignition source electrovalve, the safety electrovalve and the electronic control unit, the auxiliary assembly and the components included therein being connected to the rest of the cooking unit through releasable connections. 
     
     
         19 . The cooking unit according to  claim 18  wherein all the releasable connections between the components included in the auxiliary assembly and other components external to the auxiliary assembly are axial releasable connections parallel to each other. 
     
     
         20 . The cooking unit according to  claim 1  wherein the cooking unit includes an electric battery supplying electrical energy at least to the electronic control device and to the sensors connected thereto.