Automated cooking and frying control using a gas sensor microarray

A novel type of metal oxide gas sensor array was used in order to develop a so-called “intelligent cooking pot”. The sensor array consists of 40 monolithic sensor elements whose different sensitivity was achieved by a gradient technique. The sensor array was installed in the cover of a pot. With this set-up the feasibility of monitoring cooking processes by gas analysis was shown at the example of frying beef. The distinction of five different stages of the frying process was achieved by principal component analysis (PCA) of the signal patterns.