Background
So I’ve probably been deep-frying during my whole life. In the Netherlands we have a culture of eating at our own house and owning a deep-fryer.
A lot has changed in last 10 years when many people have been looking for a ‘healthier/easier/safer’ alternative for owning a home-appliance that can prepare your fried snacks for you. This led many people to switching from a deep-fryer to a so-called ‘Airfryer’ which is basically an electric fan oven in a small compartment and with a more powerful fan.
To give you an idea of the snacks we make at home in The Netherlands, these are the most popular ones:
- [Bitterballen] Often served at parties and eaten with mustard. (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Bitterballen_mosterd_mayo.jpg/1024px-Bitterballen_mosterd_mayo.jpg)
- Frikandellen
- Kaassoufflé (I can only put in 2 links as a new user, Wikipedia has more info)
Okay, now that you know some more about the background of this project, it’s time to introduce the device.
Food Device
Frozen snacks are easily available, but it’s impractical to bring a bulky airfryer with you all the time. Wouldn’t you just wish your airfryer would fit in your bag or even in your pocket? The solution I’m working on is called the PocketFryer (working title).
Yes, it is a very niche product, but it will be a cool gadget to impress your friends with which also actually does something, as it makes delicious snacks. One at a time.
This is work in progress and I will add more documentation as soon as possible. But for now a short description of how it should work:
- Create a compact enclosure in the form of a tube. (most suitable shape for a frikandel (see description above)
- Take a heating element and limit the max temp at 200░C
- Find a way to control it through a microcontroller (probably it will be an ESP32 variant).
- Add a fan and place it in a way it in front of the heating element. (so it blows heat away)
- Create a connection method for attachments so that you add holders for other snacks. in order to keep it compact and be able to fit in your bag.
- Most important: take safety measures against being able to burn, electrocute, short circuit yourself while using it.
Electrical schematics will follow.
After some tinkering around I am currently working on this prototype:
Update will soon follow. Let me know what you think and if you have suggestions!