JPH11104012A - Electric rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perceive the progress of rice cooking even by the sense of smell while minimizing the pollution due to the steam discharge by recovering the steam generated at the time of rice cooking as far as possible and also by discharging a part of steam as it is. SOLUTION: For the purpose, an endothermic/exothermic unit 9 consisting of Peltier elements is fixed to a cover 7, and the start of the electric power supply to the endothermic/exothermic unit 9 is controlled in relation to the supply start of the rice cooking power to a rice-cooking heater 3, so that the cooler becomes a prescribed sufficient cooled condition at the time of highest steam generation. Then, the generated steam is passed through the cooler, and a part of it is liquefied and the remainder is released as it is. Thus, while restraining the environmental polution to the minimum, the progressive state of rice cooking can be perceived even by the sense of smell.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric rice cooker in which steam generated during rice cooking is recovered as much as possible so that the release of steam into a space where the rice cooker is installed is reduced as much as possible. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, since the optimal control of electric power supply during rice cooking has been performed using a temperature sensor and a timer counter, there have been differences in the amount of rice and in the water temperature at the start of rice cooking. But I can always cook delicious rice.

However, regarding the release of steam during cooking,
As a matter of fact, it is still unavoidable, so that while cooking rice for a long period of time, there is a problem that the wall, equipment and the like at the place where the rice cooker is installed are contaminated.

To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
The invention of No. 7920 discloses that steam generated during rice cooking is guided to a cooling cylinder cooled by a Peltier element to cause dew condensation, and the liquefied water is collected in a storage tank to prevent the steam from diffusing into the air. Suggesting a strategy. In addition, this proposal seems to aim at dew condensation of all generated steam.

[0005]

[0005] If it is attempted to condense all of the steam radiated from the rice cooker during cooking by utilizing the cooling action of the Peltier element, the cooling capacity of the Peltier element currently in practical use is considered. In view of the above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
It must be said that it is extremely difficult only by the invention of the scale described in Japanese Patent No. 17920. In addition, as in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-117920, if all of the generated steam is led to a dew receiving container through a single steam pipe, the steam which cannot be completely liquefied during the peak of steam generation May directly hit the dew receiving container, and there is a concern that dew water cannot be collected gently.

[0006] On the other hand, if it is possible to completely recover the vapor without dissipating the vapor, there is a possibility that the conventional sense of cooking such as cooking by the sense of smell may not be obtained. In that case, there is even a worry that it may become ugly.

Therefore, in the present invention, not all of the steam generated at the time of cooking rice is collected, but collected as much as possible, and the remainder is discharged to the living space. This leaves room for the progress and completion of rice cooking to be perceived by smell as before.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a rice cooker for accommodating rice and water, a rice cooker body for receiving and surrounding the rice cooker, and an openable and closably mounted upper part of the rice cooker body. A heat sink and a heat sink provided with a heat sink and heat sink formed by a Peltier element inside the lid, a cooler attached to the heat sink end of the heat sink and heat sink, and a rice cooker. A steam inlet that allows steam to flow into this cooler, a drain that discharges dew condensation water generated by the cooler, an exhaust outlet that discharges steam that could not be liquefied by the cooler, and condensation that is discharged from the drain A collection container detachably provided on the rice cooker main body to store water, a drain outlet of the cooler and a dew condensation water recovery passage through this recovery container, and an inside of the rice cooker main body for heating the rice cooker. Provided Control means for controlling the supply of electric power to the heating means at the time of cooking rice and controlling the start of electric power supply to the heat absorbing and dissipating unit in connection with the operation of starting the supply of electric power to the heating means at the start of rice cooking This constituted an electric rice cooker.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is as described above, in which the control device starts supplying power to the heat absorbing and radiating unit at a time related to the start of rice cooking, and the cooler is turned on at the peak of steam generation. The state of the predetermined cooling capacity is reached. However, instead of cooling the cooler so that all of the steam released during cooking rice can be recovered, a predetermined range of steam is recovered, and the rest is released to the living space. Thus, the progress of rice cooking can be perceived by smell.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the rice cooker of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the system.

In these figures, 1 is a rice cooker main body, 2 is a heating pot installed in the main body 1, 3 is a rice cooking heater for heating the heating pot, and 4 is the temperature of the heating pot 2 detected. It is a temperature detector for performing. 5 is a rice cooker installed in the heating pot 2, and 6 is rice and water put into the rice cooker.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a lid which is attached to the top of the main body 1 so as to be openable and closable, and reference numeral 8 denotes a hinge for opening and closing.

Numeral 9 denotes a heat absorbing / radiating unit attached to the inside of the lid 7. Referring to FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a Peltier element which is a thermoelectric conversion element, left 11 is a heat radiating end, and right 12 is a heat absorbing end. is there. Reference numeral 13 denotes a radiating fin attached to the heat radiating end 11 side, and 14 denotes a cooler attached to the heat absorbing end 12 side. Reference numerals 15 and 16 denote electrode plates, respectively, and reference numerals 17 and 18 denote the electrode plate 15 and the radiation fin 1.
3 and between the electrode plate 16 and the cooler 14 respectively.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a heat insulating sheet for minimizing conduction of heat from the rice cooker 5 during cooking to the heat absorbing / radiating unit 9.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a steam inlet for guiding the steam generated in the rice cooker 5 to the cooler 14 of the heat absorbing / radiating unit 9, and reference numeral 21 denotes a drain outlet for discharging water liquefied in the cooler 14. Reference numeral 22 denotes an exhaust port for discharging unliquefied vapor. That is, the cooler 14 does not liquefy all of the inflow steam, and is characterized in that the portion that could not be liquefied is directly discharged from the exhaust port 22.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a drain pipe for dropping water discharged from the drain port 21 of the cooler 9 to the main body 1, reference numeral 24 denotes a drain passage for guiding the water dropped from the water pipe 23 to the outside of the main body 1, and reference numeral 25 denotes a drain pipe. Is an outlet of the drainage channel 24. Reference numeral 26 denotes a collection container for storing the water discharged from the discharge port 25, which is detachably provided to the main body 1.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a control device, which controls the supply of electric power to the rice cooker 3 during the cooking of rice and controls the supply of electric power to the heat absorbing / radiating unit 9 in association with the start of rice cooking. More specifically, in addition to optimally controlling the temperature and time during cooking so that the delicious rice is cooked, the operation of the heat absorbing and dissipating unit 9 is started when a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of cooking, When steam starts to be actively generated from the rice cooker 5, control is performed so that the cooler 14 is sufficiently cooled to a state where a predetermined capacity can be exhibited.

The timing for starting the power supply to the heat absorbing and dissipating unit 9 is determined in consideration of various conditions such as the cooling capacity of the heat absorbing and dissipating unit and the amount of generated steam (more specifically, the amount of steam to be liquefied). Needless to say, it should be.

Regarding the cooler 14, it is needless to say that the heat capacity based on the material and structure forming the cooler 14 should be taken into consideration. Compensating with large or small is also more useful in some cases.

The operation of the above-configured apparatus will be described.

When the control device 27 receives an instruction to start cooking rice, the control device 27 starts to supply power to the rice cooking heater 3 and controls the amount of supplied power so that delicious rice can be cooked.

Thereafter, when the temperature of the rice and water 6 in the rice cooker 5 rises and boiling starts, steam is generated, and the steam flows into the lid 7 from the steam inlet 20 and is cooled. 1
Reaches 4.

The controller 27 starts power supply to the heat absorbing / radiating unit 9 at an appropriate time after the start of rice cooking and before steam is generated, and when the steam is generated, the cooler 14 is kept in a predetermined state. Make sure it is cooled.

When the steam starts to be generated, the steam is
, And the water is discharged from the drain port 21 due to condensation.

In the present invention, as in this embodiment,
An exhaust port 22 is provided as a flow path for the steam flowing into the cooler 14 in addition to the above-described drain port 21, so that the unliquefied steam is discharged from the exhaust port 22.

The liquefied portion passes through a drain pipe 23 and drains 2
4 and reaches the collection container 26 waiting from the discharge port 25 to the outside of the main body.

As described above, not all of the steam generated at the time of cooking rice is released to the air, but part of the steam is surely liquefied and recovered by the cooler 14 which has been cooled beforehand. Can significantly slow down the progress of pollution in the space where the is installed.

By determining the start time of cooling of the cooler 14 according to the capacity of the heat absorbing and dissipating unit 9, it takes a long time even if a relatively low capacity heat absorbing and dissipating unit is used, for example. By storing cold, it has become possible to cope with the case where a large amount of steam is generated. That is, it is possible to cope with a change in the control start time when the control is performed on a rice cooker having a different amount of generated steam.

Also, not all of the steam released during cooking is collected, but within a predetermined range, and the rest is positively released into the living space. Could leave room for perception.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, not all of the steam generated during rice cooking is released into the air, but part of the steam is reliably liquefied and recovered by a cooler that has been cooled in advance. As a result, the progress of contamination in the space where the rice cooker is installed can be greatly delayed.

By determining the cooling start timing of the cooler in accordance with the capacity of the heat absorbing and dissipating unit, it becomes possible to cope with a change in the control start time when the rice cooker having a different amount of generated steam is used. Was.

In addition, not all of the steam released during the rice cooking is collected, but in a predetermined range, and the rest is released to the living space, so that the progress of the rice cooking can be perceived by smell. I was able to leave room.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice cooker main body 3 Rice cooker 5 Rice cooker 7 Lid 9 Heat absorption / dissipation unit 10 Peltier element 11 Heat dissipation end 12 Heat absorption end 14 Cooler 16 Control device 18 Monitor screen 19 Heat insulation sheet 20 Steam inlet 21 Drain outlet 22 Exhaust outlet 23 Drain pipe 24 Drainage channel 25 Outlet 26 Collection container

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rice cooker (5) for storing rice and water, a rice cooker body (1) for receiving and surrounding the rice cooker, and a lid (7) attached to the upper part of the rice cooker body to be openable and closable. )
And a heat absorbing and dissipating unit (9) provided by forming a heat dissipating end (11) and a heat absorbing end (12) by a Peltier element inside the lid, and a cooling unit attached to the heat absorbing end side of the heat absorbing and dissipating unit. And a steam inlet (20) through which steam generated in the rice cooker flows into the cooler.
A drain port (21) for discharging dew water generated by the cooler, an exhaust port (22) for discharging steam that could not be liquefied by the cooler, and a condensate water discharged from the drain port. A collecting container (26) detachably provided in the rice cooker main body for storing, a drain port of the cooler, and a dew condensation water collecting passage (23, 2) passing through the collecting container.
4, 25), a heating means (3) provided inside the rice cooker main body for heating the rice cooker, and controlling the supply of electric power to the heating means at the time of rice cooking and also at the time of starting rice cooking. An electric rice cooker comprising: a control device (27) for controlling the start of power supply to the heat absorbing and dissipating unit in association with the start of power supply to the heating means.