JP2000051070A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save power such as standby power by providing a solar battery and a power storage device storing output power from the solar battery and supplying power for lighting a back light brightening a display element of a rice cooker for more readable display from the solar battery. SOLUTION: When a display element 3 and a heating means 1 are controlled by means of a controlling means 2 obtaining power from a commercial power source 10 so as to output characters and so as to provide power to a heating means 1 for heating food, various actions such as cooking are carried out. In this case, a back light 4 brightening a display element 3 indicating various information for more readable display is lighted while power is stored in a power storage device 6. When output power from a solar battery 5 is lowered, power is fed to the back light 4 from the power storage device 6. In this way, the back light 4 is actuated only by means of electric power provided from the solar battery 5, so that standby power consumption in a standby state can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker used in ordinary households.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electric rice cookers are mainly equipped with a liquid crystal display, and some of them are equipped with a backlight so that the display can be read even in a dark place.

A conventional rice cooker will be described below by way of an example. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional rice cooker. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 11 denotes a heating unit that heats the food, 12 denotes a control unit that controls the heating unit 11, 13 denotes a display element that displays various information, and 14 denotes a backlight that brightens the display element 13 to make it easier to see. .

[0004] The operation of an example of a conventional rice cooker configured as described above will be described below.

[0005] The control means 12 which obtains electric power from the commercial power supply 15
Performs various operations such as cooking by controlling the display element 13 and the heating means 11 to output characters, or by applying power to the heating means 11 to heat the food. Also, the backlight 14
Is a rice cooker which obtains electric power from a commercial power supply 15 to make the display means 13 bright and easy to see and operate.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional rice cooker, the power of the backlight is supplied from the commercial power supply similarly to the control means 2, and the standby power is consumed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker which does not consume power from a commercial power supply in a backlight or reduces power consumption from a commercial power supply. .

[0008]

Therefore, in order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the present invention is to add a solar cell and a power storage device for storing the output power of the solar cell, and to save power for turning on a backlight. It is configured to be supplied from a solar cell.

Further, the second invention provides a solar battery, a power storage device for storing the output power of the solar battery, a voltage of the power storage device, and a power supply source for the backlight from the power storage device or a commercial power supply. A first switching device for switching the power is added, and when the detected output voltage of the power storage device is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, the first switching device sets the power supply source of the backlight to the power storage device, and performs the detection. When the output voltage of the power storage device does not reach the predetermined threshold value, the first switching device is configured so that the power supply source of the backlight is a commercial power supply.

The third aspect of the present invention is a second aspect of the present invention, which monitors the input of a solar battery, a power storage device for storing the output power of the solar battery, and a commercial power source, and switches between supplying and not supplying power to the backlight. A switching device is added so that the second switching device does not supply power to the backlight when there is no detected commercial power input.

[0011] Further, the fourth invention is a third aspect of the present invention, in which a solar cell, a power storage device for storing the output power of the solar cell, and a voltage of the solar cell are monitored to switch between supplying and not supplying power to the backlight. A switching device is added so that the third switching device does not supply power to the backlight when the voltage of the solar cell is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the power stored in the power storage device is supplied from the solar cell to the backlight, the commercial power supply is used only for the purpose of heating the inner pot. It is not consumed as backlight power.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the amount of power supplied from the power storage device decreases, the backlight can be turned on by the power from the commercial power supply. Can be turned on.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when there is no output from the commercial power supply, it is expected that the user does not intend to operate the backlight, so the backlight is not considered to be unnecessary and is not turned on. The stored power can be used effectively.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the output of the solar cell is sufficiently large, the surroundings are expected to be bright, and the backlight is not considered to be unnecessary and is not turned on. Electric power can be used effectively.

[0016]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the first invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a heating unit for heating the food, 2 is a control unit for controlling the heating unit 1,
3 is a display element for displaying various information, 4 is a backlight for brightening the display element 3 to make it easy to see, 5 is a solar cell for converting sunlight into electric power, and 6 is a power storage for storing electric power from the solar cell 5. Device.

An operation example of the first invention will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 2 which has obtained electric power from the commercial power supply 10 controls the display element 3 and the heating means 1 to output characters and to apply electric power to the heating means 1 to heat the food and perform various operations such as cooking. Do. The power obtained by the solar cell 5 stores the power in the power storage device 6 while turning on the backlight 4. When the output power of the solar battery 5 decreases, the backlight 4 is turned on by the power supplied from the power storage device 6 to brighten the display means 3.

By this operation, since the backlight 4 operates only with the power obtained from the solar cell 5, there is no need to supply the power consumed by the backlight 4 from the commercial power supply 10, and the standby power consumption during standby is reduced. Can be reduced.

(Embodiment 2) Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the second invention. In FIG. 2, 1 is a heating unit for heating the food, 2 is a control unit for controlling the heating unit 1,
3 is a display element for displaying various information, 4 is a backlight for brightening the display element 3 to make it easy to see, 5 is a solar cell for converting sunlight into electric power, and 6 is a power storage for storing electric power from the solar cell 5. A switching device a that monitors the voltage of the power storage device 6 and selects whether to take power supplied to the backlight 4 from the power storage device 6 or the commercial power supply 10
It is.

An operation example according to the second invention will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 2 which has obtained electric power from the commercial power supply 10 controls the display element 3 and the heating means 1 to output characters and to apply electric power to the heating means 1 to heat the food and perform various operations such as cooking. Do. The power obtained by the solar cell 5 is stored in the power storage device 6, and the backlight 4 is turned on by the power stored in the power storage device. When it is determined that the power is lower than the threshold, the switching device a7 switches the power supply source to the backlight 4 and turns on the backlight 4 with the power supplied from the commercial power supply 10.

With this operation, the backlight 4 uses the electric power when the electric power can be obtained from the electric power storage device 6, but uses the commercial power supply 10 when the voltage of the electric power storage device 6 is insufficient. Even if the power from the solar cell 5 stored in 6 is used up, the backlight 4 can be turned on when necessary.

(Embodiment 3) Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the third invention. In FIG. 3, 1 is a heating unit for heating the food, 2 is a control unit for controlling the heating unit 1,
3 is a display element for displaying various information, 4 is a backlight for brightening the display element 3 to make it easy to see, 5 is a solar cell for converting sunlight into electric power, and 6 is a power storage for storing electric power from the solar cell 5. The device 8 is a switching device b that monitors the output of the commercial power supply 10 and switches between supplying and not supplying power from the power storage device 6 to the backlight 4.

An operation example according to the third invention will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 2 which has obtained electric power from the commercial power supply 10 controls the display element 3 and the heating means 1 to output characters and to apply electric power to the heating means 1 to heat the food and perform various operations such as cooking. Do. The electric power obtained by the solar cell 5 is stored in the power storage device 6, and the backlight 4 is turned on by the power stored in the power storage device 6. However, the input from the commercial power supply 10 detected by the switching device b8 is When there is no switch, the switching device b8 stops supplying power to the backlight 4.

With this operation, even if power is stored in the power storage device 6, when there is no input from the commercial power supply 10, it is determined that the user does not need to turn on the backlight 4, and the backlight 4 is turned off. Therefore, unnecessary power consumption can be suppressed.

(Embodiment 4) Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the fourth invention. In FIG. 4, 1 is a heating means for heating the food, 2 is a control means for controlling the heating means 1,
3 is a display element for displaying various information, 4 is a backlight for brightening the display element 3 to make it easy to see, 5 is a solar cell for converting sunlight into electric power, and 6 is a power storage for storing electric power from the solar cell 5. The device 9 is a switching device c for monitoring the voltage of the solar cell 5 and switching whether or not to supply power from the power storage device 6 to the backlight 4.

An operation example according to the fourth invention will be described with reference to FIG. The control means 2 which has obtained electric power from the commercial power supply 10 controls the display element 3 and the heating means 1 to output characters and to apply electric power to the heating means 1 to heat the food and perform various operations such as cooking. Do. Further, the power obtained by the solar cell 5 is stored in the power storage device 6, and the backlight 4 is turned on by the power stored in the power storage device 6, but the voltage of the solar cell 5 detected by the switching device c9 is sufficient. The switching device c9 stops supplying power to the backlight 4.

With this operation, even if power is stored in the power storage device 6, when there is no input from the commercial power supply 10, the user determines that the backlight 4 is not required to be turned on and turns off the backlight 4. Therefore, unnecessary power consumption can be suppressed.

These embodiments may be used alone, but a plurality of embodiments such as the second and third embodiments may be executed simultaneously. In the second embodiment, the switching device a7 selects one of the electric power from the solar battery 5 and the electric power from the commercial power supply 10, but may select another electric power such as a primary battery.

[0033]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention provides
If the power storage device has sufficient power stored from the solar cell, it is not necessary to supply power consumed by the backlight from a commercial power supply, and a rice cooker with reduced standby power consumption can be realized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, even when the power stored in the power storage device from the solar cell is smaller than the amount required to light the backlight, the light is continuously turned on using the commercial power supply. It is possible to realize a rice cooker that can cook rice.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is considered that the backlight is unnecessary when there is no input from the commercial power supply even if the power storage device has sufficient power stored from the solar cell.
The present invention can realize a rice cooker that can save unnecessary solar power by eliminating unnecessary power consumption.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 considers that a backlight is unnecessary when the output voltage of the solar cell is high even if the power storage device has sufficient power stored from the solar cell,
The present invention can realize a rice cooker that can use solar energy for charging a power storage device without unnecessary power consumption and that can efficiently use solar energy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional rice cooker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heating means 2 Control means 3 Display element 4 Backlight 5 Solar cell 6 Power storage device 10 Commercial power supply

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4B055 AA02 BA34 CA65 CA71 CB27 CC05 CC10 CD32 CD41 CD56 CD57 GA01 GA11 GB29 GC12 GC36 5F051 BA05 JA17

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A heating means for heating a food, a display element for displaying information, a control means for controlling the heating means and the display element, a solar cell for converting sunlight into electric power,
A power storage device for storing power obtained by the solar cell,
A rice cooker comprising: a backlight for facilitating the display of the display element; wherein the backlight is supplied with power stored in the power storage device. A first switching device for monitoring a voltage of the power storage device and supplying one of power obtained from a commercial power supply and power stored in the power storage device to a backlight; The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the first switching device switches power supply to the backlight from the power storage device or from power obtained from a commercial power supply according to a voltage of the device. A second switching device for monitoring the input of the commercial power supply and switching between energization and non-energization of the backlight from the power storage device, wherein a second switching device is provided in response to the input of the commercial power supply. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein switching between supplying and not supplying power to the backlight is performed. 4. A third switching device for monitoring the voltage of the solar cell and switching between energization and non-energization from the power storage device to the backlight, wherein the third switching device switches the power storage device according to the voltage of the solar cell. And switching between supplying and not supplying the power to the backlight.
The described rice cooker.