JP2000316715A - Pressure cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress blowing-out of steam generated at the time of cooking at a low cost and with a simple constitution. SOLUTION: A pressure cooker (rice cooker 1) provided with a cooking pot (inner pot 2), a cooker body 3 for housing the cooking pot, a heating means (induction heating coil 6) for heating the cooking pot, a lid 8 fixed to the cooker body 3 in an openable and closable manner to form a first sealed space 2a by plugging the opening part of the cooking pot, and a control means 42 for controlling the heating means. In the cooker 1, a second sealed space 36 which is communicated with a first closed space 2a formed within the cooking pot via a first pressure adjusting means 22 and communicated with the atmosphere outside of the lid via a second pressure adjusting means 28 is provided, and is provided with a cooling means (fan 41) for cooling the space 36. In addition, a temperature sensor 40 for detecting a temperature in the space 36 is arranged and, at the time of detecting the raising off the temperature in the space 36 by this temperature sensor, the cooling means is operated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pressure cooker, such as a steamer or a rice cooker, for performing cooking while suppressing the blowing of steam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pressure cooker of this type maintains a constant internal pressure of a cooking pot by a pressure sensor and controls a heating means of the cooking pot by the pressure sensor and the temperature sensor to execute a predetermined operation flow. By running
Cooking the desired ingredients.

[0003]

However, the pressure cooker requires an expensive semiconductor type pressure sensor, a lid temperature sensor, and a pan bottom temperature sensor.
There was a problem that the cost was high. In addition, the pressure sensor must be disposed so that the detection unit faces the inside of the cooking pot. However, when the pressure cooker is a rice cooker, the generation of rice at the time of cooking rice is detected by the sensor. In order to prevent the adverse effects caused by the adhesion to the parts, it was necessary to provide a complicated sleep prevention structure.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a pressure cooker that can suppress the blowing of steam generated during cooking with a cheap and simple configuration.

[0005]

To solve the above-mentioned problems, a pressure cooker according to the present invention comprises a cooking pot, a main body for housing the cooking pot, heating means for heating the cooking pot, and In a pressure cooker that is openably and closably provided with a lid that closes an opening of the cooking pot to form a first enclosed space, and control means that controls the heating means, A second closed space communicating with the first closed space formed in the pan via the first pressure adjusting means and communicating with the atmosphere outside the lid via the second pressure adjusting means; The cooling means for cooling the space is provided.

[0006] According to the pressure cooker, when the steam generated in the first closed space during cooking flows into the second closed space via the first pressure adjusting means, it is cooled by the operation of the cooling means. As a result, the inside of the second sealed space is decompressed, and the steam inside is cooled and dewed. Therefore, the steam released to the atmosphere via the second pressure adjusting means can be suppressed.

In the pressure cooker, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the second closed space is provided, and when the temperature sensor detects a temperature rise in the second closed space, the cooling means is operated. preferable. Further, it is preferable that, when the temperature sensor detects a rise in the temperature of the second closed space, heating of the cooking pot by the heating means is suppressed. This makes it possible to execute rice cooking (pressure) control that reliably suppresses steam blowing without using an expensive pressure sensor.

Further, it is preferable that the second pressure adjusting means operates at a pressure lower than that of the first pressure adjusting means, so that an abnormal increase in the internal pressure in the first closed space and the second closed space can be prevented. .

Further, the lid comprises an upper plate, a lower plate attached to a lower edge of the upper plate, and an inner lid detachably attached to a bottom surface of the lower plate. The first pressure adjusting means and the second pressure adjusting means are configured to be attached, so that the first pressure adjusting means and the second pressure adjusting means can be washed when the inner lid is washed, so that these pressure adjusting means can be cleaned by adhesion of dirt. It is preferable to prevent the inconvenience of not operating from occurring.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a steamless rice cooker 1 which is a pressure cooker of the present invention. This rice cooker 1
It generally comprises an inner pot 2 serving as a cooking pot, a main body 3, an induction heating coil 6 serving as a heating means, an inner pot temperature sensor 7, a lid 8, and a control means 42.

The inner pan 2 is made of a ferromagnetic material which is electromagnetically heated by an eddy current generated when a high-frequency current is applied to an induction heating coil 6 to be described later, on an outer surface of a pan base material made of aluminum or the like having a high thermal conductivity. Is subjected to coating or bonding.

The body 3 has a protective frame 5 made of a non-conductive material for accommodating the inner pot 2 inside a body 4 having a bottomed cylindrical shape. The heating means, the inner pan temperature sensor 7 and the control means 42 are arranged between the body 4 and the protection frame 5.

The induction heating coil 6, which is the heating means,
The inner pot 2 is disposed on the lower surface of the protection frame 5 and is supplied with a high-frequency current to heat the inner pot 2 by electromagnetic induction.

The temperature sensor 7 for the inner pot is connected to the protection frame 5.
, And the detection unit at the tip thereof is brought into contact with the outer surface of the inner pot 2 through a through hole provided in the protective frame 5, and outputs the temperature of the inner pot 2 to the control means 42, The heating temperature of the inner pot 2 is controlled via the control means 42.

The lid 8 closes the openings of the inner pot 2 and the main body 3 to form a first closed space 2a in the inner pot 2. The upper plate 9 and the upper plate 9 It comprises a lower plate 12 attached to the lower edge and an inner lid 19 detachably attached to the bottom surface of the lower plate 12. And by these,
The inside of the lid 8 is partitioned into a second closed space 36 and a space 38 for housing component parts.

Specifically, the upper plate 9 is provided with an exhaust port 10 for discharging steam generated in the first closed space 2a in the inner pot 2 during rice cooking. A duct 11 projects downward.

The lower plate 12 is formed with a first accommodating portion 13 for accommodating a first pressure adjusting means 22, which will be described later, and a second accommodating portion 15 for accommodating the second pressure adjusting means 28.
The first housing 13 has a partly open wall, and this opening is airtightly closed by a heat transfer plate 14 having good heat conductivity. The upper edge of the second housing portion 15 coincides with the lower edge of the duct 11 of the upper plate 9, and the second housing portion 15 is air-tightly communicated with the duct 11 via a seal member 16. In addition, the lower plate 12 has a radiator plate 17 at the lower portion as in the conventional case.
Are provided, and a lid heater 18 is provided on the upper surface of the heat radiating plate 17.

In the inner lid 19, a packing 20 is provided over the entire periphery of the inner pot 2 and is in pressure contact with the upper edge of the inner pot 2. The packing 20 forms a first closed space 2a in the inner pot 2. The inner cover 19 has an opening at a position corresponding to the first housing portion 13 and the second housing portion 15 of the lower plate 12. The first pressure adjusting means 22 and the second pressure Closing plate 2 with adjusting means 28 integrally attached
1 is provided.

The first pressure adjusting means 22 is mounted in the first accommodating portion 13 with a predetermined gap, and is located above a first communication hole 23 formed in the closing plate 21. A first pressure regulating ball 24 that closes the one communication hole 23 by its own weight, and a case 27 that covers the first pressure regulating ball 24 and has a large number of through holes 25 and insertion holes 26 are provided. The first pressure regulating ball 24 is provided in the first closed space 2.
A material having a weight that floats at a predetermined pressure is used so that the pressure a becomes about 1.15 atm.

The second pressure adjusting means 28 is mounted in the second receiving portion 15 with a predetermined gap, and includes a receiving seat 29 mounted on the closing plate 21, a second pressure regulating ball 32, Case 33 attached to the receiving seat 29
Consists of The seat 29 is provided with the first pressure adjusting means 22.
A ventilation hole 30 into which the steam ejected from the air flows and a second communication hole 31 are formed. The second communication hole 31
The second pressure regulating ball 32 is located at the top of the second communication hole, and the second communication hole 31 is closed by its own weight. The pressure in the second closed space 36 is set to 1.
A material having a weight that lifts at a predetermined pressure so as to be 1 atm is used. In the case 33, an exhaust port 34 communicating with the exhaust port 10 of the upper plate 9 is formed at an upper end thereof, and a flange portion 35 is formed on an outer periphery thereof, and a space between the flange portion 35 and the outer peripheral portion is formed. Sealed by a seal member 16.

The second closed space 36 is formed between the first communication hole 23 and the second communication hole 31 by a packing 37 disposed so as to surround the first housing portion 13 and the second housing portion 15. It is formed in. The steam in the first closed space 2 a flows into the second closed space 36 through the first communication hole 23, passes through the ventilation hole 30 and the second communication hole 31, and from the exhaust port 10 of the upper plate 9. Released to the atmosphere.

The accommodating space 38 includes the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 1.
2 is formed between them. The accommodation space 38 is provided with a solenoid 39 for retracting the pressure regulating ball of the first pressure adjusting means 22 from above the first communication hole 23. The shaft portion of the solenoid 39 advances into the first housing portion 13 while maintaining the airtightness via packing, and also enters the insertion hole 26 of the case 27 to press the first pressure regulating ball 24. It is supposed to. The housing space 38 is provided with a lid temperature sensor 40 for detecting the temperature of the second closed space 36. The lid temperature sensor 40 is provided so as to be located on the heat transfer plate 14 in which a part of the wall of the first housing 13 is closed. Further, the storage space 38 includes a second closed space 36.
A fan 41 is provided as cooling means for cooling the second closed space 36 via the wall of the first housing 13 and the heat transfer plate 14.

The control means 42 is a microcomputer arranged on a control board, and the microcomputer performs, in the same manner as in the prior art, each of the steps of preheating, medium heating, power control, spotting, and heat retention in accordance with a stored program. Are sequentially performed to perform the rice cooking operation, and the heating means and the cooling means are controlled in accordance with input signals from the temperature sensor 7 for the inner pot and the temperature sensor 40 for the lid.

Next, the rice cooking operation of the rice cooker 1 will be specifically described. First, the user causes the desired number of cups of rice and the amount of water required to cook the rice to be stored in the inner pot 2, and after setting the inner pot 2 on the main body 3,
Set the desired rice hardness, cooking time, etc. and press the rice cooker switch.

Then, the microcomputer of the rice cooker 1 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, when rice cooking is started, first, step S1
Then, the application of high-frequency current to the induction heating coil 6 is started, and the temperature of the inner pot 2 is adjusted to be in the range of about 55 ° C. to 65 ° C. to apply preheating. In this state, the first
The first pressure adjusting ball 24 of the pressure adjusting means 22 is a solenoid 3
9 retreats from above the first communication hole 23 and makes the inside of the inner pot 2 and the second closed space 36 communicate with each other.

When a predetermined time has elapsed, step S
In step 2, after 100% (full power) power is supplied to the induction heating coil 6, the rice cooking capacity is determined in step S3. Here, the determination of the rice cooking capacity is determined based on a rising gradient of the temperature detected via the temperature sensor 7 for the inner pot. Then, according to the determined rice cooking capacity, a temperature at which pressure is applied to the inner pot 2 via the solenoid 39 and the first pressure adjusting means 22 and a time for determining that the dry-up is performed are set.

Next, at step S4, the lid temperature sensor 4
The temperature detected via 0 is the set threshold (approximately 75
° C), and when the threshold value is reached, in step S5, the solenoid 39 is operated to roll the first pressure regulating ball 24 of the first pressure adjusting means 22 onto the first communication hole 23, Pressure is applied to the inner pan 2. Thereby, the first closed space 2 a is formed in the inner pot 2.

Then, as in the conventional case, steam is generated by heating by the induction heating coil 6 and the first closed space 2 is formed.
The internal pressure and temperature of a increase. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the pressure of the first closed space 2a in the inner pan 2 is 1.15 atm.
Approaching, the first pressure adjusting ball 2 of the first pressure adjusting means 22
4 rises, and the steam of the first closed space 2 a flows into the second closed space 36. Thereby, the temperature in the second closed space 36 increases. Further, the pressure in the second sealed space 36 at this time gradually increases and rises to near the pressure at which the second pressure adjusting ball 32 of the second pressure adjusting means 28 operates.

Then, the microcomputer, as shown in FIG.
In step S6, the process waits until the temperature of the second closed space 36 detected through the lid temperature sensor 40 exceeds 95 ° C.
If the temperature exceeds 95 ° C., in step S7, the induction heating coil 6
The power supplied to the fan 4 is reduced, and in step S8, the fan 4
1 is operated. In the present embodiment, the power supplied to the induction heating coil 6 is reduced to 0% in step S7, but the power supplied may be 20%.

As described above, the fan 41 as the cooling means
Is operated, as shown in FIG.
The internal pressure and temperature gradually decrease. The steam that has flowed into the second closed space 36 is cooled together with the second closed space 36, and condenses in the second closed space 36. As a result, even if the switching timing is slightly delayed in step S7, the release of steam to the atmosphere via the second pressure adjusting means 28 can be substantially prevented. Further, the pressure and the temperature of the first closed space 2 a in the inner pot 2 gradually decrease due to the decrease in the power supplied to the induction heating coil 6.
When the pressure in the inner pan 2 falls below 1.15 atm, the first
The pressure adjusting ball 24 closes the first communication hole 23.

Thereafter, in step S 9, the microcomputer detects the temperature of the second closed space 36 through the lid temperature sensor 40.
Wait until the temperature drops below 5 ° C.
In step S10, the power supplied to the induction heating coil 6 is reduced to 6
After that, the fan 41 is stopped at step S11.

As described above, when the lid temperature sensor 40 detects the set upper limit temperature, the power supply to the induction heating coil 6 is reduced and the fan 41 is operated, and when the set lower limit temperature is detected, the induction heating coil 6 is turned on. Since the energization of the coil 6 is increased and the fan 41 is stopped, unnecessary power consumption can be prevented.

Next, in step S12, it is determined whether or not a dry-up, which indicates a state in which water in the inner pot 2 has run out, has been detected by a well-known method. move on. On the other hand, when dry-up is not detected, the process returns to step S6, and the rice cooking operation by pressure input from step S6 to step S11 is continued.

In step S13, the solenoid 39 is operated to retract the first pressure regulating ball 24 from above the first communication hole 23, and the pressure input by the first pressure adjusting means 22 is released. Then, in step S14, energization of the lid heater 18 disposed on the lid 8 is started, and steaming and dew-exposure are performed for a predetermined time, thereby finishing the rice cooking. When the rice cooking is completed, similarly to the known rice cooker 1, the process proceeds to the heat retaining process.

As described above, in the present invention, an expensive pressure sensor may be used when controlling the pressure of the first closed space 2a in the inner pot 2 while cooking rice while suppressing the blowing of steam to the outside. Instead, since the control is performed using a lid temperature sensor which has been conventionally applied, the cost of the product can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

Since the first pressure adjusting means 22 and the second pressure adjusting means 28 are integrally attached to the detachable inner lid 19, the dew condensation accumulated in the second closed space 36 during the rice cooking operation. The water and the water are washed with the inner lid 19 when washing.
By removing, it can be easily and reliably washed off.

Note that the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above configuration. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the rice cooker 1 is applied as the pressure cooker, but the same operation and effect can be obtained by applying the rice cooker 1 to a steamer, a pressure cooker, or the like.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, in the pressure cooker according to the present invention, when the steam generated during cooking flows into the second closed space via the first pressure adjusting means, the steam generated by the cooling means is reduced. Since it is configured to be cooled by the operation, the inside of the second sealed space is depressurized, and the steam inside is cooled and dewed. Therefore, the steam released to the atmosphere via the second pressure adjusting means can be suppressed.

Further, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the second closed space is provided, and when the temperature sensor detects a rise in the temperature of the second closed space, the cooling means is operated. The heating of the cooking pot by means is suppressed. That is, since rice cooking control can be performed without using an expensive pressure sensor, the cost of the product can be reduced. Further, a temperature sensor serving as a substitute for the pressure sensor is provided in a housing space formed above the second sealed space, and steam or rice cake generated during cooking rice flows into this housing space. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent adverse effects caused by these components adhering to the sensor, and it is not necessary to provide a complicated prevention structure.

Further, since the second pressure adjusting means operates at a pressure lower than that of the first pressure adjusting means, the internal pressures of the first closed space and the second closed space are surely prevented from rising abnormally. it can. Furthermore, since the first pressure adjusting means and the second pressure adjusting means are integrally attached to the detachable inner lid, the first pressure adjusting means and the second pressure adjusting means can be used when the inner lid is washed.
Beds and traces of dew condensation on the pressure adjusting means and the second pressure adjusting means can be reliably washed off. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the inconvenience that these pressure adjusting means do not operate due to adhesion of dirt or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a rice cooker as a pressure cooker of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a rice cooking operation of the rice cooker.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing a relationship between a pressure in a closed space and a temperature detected by a temperature sensor, and an operation timing of a cooling unit and an induction heating coil associated therewith.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cooker, 2 ... Inner pot, 2a ... First enclosed space, 3 ... Main body, 5 ... Protection frame, 6 ... Induction heating coil (heating means), 7
... temperature sensor for inner pan, 8 ... lid, 9 ... upper plate, 10 ... exhaust port, 11 ... duct, 12 ... lower plate, 13 ... first storage part, 1
4: heat transfer plate, 15: second housing portion, 16: seal member, 1
7: heat sink, 18: lid heater, 19: inner lid, 22: first
Pressure adjusting means, 23: first communication hole, 24: first pressure adjusting ball, 28: second pressure adjusting means, 31: second communication hole, 32
... second pressure regulating ball, 36 ... second sealed space, 38 ... accommodation space, 40 ... lid temperature sensor, 41 ... fan (cooling means), 42 ... control means.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A cooking pot, and a main body accommodating the cooking pot,
Heating means for heating the cooking pot; a lid attached to the main body so as to be openable and closable to form a first closed space by closing an opening of the cooking pot; and control means for controlling the heating means. In the pressure cooker, the lid communicates with a first closed space formed in the cooking pan via first pressure adjusting means and communicates with the atmosphere outside the lid via second pressure adjusting means. And a cooling means for cooling the second sealed space. 2. A temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the second closed space is provided, and when the temperature sensor detects a rise in the temperature of the second closed space, the cooling means is operated. The pressure cooker according to claim 1, wherein 3. The pressure cooker according to claim 2, wherein when the temperature sensor detects a rise in the temperature of the second enclosed space, heating of the cooking pot by the heating means is suppressed. 4. The pressure cooker according to claim 1, wherein the second pressure adjusting means operates at a pressure lower than that of the first pressure adjusting means. . 5. The lid body comprises an upper plate, a lower plate attached to a lower edge of the upper plate, and an inner lid detachably attached to a bottom surface of the lower plate. The pressure cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a first pressure adjusting unit and a second pressure adjusting unit.