JP2001178621A - Electric rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a product compact by devising the leading direction of terminals in an electric heater. SOLUTION: In the electric rice cooker provided with a rice cooker main body 1 for housing a cooked rice container 3 to be freely put in and out, the lid 2 of the main body 1 and an electric heater 4 composed of a heating panel 33 arranged on the inner bottom surface of the main body 1 and having high thermal conductivity and a heating element 34 embedded in the panel 33, a pair of terminals 36 being power feeding parts to the heating element 34 are led out from the heating panel 33 in almost horizontal direction, thereby a space below the heating panel 33 is reduced as compared to a conventional rice cooker where the terminals 36 are led out downward from the heating panel 33.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electric rice cooker, and more particularly to an electric rice cooker having a compact structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 3, a well-known electric rice cooker is provided on a rice cooker main body 1 for accommodating the rice cooker 3 so as to be freely taken in and out, and on an inner bottom surface of the rice cooker main body 1. The electric heater 4 includes a heating plate 33 made of a good conductor and a heating element 34 embedded in the heating plate 33. A pair of terminals 36, 36 serving as power supply units to the heating element 34 are drawn downward from the heating plate 33.

[0003]

In the case of the electric rice cooker constructed as described above, since the terminals 36, 36 are led out downward, a space for terminal extraction is required below the electric heater 4, so that the rice cooker can be cooked. The bottom of the container body 1 and the electric heater 4
In this case, the dimension H between the heating element 34 and the heating element 34 inevitably increases, and usually H = about 60 mm. As a result, the overall height of the electric rice cooker has also been increased, which has been a bottleneck in achieving compactness.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to reduce the size of a product by devising a direction in which terminals of an electric heater are led out.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a rice cooker main body for accommodating a rice cooker, a lid of the rice cooker main body, and the rice cooker An electric rice cooker provided on the inner bottom surface of the vessel main body and including an electric heater constituted by a heating plate made of a good heat conductor and a heating element embedded in the heating plate, wherein a power supply section for the heating element is provided. And a pair of terminals to be led out substantially horizontally from the hot platen.

[0006] With the above configuration, the space below the hot plate can be reduced as compared with the conventional one in which the terminals are led downward from the hot plate, and the bottom of the rice cooker main body and the electric heater are provided. The dimension between the heating element and the heating element can be reduced. As a result, the height of the whole rice cooker main body can be suppressed low.

[0007] As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
The electric rice cooker as described above, wherein the rice cooker main body has a double structure having a space between an outer case constituting an outer peripheral surface and an inner case constituting an inner peripheral surface, and a front space in the rice cooker main body. In a case where a control board for controlling the energization of the electric heater is arranged vertically and the two terminals are led out forward from a front side of the hot platen, the control board and the terminal The distance can be made as short as possible, and wiring costs and the like can be reduced. Further, since the temperature of the terminal side of the electric heater is lowered, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the control board from rising.

[0008] As in the invention of claim 3, claim 1
In the electric rice cooker according to any one of (2) and (3), in a case where terminal plates facing each other in a substantially horizontal posture are provided for the both terminals, the terminal plates are adjacent to each other, so that wiring work is facilitated.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electric rice cooker according to any one of the first, second and third aspects, a cord reel storage portion for storing a code reel is formed at the bottom of the rice cooker main body. In addition, when a heat shield plate is provided on the upper part of the code reel storage part, the influence of heat from the electric heater on the code reel can be suppressed.

[0010] As in the invention of claim 5, in the electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 2, 3 and 4, when a heat insulating material is interposed between the inner case and the electric heater, The influence of heat on the lower part of the inner case can be further suppressed.

[0011]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electric rice cooker 1 has a rice cooker main body 1 for accommodating a rice cooker 3 so as to be freely taken in and out.
And a lid 2 of the rice cooker main body 1 and an electric heater 4 disposed on the inner bottom surface of the rice cooker main body 1.

The rice cooker main body 1 is provided with a space between a bottomed cylindrical outer case 5 made of synthetic resin forming the outer peripheral surface and a bottomed cylindrical inner case 6 made of sheet metal forming the inner peripheral surface. The upper end of the outer case 5 and the upper end of the inner case 6 are joined by an annular shoulder member 8 made of synthetic resin.

The lid 2 is composed of a synthetic resin upper plate 9 constituting an outer surface and a synthetic resin lower plate 10 constituting an inner surface, and is surrounded by the upper and lower plates 9 and 10. A heat insulating material 12 is provided in the space 11.

The lid 2 is rotatably and detachably attached to the rice cooker main body 1 via a hinge unit 13 formed on one side (that is, a rear portion) of the shoulder member 8.

At the center of the lid 2, there is formed a tubular portion 14 which is suspended from the upper plate 9. Inside the tubular portion 14, steam generated during rice cooking is discharged to the outside. A pressure regulating cylinder 16 having a steam discharge passage 15 for performing the operation is detachably attached. A ball valve 17 acting as a pressure regulating valve is provided in the pressure regulating cylinder 16. At the lower end of the pressure regulating cylinder 16, a heat radiating plate 18 made of a good heat conductor (for example, aluminum alloy) for sealing the opening 3a of the rice cooker 3 when the lid 2 is closed is attached. Reference numeral 19 denotes a steam inlet to the pressure control cylinder 16, 20 denotes a steam outlet from the pressure control cylinder 16, 21 denotes a steam port formed in the heat radiating plate 18,
2 is a seal packing for sealing between the periphery of the heat sink 18 and the opening 3a of the inner pot 3, 23 is a seal packing for sealing between the heat sink 18 and the lid lower plate 10, and 24 is the lid 2
Is a lock mechanism for maintaining the closed state of the lock.

The shoulder member 8 is provided with a shoulder heater 25. The outer peripheral edge of the heat radiating plate 18 is pressed against the shoulder heater 25 when the lid 2 is closed, and the heat radiating plate 18 is heated by the heat conduction from the shoulder heater 25. That is, the shoulder heater 25 functions as a heating unit that heats the heat radiating plate 18. The shoulder heater 25 includes a heater ring 26 having an inverted U-shaped cross section,
A heating element 27 is provided in the heater ring 26.

On the front side of the shoulder portion 8 of the rice cooker main body 1 (ie, on the side opposite to the hinge unit), an operation panel 28 provided with various switches and a display device is provided. Inside 28, a switch board 29 is provided.

Outside the peripheral wall 6a of the inner case 6,
A heat retaining heater 30 is attached, and outside thereof,
A heat insulating material 31 is provided.

On the front side of the space 7 in the rice cooker main body 1 (ie, on the side opposite to the hinge unit), a control board 32 for controlling the energization of the electric heater 4 is located outside the heat insulating material 31. It is arranged vertically.

The electric heater 4 is provided with a heat conductor (for example,
A heating plate 33 made of aluminum alloy) and a heating element 34 embedded in the heating plate 33.
3 is a disk portion 33a on which the bottom of the rice cooker 3 is placed,
The heating element 3 is integrally protruded from the lower surface of the disk portion 33a.
4 comprises a ridge portion 33b in which is embedded and a heat transfer portion 33c extending obliquely upward from the outer peripheral portion of the disk portion 33a along the outer peripheral portion of the rice cooker 3. The electric heater 4 is mounted by fixing the hot disk portion 33a to the bottom of the inner case 6 with screws 35.

On the front side of the inner case 6, there is formed an opening 37 for leading out a pair of terminals 36, 36 serving as a power supply portion of the electric heater 4.

The terminals 36, 36 are led out substantially horizontally from the hot platen 33 forward after crossing each other.
The terminals 36, 36 are provided with connection and connection terminal plates 38, 38, respectively, which face each other in a substantially horizontal posture. In this case, the terminal plates 38, 38 are adjacent to each other, and the wiring work becomes easy.

The rear side of the bottom of the rice cooker main body 1 (that is,
On the hinge unit side), a code reel storage part 40 for storing the code reel 39 is formed. Above the code reel storage part 40, a heat shield plate 41 is provided. The heat insulating material 31 is placed on the heat shield plate 41. Further, on the bottom of the inner case 6, a heat-resistant heat insulating material 42 for suppressing heat radiation from the electric heater 4 downward is provided. In this way, the influence of heat from the electric heater 4 on the code reel 39 can be suppressed.

Since the electric heater 4 has the above-described structure (that is, a structure in which the terminals 36, 36 are led out to the front side), the temperature of the electric heater 4 facing the terminals 36, 36 becomes high. Therefore, in the present embodiment, on the inner case 6 side corresponding to the high-temperature portion of the electric heater 4,
A thermal fuse 43 is attached to a fixture 44 fixed to the shoulder member 8.

A sensor hole 45 is formed in the center of the bottom surface of the inner case 6.
A center sensor 46 is provided in contact with the bottom of the rice cooker 3. In the present embodiment, as the center sensor 46, a sensor having a small size protruding below the mounting screw is employed.

In the electric rice cooker configured as described above, the following operational effects can be obtained.

Since the terminals 36, 36 are led out from the hot platen 33 substantially horizontally, the space below the hot platen 33 can be reduced as compared with the conventional one in which the terminals are led out downward from the hot platen. In addition, the dimension H between the bottom surface of the rice cooker main body 1 and the heating element 34 of the electric heater 4 can be reduced. As a result, the height of the entire rice cooker main body 1 can be kept low.

Also, since the terminals 36, 36 are configured to be led forward from the front side of the hot platen 33 toward the control board 32, the distance between the control board 32 and the terminals 36, 36 is made as short as possible. It is possible to reduce wiring costs and the like. Also, terminals 36,
Since the temperature on the side 36 decreases, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the control board 32 from rising.

[0030]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a rice cooker main body for accommodating a rice cooker in and out, a lid body of the rice cooker main body, and a heat conductor disposed on the inner bottom surface of the rice cooker main body. In the electric rice cooker provided with an electric heater composed of a heating plate made of and a heating element embedded in the heating plate, a pair of terminals serving as a power supply unit to the heating element are substantially separated from the heating plate. Since it is configured to be led out horizontally, the space below the hot plate can be reduced as compared with the conventional one in which the terminals are led downward from the hot plate, and the heating element in the bottom of the rice cooker body and the electric heater The height of the rice cooker main body can be reduced, and the size can be reduced.

As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
The electric rice cooker as described above, wherein the rice cooker main body has a double structure having a space between an outer case constituting an outer peripheral surface and an inner case constituting an inner peripheral surface, and a front space in the rice cooker main body. In a case where a control board for controlling the energization of the electric heater is arranged vertically and the two terminals are led out forward from a front side of the hot platen, the control board and the terminal The distance can be made as short as possible, and wiring costs and the like can be reduced. Further, since the temperature of the terminal side of the electric heater is lowered, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the control board from rising.

As in the invention of claim 3, claim 1
In the electric rice cooker according to any one of (2) and (3), in a case where terminal plates facing each other in a substantially horizontal posture are provided for the both terminals, the terminal plates are adjacent to each other, so that wiring work is facilitated.

As in the invention of claim 4, in the electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 3, a cord reel storage portion for storing a code reel is formed at the bottom of the rice cooker main body. In addition, when a heat shield plate is provided on the upper part of the code reel storage part, the influence of heat from the electric heater on the code reel can be suppressed.

As in the invention of claim 5, in the electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 2, 3 and 4, when a heat insulating material is interposed between the inner case and the electric heater, The influence of heat on the lower part of the inner case can be further suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an electric rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of a conventional electric rice cooker.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a rice cooker main body, 2 is a lid, 3 is a rice cooker, 4 is an electric heater, 5 is an outer case, 6 is an inner case, 7 is a space, 32 is a control board, 33 is a hot plate, and 34 is a heating element. , 36 are terminals, 3
8 is a terminal plate, 39 is a code reel, 40 is a code reel storage part, 41 is a heat shield plate, and 42 is a heat insulating material.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rice cooker main body for storing a rice cooker so as to be freely taken in and out, a lid of the rice cooker main body, a hot plate disposed on an inner bottom surface of the rice cooker main body and made of a good heat conductor, and a hot plate inside the hot plate. An electric rice cooker provided with an electric heater constituted by a heating element embedded in the heating plate, wherein a pair of terminals serving as a power supply section for the heating element are led out substantially horizontally from the heating plate. An electric rice cooker, characterized in that: 2. The rice cooker main body has a double structure having a space between an outer case constituting an outer peripheral surface and an inner case constituting an inner peripheral surface, and the rice cooker main body has a front side space. A control board for controlling power supply to the electric heater is disposed vertically, and the terminals are led out from a front side of the hot platen in a forward direction. An electric rice cooker as described. 3. The electric rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the two terminals are provided with terminal plates facing each other in a substantially horizontal posture. 4. A cord reel accommodating portion for accommodating a code reel is formed at a bottom portion of the rice cooker main body.
The electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 3, wherein a heat shield plate is provided on an upper portion of the cord reel storage unit. 5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a heat insulating material is interposed between the inner case and the electric heater.
The electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 4 and 4.