JP2002034788A - Electric rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce mistakes in setting a preselected time by adding and displaying a character or a symbol expressing 'today' or 'tomorrow' in a display of the preselected time. SOLUTION: When preselecting a time of cooking rice by a preselecting switch, the character or the symbol expressing 'today' or 'tomorrow' is made to be displayed on a display device with the preselected time input by a selected time inputting means to reduce mistakes in setting the preselected time without adding a calendar function (or without increasing cost).

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 which eliminates mistakes in setting a reserved rice cooking time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a microcomputer-type electric rice cooker has a clock function for displaying the current time on a display device. When making a reservation for cooking rice, a reservation switch, an hour switch and a minute switch are operated. By doing so, a cooked reservation time is set, and the reservation time is displayed on the liquid crystal display device to make a reservation setting.

[0003]

However, an ordinary electric rice cooker has a clock function but does not have a calendar function, so that the date cannot be set. One of the most common mistakes in the reservation operation was the misalignment between morning and afternoon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is intended to reduce a mistake in setting a reservation time by adding a character or a symbol representing "today" or "tomorrow" to the reservation time display. It is the purpose.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, a reservation switch for setting a rice cooking reservation, a time input means for inputting a reservation time, and the time input An electric rice cooker provided with a display device for displaying the reservation time input by the means, when cooking rice by the reservation switch, represents "today" or "tomorrow" together with the reservation time input by the reservation time input means. A reserved time display means for displaying characters or symbols on the display device is provided.

[0006] With the above arrangement, characters or symbols representing "today" or "tomorrow" are displayed on the display device together with the set reservation time.
Without adding a calendar function (ie, without increasing the cost), it is possible to reduce mistakes in setting the reserved time.

[0007] As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
In the described electric rice cooker, when the reservation time> current time, “Today” is selected and when the reservation time <current time, “Tomorrow” is selected and displayed. The comparison between "Today" and "Tomorrow" can be accurately selected, and the reservation cannot be set after more than 24 hours, so that there is no need to worry about corruption.

[0008] As in the invention of claim 3, claim 1
3. The electric rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein
When the date changes after 4:00, if the display of the reserved time of "Tomorrow" is changed to the display of the reserved time of "Today", the display is changed from "Tomorrow" to "Today" after 24:00. It can be performed.

As in the invention of claim 4, in the electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 3, when the display of "today" or "tomorrow" is made by the reserved time display means. If a voice notification unit is provided to notify the user of the reservation time of “Today” or “Tomorrow” by voice, the user can be notified of the reservation time of “Today” or “Tomorrow” by voice. , It is possible to further reduce setting errors.

[0010]

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

The electric rice cooker has a rice cooker 3 for cooking rice therein.
A rice cooker body 1 having a double structure and having a space 4 and a lid 2 for opening and closing the upper opening of the rice cooker body 1 in an openable and closable manner.

The rice cooker main body 1 has a body 5 serving as an outer wall.
a and a bottom part 5b serving as a bottom wall, an outer case 5 made of an integrally molded product of synthetic resin, a protection frame 6 having a bottom and made of synthetic resin serving as an inner peripheral wall, and an upper end of the protection frame 6 and A synthetic resin shoulder member 7 is connected to the upper end of the outer case 5, and the space 4 is surrounded by the outer case 5, the protective frame 6 and the shoulder member 7. In addition,
The rice cooker 3 is stored in the protective frame 6 so as to be able to be taken out.

At the center of the bottom surface of the protective frame 6, a sensor hole 9 for receiving a center sensor 8 acting as a temperature detecting means is formed.

An annular electromagnetic induction coil (hereinafter referred to as a work coil) 10 acting as a heating means for cooking rice so as to surround the sensor hole 9 is provided on the bottom surface of the protective frame 6 and between the bottom surface and the side peripheral surface. Are provided corresponding to the curved portions. The work coil 10 generates an alternating magnetic field, generates an induced eddy current in the rice cooker 3 by electromagnetic induction of the alternating magnetic field, and heats the electric device using the resistance heat of the induced eddy current. ing. In addition, rice cooker 3
The work coil 10 is made of a material (for example, a magnetic material) that can generate an induced eddy current.

The work coil 10 includes a coil die 11 fixed to a bottom surface of the protection frame 6 and a coil die 11.
It is sandwiched between the bottom surface. Reference numeral 12 denotes a ferrite core, which has a function of blocking so that the magnetism of the work coil 10 does not affect the underlying devices.

A center sensor 8 is provided in the sensor hole 9 so as to contact the bottom of the rice cooker 3. Further, on the side peripheral surface of the protective frame 6, a heat retaining heater 13 acting as a heating means at the time of keeping the temperature is attached.

On the bottom of the rice cooker main body 1 (ie, the bottom 5b of the outer case 5), electronic components such as a power transistor for controlling the energization of the work coil 10 and a rectifying diode bridge (not shown) are provided. An electronic component cooling fan 14 that sends cooling air under pressure is provided. An air inlet 15 is formed on the bottom wall of the rice cooker main body 1 (specifically, on the bottom 5 b of the outer case 5) so as to face the electronic component cooling fan 14.

On the other hand, the lid 2 is composed of a synthetic resin upper plate 16 constituting the outer surface and a synthetic resin lower plate 17 constituting the inner surface.
A heat insulating material 19 is provided in a space 18 surrounded by.

The lid 2 is attached to the rice cooker main body 1 via a hinge unit 20 formed on one side of the shoulder member 7 so as to be freely rotatable and detachable.

At the center of the lid 2, there is formed a tubular portion 21 which is suspended from the upper plate 16. Inside the tubular portion 21, steam generated during rice cooking is discharged to the outside. Steam cap 2 having a steam discharge passage 22 for
3 is detachably attached. In the steam cap 23, a ball valve 24 acting as a pressure regulating valve is provided. At the lower end of the steam cap 23,
A radiator plate 25 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 26 denotes a steam inlet to the steam cap 23, 27 denotes a steam outlet from the steam cap 24, 28 denotes a steam port formed in the heat sink 25,
Reference numeral 29 denotes a seal packing for sealing between the periphery of the heat radiating plate 25 and the opening 3a of the rice cooker 3, and reference numeral 30 denotes a seal packing for sealing between the heat radiating plate 25 and the lid lower plate 17.

The shoulder member 7 is provided with a shoulder heater 31. The outer peripheral edge of the radiator plate 25 is pressed against the shoulder heater 31 when the lid 2 is closed. Heating is performed by heat conduction from the heater 31. The shoulder heater 31 includes a heater ring 32 having an inverted U-shaped cross section and a heating element 3 disposed in the heater ring 32.
It consists of three.

The lid 2 is located inside the radiator plate 25, and is located inward of the opening 3 a of the rice cooker 3 with a space interposed between the lid 2 and the radiator plate 25. And a rice cooker lid 34 made of a good heat conductor which is supported so that its outer periphery is close to the inner peripheral surface of the rice cooker 3. The rice cooker lid 34 is attached to a seal packing 36 which is detachably fitted to a support shaft 35 projecting downward from the center of the steam cap 23.

A side part (for example, in the rice cooker main body 1)
In the space 4 in the hinge unit 20), a blower fan 37 is arranged in a state attached to the shoulder member 7. The blower fan 37 is a centrifugal fan having a scroll type fan casing.

The outlet 37a of the blower fan 37 has
A duct 38 is connected, and the upper end of the duct 38
It faces an inlet 39 a of an annular passage 39 formed in the shoulder member 7. The shoulder member 7 has a plurality of communication ports 40 communicating the annular passage 39 with an upper portion of an annular gap C formed between the rice cooker 3 and the protection frame 6. . That is, the air from the air blowing fan 37 is supplied to the upper portion of the gap C through the duct 38, the annular passage 39, and the communication port 40. Reference numeral 41 denotes an air intake formed in the lower part of the body 5a of the outer case 5.

The side of the rice cooker main body 1 opposite the hinge (ie, the side on which the lock mechanism 42 for locking the lid 2 is provided).
Is provided with a control board 43 in which a control unit for controlling the energization of the work coil 10, the heat retaining heater 13, the shoulder heater 31 and the like is incorporated, while the hinge member ( That is, an operation provided with various switches (for example, a rice cooker switch, a reservation switch, a warming switch, and the like) and a liquid crystal display device serving as a display device are provided on the side on which the lock mechanism 42 for locking the lid 2 is provided. A panel section 44 is provided.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the operation panel section 44.
, A rice cooker switch 45, a reservation switch 46,
Insulation switch 47, cancel switch 48, reheating switch 49, menu switch 50, time setting hour switch 51 acting as reservation time input means, time setting minute switch 52 acting as reservation time input means, reservation time, etc. A liquid crystal display device 53 that functions as a display device that displays

Next, an electric configuration of the electric rice cooker according to the present embodiment will be described based on an electric circuit diagram shown in FIG. Parts corresponding to those shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The electric power from the commercial AC power supply 54 is supplied to the work coil 10 via a temperature fuse 55 and a rectifying / smoothing circuit 56 which detect and melt the abnormal heating of the rice cooker 3, as well as the heat keeping heater 13 and the shoulder heater 31. Will also be supplied. Reference numeral 57 denotes a resonance capacitor,
8, 59 are heater drive circuits.

The work coil 10 is turned on / off by a command from a microcomputer unit (hereinafter abbreviated as a microcomputer) 60 through an IGBT drive circuit 61.
A control signal is supplied from a power transistor 62 to be FF-controlled.

The microcomputer 60 controls the power transistor 62 according to a predetermined program, thereby controlling the energization of the work coil 10. This energization control is performed by a thermistor 6 built in the center sensor 8.
3 is performed based on an output signal output through the temperature sensor detection circuit 64.

Numeral 65 is a rice cooker detection circuit, 66 is a buzzer circuit, 67 is a power feedback circuit, 68 is a synchronous trigger circuit, 69 is a voltage detection circuit, 70 is a DC fan circuit, 7
1 is a reset circuit, 72 is a backup battery, 73 is a stabilized power supply circuit, 74 is a switch power supply circuit, 75 is a rectifying and smoothing circuit, 76 is a power supply synchronous circuit, 77 is a light emitting diode, 77, 78, and 79 are emission diodes, and 80 is an 8 MHz transmission. Circuit, 81 is 32
A transmission circuit for KHz, 82 is a speaker driving circuit, and 83 is a speaker.

At the time of rice cooking reservation by the reservation switch 46, when the reservation time input by the reservation time input means (that is, the hour switch 51 and the minute switch 52) is larger than the current time, the microcomputer 60 displays a character ("today"). Or the symbol) together with the reservation time.
On the other hand, when the reserved time is smaller than the current time, a function as reserved time display means for displaying a character (or symbol) representing "tomorrow" together with the reserved time on the liquid crystal display device 53, When "Today" or "Tomorrow" is displayed, a function as a sound notifying unit for notifying the reservation time of "Today" or "Tomorrow" by voice (for example, the speaker 83); Has a function as a display change means for changing the display of the reserved time of "today" to the display of the reserved time of "tomorrow" when the date changes.

Next, the reservation time display control in the electric rice cooker according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step S1, the menu switch 5
0 is turned on (that is, the selected menu is input to the microcomputer 60), and when the reservation time is input to the microcomputer 60 by the reservation switch 46, the hour switch 51, and the minute switch 52 in step S2, step S3 is performed.
Is compared with the set time and the current time. Here, when it is determined that the reservation time> the current time (for example, when 18:30 is reserved at 10:00), “Today” is set by the microcomputer 60 in step S4, and the liquid crystal display device is set in step S5. 53
Is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 53 in step S6, and the reserved time (for example, 10:30) is displayed (see FIG. 2). The above display is performed until it is confirmed in step S7 that the rice cooker switch 45 has been turned on. If it is confirmed in step S7 that the rice cooker switch 45 has been turned on, the reservation time is notified by voice from the speaker 83 in step S8. (For example,
Audio notification that it will be cooked at 18:30 “Today”
Is performed, and then the process proceeds to the reservation process of step S9.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that the reservation time is smaller than the current time (for example, 7: 3 at 10:00)
If “0” is reserved), “tomorrow” is set by the microcomputer 60 in step S10, and
, A supplementary display of "tomorrow" is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 53, and the reserved time (for example, 7:30) is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 53 in step S12 (see FIG. 3). The above display is performed until it is confirmed in step S13 that the rice cooker switch 45 has been turned ON.
If it is confirmed in step 3 that the rice cooker switch 45 has been turned ON, the reservation time is notified by voice from the speaker 83 in step S14 (for example, a voice notification that cooking will be done at 7:30 “tomorrow”) is performed. If it is determined in step S15 that the time has passed 24:00, the supplementary display of "tomorrow" is changed to the supplementary display of "today" in step S16.
The process proceeds to the reservation process of No. 9.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the characters or symbols representing "today" or "tomorrow" are displayed on the liquid crystal display 53 together with the set reservation time. It is possible to reduce the mistake in setting the reservation time without adding a function (ie, without increasing the cost). In addition, “today” and “tomorrow” can be accurately selected by comparing the reservation time with the current time, and the reservation cannot be set more than 24 hours later, so that there is no need to worry about corruption. Further, the display can be changed from “tomorrow” to “today” at 24:00, and the user can be notified by voice from the speaker 83 that the reservation time is “today” or “tomorrow”. , It is possible to further reduce setting errors.

In the above embodiment, "today" or "tomorrow" is supplementarily displayed by characters, but may be additionally displayed by a symbol representing "today" or "tomorrow". .

In the above embodiment, the work coil is used as the heating means for cooking rice. However, the present invention can of course be applied to an apparatus using an electric heater as the heating means for cooking rice.

[0039]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a reservation switch for setting rice cooking reservation, time input means for inputting reservation time, and a display device for displaying the reservation time input by the time input means. In the electric rice cooker provided with the above, at the time of rice cooking reservation by the reservation switch, the reservation time displayed on the display device together with the reservation time inputted by the reservation time input means, the characters or symbols representing "today" or "tomorrow". A display means is provided so that characters or symbols representing "today" or "tomorrow" can be displayed on the display device together with the set reservation time, so that a calendar function is not added (that is, the cost is increased). Without making any mistakes), it is possible to reduce mistakes in setting the reservation time.

As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
In the described electric rice cooker, when the reservation time> current time, “Today” is selected and when the reservation time <current time, “Tomorrow” is selected and displayed. The comparison between "Today" and "Tomorrow" can be accurately selected, and the reservation cannot be set after more than 24 hours, so that there is no need to worry about corruption.

As in the invention of claim 3, claim 1
3. The electric rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein
When the date changes after 4:00, if the display of the reserved time of "Tomorrow" is changed to the display of the reserved time of "Today", the display is changed from "Tomorrow" to "Today" after 24:00. It can be performed.

[0042] In the electric rice cooker according to any one of the first, second and third aspects of the present invention, when the reservation time display means displays "today" or "tomorrow". If a voice notification unit is provided to notify the user of the reservation time of “Today” or “Tomorrow” by voice, the user can be notified of the reservation time of “Today” or “Tomorrow” by voice. , It is possible to further reduce setting errors.

[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 front view showing an example of a reservation time display on an operation panel unit of the electric rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing another example of the reservation time display on the operation panel unit in the electric rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a connection diagram of a control circuit unit in the electric rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of reservation time display control in the electric rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

46 is a reservation switch, 51 is time input means (hour switch), 52 is time input means (minute switch), 53 is a display device (liquid crystal display device), and 83 is a speaker.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electric rice cooker comprising: a reservation switch for setting rice cooking reservation; time input means for inputting reservation time; and a display device for displaying the reservation time input by the time input means. In addition, at the time of rice cooking reservation by the reservation switch, reservation time display means for displaying characters or symbols representing "today" or "tomorrow" on the display device together with the reservation time inputted by the reservation time input means. Characterized electric rice cooker. 2. “Today” if the reservation time> current time
2. The electric rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein when the reservation time is smaller than the current time, "tomorrow" is selected and displayed. 3. When the date changes after 24:00,
3. The electric rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the reserved time display of "Tomorrow" is changed to the reserved time display of "Today". 4. When the reservation time display means displays “Today” or “Tomorrow”, voice notification means is provided to notify by voice that the reservation time is “Today” or “Tomorrow”. The electric rice cooker according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 3, wherein the electric rice cooker is provided.