JP2008018027A - Lunch box with heat-retaining function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To retain the heat of foods stored in a lunch box for a long period of time in a simple and inexpensive constitution. <P>SOLUTION: This lunch box with the heat-retaining function is formed with a lunch container 10 having a boiled rice inner chamber 11 for storing at least the boiled rice, a lid body 14 for covering the lunch container 10, and a heat-storage body storing chamber 15 formed in at least a lower stage of the boiled rice inner chamber 11, and detachably laid with a heat storage body 21 for at least retaining the heat of the boiled rice stored in the boiled rice inner chamber 11; and the heat storage body 21 stored in the heat storage body storing chamber 15 previously stores heat by heating from the outside and radiates the stored heat with time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a lunch box, and more particularly to a lunch box with a heat retaining function suitable for keeping food stored in a lunch container for a long time.

  Conventionally, a wide variety of bento boxes are sold at lunch boxes, convenience stores, supermarkets, and the like. In particular, a lot of research has been done on authentic foods to be packed in lunch boxes on the gourmet boom, using authentic ingredients to produce a fresh texture and flavor, and as a result, dishes that are served in high-end restaurants, etc. Can also be provided to consumers through lunch boxes.

  Lunch boxes are made not only when they are bought and sold in stores, but also in ordinary households. If you are going to take a bento from home, pack the cooked rice and prepared dishes in the early morning into the bento, or cool the remaining prepared items from the dinner last night in the refrigerator and use them for the next day's lunch There are many cases.

  However, rice and side dishes as lunch boxes packed early in the morning are chilled at lunch time. Everyone usually wants to enjoy cooked rice and prepared dishes, and especially various bento boxes such as cutlet bowls and oyakodon bowls are appetizing only when they are properly warm. Of nature. On the other hand, a bento that has cooled down may lose appetite.

  Similarly, lunch boxes sold at stores are not able to provide customers with a satisfying meal if the cooked rice and prepared dishes remain cold, providing low-value products. End up. For this reason, in a convenience store or the like, when a customer wants a bento sold in the store, particularly when the customer desires a warm one, it is usually delivered after being heated in a microwave oven.

  However, depending on the customer, a bento heated in a microwave oven at a convenience store or the like is not always enjoyed immediately, and may be tasted after a certain amount of time. In particular, in the severe winter season, the contents may be cooled during the process of returning from the convenience store to the workplace or home even if the lunch box is purchased with a microwave oven.

  For this reason, it was necessary to devise a lunch box that can keep a bento once heated in a microwave oven for a long time.

  Conventionally, as a lunch box to which this heat retaining function is added, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, a heater is attached to the bottom of a lunch container, and the cooked rice and the like are kept warm by heat generated from the heater. Are disclosed. A configuration in which a heater is provided in the outer container is also disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  Conventionally, in a lunch box in which a rice container and a vegetable container are configured separately, heat is contained by storing the rice in a heat-insulated heat-resistant rice container, while the side dish is stored in a non-heat-resistant vegetable container. The lunch box which releases heat by this is disclosed (for example, refer to patent documents 3). Moreover, in this lunch box, the rice container and the vegetable container are further divided and stored in the lower storage chamber of the lower case body and the upper storage chamber of the upper case body, respectively, so that heat is transferred from the rice container to the vegetable container. As a result, it is no longer necessary to warm the sugar beet and create an environment that tends to rot.

In recent years, an innovative structure has been proposed for a lunch box with a heat-retaining function. In particular, as shown in Patent Document 4, for example, as shown in Patent Document 4, a heat-retaining function capable of increasing the food storage capacity of the inner container while ensuring ease of taking out. A lunch box with a box is also proposed. In the disclosed technique of Patent Document 4, the outer container of the heat insulation structure is structured to store the inner container in a multi-layered structure, and connected so that the bottom surface of the upper inner container body becomes the lid of the lower container body, The whole inner container of a multi-stage lamination is connected. For this reason, since the bottom surface of the upper inner container body serves as a lid for the lower container body, the lower container does not need to be provided with a lid body, and the storage capacity is increased by the space occupied by the lid body. Moreover, the container body can be easily taken out from the outer container.
JP 2002-345527 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-252824 JP 2002-360326 A JP 2003-024124 A

  However, all of these disclosed technologies have a complicated configuration, and there is a problem that an increase in cost cannot be avoided due to an increase in manufacturing labor. Lunch containers sold at stores are made of plastic and are disposable, but there is a need to propose a heat retaining means with a simpler structure that can be applied to such disposable lunch containers. .

  Therefore, the present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the present invention is to keep food stored in a lunch container warm for a long time with a simple and inexpensive configuration. It is to provide a lunch box with a heat retaining function.

  A lunch box with a heat retaining function to which the present invention is applied is a lunch box having a rice cooker chamber for storing at least cooked rice, a lid for covering the lunch vessel, and at least a lower stage of the rice cooker chamber A heat storage body is formed in which a heat storage body storage chamber is formed, in which a heat storage body for keeping warm the cooked rice stored in at least the cooked rice inner chamber can be detachably laid, and is stored in the storage room for the heat storage body Is characterized in that heat is stored in advance by heating from the outside and the stored heat can be dissipated over time.

  In this invention which consists of an above-mentioned structure, the cooked rice is accommodated in the cooked rice inner chamber in a lunch box, and the thermal storage body heated with the microwave oven is accommodated in the thermal storage body storage chamber. This heat storage body gradually dissipates the stored heat over a long period of time. As a result, heat is transferred to the cooked rice inner chamber located in the upper stage of the heat storage chamber, and the cooked rice stored therein is warmed for a long time. That is, in the present invention, the storage room for the heat storage body is formed in the lower stage in advance, and the heat storage effect can be expressed for a long time only by inserting the heat storage body therein and heating it with a microwave oven. It becomes. In addition, since a lunch box with a heat retaining function can be manufactured with a very simple configuration, manufacturing labor can be reduced, and manufacturing costs can be greatly reduced.

  Hereinafter, as a best mode for carrying out the present invention, a lunch box with a heat retaining function capable of retaining stored food for a long time will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall perspective view of a lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function to which the present invention is applied. The lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function includes a lunch container 10 and a lid 14 for covering the lunch container 10. The lunch box 10 has at least an inner chamber 11 for cooked rice and an inner chamber 12 for side dishes. In the lower part of the cooked rice inner chamber 11 in the lunch box 10, a heat storage body storage chamber 15 in which at least a heat storage body 21 to be described later for keeping warm the cooked rice stored in the cooked rice inner chamber 11 can be detachably installed. Is formed. Incidentally, on the side surface of the lunch box 10, an opening 16 for inserting the heat storage body 21 into the heat storage body storage chamber 15 is formed on the side surface, and an opening / closing mechanism 17 for opening and closing the opening 16 is further provided. You may do it.

  When applied for personal use, the lunch box 10 is made of a material such as plastic, metal such as aluminum or stainless steel, for example. In addition, when it is applied for sales at a store, it is made of a relatively inexpensive polystyrene or resin material so as to be disposable. Incidentally, the lid body 14 is also made of substantially the same material as the lunch box 10.

  The cooked rice chamber 11 mainly contains cooked rice, but is not limited to this. For example, grilled fish or other food to be heated may be housed.

  The side dish 12 for side dishes contains various side dishes such as boiled foods and fried foods. In addition to these, raw vegetables, desserts, pickles, seasonings, and other foods not suitable for heating are stored. Depending on the type of the lunch box 10, the inner chamber 11 for cooked rice and the inner chamber 12 for prepared foods are not separated, and in particular, in the lunch box of the bowl, these are configured as one inner chamber 11 for cooking rice. There is also a case. That is, in the lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function to which the present invention is applied, it is sufficient that at least one cooked rice inner chamber 11 is formed, and it is not an essential condition that the sugar beet inner chamber 12 is formed.

  The storage room 15 for heat storage bodies consists of the space formed in the lower stage of the inner chamber 11 for cooked rice. The size of the space forming the heat storage body storage chamber 15 is set according to the size of the heat storage body 21 to be stored. That is, in order to facilitate storage of the heat storage body 21, the size of the heat storage body storage chamber 15 is set larger than the size of the heat storage body 21.

  The opening 16 has a size into which the heat storage body 21 can be inserted. The opening 16 is not limited to the case where it is formed on the side surface shown in FIG. 1, and may be formed on any surface as long as it is a side surface that communicates with the heat storage chamber 15.

  The opening / closing mechanism 17 is attached to the side surface of the lunch box 10 via a hinge mechanism in order to open / close the opening 16.

  The heat storage body 21 is configured to store heat by external heating and to dissipate the stored heat over time. This heat storage body 21 may be configured as a container containing, for example, polyethylene glycol (PEG). Polyethylene glycol is a polymer compound having a structure obtained by polymerizing ethylene glycol, and has a function of melting and storing heat when heated and releasing heat when solidified by cooling.

  Next, the function of the lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function having the above-described configuration will be described.

  First, the cooked rice is accommodated in the cooked rice inner chamber 11 of the lunch box 10, and various prepared dishes are accommodated in the prepared vegetable inner chamber 12.

  Next, the heat storage body 21 is heated with a microwave oven. Heating by the microwave oven also adds heat to the internal heat accumulator 21, and as a result, polyethylene glycol inside the heat accumulator 21 dissolves and accumulates heat.

  Then, the opening / closing mechanism 17 is opened, and the heat storage body 21 is stored in the storage room 15 for the heat storage body. Thereafter, the opening / closing mechanism 17 is closed.

  The heat storage body 21 gradually dissipates the stored heat over a long period of time. As a result, heat is transferred to the cooked rice inner chamber 11 located in the upper stage of the storage room 15 for the heat storage body, and the cooked rice stored therein is warmed for a long time. By the way, polyethylene glycol exhibits the property of releasing heat for 5 to 6 hours by heating for 3 to 5 minutes in a microwave oven. For this reason, if the lunch box is made early in the morning and the heat storage body 21 is heated by the microwave oven before going out and stored in the storage room 15 for the heat storage body, the cooked rice can be enjoyed even in the afternoon. It becomes possible. In particular, when various kinds of bento lunch boxes are packed in the lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function, the heat storage body 21 is heated in advance with a microwave oven, so that the warm state can be maintained for a long time, and a special effect is obtained. It becomes possible.

  Similarly, when a lunch box 1 with a heat retaining function is packed in a lunch box and sold at a store, especially when the customer desires a warm one, the heat storage body 21 is heated in advance with a microwave oven for the heat storage body. By storing it in the storage chamber 15, it can be kept warm for a long time. For this reason, even when it is desired to taste a lunch box purchased at a convenience store after some time, it can be eaten in a warm state. In addition, even in the severe winter season, the contents are not cooled in the process of returning from the convenience store to the workplace or home, and it is useful in that it can always be kept warm.

  In addition, in this invention, it demonstrated taking the case where the storage chamber 15 for heat storage bodies was provided only in the lower stage of the inner chamber 11 for cooked rice. As a result, only cooked rice can be heated, and heat is not transferred to the sugar beet inner chamber 12, so that foods that are inconvenient if they are kept warm, such as raw vegetables, can be cooled as they are. However, by extending the storage room 15 for the heat storage body to the lower part of the inner room 12 for the prepared food, it is also possible to keep warm the prepared food stored in the inner room 12 for the prepared food. In addition, this heat storage body 21 is good also as a premise to be used repeatedly.

  In particular, in the present invention, the heat storage body storage chamber 15 is formed in the lower stage in advance, and a heat storage effect for a long time can be exhibited only by inserting the heat storage body 21 heated in the microwave oven. . For this reason, since a lunch box can be produced with a very simple configuration, manufacturing labor can be reduced, and manufacturing costs can be greatly reduced.

It is the whole lunch box with a heat retention function to which the present invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lunch box 10 with a heat retention function Lunch container 11 Inner chamber 12 for cooked rice 14 Inner chamber for side dishes 14 Cover body 15 Storage chamber 16 for heat storage body 17 Opening / closing mechanism 21

Claims (3)

A lunch box having an interior chamber for storing at least cooked rice;
A lid for applying the lunch box;
A storage room for a heat storage body is formed which is formed at least in the lower stage of the inner rice chamber, and at least a heat storage body for keeping warm the cooked rice stored in the inner rice room can be detachably laid,
A lunch box with a heat retention function, wherein the heat storage body stored in the storage room for the heat storage body is stored in advance by heating from the outside, and the stored heat can be dissipated over time. The lunch box with a heat retaining function according to claim 1, wherein the heat storage body is a container containing polyethylene glycol. The lunch box with a heat retaining function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lunch container has an opening formed on a side surface for inserting the heat storage body into the storage room for the heat storage body.

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