JP2010082468A - Electric rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric rice cooker including a very delicious rice cooking mode of boiling up the rice more deliciously than an ordinary rice cooking mode in the rice cooking control for polished rice. <P>SOLUTION: In the rice cooking control for polished rice, a polished rice ordinary cooking mode and a polished rice very delicious cooking mode are provided as a polished rice cooking mode. In the polished rice very delicious cooking mode, the water absorbing time in a water absorbing step is set longer than that in the polished rice ordinary cooking mode, and also the heating output at the initial stage of a boiling keeping step is set larger than that in the polished rice ordinary cooking mode. Thus, especially delicious boiled rice can be obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an electric cooker having a white rice cooking function.

A conventional electric rice cooker has a menu switch for separately cooking various rice cooking menus such as white rice, brown rice, and divided rice, so that the rice in each menu can be cooked deliciously (Patent Documents 1 and 2). reference).

JP 2001-245786 A (page 1-3 of the specification, FIG. 1-4) JP 2003-339533 A (page 1-3 of the specification, FIG. 1-4)

However, in the case of the conventional electric rice cooker, the white rice cooking mode is usually cooked white rice with a standard water absorption time and standard heating output, especially for cooking delicious rice. The course menu was not prepared.

The present invention has been made in have groups of the circumstances as described above, the cooking control of the rice, as white rice cooking mode, and a white rice usually cooking mode and white rice electrode horses cooking mode, the white rice electrode horse cooking mode, water By making the water absorption time in the process longer than the water absorption time in the white rice normal rice cooking mode, and setting the heating output at the beginning of the boiling maintenance process larger than the heating output in the white rice normal rice cooking mode, it is possible to cook particularly delicious rice An object of the present invention is to provide an electric rice cooker that can be used.

  The invention of the present application has been made for the purpose of solving the above-described problems, and includes the following problem solving means.

That is, in this invention, while providing an inner pot, an inner pot heating means, and a rice cooking heating control means by a microcomputer, the rice cooking heating control means, as a white rice cooking mode, a white rice normal rice cooking mode and a white rice polar rice cooking mode. In the white rice polar rice cooking mode, the water absorption time in the water absorption process is longer than the water absorption time in the white rice normal rice cooking mode, and the heating output in the initial boiling maintenance process is set larger than the heating output in the white rice normal rice cooking mode It is characterized by that.

As mentioned above, in this invention, the rice cooking heating control means is equipped with at least two white rice cooking modes of white rice normal rice cooking mode and white rice polar rice cooking mode as white rice cooking mode, and any one of them is desired. You can choose to cook white rice rice.

And especially when the white rice polar rice cooking mode is selected, the water absorption time in the water absorption process after the start of rice cooking is set longer than the water absorption time of the normal white rice normal rice cooking mode, corresponding to the white rice polar rice cooking mode Encourage sufficient water absorption to sufficiently increase the moisture content of rice.

At the same time, the heating output at the beginning of the boiling maintenance process is set to be larger than the heating output in the rice cooked rice mode, and the high heating thereby promotes the generation of oneba in the rice and circulates in the inner pot. By activating it, the flavor of white rice will be improved efficiently.

As a result, according to the present invention, in the white rice polar rice cooking mode, more delicious rice can be cooked than in the white rice normal rice cooking mode.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the structure of the whole rice cooker main body of the electric rice cooker which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged front view of the operation panel part centering on the liquid crystal display part of the electric rice cooker. It is a figure which shows the control circuit structure of the electric rice cooker. It is a figure which shows the change of the display content from a normal screen to a course / menu / cooking set, a standby state, and a rice cooking state when brown rice menu / GABA increase cooking is selected in a health course. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the brown rice menu and GABA increase control in the same health course. 6 is a time chart corresponding to the contents of the control of FIG. It is a time chart which shows the content of the brown rice menu in a healthy course, and the normal rice cooking control. In a standard course, it is a figure which shows the change of the display content from the normal screen when selecting a white rice menu / polar rice cooking to a waiting state, rice cooking, and the heat retention after completion of rice cooking. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the rice cooking control when a white rice menu and the pole brewing selection are selected in the standard course. 10 is a time chart corresponding to the contents of the control of FIG. It is a time chart which shows the content of the rice cooking control when the white rice menu and the normal cooking are selected in the standard course.

  FIGS. 1-11 has each shown the structure and effect | action of the main body and the principal part of the electric rice cooker which concern on embodiment of this invention.

(Structure of the rice cooker body: see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2)
The rice cooker body of the electric rice cooker is, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, an inner pot (rice cooker or heat insulation container) made of a magnetic metal plate such as a stainless steel plate capable of self-heating by an eddy current induced therein. 3, a synthetic resin bottomed cylindrical inner case (protective frame) 4 formed so that the inner pot 3 can be arbitrarily set, and a bottomed cylinder which is an outer casing for holding the inner case 4 The outer case 1 and a lid unit 2 that can be opened and closed at the top of a rice cooker body formed by integrating the outer case 1 and the inner case 4 are formed.

  A coil base 7 is provided on the lower side of the bottom wall portion 4a of the inner case 4, and the upper portion thereof is provided with a ferrite core 7a via a central portion and a lateral portion of the bottom wall portion 3a of the inner pot 3. Corresponding to the position, two sets of bottom work coils C1, C2 each having litz wires wound concentrically, and side work coil C3 corresponding to the side wall 3b of the inner pot 3, respectively, It is provided so as to wrap substantially the whole from the central part of the wall part 3a to the side wall part 3b, thereby inducing an eddy current in substantially the entire inner pot 3 when energized, and heating the whole substantially uniformly. It is like that.

  Further, the side wall portion 4b of the inner case 4 is provided with a heat retaining heater H1 that functions as a heating means at the time of heat retention, so that the entire inner pot 3 is effectively and uniformly heated at the time of heat retention. Yes.

  Further, on the front side of the inner case 4, the IGBT and heater driving circuit for driving and controlling the work coils C1, C2, C3, the heat retaining heater H1, the shoulder heater H2, etc., a diode bridge for power supply voltage rectification, a smoothing circuit, etc. The control circuit board 91 having the above is provided to extend in the vertical direction via the board support bracket 9.

  Under the control circuit board 91, for example, a heat sink 19 for radiating heat is provided in contact with the IGBT, and a cooling fan 17 is provided under the lower side. The cooling fan 17 causes the air sucked from the air suction grille 49 formed at the bottom of the outer case 1 to flow to the outer periphery of the inner case 4 through the heat sink 19 and the control circuit board 91 to cool the necessary heat generating part. I do.

  The outer case 1 is integrally formed with a cylindrical metal cover member 1a in the vertical direction, a shoulder member 11 made of a synthetic resin coupled to the upper end portion of the cover member 1a, and a lower end portion of the cover member 1a. The bottom member 1b made of a synthetic resin, and a tubular body with a bottom as a whole in which a heat insulation and ventilation space portion having a predetermined width is formed between the bottom wall portion 4a of the inner case 4 It is configured. An operation panel unit 20 having a substantially half moon shape as shown in FIG. 2 is provided above the front surface of the outer case 1.

  At the center of the operation panel 20, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a liquid crystal display 21 having a sufficiently large display area (as will be described later, this liquid crystal display 21 is a dot matrix (full dot matrix). A rice cooking switch 22a, a timer reservation switch 22b, a cancel switch 22c, a heat retention switch 22d, a course selection switch 22e, a menu selection switch 22f, and a cooking switch 22g are provided around the display panel. The operation surface (touch surface) of various operation switches such as the hour switch 22h and the minute switch 22i is provided.

  A microcomputer board 51 is provided at a predetermined angle in the front-rear direction via the board mounting bracket 5 below the inner side of the operation panel 20 (lower side on the back side).

  The microcomputer board mounting bracket 5 is supported by fixing the lower part 5a side to the lower part of the front side frame member 11a extending downward from the main body side shoulder member 11, and the upper part 5b side inclined to the rear side is supported. A microcomputer board 51 is attached to the front surface.

  On a microcomputer board (master board) 51, a microcomputer control unit (master microcomputer provided with each heating control function such as rice cooking / breading / cooking / heat insulation and the display control function of the liquid crystal panel 53) 32, which will be described later, as an electric circuit component. In addition, an EEPROM, a backup power source and the like are provided, and a dot matrix display type liquid crystal panel 53 is installed through a synthetic resin liquid crystal holder 55 as a liquid crystal panel mounting member.

  The liquid crystal holder 55 has a grooved liquid crystal panel fitting portion 55a on the upper surface side, a display control board mounting portion 55b on the lower surface side, and an elastic support piece (not shown) on the outer peripheral portion. Operation rods (all not shown) and mounting legs 25, 25... Of the input switches 22a to 22i (all not shown) are provided.

  In the liquid crystal holder 55, a dot matrix type liquid crystal panel 53 is fitted and installed in the upper surface side liquid crystal panel fitting portion 55a. Further, the display control board 52 corresponding to the dot matrix display type liquid crystal panel 53 is attached to the lower surface side display control board attachment portion 55b. The display control board 52 is provided with a microcomputer dedicated to full dot liquid crystal display control and a liquid crystal driving circuit.

  The liquid crystal holder 55 is inserted into the mounting holes on the microcomputer board 51 side and engaged with the mounting legs 25, 25. It is mounted on the microcomputer board 51 with a predetermined interval.

  The microcomputer control unit 32 on the microcomputer board 51 is provided with desired recognition means for judging the user's instruction content input via the input switches 22a to 22i, and the user recognized by the recognition means. Necessary display on the display screen of the liquid crystal panel 53 according to the contents of the instruction, each function of desired rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat insulation according to the contents of the instruction, each course of rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat insulation, Various menus that can be selected according to each of these courses, and a predetermined heating pattern corresponding to the cooking according to these various menus are set, and the heating control means such as rice cooking or the thermal insulation heating control means is operated appropriately It is made to perform desired rice cooking / bread / cooking control or heat retention control.

  Therefore, the user can use the above input switches 22a to 22i to cook rice / bread / cooking or heat retention, timer reservation mode, reservation mode, menu, cooking, time setting, white rice or brown rice, quick cooking, cooking If you enter selection settings for various types of rice / bread / cooking or heat retention functions, you can enter the contents of the corresponding functions. Is automatically set and inputted to each cooking pattern setting unit for cooking / bread / cooking and heat insulation through the recognition means in the microcomputer control unit 32, and the corresponding rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat insulation heating control is performed as desired. It will be done appropriately with the control pattern.

  On the other hand, reference numeral 2 denotes a lid unit. The lid unit 2 includes an outer cover 12 made of synthetic resin that constitutes an outer peripheral surface thereof, an inner cover 13 having a vacuum double wall structure that constitutes an inner peripheral surface thereof, It is comprised from the metal heat sink 16 provided in the lower side of the cover 13 so that attachment or detachment was possible. In addition, the code | symbol 14 is the rubber packing for sealing provided inside the outer peripheral edge part of the said heat sink 16 so that it may correspond to the opening edge part 3c of the inner pot 3, 2a is a steam cap of a steam discharge port. .

  The lid unit 2 is attached to the shoulder member 11 at the rear portion of the outer case 1 so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction via a hinge mechanism, and on the open end side, a predetermined position of the lid unit 2 is provided. A lock / unlock mechanism 18 is provided that engages with and opens and closes the lid unit 2 in the vertical direction.

(Configuration of the liquid crystal display unit 21... See FIG. 2)
In the case of the present embodiment, the liquid crystal display unit 21 shown in FIG. 2 is basically constructed by adopting the dot matrix display type liquid crystal panel 53 as described above. In the normal screen (refer to the diagram on the left side of FIG. 4), as a selectable course, standard (cooking rice), health (cooking rice), bread, cooking courses, various menu items in each course, those Among various menu items, various cooking items are sequentially displayed in a hierarchical manner.

  Each display area for the course, menu, and cooking is divided into three stages from the top to the bottom, and each item is displayed side by side in the left-right direction.

  In the right operation panel section of each display section of the same course, menu and cooking division, there are a course selection switch 22e, a menu switch 22f and a cooking selection switch 22g corresponding to each of the course, menu and cooking division. Is provided.

(1) Course selection In the above configuration, when the above-mentioned course selection switch 22e is turned ON, the normal course (standard course / white rice menu / extremely set) from the above-described normal screen / health course / brown rice / GABA increase, bread The screen is sequentially switched to course / fermentation menu / 20 minutes, cooking menu / high temperature menu / 30 minutes, etc., and each time the screen is turned on in the circulation state, the screen display is repeated.

(2) Standard course, white rice menu, rice cooking to the extreme This is the most common rice cooking pattern at home. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, from the normal screen at the left end of FIG. It moves to polar horse / cooking / 18: 30), and if the rice cooking switch 22a is turned on in the standby screen state, the user is guided to move to rice cooking.

  Then, when the rice cooking switch 22a is turned ON in the standby screen state, the rice cooking operation is started, the rice cooking is being performed with “white rice / Gokuuma”, the current time is 18:31, and about 92 remaining until cooking is completed. Each minute is displayed.

  And when cooking is further completed and it transfers to a heat retention operation | movement, it will display that the heat retention elapsed time is 3 hours and the present time is 23:03 minutes during the heat retention for 6 hours.

(3) Rice cooking in standard course, white rice menu, normal timer reservation mode In this case, for example, after selecting the white rice menu / normal from the normal screen (standard course) in FIG. Set the cooking reservation time for.

  After that, until the rice cooking start time corresponding to the set reservation time comes, the set reservation time and the current reservation are displayed, and when the rice cooking start time comes, the rice cooking is started and the rice cooking operation is in progress. Display.

  And when rice cooking is completed and it transfers to a heat retention operation | movement, heat insulation is performed while displaying the heat retention elapsed time during heat retention.

(4) Healthy course, brown rice menu, normal rice cooking This is a recently increasing rice cooking pattern, for example, from the normal screen shown at the left end of Fig. 4 to the standby screen (started with brown rice, normal / rice cooking) If the rice cooking switch 22a is turned ON in the standby screen state, the user is guided to move to rice cooking.

  Then, when the rice cooking switch 22a is turned on in the standby screen state, the rice cooking operation is started, and it is displayed that “brown rice / normal” is being cooked and that the current time is, for example, 18:30. .

  And when cooking is further completed and it transfers to a heat retention operation | movement, for example, it will display that the heat retention elapsed time is 3 hours and the present time is 23:00 minutes during the heat retention for 6 hours.

(5) Healthy course, brown rice menu, rice cooking with GABA increase This is also a rice cooking pattern that needs recently, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, from the normal screen at the left end of FIG. 4, set screen (brown rice, GABA After that, the screen moves to the standby screen (brown rice, GABA increase / cooking start at 16:00), and if the rice cooker switch 22a is turned ON in the standby screen state, the user is guided to shift to cooking. To do.

  Then, when the rice cooking switch 22a is turned on in the standby screen state, the rice cooking operation is started, the rice cooking is being performed in the “brown rice / GABA increase” mode, and the current time is 18:10, for example. indicate.

  When the rice cooking is further completed and the operation is shifted to the heat retaining operation, for example, it is displayed that the heat retaining time is 3 hours and the current time is 23:03 minutes during the heat retaining time of 6 hours.

(Composition of the rice cooker body side control circuit part ... see Fig. 3)
Next, FIG. 3 shows a control circuit centered on the microcomputer control unit 32 that performs the rice cooker / bread / cooking and heating and heating control on the rice cooker body side configured as described above, the display control of the liquid crystal panel 53, and other controls. The structure of a part is shown.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 32 denotes rice cooking / bread provided with an inner pot temperature determining means, an inner pot detecting means, a buzzer notifying means, etc. in addition to the rice cooking heating control means, the heat retaining heating control means, and the liquid crystal panel display control means as described above. A microcomputer control unit (CPU) serving as a basis for control of cooking, heat retention, display, etc. The microcomputer control unit 32 is configured around a microcomputer, for example, a temperature detection circuit section of the inner pot 3, work coil drive control Circuit part, detection circuit part of inner pot 3, oscillation circuit part, reset circuit part, drive control circuit part such as heat retaining heater and shoulder heater, liquid crystal display control circuit part, buzzer notification part, power supply circuit part, etc. Has been.

  And first, the temperature detection circuit 43 and the inner pot detection circuit 44 provided corresponding to the inner pot temperature detection sensor S, the inner pot detection switch LS of the bottom wall 3a side center sensor part of the inner pot 3 include, for example, A temperature detection signal of the bottom wall portion 3a of the inner pot 3 by the inner pot temperature detection sensor S and a pot detection signal by the inner pot detection switch LS are input.

  The work coil drive control circuit unit is formed by, for example, a pulse width modulation circuit 41, a synchronization trigger circuit 40, an IGBT drive circuit 42, an IGBT 37, and a resonance capacitor 38. Then, by controlling the pulse width modulation circuit 41 by the work coil drive control circuit unit of the microcomputer control unit 32, the output value and the same value of the work coil C (C1, C2, C3) according to, for example, the rice cooking process. By appropriately changing the ON duty ratio (for example, n seconds / 16 seconds) at the output value, the heating temperature and heating pattern of the inner pot 3 in each step such as the rice cooking step are considered in consideration of the rice cooking amount, the cooking amount, etc. Appropriate variable control is performed, and proper output control is performed to achieve uniform water absorption and cooking of rice without unevenness in heating, good cooking, and the like.

  Further, by controlling the heat retaining heater drive circuit 33 and the shoulder heater drive circuit 34 by the heat retaining heater drive control circuit section and the shoulder heater drive control circuit section of the microcomputer control unit 32, respectively, for example, the heat retaining according to the heat retaining or rice cooking process. By appropriately changing the output values of the heater H1 and the shoulder heater H2 and the ON duty ratio (for example, n seconds / 16 seconds) at the same output values, the heating temperature and heating of the inner pot 3 in each step of the heat retention or rice cooking process Appropriate output control for appropriately variably controlling the pattern in consideration of the actual amount of cooked rice is performed.

  Reference numerals 22a to 22i denote the above-described various input switch sections. When necessary ones of the switches are appropriately operated, the user's instruction content is recognized by the recognition means on the microcomputer control unit 32 side, and the recognition is performed. Depending on the contents, the desired cooking rice, bread, cooking or heat insulation heating pattern is set and the rice cooking heating control means or the heat insulation heating control means is appropriately operated to perform the desired rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat insulation. It has become.

  Therefore, the user uses the input switches 22a to 22i to cook rice / bread / cooking or heat retention, timer reservation, reservation time setting, white rice or brown rice, early cooking, rice porridge, caulage or soft rice, cooking, etc. If the selection setting content of various rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat retaining functions is input, the corresponding function content is heated by each of the rice cooking / bread / cooking or heat retaining through the above-described recognition means of the microcomputer control unit 32. The setting is automatically input to the pattern setting unit, and the corresponding rice cooking, bread, cooking, or heat insulation heating control is appropriately performed.

  3 is a flywheel diode of the IGBT 37, 35 is a power supply side rectifier circuit incorporating a diode bridge for driving the work coil inserted between the household AC power supply 30, and 36 is This is a smoothing circuit.

  Furthermore, the code | symbol 17 is a buzzer alerting | reporting part which notifies completion of rice cooking, and 21 is a liquid crystal display part. In this embodiment, the liquid crystal display unit 21 displays a desired course, menu, cooking item, time, and other necessary items corresponding to the ON operation of the input switches 22a to 22i. Necessary display according to is made.

(GABA increase control during health course / brown rice menu rice cooking ... See Figs. 5 and 6)
First, the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the time chart of FIG. 6 show the contents of GABA increase control at the time of rice cooking in the brown rice mode (including cooked rice such as sorted rice and germinated rice), respectively, which is the basis of this embodiment. Is. Moreover, the time chart of FIG. 7 shows the control content at the time of normal brown rice cooking shown in contrast with the control.

  That is, in the brown rice cooking control in the GABA increase mode, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the healthy course is first selected in step S1 and the brown rice menu and GABA increase are set, the selection setting screen of FIG. 4 is displayed. Then, after a predetermined time, the standby screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. Therefore, in the standby screen state, when the rice cooker switch 22a on the rice cooker body side is pressed in step S2, the above-described work coil C is turned on in step S3 to start cooking, and the display during cooking in FIG. First, the water absorption step is performed.

  The water absorption time in this water absorption process is performed within 3 hours and 30 minutes, which is set to be much longer than the water absorption time (15 minutes) of the normal “brown rice” menu corresponding to the “brown rice / GABA increase” menu ( The water absorption temperature at this time is adjusted to 50 ° C. (refer to the time charts of FIGS. 6 and 7).

  If this water absorption process is entered, it is first determined in step S4 whether or not a predetermined time t has elapsed since the start of water absorption. During this predetermined time t, when the water absorption heating is started, the temperature of the water in the inner pot 3 rises to a predetermined temperature or higher than the initial water temperature (20 ° C. in the case of FIG. 6), and the total number is determined. It is set to a time when the required temperature rise gradient is realized.

  Therefore, when the result of determination in step S4 is YES (when t minutes have elapsed), the process proceeds to step S5 to execute “total number determination” control and determine the amount of cooked rice at that time. Then, for the determination results, for example, (large amount), (medium amount), (small amount), the subsequent electric energy (strong), (medium), (weak) required for the amount of rice cooking is predicted. Therefore, the temperature setting process (temperature increasing process 1 / temperature increasing process 2) in steps S7 and S9 and the boiling maintaining process in step S11 are executed.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S4 is NO (if t minutes have not passed or t minutes have passed), the process proceeds to step S6 and the above-described set water absorption time 210 minutes (3 hours 30 minutes) has passed. However, if t has not elapsed, 210 minutes have not elapsed, so the water absorption control in step S3 is executed as it is (the initial water temperature 20 ° C. is increased to 50 ° C.). .

  Then, after the elapse of time t, YES is determined in step S4, and when the combined number determination in step S5 is completed, the water absorption temperature 50 is determined until YES is determined while repeatedly determining whether the water absorption time of 210 minutes in step S6 has elapsed. Water absorption heating at 0 ° C. is continued, and as shown in (a) in the time chart of FIG. 6, the GABA discharge from the germ part of brown rice is promoted (slowly increased) over time.

  On the other hand, if the long water absorption time of 210 minutes elapses and it is determined as YES in step S6 (when the water absorption process is completed), the process proceeds to steps S7 and S9, and the first and second two-stage temperature increase processes. This further promotes the generation of GABA from the germ part of brown rice after completion of the water absorption step.

  That is, when the water absorption step is completed, the process first proceeds to step S7, and the first temperature raising heating (temperature raising step 1) is performed.

  In this first temperature raising heating, the water temperature range of 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. (initial water temperature range of the temperature raising step) in which the enzyme becomes active is as long as possible for 6 minutes (in the normal brown rice cooking mode, 4 minutes). 7) than the duty ratio 12/16 of the work coil C at the time of heating and heating in one stroke at the time of normal brown rice cooking shown in FIG. By controlling the heating of the work coil C with a small duty ratio of 10/16 and maintaining the time for the enzyme to become active as long as possible, the generation of more effective GABA is promoted (time in FIG. 6). (See the rising curve (a) in the chart).

  And after that, when 6 minutes of 1st temperature rising heating time progresses after that and it becomes YES, it progresses to step S9 next and it is 2nd like temperature rising heating in the normal brown rice cooking mode of FIG. Is heated for 9 minutes (temperature raising step 2: temperature range from 71 ° C. to 100 ° C.) and cooked to a boiling state (100 ° C.).

  As a result, the amount of GABA generated is greatly increased (refer to the GABA increasing characteristic of (a) in FIG. 6).

  Then, it progresses to step S10, determines progress of said 2nd temperature rising heating time 9 minutes, and when it becomes YES, it will progress to the boiling maintenance process of step S11.

  In the boiling maintenance step, the water in the inner pot 3 is sufficiently maintained in a boiling state (100 ° C.) for about 30 minutes.

  Then, it is determined whether the temperature of the inner pot 3 is the cooking detection temperature 130 ° C. or higher or lower than that in the cooking detection determination (130 ° C. or higher?) In step S12. If it is low, the boiling maintenance process in step S11 is continued. However, when NO (when higher than 130 ° C.), it is determined that the cooking has been completed, and the process proceeds to the uneven process in step S13, at a predetermined uneven temperature. The unevenness process is performed for 14 minutes, for example.

  And when the uneven time 14 minutes passes and it becomes YES at step S14, rice cooking is completed thereby, and it transfers to the heat retention process of step S15 after that.

  In the heat retention step, the heat retention control is executed at a predetermined heat retention temperature within a predetermined heat retention time set by the user.

  As described above, the embodiment of the present invention includes the inner pot, the inner pot heating means, and the rice cooking heating control means by the microcomputer, and the rice cooking heating control means is suitable for the cooking of brown rice in addition to the white rice mode. In an electric rice cooker having a brown rice mode, the brown rice mode is provided with a normal brown rice mode and a gamma amino butyric acid increasing mode that increases the amount of gamma amino butyric acid generated. The water absorption heating time is long, and the temperature raising heating time in the temperature raising step is also set long.

  Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) contained in brown rice (including divided rice and the like) increases when immersed in water at a temperature of 40 to 50 ° C. In general, it is soaked for 10 hours or more so that the brown rice is slightly germinated and eaten as germinated brown rice, but when it is immersed in water at 40 ° C. to 50 ° C. for 10 hours or more, for example, it begins to rot. It is necessary to cook rice after rinsing with clean water because the soaking water will smell.

  At this time, however, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) has already dissolved in the immersion water, and the increased amount of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is discarded.

  Therefore, the amount of increase in gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is small compared to the case of soaking for 10 hours or longer, but the rice is soaked for as long as possible until the soaking water decays. Is good.

  Therefore, in the gamma amino butyric acid increasing mode, as described above, the water absorption time is first made sufficiently longer than the normal brown rice mode to generate a sufficient amount of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA).

  For example, the water absorption time is about 3 hours 30 minutes as an example, and the temperature is adjusted at about 50 ° C. during that time. On the other hand, the heating power at the time of heating and heating at the beginning of the subsequent heating step is weakened, and the total heating time until boiling is extended to about 15 minutes, which is longer than 10 minutes in the normal brown rice mode.

  In this case, the gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is generated by the action of the enzyme as described above. Therefore, it is preferable that gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is effectively increased by passing through the temperature range at the initial stage of the temperature rising process higher than the water absorption temperature at which the enzyme functions actively.

  That is, in the case of the above configuration, in the gamma aminobutyric acid increasing mode, the passage time in the temperature range from 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. in the initial stage of the temperature raising process is longer than in the normal brown rice mode.

  As described above, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is produced by the action of an enzyme, and the enzyme becomes active in a temperature range of 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. Therefore, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is more effectively produced around 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. at which the enzyme action becomes active.

  Therefore, as described above, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) increases more effectively when passing through the temperature range of 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. at the beginning of the temperature raising process after the end of water absorption as slowly as possible.

  Furthermore, the temperature range passage time from 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. in the initial stage of the temperature raising process in the gamma aminobutyric acid increasing mode is preferably, for example, 6 to 8 minutes regardless of the amount of cooked rice at that time.

  As described above, increasing the temperature raising time from 50 ° C. to 70 ° C. at the beginning of the temperature raising step is effective in increasing the amount of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), but if it is raised too slowly, the cooking state becomes worse ( The rice is sticky), so adjust it so that it rises properly over a period of about 6 to 8 minutes.

  By the way, the relationship between the heating time of the white rice mode, the normal brown rice mode, and the gamma aminobutyric acid increasing mode is white rice mode <normal brown rice mode <gamma aminobutyric acid increasing mode.

  Comparing the relationship between the heating and heating time appropriate for performing the above actions in each rice cooking mode, white rice mode <normal brown rice mode <gamma aminobutyric acid increasing mode.

  In these cases, for example, even if the mode is changed from the normal brown rice mode to the GABA increased brown rice mode during cooking after the heating step, the normal brown rice mode is continued, but the normal brown rice mode is changed to the GABA increased brown rice mode during the water absorption process. When it is changed, it is changed to GABA increase brown rice mode.

(Standard course, white rice menu, rice cooking control to the very best ... see Fig. 9 and Fig. 10)
This is the most common rice cooking pattern in the home. In the liquid crystal display unit 21, as shown in FIG. 8 described above, from the normal screen state, the standby screen (started with white rice, terrestrial rice / rice cooking / 18: 30) If the rice cooking switch 22a is turned ON in the standby screen state, the user is guided to move to rice cooking.

  Then, when the rice cooking switch 22a is turned ON in the standby screen state, the rice cooking operation is started, the rice cooking is being performed with “white rice / Gokuuma”, the current time is 18:31, and about 92 remaining until cooking is completed. Each minute is displayed.

  And when cooking is further completed and it transfers to a heat retention operation | movement, it will display that the heat retention elapsed time is 3 hours and the present time is 23:03 minutes during the heat retention for 6 hours.

  First, the flowchart of FIG. 9 and the time chart of FIG. 10 show the contents of rice cooking control at the time of the white rice menu / polar rice cooking of this embodiment, respectively. Moreover, the time chart of FIG. 11 shows the control content at the time of the white rice menu / usually cooked rice shown in contrast with the control.

  That is, in this white rice menu / polar rice cooking control, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9, when the standard course is first selected in step S1 and the white rice menu, polar rice is set, the standby of FIG. It becomes a screen. Therefore, in the same state, when the rice cooker switch 22a on the rice cooker body side is pressed in step S2, the above-described work coil C is turned on in step S3 to start rice cooking, and the water absorption process is first executed.

  The water absorption time in this water absorption process is performed within 40 minutes, which is set to be considerably longer than the water absorption time (19 minutes) of the normal “white rice menu / normal” menu corresponding to the “white rice / polar horse” menu. (The water absorption temperature at this time is adjusted to 50 ° C .: see the time charts of FIGS. 10 and 11).

  If this water absorption process is entered, it is first determined in step S4 whether or not a predetermined time t has elapsed since the start of water absorption. During this predetermined time t, when the water absorption heating is started, the temperature of the water in the inner pot 3 rises to a predetermined temperature or higher than the initial water temperature (20 ° C. in the case of FIG. 10). It is set to a time when the required temperature rise gradient is realized.

  Therefore, when the result of determination in step S4 is YES (when t minutes have elapsed), the process proceeds to step S5 to execute “total number determination” control and determine the amount of cooked rice at that time. Then, for the determination results, for example, (large amount), (medium amount), (small amount), the subsequent electric energy (strong), (medium), (weak) required for the amount of rice cooking is predicted. Therefore, the temperature setting process in step S7 and the boiling maintenance process in step S11 are executed.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S4 is NO (if t minutes have not elapsed or after t minutes have elapsed), the process proceeds to step S6 to determine whether or not the set water absorption time of 40 minutes has elapsed. However, when t minutes have not elapsed, naturally 40 minutes have not elapsed, and therefore, the water absorption control in step S3 is executed as it is (the initial water temperature 20 ° C. is increased to 50 ° C.).

  Then, after the elapse of time t, YES is determined in step S4, and when the combined number determination in step S5 is completed, the water absorption temperature 50 is determined until YES is determined while repeatedly determining the elapse of 40 minutes in step S6. Continue water absorption heating at ℃ and take time to raise the water content of white rice.

  On the other hand, if the long water absorption time of 40 minutes elapses and it is determined as YES in step S6 (when the water absorption process is completed), then the process proceeds to step S7 to execute the temperature raising process, thereby completing the water absorption process. The white rice having a high water content is slowly cooked to a boiling state (100 ° C.) in 10 minutes, which is longer than 8 minutes of white rice / usually shown in FIG.

  Then, in subsequent step S8, it is determined whether or not the above-described heating and heating time of 10 minutes has elapsed. If YES, the process proceeds to step S9 to carry out ultra-high heat for 1 minute.

  For example, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 10, this extreme umami heating is performed with a work coil output (700 W, duty ratio 16/16) larger than the work coil output (700 W, duty ratio 10/16) in the boiling maintenance state. By heating this for 1 minute at the beginning of the boiling maintenance process, it promotes the generation of oneba in the cooked rice and activates the circulation in the inner pot 3 to enhance the taste of white rice Let

  Then, it progresses to step S10, determines the progress of the said extreme horse heating time 1 minute, and when it becomes YES, it will progress to the boiling maintenance process of step S11 for the first time.

  In the boiling maintenance step, the water in the inner pot 3 is sufficiently boiled (100 ° C.) with a work coil output (700 W, duty ratio 10/16) higher than that of normal rice cooking (700 W, duty ratio 6/16) in FIG. ) To maintain a vigorous circulation of the Oneva that has been sufficiently generated by the ultra-high heat.

  Then, it is determined whether the temperature of the inner pot 3 is the cooking detection temperature 130 ° C. or higher or lower than that in the cooking detection determination (130 ° C. or higher?) In step S12. If it is low, the boiling maintenance process in step S11 is continued. However, when NO (when higher than 130 ° C.), it is determined that the cooking has been completed, and the process proceeds to the uneven process in step S13, at a predetermined uneven temperature. The unevenness process is executed for, for example, 15 minutes, which is longer than the normal cooking time (12 minutes) in FIG.

  And when the uneven time 15 minutes passes and it becomes YES in step S14, rice cooking is completed thereby, and it transfers to the heat retention process of step S15 after that.

  In the heat retention step, the heat retention control is executed at a predetermined heat retention temperature within a predetermined heat retention time set by the user.

  C1, C2, C3, C are work coils, H1 is a warming heater, H2 is a shoulder heater, 1 is an outer case, 2 is a lid unit, 3 is an inner pan, 20 is an operation panel, 21 is a liquid crystal display, and 32 is a microcomputer A control unit 51 is a microcomputer board, 52 is a display control board, 53 is a dot matrix display type liquid crystal panel, and 55 is a liquid crystal holder.

Claims (1)

In addition to having an inner pot, an inner pot heating means, and a rice cooking heating control means using a microcomputer, the rice heating control means has a white rice normal rice cooking mode and a white rice polar rice cooking mode as a white rice cooking mode. In the mode, the water absorption time in the water absorption process is longer than the water absorption time in the white rice normal rice cooking mode, and the heating output in the initial stage of the boiling maintenance process is set larger than the heating output in the white rice normal rice cooking mode. rice cooker.

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