JP2011194020A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such the problem that there is a risk of getting burnt since rice cooking operation does not stop, even in the case of an abnormal mode where exhaust temperature becomes high.SOLUTION: A rice cooker includes: a number of revolutions detecting means 22 for detecting the number of revolutions of a blowing means 11; a blowing route 15 one end of which is connected with the blowing means 11 and the end of which is made an exhaust port communicating with outside air; a steam route 16 one end of which is with the blowing route 15 and the other end of which communicates with the inside of a pot; and a reporting means for reporting when the output signal of the number of revolutions detecting means 22 exceeds the abnormal number of revolutions.

Description

  The present invention relates to a rice cooker designed to reduce the temperature of steam discharged during rice cooking.

  Conventionally, this kind of rice cooker is demonstrated in FIG. 4, FIG. 40 is a rice cooker body, 41 is a pan for putting food, 42 is a heating means for heating the pan, 43 is a lid for closing the opening of the pan 41, 44 is a steam passage provided in the lid 43, One end is connected to the opening space of the pan 41, and the other is connected to the exhaust port 45 to release the steam generated in the pan 41 to the outside air. 46 is a blowing means that takes in outside air from the intake port 47, blows it to the steam discharged during rice cooking, lowers the concentration of the steam, and discharges the air-mixed steam to the front of the lid body (for example, patent document) 1), or one in which air-mixed vapor is discharged from above the lid body (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 1823119 Japanese Patent No. 3560203

  However, the conventional configuration does not stop the operation even in an abnormal state in which the exhaust gas temperature becomes high, and there is a risk of burns.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problem, and when it becomes an abnormal mode in which the exhaust temperature becomes high, the device is surely stopped and further safety is improved, and the air flow is stabilized and the air temperature between the airframes is stabilized. It aims at providing the rice cooker which suppresses variation.

  In order to solve the conventional problems, the rice cooker of the present invention includes a rice cooker body, a pot stored in a pot storage portion formed inside the rice cooker body, a pot heating means for heating the pot, The lid main body capable of opening and closing the opening of the rice cooker main body, the air blowing means arranged in the lid main body, the inlet connected to one of the air blowing means, and the rotational speed of the air blowing means provided in the air blowing means are detected. A rotation speed detecting means, a blowing path that connects one end of the blowing means and the other end communicates with the outside air, and a steam path that connects one end to the blowing path and communicates the other end with the inside of the pan. It is a rice cooker equipped with a notification means for providing notification when the output signal of the rotation speed detection means exceeds the abnormal rotation speed.

  As a result, when a phenomenon such as clogging of foreign matter occurs in the intake port or the exhaust port and the resistance of the air flow path increases, the air flow generated from the air blowing means decreases, and the exhaust temperature discharged from the exhaust port increases. As the resistance of the air blowing path increases, the rotational speed of the air blowing means increases, that is, there is a correlation between the exhaust temperature discharged from the exhaust port and the rotational speed of the air blowing means. Therefore, when the rotation speed of the blower when the exhaust temperature reaches a predetermined temperature is set as an abnormal rotation speed, the exhaust temperature becomes a predetermined temperature when the rotation speed of the blower becomes higher than the abnormal rotation speed. The safety can be enhanced by determining that it has become and notifying from the notification means.

When the rice cooker of the present invention is in an abnormal mode in which the exhaust temperature becomes high, the device can be reliably stopped to further improve safety, and the amount of exhaust air can be stabilized by suppressing the variation in the exhaust temperature.

Sectional drawing of the rice cooker side surface in the 1st Embodiment of this invention Partial sectional view of the top of the rice cooker Main unit setting flowchart Change graph of rotation speed of rice cooker blower Sectional view of a conventional rice cooker side Cross-sectional view of the top of a conventional rice cooker

  The rice cooker of 1st invention is a rice cooker main body, the pan accommodated in the pan accommodating part formed in the inside of the said rice cooker main body, the pan heating means which heats the said pan, and opening of the said rice cooker main body A lid body capable of opening and closing a part, a blowing means arranged in the lid body, a suction port connected to one of the blowing means, and a rotation for detecting the number of revolutions of the blowing means provided in the blowing means A number detection means, a blowing path connecting one end of the blowing means and the other end communicating with the outside air, a steam path connecting one end to the blowing path and the other end communicating with the inside of the pan And a rice cooker equipped with a notifying means for notifying when the output signal of the rotation speed detection means exceeds the abnormal rotation speed.

  As a result, when a phenomenon such as clogging of foreign matter occurs in the intake port or the exhaust port and the resistance of the air flow path increases, the air flow generated from the air blowing means decreases, and the exhaust temperature discharged from the exhaust port increases. As the resistance of the air blowing path increases, the rotational speed of the air blowing means increases, that is, there is a correlation between the exhaust temperature discharged from the exhaust port and the rotational speed of the air blowing means. Therefore, when the rotation speed of the blower when the exhaust temperature reaches a predetermined temperature is set as an abnormal rotation speed, the exhaust temperature becomes a predetermined temperature when the rotation speed of the blower becomes higher than the abnormal rotation speed. The safety can be enhanced by determining that it has become and notifying from the notification means.

  According to a second aspect of the invention, in particular, in the first aspect of the invention, the storage means for storing the signal output from the rotational speed detection means is provided, and the rotational speed of the blower means is detected and the detected rotational speed is rotated to the storage means. An abnormal rotational speed detection process for storing the rotational speed as a number A, and adding or multiplying the rotational speed threshold value to the rotational speed A to calculate the abnormal rotational speed. The correction is made to improve the abnormality determination system by increasing the correlation between the exhaust temperature and the rotational speed of the air blowing means.

  3rd invention is opening and closing the opening part of the rice cooker main body, the pan accommodated in the pan accommodating part formed in the inside of the said rice cooker main body, the pan heating means which heats the said pan, and the said rice cooker main body A possible lid body, an air blowing means arranged in the lid body and provided with a rotational speed control device, and detecting the rotational speed of the air blowing means and comparing it with a predetermined reference rotational speed of the air blowing means. And a step of calculating a difference between the detected rotational speed and the reference rotational speed, and storing the calculated difference in a storage means, and provided with a rotational speed correction means for correcting the rotational speed of the blower means based on the difference. This stabilizes the amount of airflow and suppresses variations in exhaust temperature.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the second aspect of the invention, after correcting the rotational speed of the blower means by the difference, the rotational speed of the blower means is detected, and the detected rotational speed is stored as the rotational speed A in the storage means. In this way, variation in exhaust temperature is suppressed and component variation and assembly variation in the blowing means are corrected, and the correlation between the exhaust temperature and the rotation speed of the blowing means is increased to improve the abnormality determination system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
1 and 2 show a rice cooker according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown to a figure, the rice cooker in this Embodiment has the rice cooker main body 1, the pot 2 accommodated in the pan accommodating part 1a formed in the rice cooker main body 1 inside, and the opening part of the rice cooker main body 1. As shown in FIG. A lid body 3 that is attached to the rice cooker body 1 so as to be openable and closable, and a substantially disk-like shape that is detachably attached to the inside of the lid body 3 (the side that covers the opening of the pan 2) and can seal the opening of the pan 2 And a pan heating device 5 for inductively heating the pan 2.

  The pot storage portion 1 a of the rice cooker body 1 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape corresponding to the shape of the substantially annular upper frame 1 b fitted into the inner periphery of the upper opening of the rice cooker body 1 and the pot 2. The coil base 1c is integrally connected to the upper frame 1b at the upper opening side end.

  An inner bottom coil 5a and an outer bottom coil 5b constituting the pot heating device 5 are attached to the outer peripheral surface of the coil base 1c. The bottom inner coil 5a is disposed so as to face the periphery of the center of the bottom of the pan 2 via the coil base 1c, and the bottom outer coil 5b is disposed at the corner of the bottom of the pan 2 via the coil base 1c. It arrange | positions so that it may oppose.

  An opening is provided in the central portion of the bottom of the coil base 1 c, and a pan temperature sensor 6, which is an example of a pan temperature detecting device for measuring the temperature of the pan 2, is provided at the bottom of the pan 2. It arrange | positions so that contact | abutment is possible.

  In the rice cooker main body 1, a control device 7 is installed that drives and controls each unit and each device to perform a rice cooking operation. The control device 7 performs drive control of each unit and each device in accordance with a user instruction performed using, for example, an operation panel (not shown) provided on the lid body 3.

  A hook 1 d that can be engaged with the hook 8 of the lid body 3 is provided on the upper part of the front wall of the rice cooker body 1 (upper left side in FIG. 1). A spring 1e is provided between the hook 1d and the upper frame 1b. The hook 1d is biased forward (left side in FIG. 1) by a spring 1e.

  The lid body 3 includes an inner lid temperature sensor 9, which is an example of a lid temperature detection device, an inner lid heating device 10, a hinge shaft A, an air blowing means 11 including a fan, an air blowing means intake side 11 a and outside air. An intake port 12 for communication, an exhaust port 13 for leading the airflow from the blower means 11 to the outside of the lid body 3, a blower path 15 for connecting the blower means exhaust side 11b and the exhaust port 13, and the pan 2 and the blower path 15 is provided with a steam path 16 that communicates with 15. Further, the air blowing means 11 is provided with an output means 11c (not shown) for outputting a pulse output that informs the rotation speed of the air blowing means 11. Further, the air blowing means 11 has a configuration in which the rotation speed can be varied by a PWM signal.

  The inner lid heating device 10 is installed in the lid body 3 and is configured to inductively heat the inner lid 4 under the control of the control device 7. The hinge axis A is an opening / closing axis of the lid body 3, and both ends thereof are fixed to the upper frame 1 c of the rice cooker body 1 so as to be freely rotatable. The lid body 3 is rotated by a rotation spring (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the hinge axis A. The air blowing means 11 and the air blowing path 15 are incorporated and arranged at a location near the hinge axis A at the rear part of the lid body 3. The air inlet 12 is formed of holes on a plurality of slits on the side surface of the lid body 3.

The air blowing path 15 connects the air blowing means 11 and the exhaust port 13 in a substantially linear shape, and the cross-sectional area is also substantially uniform. One end of the steam path 16 is connected to the steam port 4a of the inner lid 4 and the other end is connected to the exhaust port 13 of the blowing path 14 and the blowing means so that excess steam in the pan 2 can be discharged to the blowing path 15. 11 is connected in communication with a part of the lower part.

  A part of the inner lid 4 is made of a metal such as stainless steel capable of induction heating, and is provided with a steam port 4a composed of a plurality of holes in order to discharge steam to the outside of the pan 2. A substantially annular inner lid packing 17 that is in close contact with the pan 2 when the lid body 3 is in the closed state is attached to the surface of the outer peripheral portion of the inner lid 4 on the pan 2 side. The inner lid packing 17 is made of an elastic body such as rubber.

  On the outer surface of the lid main body 3, a display means 18 for displaying various information such as a rice cooking menu and time, and an operation button 19 for starting, canceling, or making a reservation for cooking rice are mounted.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a computer for storing and executing a rice cooking program, which reads a signal from an output means 11c for outputting a pulse output informing the rotation speed of the blower means 11 and detects the rotation speed of the blower means 11 (22). (Not shown). Further, a rotational speed control means 21 (not shown) for transmitting a PWM signal to the blower means 11 based on a signal output from the computer and controlling the rotational speed of the blower means 11 is configured. Reference numeral 23 denotes a storage means capable of reading or writing data during operation of the main body. The storage means 23 stores in advance a reference rotational speed 23a and a rotation abnormality threshold value 23b of the blower means 11.

  By the operation of the operation button 19, the rice cooking program incorporated in the control device 7 incorporated in the rice cooker body 1 is executed, and the pan heating device 5 and the inner lid heating coil 10 are operated and stopped according to the progress of the rice cooking program. While performing rice cooking, also regarding the air blower 11, operation | movement and a stop will be controlled by the control apparatus 7 in conjunction with a rice cooking process.

  After the main body is assembled, the main body is set based on the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the operation button 19 is operated to set the rotation speed setting step 24. When the rotation speed setting course 24 is started, a signal is issued from the computer 20, and the air blowing means 11 starts rotating. The rotation detection means 22 detects the rotation speed 25 of the blower means 11 after the time during which the rotation speed of the blower means 11 is stabilized (set to 4 seconds in the present invention) elapses.

  A difference 25 between the reference rotation speed 23 a and the detected rotation speed 24 stored in the storage means 23 is calculated, and the difference 26 is stored in the storage means 23. This completes the rotational speed setting step 24. After the rotation speed setting process 24 is completed, the process proceeds to the rotation speed detection process 27.

  In the rotational speed detection step 27, the PWM signal is varied by the difference 26 to correct the rotational speed of the blower means 11, and the corrected rotational speed is stored in the storage means 22 as the rotational speed A28. After the rotation speed setting step 27 is completed, the process returns to the standby state and the main body setting is completed.

  About the rice cooker comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  The rice cooking process is started by setting predetermined rice and water in the pan 2, selecting the rice cooking menu with the operation buttons 19, and pressing the rice cooking start button. The rice cooking process is a soaking process in which the water is kept at a constant temperature and the rice absorbs water, the pot 2 is heated at once by the pot heating device 5 and the water in the pot 2 is boiled, the cooking process in the pot 2 It consists of a steaming process that suppresses heating while water is almost gone. During these processes, rice is gelatinized and cooked. The control device 7 optimally controls the pan heating device 5 according to the temperature of the pan 2 by the pan bottom sensor 5 and performs rice cooking according to a predetermined rice cooking program. There are several courses in the rice cooking program depending on the type of rice. When this steaming process ends, cooking rice ends, and the process automatically shifts to a heat retaining process, so that the temperature of the cooked rice does not decrease, and the user can always obtain warm rice.

  The detail of the operation | movement by rice cooking program execution is demonstrated below.

  When rice cooking is started, the soaking process is first started. The control device 7 heats the pan 2 with the pan heating device 5, detects the temperature of the water in the pan 2 with the pan bottom sensor 5, and adjusts it to a temperature at which rice gelatinization does not start (less than about 60 ° C.). Promotes water absorption.

  In the cooking process, water and heat are added to the rice to cause gelatinization. The control device 7 operates the pan heating device 5 to rapidly heat the pan 2 to bring the water in the pan 2 to a boiling state. At this time, boiling continuously occurs and a large amount of steam is generated. When the generated steam fills the pan 2, excess steam enters the steam path 16 and enters the blower path 15. The control device 7 detects that the water in the pan 2 has boiled by the pan temperature sensor 6 and operates the blowing means (fan) 11. The air blowing means (fan) 11 sucks outside air from the air inlet 12 and introduces room temperature air into the air blowing path 15. The steam guided from the steam path 16 to the blower path 15 is mixed with air at room temperature, and the mixed fluid of the air and steam is discharged to the outside from the discharge port 13 on the side surface of the lid body 3. Since the vapor concentration can be reduced by mixing with air, the temperature of the discharged mixed fluid decreases. At this time, by varying the PWM signal according to the data of the difference 25 and correcting the rotational speed of the blower means 11, the exhaust temperature can be stabilized because the main body variation can be absorbed.

  In addition, when cooking rice at low temperatures, steam exhausted from the exhaust port 13 may dew and water droplets may adhere. In this case, the resistance of the air blowing path 15 increases and the air speed of the air blowing means 11 may exceed the rotation abnormality threshold 23b due to variations in the airframe. At this time, even if the steam temperature of the exhaust gas is lower than the predetermined temperature, it is determined that there is an abnormality, and the pot heating device 5 is turned off. there were.

  In this embodiment, a sirocco fan is used as the air blowing means 11. In the sirocco fan, when the resistance of the air flow path 15 increases, the amount of airflow decreases, and the sirocco fan idles, so that the rotation speed increases.

  FIG. 4 shows changes in the rotational speed of the blower unit 11. The X axis in the figure is the rotational speed of the blower means 11 when there is no foreign matter in the blower path 15, the Y left axis is the rotational speed of the blower means 11 when the exhaust temperature reaches 60 ° C., and the Y right axis is the exhaust temperature. Shows an increase in the rotational speed of the air blowing means 11 when the temperature reaches 60 ° C. In the graph, 31 indicates the rotational speed of the blowing means 11 when the exhaust temperature reaches 60 ° C., and 32 indicates the increase in the rotational speed of the blowing means 11 when the exhaust temperature reaches 60 ° C.

  As apparent from FIG. 4, there is a rotation speed detecting step for detecting the rotation speed of the air blowing means 11 based on the amount of increase in the speed of the air blowing means 11 and storing the detected rotation speed in the memory means 21 as the rotation speed A28. As a result, component variations and assembly variations of the air blowing means 11 can be corrected, the correlation between the exhaust temperature and the rotational speed of the air blowing means 11 can be increased, and the accuracy of abnormality determination can be improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the air blowing means 11 and the air flow path 15 are installed in the lid body 3, the weight of the lid main body 3 increases, but the air blowing means 11 and the air flow path 15 are close to the hinge axis A. Since the center of gravity is close to the hinge axis A, the force required to open the lid body 3 can be reduced, and the force of the rotating spring (not shown) of the lid body 3 needs to be increased. Disappear. Thus, when the force of the rotating spring is large, a large force is applied when the lid body 3 is fully opened to an angle of about 90 degrees with respect to the rice cooker body 1, and when the pan 2 is empty, the rice cooker The problem that the main body 1 tends to be lifted can be reduced, and an easy-to-use rice cooker can be provided.

Further, since the blower means 11 and the blower passage 15 are housed in the latter half of the lid body 3, the lid body 3
Although the thickness of the latter half increases, the thickness of the front half does not increase, and the enlargement of the lid body 3 can be kept to a minimum.

  With the above configuration, the rice cooker according to the present embodiment has the exhaust port 13 for discharging the mixed fluid of air and steam installed on the side surface of the lid body 3 and the exhaust port 13 is provided with the exhaust direction regulating means 14. The mixed airflow can be discharged diagonally forward from the exhaust port 13 on the side surface, and even if the rice cooker body is stored in the shelf and cooked, it is difficult for steam to stay in the shelf and the shelf material deteriorates. It becomes possible to provide a rice cooker having a rice cooking steam cooling function with reduced adverse effects on the control means 7. Further, since the air blowing means 11 and the air blowing path 15 are incorporated in the latter half portion of the lid body 3 to suppress the enlargement of the lid body 3 and the center of gravity is brought closer to the hinge axis A, the rotation spring of the lid body 3 is strengthened. Therefore, it is possible to provide a rice cooker having a rice cooking steam cooling function that is free from problems such as the rice cooker body 1 floating when the lid is opened.

  In addition, since it is the structure which the air discharged | emitted from the ventilation means 11 flows in a substantially straight line toward the exhaust port 13, the ventilation performance at the time of incorporating in the lid body 3 with respect to the single ventilation performance which the ventilation means 11 has Therefore, even when the pressure loss is increased by the exhaust direction regulating means 14 and the air volume is reduced, sufficient steam cooling performance can be ensured.

  In the present embodiment, by providing the air inlet 12 and the air outlet 13 on the lateral side surface of the lid main body 3, even if liquid or the like is accidentally dropped from above the lid main body 3, the liquid or the like that has dropped into the air blowing path 15 is prevented. It is possible to reduce the entry of liquid or the like to the blowing means 11 by entering.

  In addition, although the ventilation means 11 was arrange | positioned in the rear left part of the lid body 3, and the exhaust port 13 was arrange | positioned in the rear right side surface of the lid body 3, conversely, the ventilation means 11 is the rear right side of the lid body 3, and the exhaust port 13 is the lid body. 3 may be arranged on the left side of the rear part, and by preparing both specifications, the user can arbitrarily select convenient specifications according to the installation environment of the rice cooker.

  It should be noted that if at least a part of the steam path 16 is detachably provided, the steam path 16, which is an easy-to-pass passage, can be easily maintained. Even if it is not possible, a configuration may be possible in which a lid is provided and the lid can be opened when cleaning easily contaminated parts.

  The blowing means 11 operates at the time of discharging the steam and can reduce the concentration of the steam, and does not depend on the temperature detected by the pan temperature sensor 6 and starts the operation at a constant temperature after entering the cooking process. The operation may be started by the detected temperature of another sensor such as the lid temperature sensor 9.

  In addition, when at least a part of the air blowing path 15 is provided detachably, even when the rice or water enters the air blowing path 15 during abnormal use, such as when cooking with a larger amount of water than usual, cleaning is possible. It may be easy, or may be configured to be possible by providing a lid even if the air passage 15 cannot be attached / detached and opening the lid when cleaning easily contaminated portions.

  The steam path 16 is connected to the bottom surface of the blower path 15, but the same effect can be expected near the bottom of the side surface of the blower path 15, and the rib is connected to other parts of the blower path 15. Even so, it suffices if steam and air can be mixed substantially uniformly.

  In addition, the inlet 12 should just be provided so that a pressure loss may become small so that the performance of the ventilation means 11 can fully exhibit according to the kind of the ventilation means 11, and a position and a shape may differ. Further, the inside of the lid body 3 is often not an airtight space and is connected to the outside air at some point. A gap between the lid body 3 to be communicated with the outside air may be used as the air inlet 12.

  As mentioned above, since the rice cooker concerning this invention is related with the cooling function of steam, it can be applied also to the use of the cooking appliance which discharges other steam.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice cooker main body 1a Pan storage part 2 Pan 3 Lid main body 11 Blower means 13 Exhaust port 14e Duct 15 Blower path 16 Steam path 20 Computer 23 Storage means 24 Rotation speed setting process 27 Frequency detection process

Claims (4)

A rice cooker body, a pan housed in a pan storage part formed inside the rice cooker body, a pan heating means for heating the pan, and a lid body capable of opening and closing the opening of the rice cooker body; A blowing means disposed in the lid body, an inlet connected to one of the blowing means, a rotation number detecting means for detecting the number of revolutions of the blowing means provided in the blowing means, and the blowing means A blower path that connects one end and communicates the other end with the outside air, and a steam path that connects one end to the blower path and communicates the other end with the inside of the pan. A rice cooker provided with an informing means for informing when an output signal exceeds an abnormal rotational speed. Comprising a storage means for storing a signal output from the rotational speed detection means, having an abnormal rotational speed detection step of detecting the rotational speed of the blower means and storing the detected rotational speed as the rotational speed A in the storage means; The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein an abnormal rotation speed is calculated by adding or multiplying a predetermined rotation abnormality threshold to the rotation speed A. A rice cooker body, a pan housed in a pan storage part formed inside the rice cooker body, a pan heating means for heating the pan, and a lid body capable of opening and closing the opening of the rice cooker body; A blower unit disposed in the lid body and provided with a rotation speed control device, and detecting the rotation speed of the blower means and comparing with a predetermined reference rotation speed of the blower means, and detecting rotation speed and reference A rice cooker comprising a step of calculating a difference in rotation speed and storing the calculated difference in a storage means, and a rotation speed correction means for correcting the rotation speed of the blower means based on the difference. The rice cooker according to claim 2, wherein the rotational speed of the blowing means is detected by the difference, and then the rotational speed of the blowing means is detected, and the detected rotational speed is stored as the rotational speed A in the storage means.