JP2012228446A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rice cooker capable of applying sufficient heating power while suppressing burning on the bottom of an inner pot in a mode of boiling rice with ingredients, and of handling rice cooking with larger ingredients such as beans or with ingredients put in the white rice at a high mixing ratio.SOLUTION: The rice cooker includes: the inner pot 30 in which an object to be cooked is loaded; a rice cooker body 20 with an inner pot housing part 20a for housing the inner pot in such a way that the inner pot can be taken out; a heating means 25 for heating the inner pot; a temperature sensor 26 for detecting the temperature of the inner pot; a heating control means for controlling the heating means so that the temperature of the inner pot is a prescribed temperature in a selected rice boiling mode; a blower fan 23; a vent hole 24 provided on the bottom of the inner pot housing part or on a lower part of a side wall; and a blower fan control part for controlling the motion of the blower fan. The rice cooker has the mode for boiling rice with ingredients as the rice boiling mode. The blower fan control part operates the blower fan in a rice boiling step in the mode for boiling rice with ingredients to feed air into the space between the inner pot housing part and the inner pot.

Description

  The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and more particularly, to a rice cooker having a rice cooking mode including ingredients including cooked rice other than white rice such as cooked rice.

  In recent years, rice cookers have a microcomputer to control the energization current to the IH coil and heater, which are heating means, based on the temperature of the inner pot detected by a temperature sensor arranged around the inner pot, It is possible to cook delicious rice without being affected by changes in the amount of rice cooked or the environmental temperature by finely adjusting the temperature of the inner pot in each of the rice cooking processes called the temperature process, the cooking process (boiling process), and the spotting process. It has become.

  In addition, in order to respond to a wide range of user orientation, it has a rice cooking mode that includes rice, various vegetables such as beans, finely chopped vegetables, and chicken, and cooked rice such as gomoku rice and bean rice. Rice cookers are gaining popularity.

  In general, in the rice cooking mode with ingredients other than white rice, white rice and white rice must be cooked at the same time with various ingredients that differ greatly in size, water absorption, etc. It is necessary to perform rice cooking control different from the case of cooking white rice.

  For example, in Patent Literature 1, as a rice cooking mode with ingredients that can highlight the difference in seasoning and texture between white rice and various ingredients added, the lid of the rice cooker is once opened in the uneven process. The rice cooker which can add ingredients is described.

  In addition, Patent Document 2 focuses on the fact that the rice cooking conditions in the rice cooking mode differ greatly depending on whether soy sauce is used as a seasoning or salt, and the heating output in the rice cooking mode with soy sauce is used. Is made larger than the heating output in the cooked rice cooking mode on a salt basis.

JP 2009-000186 A JP 2009-022362 A

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the lid must be opened and the ingredients must be introduced during a predetermined period in the middle of the rice cooking process. Compared with the white rice rice cooked fully automatically, It will take a lot of work.

  In addition, in the method described in Patent Document 2, although the base of the rice cooking mode is made different by paying attention to the difference in the seasoning, it is difficult to absorb water or the so-called fire is difficult to pass during heating. The problem of preparation was not able to be solved sufficiently.

  For this reason, in rice cookers equipped with cooked rice cooking mode, it is necessary to reduce the heating power to be introduced compared to white rice cooking mode so as not to cause scorching due to seasoning, and other than white rice that can be mixed in the inner pot I had to put a limit on the amount of ingredients.

  Furthermore, in recent years, in the cooking process during the rice cooking process, it is not made of conventional metal but made of non-metal such as ceramics with high heat storage so that the umami of rice can be pulled out while preventing spilling. Inner pots using materials (so-called clay pots, etc.) are used. However, conventionally, it is sufficient to cook rice with good ingredients, using a non-metallic inner pot that heat conductivity is low as a reverse of having high heat storage and the temperature of the inner pot is difficult to be uniform during heating. None of the rice cooking conditions were studied.

  The present invention solves such a problem of the prior art, and in the rice cooking mode, it is possible to throw in a sufficient heating power while suppressing the burning of the bottom of the inner pot, large ingredients such as beans and meat, It aims at obtaining the rice cooker which can respond also to the rice cooking containing ingredients with a high mixing ratio with respect to white rice.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the rice cooker of the present invention includes an inner pot in which to-be-cooked rice is placed, a rice cooker body having an inner pot accommodating portion that detachably accommodates the inner pot, and heating to heat the inner pot. Means, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the inner pot, a heating control means for controlling the heating means so that the temperature of the inner pot becomes a predetermined temperature in the selected rice cooking mode, a blower fan, A blower opening provided at the bottom of the inner pot accommodating part or the lower part of the side wall part, and a blower fan control part for controlling the operation of the blower fan, having a cooked rice mode as the rice cooking mode, and controlling the blower fan A part operates the said ventilation fan in the rice cooking process in the said rice cooking mode with ingredients, and sends air between the said inner pot accommodating part and the said inner pot.

  In the rice cooker mode, the blower fan control unit operates the blower fan and feeds air between the inner pot accommodating portion and the inner pot. For this reason, it is possible to raise the temperature of the upper part of the inner pot while suppressing the temperature of the lower part of the inner pot by wrapping the entire inner pot with a high-temperature air current, and rice cooker with ingredients in which large or large quantities of ingredients are put Even in the mode, it is possible to obtain a rice cooker that does not cause scorching and can realize a rice cooking process in which ingredients are sufficiently ignited.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention. It is an image figure explaining the flow of the airflow by the ventilation fan of the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the measuring point at the time of measuring the temperature characteristic of rice cooking mode with ingredients with the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4A is a diagram for illustrating the planar position of the temperature measurement point, and FIG. 4B is a diagram for illustrating the position of the temperature measurement point in the height direction. It is a figure for demonstrating the rice cooking process in the rice cooking mode with ingredients in the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the temperature characteristic in the measurement point 1 of an inner pot upper part. It is a figure which shows the temperature characteristic in the measurement point 2 of an inner pot lower part. It is a side view which shows the structure of the inner pot in the modification of the rice cooker concerning embodiment of this invention.

  The rice cooker according to the present invention includes an inner pot in which to-be-cooked rice is placed, a rice cooker body having an inner pot accommodating portion that accommodates the inner pot so as to be removable, heating means for heating the inner pot, and the inner pot. A temperature sensor for detecting the temperature, a heating control means for controlling the heating means so that the temperature of the inner pot becomes a predetermined temperature in the selected rice cooking mode, a blower fan, and a bottom surface of the inner pot accommodating portion or A blower opening provided at a lower portion of the side wall, and a blower fan control unit that controls the operation of the blower fan, and has a rice cooking mode as the rice cooking mode, and the blower fan control unit includes the rice cooker with ingredients In the rice cooking process in the mode, the blower fan is operated to send air between the inner pot accommodating portion and the inner pot.

  The rice cooker of the present invention is provided with the above-described configuration, so that the inner pot is wrapped in the air flow generated by the blower fan, and the heat from the heating means is added to the heat conduction by the inner pot itself, by the surrounding air flow. Can be spread throughout. For this reason, it is possible to increase the temperature of the upper part of the inner pot that prevents the temperature from rising while suppressing the temperature rise at the lower part of the inner pot, where the temperature tends to increase. However, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of scorching on the bottom of the inner pot and realize cooked rice with ingredients that are sufficiently cooked with large ingredients and large ingredients. Moreover, since the temperature distribution of the whole inner pot can be made uniform, even when an inner pot made of a non-metallic material having low thermal conductivity is used, it is possible to cook rice with good ingredients.

  In the rice cooker according to the present invention, the blower fan control unit operates the blower fan in at least one of the temperature raising process, the cooking process, and the unevenness process in the rice cooking mode with ingredients, It is preferable to send air between the inner pot accommodating portion and the inner pot. Further, the blower fan control unit continuously operates the blower fan from the middle of the temperature raising process in the rice cooking mode with ingredients until the end of the unevenness process, and the inner pot accommodating part and the inner pot It is preferable to send air in between. By doing in this way, the temperature of an inner pot can be controlled more suitably at the time of the high-temperature rice cooking in which the temperature of an inner pot is kept at 100 degreeC vicinity which is a boiling point of water.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the cooking rice mode with ingredients is a cooked rice mode including the Gomoku rice mode and the bean rice mode. A good rice cooking process can be realized even when cooking cooked rice that contains seasonings that cause scorching and contains many ingredients as rice to be cooked, or bean rice that contains beans that are large ingredients. .

  Furthermore, the inner pot is preferably made of a non-metallic material. By doing in this way, using the heat storage property of the non-metallic inner pot, while maintaining the temperature of the inner pot high in the cooking process, it is possible to throw in enough thermal power to cook the ingredients inside Can cook rice with delicious ingredients.

  Hereinafter, as an embodiment of the rice cooker according to the present invention, the inner pot is a non-metallic earthen pot pot, and includes a blower fan capable of generating an air current in the gap between the inner pot and the inner pot accommodating portion, and a rice cooking mode As an example, a rice cooker having a rice cooking mode with ingredients in addition to the white rice cooking mode will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the rice cooker of the present embodiment. Moreover, FIG. 2 is a figure which shows the cross-sectional structure of the rice cooker of this embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the rice cooker 100 according to the present embodiment has an inner pot 30 for containing rice and water, and, in the rice-containing rice cooking mode, rice to be cooked that is various ingredients such as vegetables, beans, and meat. And the rice cooker main body 20 which can accommodate this inner pot 30 in the inner pot accommodating part 20a is provided.

  FIG. 1 shows a state in which the lid 10 attached to the rice cooker body 20 so as to be opened and closed is closed.

  The lid 10 is provided with a switch 11 for a user to give various settings to the rice cooker 100, and a liquid crystal display unit 12 for displaying an operation state by the switch 11, an operation state of the rice cooker 100, and the like. The switch 11 includes a rice cooker switch, a heat retention switch, a menu switch for setting various rice cooking menus including a white rice cooking mode and various rice cooking modes, and a timer switch for setting time.

  Further, the lid body 10 is provided with a pressure regulating cap 13, and the ball-shaped check valve 14 (see FIG. 2) inside the pressure regulating cap 13 is operated so that the valve pressure of the check valve 14 is closed. The steam is discharged to the outside of the lid body 10 only when it exceeds the limit, and the gas-liquid-separated “needle” is temporarily stored and then returned to the inner pot 30.

  A lock button 21 is provided on the front side surface of the rice cooker body 20, and when the lock button 21 is pushed in with the lid 10 closed, the lid 10 is unlocked, and a lid is formed by a spring mechanism (not shown). 10 is opened to the rear (back) side in FIG.

  In addition, a handle 22 that allows the entire rice cooker 100 to be carried is provided behind the rice cooker body 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, operation circuits of various switches 11, not shown in FIG. 2, and a display image on the liquid crystal display unit 12 are output to a portion located below the liquid crystal display unit 12 inside the lid 10. A circuit unit 15 including a liquid crystal unit driving circuit and the like is provided. Moreover, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the microcomputer which is not shown in which the control circuit which controls a rice cooking program according to the rice cooking mode set by the user was mounted is also mounted on the circuit board which comprises the circuit part 15. FIG. . In the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment, the control circuit included in the microcomputer disposed in the circuit unit 15 has heating control means for controlling energization to the heating means 25 (25a, 25b, 25c), and a blower fan 23 described later. A blower fan control unit for controlling the operation is also included.

  In addition, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, it is only an example that the microcomputer by which the control circuit containing a heating control means and a ventilation fan control part is mounted is arrange | positioned in the lower part of the liquid crystal display part 12. FIG. The heating control unit and the blower fan control unit may be mounted on separate circuit boards, respectively, and the heating control unit and the blower fan control unit are separated from the liquid crystal display unit 12 in the lid 10. For example, it may be arranged in the rice cooker body 20.

  In the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the lid sensor 16 which is one of the temperature sensors for detecting the temperature of the inner pot 30 is positioned above when the inner pot 30 is stored in the inner pot accommodating portion 20a. It arrange | positions at the back surface of the cover body 10 so that the temperature of the vapor | steam above the inner pot 30 at the time of rice cooking can be measured. Each temperature sensor used in the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment, such as the lid sensor 16 and the center sensor 26 described later, is a conventionally known temperature sensor configured using a thermal electric element typified by a thermistor, for example. Can be used as is.

  The lid 10 can be opened and closed by a hinge mechanism 27 of the rice cooker body 20. And when the cover body 10 is closed, the cover body 10 is fixed in the state pressed firmly on the upper surface of the rice cooker main body 20 by the lock mechanism not explicitly shown in FIG. The lid 10 and the rice cooker body 20 are firmly pressed and fixed, so that the seal packing (not shown) of the lid 10 is pressed against the lip of the inner pot accommodating portion 20a of the rice cooker body 20 from above. It will be in the state which seals the space of the inner pot accommodating part 20a which accommodated the inner pot 30, and performs rice cooking or heat insulation.

  A pair of blower fans 23 are arranged inside the rice cooker body 20 of the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment. The blower fan 23 rotates (ON), stops (OFF), and rotates forward and reverse as necessary according to a signal from a blower fan control unit inside the microcomputer mounted on the circuit board 15 of the lid 10. Operation is controlled.

  In the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the two blower fans 23 are arrange | positioned at the left and right of the back side at the time of seeing the rice cooker 100 from the lock button 21 side which is a front side. In FIG. 2, only one of the two blower fans 23 on the near side in FIG. 2 is shown. The blower fan 23 blows out air sucked from a suction port (not shown) from a blower port 24 provided on the lower side of the side wall portion of the inner pot accommodating portion 20a to a gap portion with the inner pot 30 in the inner pot accommodating portion 20a. In the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the ventilation opening 24 is provided with a total of six ventilation openings 24 at intervals of 60 degrees with respect to the center of the inner pot accommodating part 20a.

  Around the inner pot accommodating portion 20a of the rice cooker body 20, a first work coil 25a, a second work coil 25b, and a heater 25c are provided as the heating means 25.

  The first work coil 25a faces the bottom surface of the inner pot 30 and is disposed on the bottom surface of the inner pot accommodating portion 20a. Since the center sensor 26 which is a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the bottom surface of the inner pot 30 is disposed in the center of the bottom surface of the inner pot accommodating portion 20a, the first work coil 25a has a hole in the center in plan view. It has an open ring shape.

  The second work coil 25b is disposed so as to face the inclined portion located at the boundary between the bottom surface and the side surface of the inner pot 30. Similarly to the first work coil 25a, the second work coil 25b has an annular shape.

  In the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment, stainless steel is formed on the inner surface side of the non-metallic inner pot body so that an eddy current is generated by the current flowing through the first work coil 25a and the second work coil 25b. Alternatively, a metal thin film such as silver is formed by transferring a coating or a metal foil. Then, when a current flows through the first work coil 25a and the second work coil 25b, the metal thin film generates heat, and this heat generation increases the temperature of the entire pot.

  A side heater 25 c is disposed on the side wall of the inner pot accommodating portion 20 a facing the side surface of the inner pot 30. When the current flows through the side heater 25c, heat is generated and the inner pot 30 is kept warm during the jar function after rice cooking, and the inner pot 30 is also used with the first work coil 25a and the second work coil 25b during rice cooking. Can be heated.

  In the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment, the first work coil 25a, the second work coil 25b, and the side heater 25c constitute the heating means 25, and are mounted on the microcomputer of the circuit unit 15 of the lid 10. By controlling the amount of current flowing through each of the heating control means, the heating means is turned on and off, and the amount of heat generated when the heating means is on is controlled. In addition to the first work coil 25a, the second work coil 25b, and the side heater 25c, as the heating means 25, a coil is formed in another part around the inner pot accommodating portion 20a and in the lid body 10. It is also possible to arrange a heater or the like.

  The hinge mechanism 27 is provided in the upper part in the back surface of the rice cooker main body 20, and it can open and close from the state which the cover body 10 covered the inner pot accommodating part 20a.

  In order to supply electric power to the rice cooker 100, a cord reel that houses a power cord connected to a power plug 28 connected to a commercial power source is disposed below the hinge mechanism 27.

  In addition, as a whole shape of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, and a concrete structure and arrangement | positioning of each part, various structures different from the structure illustrated to the said FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are employable.

  Here, the flow of air in the gap portion between the inner pot accommodating portion 20a and the inner pot 30 when the blower fan 23 is operated will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the air sent from the blower opening 24 provided in the lower side of the side wall part of the inner pot accommodating part 20a of the rice cooker main body 20 is air current by operating the blower fan 23 not shown in FIG. 29 is formed. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the airflow 29 is directed in the direction of the upper left rather than directly above, so that the airflow 29 circulates clockwise in the gap portion between the side wall of the inner pot accommodating portion 20 a and the inner pot 30. You can make a flow of air.

  In the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the 1st work coil 25a which is the heating means 25 is arrange | positioned on the bottom face of the inner pot accommodating part 20a facing the bottom face of the inner pot 30, and 2nd workpiece | work. Since the coil 25b is also provided facing the boundary between the bottom surface and the side surface of the inner pot 30, the temperature of the lower portion of the inner pot 30 is increased by the first work coil 25a and the second work coil 25b. It's easy to do. Moreover, since the side heater 25c is also arranged opposite to the central portion in the vertical direction of the side surface of the inner pot 30, the temperature of the inner pot 30 itself and the temperature of the air around the inner pot 30 are the same as those of the inner pot 30. The lower part tends to be higher than the upper part. On the other hand, the flange part formed in the upper end of the inner pot 30 is covered with the lid body 10 and the rice cooker body 20 so that the spilled food to be cooked heated during rice cooking does not occur. It is difficult to heat the part directly with heating means, and the temperature on the upper side of the inner pot 30 is less likely to be higher than other parts.

  For this reason, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, by providing the blower opening 24 on the lower side of the side wall portion of the inner pot accommodating portion 20a, the air flow 29 blown out from the blower opening 24 is used as a whole on the outer surface of the inner pot 30. By moving from the bottom to the top, the high temperature air located around the lower part of the inner pot 30 is directed toward the flange portion above the inner pot 30 and the vicinity thereof to increase the overall temperature of the inner pot 30. It can be made to.

  In addition, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the two air blowing fans 23 provided in the left and right rear when the rice cooker 100 is viewed from the front are alternately operated every 30 seconds to alternately generate airflows in opposite directions. It is generated in the gap between the inner pot accommodating portion 20a and the inner pot 30. However, in the rice cooker according to the present invention, the number of blower fans, the method of controlling the operation thereof, the number of blower ports, and the arrangement positions thereof are not limited to those illustrated. One or three or more blower fans can be provided, and instead of operating a plurality of blower fans alternately, a plurality of blower fans can be operated simultaneously to generate a stronger airflow. Moreover, the ventilation port 24 can also be provided in the bottom face of the inner pot accommodating part 20a not only in the side wall part lower side of the inner pot accommodating part 20a. However, as described above, since the temperature around the lower portion of the inner pot 30 becomes higher due to the arrangement position of the heating means 25, it is more preferable that the airflow generated by the blower fan 23 is directed from the bottom to the upper. It is further preferable to generate an air flow surrounding the periphery of the inner ring 30 in order to uniformly raise the temperature of the entire inner pot 30.

  Hereinafter, the setting conditions of the inner pan temperature of the rice cooking mode with ingredients in the rice cooker 100 according to the present embodiment and the temperature change when actually cooking rice are shown.

  First, the measurement point which performed the temperature measurement of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment is demonstrated using FIG.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram for showing a planar position of the temperature measurement point of the inner pot, and the state where the inner pot 30 is arranged in the inner pot accommodating portion 20a of the rice cooker body 20 is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a view seen from above the main body 20. In addition, in order to show a temperature measurement point clearly, the cover body 10 is abbreviate | omitting illustration.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the measurement location A in the plane direction is located in the portion of the inner pot 30 corresponding to the portion where the air blowing port 24 of the airflow circulated by the blower fan 23 is arranged, and the measurement location. B is located in the portion of the inner pot 30 corresponding to the middle portion of the air outlet 24 arranged every 60 degrees.

  Moreover, FIG.4 (b) is a figure for showing the position of the height direction of the temperature measurement point of an inner pot.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (b), the measurement point 1 for measuring the temperature of the upper part of the inner pot 30 is located in the vicinity of the flange part, which is the upper end of the inner pot 30, and the measurement point 2 is the lower part of the inner pot 30. It is located in the inclined part provided in the boundary of a bottom face part and a side part. This measurement point 2 is also a portion facing the second work coil 25b shown in FIG. Moreover, the measurement point 3 is the center part of the bottom part of the inner pot 30, and has shown the part by which the temperature is measured by the center sensor 26 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5: is a temperature chart which shows the temperature change of the inner pot 30 of the whole rice cooking process in the rice cooking mode with ingredients of the rice cooker 100 concerning this embodiment.

  In FIG. 5, the temperature change at the measurement point 1 shown in FIG. 4B, which is the upper part of the inner pot 30, is indicated by a solid line 41, and the temperature at the measurement point 2 shown in FIG. 4B, which is the lower part of the inner pot 30. The change is indicated by a dotted line 42, and the temperature change at the measurement point 3 shown in FIG. 4B, which is the central portion of the bottom surface of the inner pot 30, is indicated by a one-dot chain line 43. In addition, the planar measurement position of the temperature of each measurement point in FIG. 5 is measuring the temperature of the part between the ventilation ports 24 shown as the measurement position B in FIG.

  Further, in the rice cooking process, the timing when the electric power is supplied to the heating means 25 by the heating control means and the size thereof are shown as a lower shaded portion 44. Furthermore, the timing at which the blower fan control unit operates the blower fan 23 is indicated as “ON” in the lowermost part of the drawing.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the temperature of the inner pot 30 when the rice cooking mode is disclosed in the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment is room temperature of 20 ° C. In the water absorption process, the inner pot 30 is heated by the heating means 25. However, the inner pot 30 used in the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment has a low thermal conductivity, so a large overshoot is likely to occur. In consideration of the fact that this is a non-metallic earthenware pot that tends to cause uneven water absorption, the temperature of the inner pot 30 in the water absorption process is suppressed to a low 30 ° C.

  Next, in the temperature raising step 1, the input power to the heating means 25 by the heating control means is maximized, and the temperature of the inner pot 30 is raised to a point where the boiling temperature of water exceeds 100 ° C. at once. With reference to the fact that the temperature 41 at the measurement point 1 in the upper part of the inner pot 30 is about 100 ° C., the temperature raising step 1 is shifted to the temperature raising step 2, where the blower fan control unit controls the blower fan 23. Make it work. In addition, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, as above-mentioned, the two ventilation fans 23 are operate | moved alternately every 30 seconds, and the airflow which surrounds the circumference | surroundings of the inner pot 30 is produced | generated.

  Then, it transfers to the cooking process 1 and the cooking process 2 which evaporate the water | moisture content in the inner pot 30 completely. In the cooking process 1 and the cooking process 2, the heating power input by the heating means 25 is slightly suppressed, and the evaporation degree of moisture is adjusted. The blower fan 23 continues to operate.

  With reference to the fact that the temperature 42 at the measurement point 2, which is the lower part of the inner pot 30, has reached about 100 ° C., the process proceeds to the additional cooking process. Since the heating means 25 is intermittently turned on in the additional cooking step, the temperature 43 at the measurement point 3 near the first work coil 25a, which is the bottom of the inner pot 30, is linked to the on / off of the heating means 25. The temperature goes up and down. However, since an earthen pot with high heat storage is used as the inner pot 30, the temperature 41 at the measurement point 1 at the upper part of the inner pot 30 and the temperature 42 at the measurement point 2 at the lower part of the inner pot 30 are both 100. It is stably maintained above ℃.

  In the subsequent unevenness process, the heating means 25 is turned off, and the temperature 43 at the measurement point 3 at the bottom of the inner pot 30 is lowered. After the predetermined time elapses, the unevenness process is completed and the entire rice cooking process is completed. When the rice cooking process ends, the operation of the blower fan 23 stops.

  Next, the effect of the rice cooking process by the rice cooking program in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment demonstrated using FIG. 5 is demonstrated using FIG. 6 and FIG.

  6 and 7 show changes in the temperature of the inner pot 30 depending on whether or not the blower fan 23 operates in the rice cooking process of the rice cooker 100 according to the present embodiment. 6 and 7 are both the time during which the blower fan 23 is operating in the rice cooking process, that is, the temperature raising process 2 in the middle of the temperature raising process, and the end of the unevenness process in which the rice cooking process is completed. Only the period corresponding to the time until 56 minutes have passed since 24 minutes have elapsed since the start of cooking rice is shown.

  FIG. 6 shows the temperature at the upper part of the inner pot 30 in the vicinity of the flange portion, which is the measurement point 1 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the solid line 51 is arranged with the blower opening 24 that is the measurement position A shown in FIG. 4A of the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment in which the blower fan 23 is operating. Indicates the temperature of the part. Moreover, the dotted line 52 shows the temperature of the part between the ventilation openings 24 which are the measurement position B shown to Fig.4 (a) of the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker of this embodiment where the ventilation fan 23 is operating similarly. Show.

  On the other hand, a one-dot chain line 61 in FIG. 6 indicates the temperature at the measurement position A when the blower fan 23 is not operated as a comparative example. Moreover, the dashed-two dotted line 62 shows the temperature of the measurement position B of the comparative example which did not operate a ventilation fan. That is, the temperature 61 of the inner pot of the comparative example corresponds to the temperature 51 of the inner pot of the present embodiment, and the temperature 62 of the inner pot of the comparative example corresponds to the temperature 52 of the inner pot of the present embodiment.

  On the other hand, FIG. 7 shows the temperature change of the lower part of the inner pot 30 which is the measurement point 2 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, the continuous line 53 shows the temperature of the measurement position A of the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment in which the ventilation fan 23 is operating. Moreover, the dotted line 54 has shown the temperature of the measurement position B of the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment where the ventilation fan 23 is operating similarly. In FIG. 7, a one-dot chain line 63 indicates the temperature at the measurement position A when the blower fan 23 is not operated as a comparative example, and a two-dot chain line 64 is the measurement position B of the comparative example where the blower fan is not operated. Shows the temperature. In FIG. 7, the temperature 63 of the inner pot of the comparative example corresponds to the temperature 53 of the inner pot of the present embodiment, and the temperature 64 of the inner pot of the comparative example corresponds to the temperature 54 of the inner pot of the present embodiment.

  The temperature of the upper part of the inner pot 30 shown in FIG. 6 is the temperature 51, 52 of the rice cooker 100 of the present embodiment in which the blower fan 23 is operating at both the measurement position A and the measurement position B. It is higher than the temperatures 61 and 62 of the rice cooker of the comparative example in which the blower fan 23 is not operating. On the other hand, the temperature of the lower part of the inner pot 30 shown in FIG. 7 is the temperature 53, 54 of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment in which the blower fan 23 is operating at both the measurement position A and the measurement position B. However, the temperature is lower than the temperatures 63 and 64 of the comparative example in which the blower fan 23 is not operating. From this, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the 1st work coil 25a and the airflow which wraps the inner pot 30 produced by operating the ventilation fan 23 from the middle of the temperature rising process to the unevenness process, and It turns out that the heat of the lower part of the inner pot 30 which faces the 2nd work coil 25b is transmitted to the upper part of the inner pot 30 which is the flange part vicinity.

  Moreover, in the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment in which the blower fan 23 is operating, the upper temperatures 51 and 52 shown in FIG. 6 and the lower temperatures 53 and 54 shown in FIG. It is in the range of 105 ° C., and the temperature difference is extremely small. On the other hand, in the inner pot of the comparative example in which the blower fan 23 is not operated, the upper temperatures 61 and 62 shown in FIG. 6 are approximately 100 ° C., but the bottom temperatures 63 and 64 shown in FIG. All are 105 degreeC or more. From this, in the inner pot 30 of the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, it turns out that the effect which makes the temperature part distribution of the inner pot 30 whole more uniform by the airflow which arises with the ventilation fan 23 is acquired.

  Thus, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, by operating the ventilation fan 23 which circulates the air of the gap | interval of the inner pot accommodating part 20a and the inner pot 30 in the unevenness process from the middle of a temperature rising process, Since it is the part which faces the work coils (25a, 25b), the temperature rise of the lower part of the inner pot 30 where temperature tends to rise can be suppressed. For this reason, since the seasoning is included as the cooked rice, it is possible to effectively reduce the occurrence of scorching particularly at the bottom of the inner pot 30 even when cooking rice with ingredients such as cooked rice that is easy to scorch. As a result, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, compared with the rice cooker of the comparative example which does not feed air with the ventilation fan 23, it can be thrown into the heating means 25 at the time of the high temperature rice cooking process from a temperature rising process to a cooking process. The amount of power could be increased up to 5 times. Here, the input electric energy is an electric energy determined by the duty ratio of the on / off time of the heating means 25 and the amount of current passed through the heating means. Thus, the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment can cook the cooked rice in which delicious rice was cooked by supplying big electric power close to the white rice cooked mode even in the cooked rice mode.

  Moreover, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, the inner pot which is the flange part vicinity in the stripping process from the middle of a temperature rising process with the airflow which arises in the clearance gap between the inner pot accommodating part 20a and the inner pot 30 which arises with the ventilation fan 23. Since the temperature of the upper part of 30 can be raised more, when cooking in the rice cooking mode with ingredients, it can be used for tools that are large and difficult to absorb water, such as beans and meat that are placed on white rice to prevent sensor malfunction. On the other hand, sufficient heat can be applied. For this reason, the restriction of the amount of ingredients that has been provided when cooking rice with ingredients has been greatly relaxed so that more ingredients can be introduced as cooked rice with respect to white rice. Become. For example, if it is the rice cooker 100 in the case of this embodiment, in the comparative example which does not operate the ventilation fan 23, the limit value of the input amount of the ingredients, which was 70 grams per rice unit, is about 180 grams. The amount of ingredients added to the same amount of white rice could be increased by about 2.5 times. For this reason, while being able to cook rice with more ingredients, rice with ingredients using larger ingredients such as chestnut rice can be cooked.

  Moreover, in the rice cooker 100 of this embodiment, since the temperature of the upper part of the inner pot 30 can be made high, it is enough also for the white rice which will be located under the various ingredients mounted on the white rice. Can give heat. For this reason, in the conventional rice cooker, for example, the fat content from the chicken did not affect the white rice that was located directly under the chicken, and the temperature did not rise sufficiently, resulting in uneven cooking of the white rice in that part Compared to the above, in the rice cooker 100 of the present invention, it is possible to cook delicious cooked rice with no uneven cooking, including rice directly under the ingredients.

  Furthermore, in the rice cooker of this embodiment, the temperature distribution of the whole inner pot 30 can be made more uniform by the airflow generated in the gap between the inner pot accommodating portion 20a and the inner pot 30 by the blower fan 23. For this reason, even in the rice cooking mode of cooked rice such as cooked rice, heat is sufficiently distributed to the entire cooked rice inside the inner pot, and delicious rice with less uneven cooking can be cooked. Moreover, since the thermal power thrown in by the rice cooking process can be increased in a state where the temperature of the entire inner pan is made more uniform, compared to the rice cooker of the comparative example in which the air is not fed by the blower fan 23, The amount of seasoning that can be added to the pan could also be increased more than twice. For this reason, the conventional subject that the cooked rice cooked with the electric rice cooker is light taste was able to be solved.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the blower fan is continuously operated from the middle of the temperature raising process to the unevenness process has been described. However, in the rice cooker 100 according to the present embodiment, it is not an essential requirement to continuously operate the blower fan 23 from the temperature raising process to the unevenness process. However, the blower fan 23 can be operated in an appropriate period before the process. For example, the blower fan can be operated in one or more processes such as only the cooking process or from the temperature raising process to the cooking process. Further, the temperature raising process, the cooking process, and the unevenness process can be divided into several finer partial processes, and the blower fan can be operated in some of these partial processes.

  FIG. 8 can be used for the rice cooker of this embodiment. It is a side view which shows the shape of the modification of an inner pot.

  The inner pot 31 of the modification shown in FIG. 8 has a streak-like groove 32 formed in the middle portion in the vertical direction of the outer surface of the inner pot 31. Thus, by providing the groove 32 on the outer surface of the inner pot 31, the contact area between the air heated when the blower fan is operated and the inner pot 31 increases. For this reason, when the inner pot heated by the coil or the air heated by the heater moves as an air current in the gap between the inner pot accommodating portion 20a and the inner pot 20, the effect of heating the surface of the inner pot 31 is obtained. It can improve and the effect which equalizes the temperature of the inner pot at the time of ventilation fan operation | movement can be improved further.

  In addition, since it is thought that the effect of the temperature rise by the airflow produced | generated around the inner pot can be improved by increasing the surface area of an inner pot, in addition to forming a groove | channel as shown in FIG. The same effect can be expected even if a ridge-shaped convex portion is formed around the rim. Moreover, in the inner pot 31 of the modification shown in FIG. 8, the groove 32 is formed in an oblique direction, but the angle and length of the groove 32 and the arrangement position in the inner pot 31 are limited to those shown in FIG. However, it can be appropriately selected according to the strength and direction of the airflow generated around the inner pot.

  The rice cooker of the present invention has been described above by exemplifying the case where a nonmetallic earthenware pot is used as the inner pot. However, the inner pot of the rice cooker of the present invention is not limited to an earthen pot made mainly of non-metallic ceramics, and a metal pot made mainly of a metal material such as stainless steel or copper can be used.

  Furthermore, in the above description, cooked rice, bean rice, chestnut rice, etc. have been illustrated and described as examples of the rice cooking mode with ingredients, but in addition, brown rice and other grains that are not in the rice cooking mode only for white rice The present invention can be carried out with the rice cooking mode other than the normal rice cooking mode using only white rice as the rice to be cooked, such as brown rice rice and millet rice, used as an ingredient rice cooking mode.

  According to the rice cooker of the present invention, in the rice cooking mode with ingredients, it is possible to cook more ingredients as cooked foods while suppressing the burning of the bottom of the pan due to the seasoning, so that various rice dishes that meet the diverse needs of users It is useful as a rice cooker that can realize the mode.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Rice cooker main body 20a Inner pan accommodating part 23 Blower fan 24 Blower port 25 Heating means 26 Center sensor (temperature sensor)
30 inner pot

Claims (5)

An inner pot for containing the cooked rice, a rice cooker body having an inner pot accommodating portion for accommodating the inner pot so as to be removable, a heating means for heating the inner pot, and a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the inner pot. A heating control means for controlling the heating means so that the temperature of the inner pot becomes a predetermined temperature in the selected rice cooking mode, a blower fan, and a bottom surface of the inner pot accommodating part or a lower side wall part. A blower opening, and a blower fan controller that controls the operation of the blower fan,
There is a rice cooking mode with ingredients as the rice cooking mode,
The rice blower characterized in that the blower fan control unit operates the blower fan in a rice cooking process in the rice cooking mode, and feeds air between the inner pot accommodating portion and the inner pot.   The blower fan control unit operates the blower fan in at least one of a temperature raising process, a cooking process, and an unevenness process in the rice cooking mode with ingredients, and the inner pot accommodating part and the inner pot The rice cooker of Claim 1 which sends air in between.   The blower fan control unit continuously operates the blower fan from the middle of the temperature raising process in the rice cooking mode with the ingredients until the end of the unevenness process, between the inner pot accommodating part and the inner pot. The rice cooker of Claim 2 which sends air into air.   The rice cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rice cooking mode with ingredients is a cooked rice mode including a five-meat rice mode and a bean rice mode.   The rice cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the inner pot is made of a non-metallic material.

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