JP2016129614A - rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rice cooker which can suppress boiling over of a gluey part during cooking operation.SOLUTION: A rice cooker has an inner pot, a rice cooker body that has an inner pot housing part housing the inner pot, and a lid body that has an outer lid covering a part above the rice cooker body and an inner lid fitted to a lower surface side of the outer lid. The inner pot has a bottom, a lower cylindrical part which has a cylindrical part that extends to an opening end part of the inner pot above the bottom and whose cylindrical part is housed in the inner pot housing part, and an upper cylindrical part which protrudes upward from the inner pot housing part and extends to the opening end part. The outer lid is provided with upper cylindrical part heating means which heats the upper cylindrical part. The upper cylindrical part heating means comprises a heat radiator plate facing the upper cylindrical part and a heater fitted to the heat radiator plate. In the state that the inner pot is housed in the rice cooker body, the heat radiator plate is in contact with the upper cylindrical part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a rice cooker that cooks cooked rice.

  Conventionally, in order to prevent boiled soup (so-called rice balls) from which the components of the rice have melted out from the inside of the inner pot when the water containing rice boiled during the rice cooking operation, There is a rice cooker having a cartridge that accepts rice balls and steam from the inner pot, separates the rice balls and steam, releases the steam to the outside, and returns only the rice balls to the inside of the inner pot (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).

JP 2001-309851 A

  However, with the conventional configuration, as the heating output of rice cookers in recent years increases, there is a problem that the size of the cartridge increases in order to prevent a larger amount of rice balls from being blown out.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker capable of suppressing the spilling of rice balls during the rice cooking operation.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the rice cooker, the inner pot, the rice cooker main body having the inner pot accommodating portion for accommodating the inner pot, the outer lid covering the upper portion of the rice cooker main body, and the lower surface side of the outer lid The lid has a mounted inner lid, and the inner hook has a bottom portion and a cylindrical portion extending above the bottom portion to the opening end of the inner hook, and the cylindrical portion is accommodated in the inner hook accommodating portion. The upper cylinder portion includes a lower cylinder portion and an upper cylinder portion that protrudes upward from the inner hook housing portion and extends to the opening end portion. The outer lid includes an upper cylinder portion heating unit that heats the upper cylinder portion. The means is composed of a heat radiating plate facing the upper tube portion and a heater attached to the heat radiating plate, and when the inner pot is housed in the rice cooker body, the heat radiating plate is configured to contact the upper tube portion. Good.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the rice cooker which can suppress the spill of the rice ball during rice cooking operation | movement can be comprised.

The perspective view of the rice cooker 100 which concerns on embodiment XX sectional view in FIG. Enlarged view of portion Y in FIG. Perspective view of inner pot 5

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted or simplified as appropriate. In addition, the shape, size, arrangement, and the like of the configuration described in each drawing can be changed as appropriate within the scope of the present invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
[rice cooker]
FIG. 1: is the top view seen from upper direction about an example of the rice cooker which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention, (b) The perspective view seen from diagonally upward. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion Y in FIG. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the inner hook as viewed obliquely from above, and FIG. 4B is a ZZ cross-sectional view of FIG. 4A.

As shown in FIG.1 and FIG.2, the rice cooker 100 which concerns on this embodiment has the rice cooker main body 1 which has the inner pot accommodating part 1a, and the inner pot 5 detachably installed in the inner pot accommodating part 1a. And a lid 2 that covers the upper portion of the rice cooker body 1.
The lid 2 is attached to the rice cooker body 1 so as to be freely opened and closed. The user can open the lid body 2 and, for example, install the inner hook 5 in the inner pot accommodating portion 1a or take out the inner pot 5 from the inner pot accommodating portion 1a. In addition, the user can, for example, close the lid 2 and cook an object to be cooked such as rice prepared in the inner pot 5.

[Inner pot]
As shown in FIG. 4, the inner hook 5 has a bottom portion 5a, a cylindrical portion 5c extending to the opening end portion 5d above the bottom portion 5a, and a corner portion 5b between the bottom portion 5a and the cylindrical portion 5c. It is a bottom cylindrical cooking container. The inner hook 5 is formed, for example, by cutting out a baked carbon material.
The inner hook 5 may be formed of, for example, a metal such as iron, aluminum, or copper, or an alloy containing these, and in that case, is formed through processes such as casting and cutting.

The cylinder part 5c of the inner hook 5 of this embodiment includes a lower cylinder part 5c1 connected to the corner part 5b, and an upper cylinder part 5c2 extending to the opening end part 5d above the lower cylinder part 5c1.
The lower cylinder portion 5c1 has an inner peripheral surface formed in a substantially linear shape along the vertical direction. The upper cylinder part 5c2 is a part above the collar part 50 mentioned later, and has an inner peripheral surface gradually narrowed in the radial direction from the lower part toward the upper opening end part 5d.

Further, the outer peripheral surfaces of the lower cylinder portion 5c1 and the upper cylinder portion 5c2 are formed in substantially the same shape as the respective inner peripheral surfaces. That is, the outer peripheral surface of the lower cylindrical portion 5c1 is formed in a substantially straight shape along the vertical direction, and the outer peripheral surface of the upper cylindrical portion 5c2 is radially directed from the lower side toward the upper opening end portion 5d. It is gradually narrowed and formed.
That is, the inner hook 5 has a substantially bowl-shaped outer shape whose upper end portion is formed smaller than the maximum diameter of the inner hook 5.

Further, a flange 50 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the inner hook 5. The collar part 50 protrudes outward from the outer peripheral surface of the upper cylinder part 5c2. The cylinder part 5c (upper cylinder part 5c2) is located above the collar part 50, and the inner space of the inner hook 5 is formed above the collar part 50 inside the inner hook 5.
Further, the inner peripheral surface of the inner hook 5 is gradually narrowed in the radial direction from the lower side toward the upper opening end 5d. The height h1 from the lower part of the flange 50 to the opening end 5d is 15% or more of the height h from the inner bottom of the inner hook 5 to the opening end 5d.

[Rice cooker body]
As shown in FIG.1 and FIG.2, the rice cooker main body 1 has the inner pot accommodating part 1a with which the upper part was opened. The upper end of the inner hook accommodating portion 1 a constitutes a hook support portion 1 a 1 that supports the lower side of the hook portion 50 of the inner hook 5. The hook support part 1a1 is provided with a hook support part 60 that contacts the lower side of the hook part 50 of the inner hook 5.
The heel support portion 60 is a portion that supports the lower side of the heel portion 50, and includes a support body 61 made of metal and a heel heating means 62 arranged in contact with the support body 61.
When the inner pot 5 is installed in the rice cooker body 1, the support body 61 supports the heel part 50 from below and the heel part heater 62 is driven, so that the heat of the heel part heating means 62 causes the support part 61 to move. The collar 50 is heated. In addition, the heel part heating means 62 is drive-controlled by the control part 10 mentioned later.

The rice cooker body 1 has a main heating means 7, a temperature sensor 8, and a control unit 10.
The temperature sensor 8 detects the temperature in the vicinity of the center of the bottom portion 5a of the inner hook 5, and is composed of, for example, a thermistor. The control unit 10 controls the rice cooker 100 such as the main heating unit 7, the main body display unit 4, which will be described later, and the upper cylinder part heating unit 30 based on an input by operating the operation unit 3 which will be described later or an input from the temperature sensor 8. It controls the operation of various components to be configured, and includes, for example, a CPU or a dedicated IC. In addition, the control part 10 is provided in the main body rear part in this Embodiment.

The main heating means 7 heats the inner pot 5 and operates based on an instruction from the control unit 10. The main heating means 7 includes, for example, a bottom heating means 7a, a corner heating means 7b, and a lower cylinder heating means 7c. The bottom heating means 7a heats the bottom 5a of the inner pot 5. The corner part heating means 7b heats the corner part 5b of the inner hook 5.
In the example of this embodiment, the bottom heating means 7a and the corner heating means 7b are constituted by induction coils. However, the bottom heating means 7a and the corner heating means 7b are constituted by heating wires or the like. May be. The lower cylinder part heating means 7c heats the lower cylinder part 5c1 of the inner hook 5, and is composed of, for example, a cord heater.

[Lid]
As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the cover body 2 has the outer cover 2a and the inner cover 2b. The outer lid 2a covers the top of the rice cooker body 1. The outer lid 2a is attached to the rice cooker main body 1 so as to be openable and closable behind the rice cooker main body 1 by a connecting mechanism 6 such as a hinge.

An operation unit 3 and a main body display unit 4 are provided on the upper surface of the outer lid 2a.
The operation unit 3 gives instructions to the rice cooker 100, and is configured by, for example, a touch sensor. The user can operate the operation unit 3 to give instructions for selecting a cooking menu, setting a cooking time, and the like.
The main body display unit 4 displays an operation state and the like of the rice cooker 100, and is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal panel. The operation unit 3 and the main body display unit 4 may be configured by a touch panel in which these are integrally formed.

  An inner lid 2b is detachably mounted on the lower surface side of the outer lid 2a. The inner lid 2b covers the opening of the inner hook 5, and a ring-shaped inner hook seal member 12 is disposed on the lower surface side of the inner lid 2b. When the lid 2 is closed, the inner hook seal member 12 comes into contact with the opening end 5d of the inner hook 5 and seals between the opening end 5d of the inner hook 5 and the inner lid 2b. . The inner hook seal member 12 is formed of an elastic material such as silicon resin, for example.

  In addition, a steam hole 2b1 is formed in the inner lid 2b. An opening / closing valve 11 is provided in the steam hole 2b1 of the inner lid 2b. The on-off valve 11 is moved up and down by the pressure inside the inner hook 5. A part of the steam generated during rice cooking or the like passes through the steam hole 2b1 and is guided to the cartridge 20 installed above the inner lid 2b.

This cartridge 20 separates the steam containing the rice cake component at the time of rice cooking into the rice cake ingredient and the steam, guides the separated steam to the outside of the rice cooker 100, and returns the rice cake component to the inside of the inner pot 5. Is.
In other words, the steam including the tow component that has passed through the steam hole 2b1 of the inner lid 2b flows into the cartridge 20 from the inflow portion 20a of the cartridge 20, and is separated into the towed component and the steam in the cartridge 20. Steam is discharged from the steam discharge unit 20b.

Here, the outer lid 2a is configured to have a concave shape in which the outer lid lower surface portion 2a1 constituting the lower surface is opened downward, so that the outer lid lower surface portion 2a1 is located above the lid lower end 2c serving as the lower end of the lid body 2. A space 2d surrounded by is formed. Thus, the lid body 2 has a cup shape that opens downward, and the opening facing downward is formed in a circular shape.
A lid seal 40 is provided at the lid lower end 2c. The lid seal 40 is for filling the gap 14 at the alignment position between the rice cooker body 1 and the lid 2 when the lid 2 closes the upper surface of the rice cooker body 1. And shuts off outside ventilation.

Furthermore, a concave portion 2a2 that opens toward the inside of the lid body 2 is formed on an inner peripheral surface that is a portion extending in the vertical direction of the outer lid lower surface portion 2a1. The concave portion 2a2 is formed over the entire inner peripheral surface of the outer lid lower surface portion 2a1.
The concave portion 2a2 is provided with an upper cylindrical portion heating means 30 for heating the upper cylindrical portion 5c2 of the inner hook 5. The upper cylinder part heating means 30 is an elastic member interposed between the heat radiating plate 31 and the recess 2a2 and the heat radiating plate 31 opposed to the upper cylindrical part 5c2 inside and outside, the heater 32 serving as a heat source attached to the heat radiating plate 31. The spring 34 is configured.
The spring 34 may be made of a synthetic resin (silicon rubber or the like) in addition to a metal one.

The heat radiating plate 31 has a shape that conforms to the outer surface shape of the upper cylinder portion 5c2, and is configured such that the inner surface can contact the outer surface of the upper cylinder portion 5c2. In addition, a guide portion 31 a that protrudes outward is provided on the outer surface of the heat radiating plate 31 on the lower end side.
The heat radiating plate 31 thus configured is provided with a heater 32 on the outer surface. And the spring 34 is interposed between the outer surface of the heat sink 31, and the recessed part 2a2, and the heat sink 31 is attached to the recessed part 2a2 in the state supported by the inner wall surface of the recessed part 2a2 from the lower side.
The guide portion 31a is configured to be able to move inward and outward while contacting the wall surface of the recess 2a2.

  Thus, by attaching the radiator plate 31 provided with the heater and the spring 34 to the recess 2a2 to constitute the upper heating means 30, the guide portion 31a is guided by the inner wall of the recess 2a2, and the entire radiator plate 31 is cooked. The upper cylinder part heating means 30 which can move to the inside / outside direction of a container can be comprised.

[Installation of the inner pot on the rice cooker body]
The state which installed the inner pot 5 comprised as mentioned above in the rice cooker main body 1, and closed the cover body 2 is demonstrated.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the inner pot 5 is installed in the rice cooker body 1, the lower part of the flange 50 of the inner pot 5 comes into contact with the support 61 at the upper end of the inner pot accommodating portion 1a. The shuttle 5 is supported.
And the lower cylinder part 5c1 located in the lower part of the collar part 50 is accommodated in the inner hook accommodating part 1a. The upper cylinder part 5c2 located above the lower part of the collar part 50 protrudes upward from the inner hook accommodating part 1a and enters the space part 2d of the outer lid 2a.

The upper cylinder part 5c2 that has entered the space part 2d is in a state in which the spring 34 pushes the heat radiating plate 31 positioned in the inner direction of the rice cooker body 1 toward the outer side and is in contact with the heat radiating plate 31. That is, when the upper tube portion 5c2 enters the space portion 2d, the heat radiating plate 31 side escapes, so that the lid 2 can be easily opened and closed.
In addition, since the shape of the heat sink 31 is formed along the outer shape of the upper cylinder part 5c2, the heat sink 31 and the upper cylinder part 5c2 can be in surface contact. In particular, in such a state of contact, since the heat sink 31 is pushed inward by the elastic force of the spring 34, the heat sink 31 and the upper cylinder portion 5c2 are in a more intimate contact state.

  Further, in the state where the lid 2 is closed to the rice cooker main body 1, the gap 14 at the position where the rice cooker main body 1 and the lid 2 are aligned is filled with the lid seal 40, so the space where the heat radiating plate 31 is located. The ventilation between the portion 2d and the outside of the rice cooker 100 is blocked. That is, the heat of the hot plate 31 is not easily escaped to the outside of the rice cooker 100.

As described above, the cooking pot (rice and water) is put in the inner pot 5 and the inner pot 5 is stored in the rice cooker body 1 to start the rice cooking operation. In addition, the reference line is provided in the inner pot 5 so that the maximum amount of the food can be accommodated in the lower cylinder part 5c1 below the bowl part 50.
In the boiling step in the cooking operation, the control unit 10 operates the main heating unit 7, stops the heater 32 of the upper tube unit heating unit 30 (does not operate), or operates the output weakly. The lower cylinder part 5c1 is heated to a state suitable for cooking, and the cooking operation is performed so that the temperature of the upper cylinder part 5c2 is lower than the temperature of the lower cylinder part 5c1.

When the boiling process is started, the lower cylinder part 5c1, the bottom part 5a, and the corner part 5b are heated by the operation of the main heating means 7, and the cooked product is boiled along with this, and the foam moves inside the inner pot into the upper cylinder part 5c2. It springs up.
Here, since the temperature of the upper cylinder part 5c2 is lower than the temperature of the lower cylinder part 5c1 and the part below the lower cylinder part 5c1, the bubbles that have risen are efficiently cooled on the inner surface of the upper cylinder part 5c2, and broken. The boiled soup constituting the foam is returned downward by its own weight to prevent the rice cake from blowing out from the inner pot 5. That is, it is possible to reduce the amount of intrusion from the inner hook 5 into the cartridge 20.
In addition, when the height of the upper cylinder part 5c2 which can fully hold the foam which blew up can be ensured, the heater 32 is driven in a boiling process, the upper cylinder part 5c2 is heated, and rice is cooked at a higher temperature. May be.

Next, when the boiling process is completed, the control unit 10 proceeds to a dry-up process, an unevenness process, and a heat retention process.
The dry-up process is a process that completely absorbs moisture to the center of the rice, completely gelatinizes it to the center of the rice, and completely evaporates any excess moisture in the kettle. In this process, the temperature in the kettle is increased to the peak temperature (the highest temperature in the dry-up process) to promote the gelatinization of rice.

The unevenness process is a process to evaporate the moisture on the surface of the rice, to make the moisture of the rice uniform, and to completely gelatinize the inside of the rice. The rice does not burn, and the pot temperature is 80 ° C or higher. This is a step of holding for a predetermined time.
A heat retention process is a process of keeping the temperature of the cooked rice in a warm state after the end of the rice cooking operation (after the end of the unevenness process).

The control part 10 heats the upper cylinder part 5c2 by operating the heater 32 of the upper cylinder part heating means 30 in the dry-up process, the unevenness process, and the heat insulation process. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the water vapor evaporated from the rice in the dry-up process, the unevenness process, and the heat retaining process from being cooled and condensed by the upper cylinder portion 5c2.
In particular, since the heat radiating plate 31 is pushed inward by the elastic force of the spring 34, the heat radiating plate 31 and the upper cylindrical portion 5c2 are in a more intimate contact state. 5c2.

Further, in the state where the lid 2 is closed to the rice cooker main body 1, the gap 14 at the position where the rice cooker main body 1 and the lid 2 are aligned is filled with the lid seal 40, so the space where the heat radiating plate 31 is located. The ventilation between the portion 2d and the outside of the rice cooker 100 is blocked.
That is, the heat of the hot platen 31 is not easily escaped to the outside of the rice cooker 100, and the temperature of the upper tube portion 5c2 can be kept higher.

Further, in this embodiment, the inner peripheral surface of the upper cylindrical portion 5c2 is gradually narrowed in the radial direction while going from the lower side to the upper opening end portion 5d. Therefore, in this embodiment, steam generated during cooking or the like is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the upper cylinder portion 5c2 to condense, and is dropped back into the inner pot 5 for example.
Furthermore, bubbles that have risen during the boiling process and have propagated along the inner peripheral surface of the inner pot 5 fall on the inner peripheral surface of the upper cylindrical portion 5c2 by its own weight. As a result, in this embodiment, the risk of spillage is suppressed.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, since bubbles and steam that have risen during cooking are suppressed from being discharged to the outside of the inner pot 5, cooking is performed by confining the taste of a cooked item such as rice. It can be performed.

Moreover, according to the inner hook 5 of this embodiment, since the possibility of spilling can be suppressed, the structure of the cartridge 20 can be simplified and downsized. In this embodiment, since the configuration of the cartridge 20 is simplified, the cleaning of the cartridge 20 is easy and the cartridge 20 is downsized, so that the rice cooker 100 can be downsized. Can do.
As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to suppress spillage such as rice balls during cooking with a simple configuration. Note that the cartridge 20 can be omitted when the structure of the inner hook 5 sufficiently suppresses the risk of spillage.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice cooker main body, 1a Inner pot accommodating part, 1a1 rice cake support part, 1a2 Inner pot seal member, 2 cover body, 2a outer cover, 2a1 upper cylinder part cover part, 2b inner cover, 2b1 steam hole, 3 operation part, 4 Main body display section, 5 inner pot, 5a bottom section, 5b corner section, 5c cylinder section, 5c1 upper cylinder section, 5c2 lower cylinder section, 5d open end section, 6 coupling mechanism, 7 heating means, 7a bottom heating means, 7b corner section Heating means, 7c Lower cylinder part heating means, 8 Temperature sensor, 10 Control part, 11 On-off valve, 12 Seal member, 14 Clearance, 20 Cartridge, 20a Inflow part, 20b Steam discharge part, 50 collar part, 54 Display part, 30 Upper tube heating means, 100 rice cooker

Claims (4)

A rice cooker body having an inner pot, an inner pot accommodating portion for accommodating the inner pot, an outer lid covering the upper side of the rice cooker body, and a lid having an inner lid mounted on the lower surface side of the outer lid; And
The inner hook has a bottom portion and a cylindrical portion that extends to the opening end of the inner hook above the bottom portion, and the cylindrical portion is accommodated in the inner hook accommodating portion, and the inner pot accommodating The upper cylindrical portion that protrudes upward from the portion and extends to the opening end,
The outer lid includes an upper tube portion heating means for heating the upper tube portion,
The upper cylinder part heating means comprises a heat radiating plate facing the upper cylinder part and a heater attached to the heat radiating plate,
In the state where the inner pot is accommodated in the rice cooker body, the heat radiating plate is in contact with the upper tube portion.   The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the heat radiating plate is attached to the outer lid through an elastic member.   2. A seal member is provided between the rice cooker main body and the outer lid, in which the outer lid covers the upper portion of the rice cooker main body and fills the gap between the two parts. The rice cooker in any one of Claim 2.   The inner pot has a hook portion protruding outward at a lower end of the upper tube portion, and heats the hook portion from below in a state of being accommodated in the rice cooker body. Claims 1 to 3 are a rice cooker.