JP3524696B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker capable of using a commercial power source as a primary power source and a storage battery having a built-in secondary power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some rice cookers can use a commercial power source as a primary power source and a built-in storage battery as a secondary power source. The storage battery is used when the commercial power source fails. Further, the rice cooker is provided with a display section for displaying an operating state such as cooking rice or keeping warm by lighting a lamp so that the user can grasp the operating state.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned display unit, the user is in the state of lighting the rice while the rice is being cooked or kept warm when the commercial power is turned on or when the storage battery power is used during the power failure. It was not possible to know the power outage state of the commercial power supply (including the disconnection of the outlet), and for example, the battery might run out during rice cooking. Further, since the consumption current is large depending on the lighting state of the display portion, it has been a cause of further shortening the usage time of the storage battery.

Therefore, the invention according to claim 1 provides a rice cooker that informs the user that the storage battery is in use due to a power failure to improve the usability and that can effectively use the storage battery power source during a power failure. This is the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 causes the display of the display unit to blink when at least when the storage battery is in use and the operating state is cooking rice. It is characterized by that. Further, in addition to the object of claim 1, the invention according to claim 2 uses the storage battery power source for a longer period of time effectively, and the cycle of the blinking operation is performed in order to obtain an indication of the remaining amount for the user. It changes according to the remaining battery level. Further claim 3
In addition to the object of claim 1 or 2, the invention described in (1) is to turn off all the display of the display unit except the operation state in which the blinking operation is performed in order to reduce power consumption at the time of power failure as much as possible. .

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic view of the rice cooker, rice cooker 1
Is provided with a gas burner 3 for heating the inner kettle 2 and three electromagnetic valves 4a-4c arranged in the gas supply path thereof, and these electromagnetic valves 4a-4c are provided in the controller 5 respectively.
The opening and closing is controlled by. The controller 5 is provided with a plug 6 for obtaining a commercial power source as a primary power source, a storage battery 7 as a secondary power source, and an operation unit 8 having an input switch for cooking rice or keeping warm, and cooking rice or keeping warm temperature. , And a display unit 9 for displaying the operating state such as the current time. Incidentally, 10 and 11 are lid sensors which are connected to the controller 5 and detect the temperatures of the lid side and the pot bottom side of the inner pot 2, respectively.
It is a bottom sensor. Therefore, in the rice cooker 1, the controller 5 operates the ignition device (not shown) by the input operation of the rice cooker switch of the operation unit 8 and opens the solenoid valves 4a to 4c to ignite the gas burner 3 in the rice cooker 1.
Heat the inner pot 2. And the lid sensor 10 and the pot bottom sensor 1
The combustion of the gas burner 3 is adjusted while controlling the opening and closing of the solenoid valves 4a and 4b based on the detected temperature obtained from No. 1, and the rice is cooked based on the well-known rice cooking sequence.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of the controller 5. The commercial power source includes the power failure detection circuit 12 to the power source switching circuit 1
3, the power from the storage battery 7 can be supplied to the microcomputer 14 and the control load 15 such as the igniter circuit and the solenoid valve drive circuit via the power supply switching circuit 13.
When the commercial power source is turned on, the power source switching circuit 13 supplies the power source to the microcomputer 14 and the control load 15 and charges the storage battery 7, and when the commercial power source fails, it receives the power failure detection signal and stores the storage battery 7 in the microcomputer. It is configured to be used as a power source for 14 and the like. In addition, the microcomputer 14
In response to an input signal from the operation unit 8, a load drive signal for driving the control load 15 is output, and a display drive signal for displaying the operating state on the display unit 9 is output. Further, the microcomputer 14 performs a power failure display control for blinking the display on the display unit 9 to notify the user of the power failure state when the commercial power source fails. This control will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in S1, when the power failure detection circuit 12 confirms the power failure of the commercial power supply, the power supply switching circuit 13 switches the power supply to the storage battery 7 side in S2. Then, in S3, it is confirmed whether or not the operating state of the rice cooker is cooking rice, and if it is cooking rice, in S4, the display drive signal is controlled to blink the display of the display unit 9 and the rice must be cooked. For example, in S5, the display drive signal is controlled to turn on the display. This S3 ~ S5
The control of 1 continues until the power failure is released in S6. When it is confirmed that the power failure has been released, the power supply switching circuit 1
3 switches the power supply to commercial power. As described above, according to the power failure display control, by blinking the display when the commercial power source fails, it is possible to notify the user of the power failure state immediately and to immediately deal with the disconnection of the outlet. Moreover, the effect of saving electricity can be obtained by the blinking display. Explaining this with numerical values in detail, when the display is turned on in the display unit 9, the amount of electricity used during one rice cooking is 200 mAh, but the display blinks (here, the duty ratio is 50%. The amount of electricity used during one rice cooking is 150 mA.
h. Therefore, if the capacity of the storage battery is 600 mAh, when the display is lit, 600 mAh / 200 mAh = 3 times the rice is cooked. When the display is blinking, 600 mAh / 150 mAh = 4 times the rice is cooked. become.

In the flow chart shown in FIG. 3,
The display when the rice is not being cooked at the time of the power failure in S5 is the lighting operation, but the display in S5 can be turned off as in FIG. 4 (the subsequent control is the same as in FIG. 3). Also in this case, when the numerical values are specifically mentioned and compared, the operating current that remains lit is
It becomes 00mA, but the operating current when it is turned off is 20mA.
Becomes Therefore, the simple calculation of the usable time of the storage battery is 600mAh / 200mA = 3h in the lit state and 600mAh / 20mA = 30h in the unlit state. It can be seen that the usable time can be secured longer. In addition, it is desirable to perform the above blinking operation at least during cooking of rice, which consumes the largest amount of current, and thus the amount of electricity can be effectively saved. Also, the power failure display control of FIG. 3 can be applied, or the control of turning off the light other than the specific operation state of FIG. 4 can be applied. Further, during a power failure, the blinking operation can be performed in any operating state.

On the other hand, when the above blinking operation is performed, it is desirable to change the blinking cycle according to the remaining battery level. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the blinking cycle (indicated here by the duty ratio) is proportionally reduced as the battery remaining amount of the storage battery decreases, so that the blinking becomes slower as the battery remaining amount decreases as shown in FIG. A cycle can be obtained, which can serve as a guide for the battery remaining amount for the user, and it is possible to effectively use a small battery remaining amount for a long time by suppressing power consumption as much as possible. The setting of the blinking cycle is not limited to the linear change in FIG. 5, but can be set arbitrarily such as gradually decreasing in accordance with a predetermined battery remaining amount.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the power failure state can be immediately notified to the user to improve the usability, and the power consumption can be saved to effectively use the storage battery power source. . Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, since the cycle of the blinking operation is varied according to the battery remaining amount of the storage battery, in addition to the effect of claim 1, the battery remaining amount can be effectively used for a longer time. At the same time, the user will be given an indication of the remaining battery level, which will improve usability. Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, all the display of the display unit is turned off except for the operating state in which the blinking operation is performed. Therefore, in addition to the effect of claim 1 or 2, electric power other than the specific operating state is obtained. Lower electricity consumption and more electricity savings are achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a rice cooker.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a controller.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a power failure display control.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of power failure display control.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example in which the blinking cycle is changed according to the remaining battery level.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a change state of a blinking cycle.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Rice cooker, 3 ... Gas burner, 5 ... Controller, 7 ... Storage battery, 8 ... Operating section, 9 ... Display section, 12
・ ・ Power failure detection circuit, 13 ・ ・ Power supply switching circuit, 14 ・ ・ Microcomputer, 15 ・ ・ Control load

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───Continued from the front page (56) References JP-A-8-452 (JP, A) JP-A-8-196423 (JP, A) JP-A-2-23913 (JP, A) Actual development Sho-60- 101016 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A47J 27/00 109 A47J 27/00 103 A47J 27/00 105 B65D 5/49

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A commercial power source as a primary power source and a built-in storage battery as a secondary power source can be used, respectively, and the storage battery is used when the commercial power source is not supplied,
Further, the rice cooker is provided with a display unit that lights up when the commercial power is supplied to display a predetermined operating state, and at least when the operating state is rice cooking when the storage battery is used, Rice cooker characterized by blinking display. 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the cycle of the blinking operation is varied according to the remaining battery level of the storage battery. 3. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the display of the display unit is completely turned off except for the operating state in which the blinking operation is performed.