JP6986983B2 - Rice bite - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a rice bin that stores rice, and more particularly to a rice bin that can reliably detect the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage section.

Patent Document 1 is known as this type of rice bin. In Patent Document 1, an optical sensor and a weight sensor are attached to an inclined surface of a hopper-shaped rice storage portion, and rice replenishment is promoted based on the detection signals of these sensors. In such rice bins, since the rice storage part is made of resin, it may be charged by friction between rice and rice grains may remain on the inclined surface, and if an optical sensor or weight sensor is attached to this inclined surface, In some cases, it was not possible to reliably detect the remaining amount of rice.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-212230

An object to be solved by the present invention is to provide a rice bowl capable of reliably detecting the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage unit.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a rice bowl provided with a remaining amount sensor that detects that the amount of rice contained in the hopper-shaped rice storage is less than a predetermined level, and the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage is provided. A sensor mounting chamber with a vertically raised detection surface is formed in a part of the rice storage, and the remaining amount sensor is used as a reflective photoelectric sensor. Is characterized by the formation of.

Further, the rice storage section for storing rice, the weighing section for measuring and discharging a certain amount of rice from the rice storage section, the heat insulating box body for insulating the rice storage section and the measuring section, and the inside of the heat insulating box are cooled. It is a rice bowl equipped with a cooling unit, and a sensor mounting chamber with a vertically raised transparent or translucent detection surface is formed on a part of the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage part, and the remaining amount sensor is a reflective type. The photoelectric sensor is characterized in that a horizontally reflected optical axis is formed on the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage portion from the detection surface of the sensor mounting chamber.

According to the present invention, by mounting the remaining amount detection sensor so that the optical axis of the remaining amount detection sensor is formed horizontally on the inclined surface of the rice storage portion, the rice bran staying on the inclined surface and the rice stuck by static electricity are affected. It becomes difficult to perform detection operation with less influence of external light entering.

In addition, by forming the optical axis horizontally from the vertical detection surface of the sensor mounting chamber, diffused reflection of the optical axis due to the inclined surface is prevented, and even an inexpensive photoelectric sensor can reliably detect the presence or absence of rice. It will be possible.

It is an external perspective view which shows the rice box of this invention. It is an internal cross-sectional view of the same rice. It is explanatory drawing which shows the detection state of the remaining amount detection sensor 8. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the rice storage chamber 4 and the sensor mounting chamber 12. It is a block diagram which shows the control system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a rice bin, and FIG. 2 is an internal sectional view. Here, a rice bin having a cooling function is exemplified.
Reference numeral 1 is a heat insulating box body, which is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped by combining the front upper panel, the left and right side panels, the back panel, and the bottom panel of the heat insulating material, and has a door body 2 that can be opened and closed at the lower front part of the heat insulating box body 1. , It is formed by a lid 3 that can be opened and closed on the upper surface of the heat insulating box 1. Inside the heat insulating box 1, a rice storage unit 4 for storing rice, a measuring device 5 for weighing and discharging rice in the rice storage unit 4, a rice receiving container 6 for receiving rice from the measuring device 5, and heat insulation are provided. A cooling device 7 for cooling the inside of the box 1 is provided.

The door body 2 and the lid body 3 are made of a heat insulating material, and the heat insulating property of the heat insulating box body 1 is provided by a sealing member that is in close contact with the opening of the heat insulating box body 1 and a lock mechanism (not shown) that holds the closed state. Is secured. The rice storage unit 4 has a front surface, a side surface, a back surface, and a bottom surface integrally formed of resin, and has an inclined surface 4b inclined toward the rice discharge port 4a while opening a rice discharge port 4a to the measuring device 5 on the bottom surface. It has a hopper shape, and a remaining amount detection sensor 8 for detecting the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage unit 4 is provided on the inclined surface 4b.

The measuring device 5 communicates with the rice discharge port 4a of the rice storage unit 4 to take out a certain amount of rice and discharges it to the rice receiving container 6, and is exposed on the front surface of the heat insulating box 1 opened and closed by the door body 2. It is operated by the operating lever 9. The rice receiving container 6 is removable from the front surface of the heat insulating box 1 which is also opened and closed by the door body 2, and takes out the rice weighed by the weighing device 5.

The cooling device 7 is composed of a Peltier unit in which a Peltier element is sandwiched between a cooling heat sink and a heat dissipation heat sink. It is attached to the panel. A circulation fan 10 is arranged in the vicinity of the cooling heat sink to circulate cold air inside the heat insulating box 1. Further, a heat radiating fan 11 is arranged in the vicinity of the heat radiating heat sink to discharge hot air to the outside of the heat insulating box 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the remaining amount detection sensor 8 has a light emitting unit 8a and a light receiving unit 8b in parallel, and light emitted from the light emitting unit 8a is reflected by a detection object (here, rice) and received by the light receiving unit 8b. It is composed of a reflective photoelectric sensor that detects the presence or absence of an object depending on whether or not it is present, and is provided in a sensor mounting chamber 12 formed on an inclined surface 4b of the rice storage unit 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the sensor mounting chamber 12 has a peripheral surface portion 12a that is bulged to the rear portion of the inclined surface 4b of the rice storage portion 4 and rises vertically, and an upper surface that is inclined at the same angle as or at a steep angle to the inclined surface 4b. It is composed of a part 12b. Here, the light emitting unit 8a and the light receiving unit 8b of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 are arranged vertically, but they may be arranged horizontally.

In the sensor mounting chamber 12, the circuit board 13 to which the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is mounted is attached to the sensor mounting chamber 12 so that the optical axis of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is formed horizontally on the inclined surface 4b of the rice storage unit 4. It can be attached by inserting it from below. At this time, the peripheral surface portion 12a (detection surface) of the sensor mounting chamber 12 facing the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is mounted so as to have a predetermined interval S to reduce the influence of static electricity. The position of the optical axis is set to a level at which it can be recognized that the amount of rice stored is about 10% of the maximum capacity of the rice storage unit 4, for example, the rice storage unit 4 weighs 12 kg. When it is the capacity, it is set to a level that can detect that the remaining amount of rice stored is about 1.2 to 1.5 kg. As a result, when the remaining amount of rice is detected by the remaining amount detection sensor 8, the rice storage unit 4 can be completely replenished with 10 kg of rice that is generally commercially available.

By attaching the remaining amount detection sensor 8 so that the optical axis of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is formed horizontally on the inclined surface 4b of the rice storage unit 4 in this way, the influence of the rice bran staying on the inclined surface 4b and the rice stuck by static electricity can be affected. It becomes difficult to receive the light, and the detection operation can be performed with the influence of the external light entering when the lid 3 is opened reduced. Further, the sensor mounting chamber 12 is formed to bulge on the inclined surface 4b of the rice storage unit 4, and the optical axis is formed horizontally from the vertical detection surface facing the remaining amount detection sensor 8, so that the optical axis due to the inclined surface 4b is formed. Diffuse reflection is prevented, and even an inexpensive photoelectric sensor can detect the presence or absence of rice. Further, since the upper surface portion 12b of the sensor mounting chamber 12 is inclined at the same angle as the inclined surface 4b of the rice storage portion 4, the movement of the rice in the rice storage portion 4 toward the rice discharge port 4a is hindered. However, rice is prevented from staying on the detection surface. As the mounting position of the sensor, it is conceivable to mount it on a vertical surface such as the front surface, the side surface, and the back surface of the rice storage unit 4, but due to the nature of the rice bin, the bottom surface must be an inclined surface 4b, and the rice storage unit 4 needs to be mounted. It is not preferable because the remaining amount level is too high on each vertical surface.

As other equipment, an indicator lamp 14 provided on the front upper panel of the heat insulating box 1, a temperature sensor 15 provided on the suction side of the circulation fan 10, and a heat dissipation fan 11 are attached, and an outside air intake port and exhaust air are installed. A back cover 16 provided with a mouth is provided. It is preferable to provide a detecting means such as a sensor for detecting the open / closed state of the door body 2 and the lid body 3, a mechanism for locking the closed state of the door body 2 and the lid body 3, and the like.

With such a configuration, the rice storage portion 4 is arranged so as to form a space with the inner peripheral surface of the heat insulating box 1, and the air cooled by the cooling device 7 is circulated in this space via the circulation fan 10. The rice storage unit 4 is cooled. When the rice is taken out, the door body 2 is opened and the operating lever 9 of the weighing device 5 is operated, so that a fixed amount of rice is discharged into the rice receiving container 6. When the amount of rice stored in the rice storage unit 4 becomes low, the remaining amount detection sensor 8 detects it, the indicator lamp 14 lights up, and the rice supply is notified. Rice is replenished by opening the lid 3 and charging the rice through the upper opening of the heat insulating box 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system.
Reference numeral 17 is a control unit, which receives an output signal from the remaining amount detection sensor 8 and the temperature sensor 15 to drive the cooling device 7, the circulation fan 10, the heat dissipation fan 11, and the indicator lamp 14.
The operation in these control systems will be described below. When the power is turned on, the cooling device 7 is activated to cool the inside of the heat insulating box 1. When the cooling device 7 is activated, the cooling heat sink of the Peltier unit is cooled, and this cold air flows between the rice storage unit 4 and the inner wall of the heat insulating box 1 by the circulation fan 10 to the measuring device 5 and the rice receiving container 6. The inside of the heat insulating box 1 is cooled as a whole by following the circulation path that is sent back to the circulation fan 10 again. The temperature of the circulating cold air is detected by a temperature sensor 15 provided on the suction side of the circulation fan 10, and the cooling device 7 is controlled so that the inside of the heat insulating box 1 is maintained at a predetermined temperature.

The remaining amount detection sensor 8 constantly detects the remaining amount of rice. The control unit 17 outputs a pulsed light emission from the light emitting unit 8a of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 to distinguish whether the light detected by the light receiving unit 8b is the light from the light emitting unit 8a or the external light. When the rice in the rice storage unit 4 is stored more than a predetermined level, the light from the light emitting unit 8a of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is reflected by the rice and received by the light receiving unit 8b (FIG. 3a). On the other hand, when the amount of rice in the rice storage unit 4 is less than the predetermined level, the light from the light emitting unit 8a of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is not reflected by the rice and is not received by the light receiving unit 8b (FIG. 3b). Then, the control unit 17 determines that the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage unit 4 is less than the predetermined level, and turns on the indicator lamp 14 to notify the user of the replenishment of rice. When the rice is replenished and the light from the light emitting unit 8a of the remaining amount detection sensor 8 is reflected by the rice and received by the light receiving unit 8b, the indicator lamp 14 is turned off. It should be noted that the operation of the cooling device 7 may be made lower than usual in response to the fact that the remaining amount of rice is low.

1 Insulation box 4 Rice storage room 7 Cooling device 8 Remaining amount detection sensor 12 Sensor mounting room

Claims (2)

It is a rice bowl equipped with a remaining amount sensor that detects that the amount of rice contained in the hopper-shaped rice storage is less than a predetermined level, and it is launched vertically on a part of the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage. A sensor mounting chamber having a detection surface is formed, and the remaining amount sensor is used as a reflective photoelectric sensor, and a horizontal reflected optical axis is formed from the detection surface of the sensor mounting chamber to the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage portion. Rice sensor. A rice storage unit that stores rice, a remaining amount sensor that detects the rice stored in the rice storage unit, a weighing unit that weighs and discharges a certain amount of rice from the rice storage unit, and the rice storage unit and the measuring unit. A rice bin equipped with a heat insulating box body for heat insulation and a cooling unit for cooling the inside of the heat insulating box, and a sensor mounting chamber having a detection surface raised vertically on a part of the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage portion. The rice bin is characterized in that a horizontal reflected optical axis is formed on the inclined bottom surface of the rice storage portion from the detection surface of the sensor mounting chamber, using the remaining amount sensor as a reflective photoelectric sensor.

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