JP7011615B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a rice cooker.

The rice cooker heats the pot containing the food to be cooked by the heating unit. Further, it is known that a handle having an inverted U shape is rotatably attached to both side surfaces of the upper part of the rice cooker body so that the rice cooker body can be moved.

On the other hand, when the pot is heated by the heating unit, not only the pot but also the inside of the rice cooker body is heated, and the heating control unit that electrically controls the heating unit generates heat, so that the heating is controlled by a cooling means such as a fan. The inside of the rice cooker body including the part is cooled.

Such a technique is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-202285.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-20285

In the above-mentioned conventional technique, since the mechanism for holding the rice cooker rotatably together with the handle forming an inverted U shape is provided, the rice cooker body becomes large by that amount.

On the other hand, a cupboard that stores a rice cooker and has a shelf that slides back and forth can be used to cook rice while the shelf that slides back and forth is stored by providing a steam discharge structure and a material that adjusts humidity on the upper surface of the cupboard. Rice cookers with reduced steam emissions have become widespread in recent years.

Therefore, there is a demand for a rice cooker with improved intake performance of the intake portion behind the bottom surface in a state where the left and right rear are surrounded by a wall.

In particular, due to the limitation of the depth of the storage space, the ratio of rice cookers that have the operation part of the rice cooker on the upper part of the lid instead of the front side of the main body and the heating control part on the rear side of the main body increases, and the intake port is from the front to the bottom. It is often placed in the rear, and the exhaust port is often placed from the back of the bottom to the front of the bottom.

Here, when the intake port is largely opened to the rear of the bottom surface and the left and right rears are surrounded by walls, the wind for intake passes through the narrow space between the main body and the wall, so that the resistance increases.

In particular, when there is a large round convex in the center of the bottom surface of the main body, the gap with the installation surface is small and it is difficult to take in air from there. Therefore, the air is taken in from the left and right or from above, but warm air is discharged from the exhaust ports provided on the left and right in front of the bottom surface and stays on the surrounding wall, so the ambient temperature rises, and as a result, the air is taken in. The temperature may increase and the cooling effect may decrease.
In addition, there is a water vapor outlet above, and the atmospheric temperature rises as well as on the left and right.

Therefore, it is considered that the effect of the cooling fan is reduced when the left and right rear parts are surrounded by walls than when there are no obstacles in the surroundings.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker that can make the rice cooker main body compact and maintain the effect by cooling even if the installation of the rice cooker main body is restricted.

Further, in general, a menu button is provided for selecting each function related to rice cooking, but this button is branched into various functions, and it is not possible to select cooking separately for ease of use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker that can be conveniently selected for cooking separately.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the main body, the bottom case of the main body, the inner pot for storing rice and water, and the inner pot are detachably stored in the main body. The inner container, the heating coil arranged on the outer bottom surface of the inner container to induce and heat the inner pot, the control unit that supplies power to the heating coil, and the heating coil and the control unit are blown to cool. A cooling fan, an intake port provided on the bottom surface of the bottom case so as to supply cooling air to the cooling fan, a chamfered shape portion provided on the left and right lower portions of the bottom case for intake air, and the surface thereof. It has a handle portion provided on the left and right sides of the bottom surface following a part of the chamfered portion, and a wind guide portion connecting the handle portion to the intake port. The cooling air is configured to flow to the intake port through the hand portion and the air guide portion .

Further, in order to solve other problems, in the rice cooker of the present invention, the control unit controls the heating coil based on the operation of the operation unit, and the operation unit selects the rice cooking menu. It is configured to have a button and a button for selectively selecting a function related to cooking among the courses selected in the menu.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the rice cooker main body can be made compact and the heating control unit inside the main body can be cooled. In addition, it is possible to select the cooking separately for ease of use.

It is the whole cross-sectional view of the rice cooker in one Example. It is a front view of the rice cooker. It is a perspective view of the rice cooker seen from diagonally below. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. It is the whole front sectional view of the rice cooker. It is a horizontal partial cross-sectional view of the rice cooker. It is a perspective view of a reference rice cooker seen from diagonally above. It is a control block diagram. It is a figure which shows the display part. It is a figure which shows the normal rice cooking operation of white rice. It is a figure which shows the rice cooking operation of white rice crisp. It is a figure which shows the rice cooking operation of white rice stickiness.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, an inner pot 32 having an open upper surface is detachably inserted into the inner container 41 inside the main body 31 of the rice cooker.

A lid 53 having an inner lid 58 on the lower surface is attached to the upper surface of the main body 31 so as to be openable and closable.
The upper surface opening of the main body 31 is covered with the lid 53, and the inner pot 3 is provided with the packing 58a on the outer periphery.
The upper surface opening of 2 is closed.

A heating coil 34 for inducing heating the inner pot 32 is provided on the outer bottom surface of the inner pot 32 at the lower part of the main body 31.

Further, a temperature sensor unit 47 is provided at the lower part of the main body 31 which abuts on the central portion of the outer bottom surface portion of the inner pot 32 and detects the temperature of the inner pot 32, and inputs the temperature information to the control unit 35. The heating of the heating coil 34 is controlled.

The control unit 35 is arranged in a space portion having a low temperature in the main body 31.

A lid heater 42 made of a cord heater or the like of about 50 W is provided on the upper surface of the inner lid 58 arranged on the lower surface of the lid 53, and functions to evaporate the dew on the inner lid 58.

The inner lid 58 is provided with a pressure regulating valve 59 and the lid 53 is provided with a pressure regulating valve control unit 51. The pressure regulating valve 59 is a sphere and opens an opening when the pressure inside the inner pot 32 exceeds 1.3 atm to generate 1.3 atm. It is a structure to maintain.
The pressure control valve control unit 51 moves the sphere by a solenoid to control whether the pressure control valve 59 is in the pressure control operation state or the open state.

The lid 53 is provided with a steam recovery unit 50 that has a labyrinth structure and converts steam into condensed water. The steam discharged from the pressure regulating valve 59 flows into the steam recovery unit 50, and the dew condensation water is returned to the inner lid 58.

The front surface of the main body 31 is provided with a menu such as rice type and cooking method, and an operation unit 52 for operating "rice cooking", "cutting", etc., and is connected to the control unit 35.

A cooling fan 36 is provided in the lower front portion of the main body 31 to cool the inside of the main body 31 including the control unit 35 and the heating coil 34.

The temperature sensor unit 47 includes an upper lid 38a above the cylinder 38, fixes the temperature sensor 37 so as to abut on the upper lid 38a, and has an opening 38b below the cylinder 38.

The outer circumference of the temperature sensor unit 47 (cylinder body 3) is located at the center of the bottom surface of the inner container 41 that houses the inner pot 32.
It is provided with a tubular body holding portion 41a that supports 8). The lower end of the tubular body holding portion 41a is located lower than the heating coil 34.

The temperature sensor unit 4 with the temperature sensor unit 47 incorporated in the cylinder holding portion 41a.
A water passage port 41b is formed by the outer circumference of the cylinder 7 and the tubular body holding portion 41a. This water passage port 41b is the inner pot 3
The purpose is to allow water droplets adhering to the outer bottom surface portion of No. 2 to flow out to the bottom case 39 of the main body 31 so that even if they drip on the bottom portion of the inner container 41, they do not collect in the inner container 41.

The bottom case 39 has an exhaust port 39 g on the front side, an intake port 39f on the rear side, and a circular convex 39 in the middle.
It is provided with d.

Inside the bottom case 39, a disk-shaped aluminum van 43 with a hole in the center is screwed to the boss 39e.
It is fixed at 4. The aluminum van 43 is provided at the lower part of the main body 31 to prevent magnetic flux leakage by the heating coil 34.

In the substantially central portion of the bottom case 39, the temperature sensor unit 4 provided in the central portion of the bottom surface of the inner container 41
A tubular rib 39a located on the outer peripheral side of the tubular body holding portion 41a that supports the outer peripheral surface (cylindrical body 38) of 7 and having an upper opening is provided. The tubular rib 39a is higher than the rib 39n and constitutes the upper end portion 39a1 at a substantially uniform height.

A drain hole 39b is provided inside the tubular rib 39a so as to be surrounded by the reinforcing rib 39j. Drainage hole 39
In b, the water droplets adhering to the outer bottom surface portion of the inner pot 32 drips on the bottom surface portion of the inner container 41, and the water droplets dripping from the water passage port 41b formed by the outer circumference of the cylinder body 38 and the cylinder body holding portion 41a are the main body. It is for letting out of 31.

As shown in FIG. 2, there is a chamfered shape 39e at the lower left and right sides of the bottom case 39, and even when the left and right sides of the main body are close to the wall, the distance between the wall and the installation surface is large, so that the wind can be blown. A space that flows without resistance is secured.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the rice cooker as viewed from diagonally below. The cooling air that has entered along the chamfered shape 39e passes through the handles 39h (handle portions) provided at the left and right center portions of the bottom surface of the bottom case 39, and enters the inside of the main body 31 from the air guide portion 39j through the intake port 39f.

4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of the wind guide portion 39j. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. Loss when cooling air is taken in by making the air intake port 39f higher than the other surfaces of the bottom case 39 along the circular convex portion 39d at the rear of the main body than the circular convex portion 39d where the gap with the installation surface becomes smaller. Is suppressed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the handle 39h provided at a position facing the left and right sides of the bottom case 39 is tilted by about 10 ° in a direction toward the inside of the main body to move the rice cooker by holding the handle 39h with both hands. The finger grip when doing is improved. Further, the handle 39h may be inclined at an angle in the range of 5 ° to 20 °.

The height of the handle 39h from the surface on which the main body is placed is set to a height at which a normal adult finger can be inserted. That is, the height of the handle 39h from the surface on which the main body is placed is larger than 15 mm, and is preferably selectable in the range of 15 to 35 mm.

Further, the length of the handle 39h is set to a length that allows the three fingers of the ring finger to be inserted from the index finger of a normal adult. That is, the length of the handle 39h is larger than 60 mm, and preferably can be selected in the range of 60 to 200 mm.

Further, by setting the width of the chamfered shape 39e (chamfered shape portion) that enters between the handle 39h and the side surface 39m of the bottom case 39 to about 10 to 20 mm, it fits between the first joint and the second joint of the finger. By naturally holding the side surface 39m of the bottom case 39 with the palm from the second joint, it can be moved stably.

In addition, by putting a grain in the part of the bottom case 39 that the user touches when carrying the rice cooker, such as the handle 39h, chamfer shape 39e, and side surface 39m, the finger grip during holding is improved, and there is a risk of slipping and dropping. Can be reduced. In addition to the grain, the same effect can be obtained by roughening the surface of the portion or adding a hairline.

As described above, assuming that the depth of the handle portion 39h and the width of the chamfered shape 39e (chamfered shape portion) inserted between the handle portion 39h and the side surface 39m of the bottom case 39 are the lengths of one joint of each finger, the side surface is used. Can be easily held in the palm of your hand and you can have a stable rice cooker.

As shown in the horizontal partial cross-sectional view of the rice cooker in FIG. 7, the handle 39h of the bottom case 39 is provided so that the center line 31a of the main body is substantially in the center, and at the same time, the center line 32a of the inner pot is also a handle. 3
It is passing through 9h. The rice cooker is the center line 31 of the main body when there is no food in the inner pot 32.
There is a center of gravity in the vicinity of a, and as the weight of the cooked food becomes heavier, the center of gravity moves to the center line 32a of the inner pot.

Therefore, the handle 39h is stably held when the rice cooker is moved by passing the center line 31a of the main body and the center line 32a of the inner pot at the same time regardless of the amount of food in the inner pot 32. can do.

By securing the above intake path and making the handle 39h of the bottom case 39 easy to hold, it is not necessary to increase the gap with the wall by the handle 48 in the reference model of FIG. 8, and it can be abolished. , The width and depth of the main body can be reduced, and a more space-saving rice cooker becomes possible.

Further, the exhaust port 39g is set at the center of the bottom surface of the bottom case 39, and the circular convex portion 39d between the exhaust port 39g and the intake port 39f allows the exhausted warm air to enter the intake port again so that a short circuit does not occur. There is. Further, when the warm air that has passed through the steam recovery unit 50 is discharged from the steam discharge port 50a, the atmospheric temperature on the upper surface of the main body rises, so that the intake port 39 passes from the upper surface to the back surface.
In order to prevent warm air from entering g, a rear wall 39k larger than the width of the intake port 39g is provided.

As a result, even if rice is cooked with the left and right rear sides surrounded by walls, cooling air equivalent to room temperature stably enters the intake port, and the control unit 35 can be efficiently cooled.

As described above, even when the left and right rear of the rice cooker are surrounded by walls, the cooling air enters from between the chamfered shape provided below the bottom case of the main body and the wall, and the handle of the bottom case and the handle. It enters the intake port through the air guide section that connects the section and the intake port.

The cooling air that has entered the intake port cools the heating control unit and the coil of the IH, and is discharged from the exhaust port provided in front of the bottom case.

The front of the rice cooker is often open, and like the rice cooker of Patent Document 1, there is a large round convex portion in the center of the bottom case, so that the exhaust gas, which is warm air, is not taken in again.

The main body 1 is provided with an operation unit 52 for the user to operate the setting and confirm the setting content. The main body 1 is provided with a control unit 35 equipped with a microcomputer, which is provided with a function as a rice cooker by a control program stored in a memory, and when the power is turned on, the microcomputer is activated and various inputs are performed. The signal is taken in and it works as a rice cooker.

As shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 35 controls the thermal power of the heating coil 34 by the input information from the operation unit 52 and the temperature information of the temperature sensor 37. The control unit 35 is provided with a small amount button 16 for setting a small amount of rice to cook so that even a small amount of rice can be cooked deliciously. In addition, it is provided with the finest button 23 for selecting the cooking according to the taste of the user.

The operation unit 52 will be described with reference to FIG.
In addition to the menu button 15 and the small amount button 16, the operation unit 52 includes a rice cooking button 17 for starting rice cooking, a display unit 22 for displaying the set contents, a reservation button 21 for setting a reservation timer, and a clock setting and a reservation timer. Adjustment button 20 to adjust the time with, rice button 14 to select the type of rice, heat insulation button 19 to select when heat insulation or switching the heat insulation method, off button 18 to stop the operation, cooking according to the user's taste The finest button 23 for selecting the division is provided.

The menu button 15 allows you to select the cooked rice according to the taste and purpose of the user's rice, and the user's taste of rice is set to be cooked separately from crisp, normal, and chewy. be. The uses are the above-mentioned separate cooking and "porridge", "cooking", "okowa", "okowa" and the like.

As mentioned above, rice can be cooked in three types: "crisp", "normal", and "mochimochi". Based on the results obtained from the applicant's taste survey, rice is based on "normal". It can be divided into "Crispy" rice, which has a low degree of pregelatinization and increased elasticity for each grain, and "Mochimochi", which has a high degree of pregelatinization of rice to make each grain soft and chewy. be.

The small amount button 16 is selected when cooking 1 go and 2 go rice, and is for cooking rice corresponding to 1 go and 2 go. The display unit 22 displays a small amount of rice cooking setting of a small amount of 1 go and a small amount of 2 go.

With the rice button 14, it is possible to cook rice according to the type of rice.

The finest button 23 reduces the time and effort of the user to select the menu by making it possible to select only the cooking method from the usage and cooking method selected by the menu button 15, and the rice cooking method can be easily selected according to the preference. It will be like.

When the finest button 23 is pressed, one of the previously selected and memorized "crisp", "normal", and "mochimochi" is called and selected. For example, if "Crisp" was selected at the time of the previous selection, "Crisp" is selected. Furthermore, when the finest button 23 is pressed, it is selected in the order of "crisp"-> "normal"-> "mochimochi"-> "crisp"->. For example, if you press the finest button 23 once more, "normal" will be selected, if you press the finest button 23 once more, "mochimochi" will be selected, and if you press the finest button 23 once more, it will return to "crisp". Be selected. When the finest button 23 is pressed and selected from "crisp", "normal", and "mochimochi", the content of the selected cooking is displayed on the display unit 22.

Next, the rice cooking operation at the time of cooking separately will be described.
FIGS. 11 to 13 show the time course of the temperature and electric power when the rice cooked with 3 go of white rice is set and the cooked rice is set separately with the menu button 15. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram in which "normal" is selected, FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram in which "crisp" is selected, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram in the case where "mochimochi" is selected.

We will explain the difference between each cooking process by comparing each operation with the rice cooking process (soaking, heating, steaming).

In the soaking process, the rice absorbs a lot of water, which makes the cooked rice more chewy. As for the absorption of rice water, the longer the rice is soaked in water, the greater the amount of rice water absorbed. It is also known that the rate of water absorption of rice can be increased by raising the temperature during soaking. The "normal" rice cooking in FIG. 11 is generally a favorite of many people, and the rice is heated at the time of soaking to the extent that the cooking time is not so long to promote the absorption of rice water.

The next heating step of the soaking step is the step of cooking rice. Unlike other cooked rice, only the "crisp" rice cooked in Fig. 12 is heated at once with high heat and cooked in about 3 minutes. By heating with high heat, water boils quickly and the temperature detecting means 13 detects dry-up. Therefore, the rice cooks quickly and does not absorb much water. The "normal" cooked rice in FIG. 11 and the "mochimochi" cooked rice in FIG. 13 are first heated with a weak heating power, and then heated with a stronger heating power in two stages. In "normal" rice cooking, the temperature of the entire inner pot 32 is raised so as to remove excess water so that the rice is cooked plumply. In "mochimochi" rice cooking, the temperature of the entire inner pot 32 is raised to promote the absorption of water from the rice, and the rice is cooked plumply.

In the steaming step following the heating step, although not shown, the amount of steam supplied is changed according to the cooking. The lesser is "crisp" rice cooking, which prevents the rice from becoming more sticky due to the steam supplying excess water to the rice and promoting heating. "Mochimochi" rice cooking has a large supply of steam, and by supplying a large amount of steam, steam is supplied to the rice on the lower side of the inner pot 32, and even if a large amount of water is supplied to the rice, the chewy feeling is strengthened. ..

By supplying steam in the steaming process, the pressure inside the inner pot 32 can be kept high and long, so that the temperature of the rice can be heated to 100 ° C or higher, and the temperature of the rice can be heated using the steam and the heating means 12. Is heated to 100 ° C. or higher to promote the α-detonation (degree of pregelatinization) of rice and increase the deliciousness when eaten. In the rice cooker of this embodiment, delicious rice is cooked by maintaining the average temperature of the rice in the steaming process during "normal" rice cooking as high as about 100.9 ° C.

Further, by supplying steam in the steaming step, the steam causes recondensation after heat exchange on the surface of the rice, supplies water to the rice, and prevents the rice from drying when heated to 100 ° C. or higher. In addition, the moisture condensed on the surface of the rice is absorbed by the rice, the texture of the rice becomes softer, and the chewy feeling becomes stronger.

Further, as the water used for steam, water in which steam is condensed during rice cooking is used, so that the steam water used for heating in the steaming step described above circulates from steam to condensed water and then to steam. Used.

Further, during heating, the lid heater 42 and the heating coil 34 are controlled so that the pressure inside the inner pot 32 is equal to or lower than the pressure adjusted by the pressure regulating valve 59 so that steam is not discharged from the main body as much as possible. The effect of steam discharged from the rice cooker on the environment is minimized, and the dew condensation water used during steaming can be replenished.

31 Main body 32 Inner pot 33 Insulation material 34 Heating coil 35 Control unit 36 Cooling fan 37 Temperature sensor 38 Cylindrical body 39 Bottom case 39d Circular convex part 39e Chamfering shape 39f Intake port 39g Exhaust port 39h Handle 39j Ventilation part 39m Side surface 41 Contents Instrument 47 Temperature sensor unit

Claims (8)

The main body, the bottom case of the main body, the inner pot for storing rice and water, the inner container for detachably storing the inner pot in the main body, and the inner pot arranged on the outer bottom surface of the inner container. A heating coil for induction heating, a control unit for supplying power to the heating coil, a cooling fan for cooling by blowing air to the heating coil and the control unit, and a bottom case for supplying cooling air to the cooling fan. An intake port provided on the rear side of the bottom surface, a chamfered shape portion provided for intake on the left and right lower portions of the bottom case, and a chamfered shape portion provided on the left and right sides of the bottom surface following a part of the chamfered shape portion. The handle portion is provided, and the air guide portion connecting the handle portion to the intake port is provided , and the chamfered shape portion is passed through the handle portion and the air guide portion to the intake port. A rice cooker characterized by having a structure in which cooling air flows . In claim 1, the rice cooker has an exhaust port arranged on the front side, the intake port is arranged on the rear side, and a resistance portion for suppressing the flow of wind between the exhaust port and the intake port is provided. A rice cooker featuring that. The rice cooker according to claim 2, further comprising a wall on the rear side of the intake port to prevent the discharged steam from flowing to the intake port. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the handle portion is provided at an angle of 5 to 20 degrees with respect to the vertical direction. The rice cooker according to claim 4, wherein the inclination of the handle portion is about 10 degrees. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the length of each of the handle portion and the chamfered shape portion is the length of one joint of a finger. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the rice cooker is textured in any of the handle portion, the chamfered shape portion, and the side surface of the main body. In claim 1,
The control unit controls the heating coil based on the operation of the operation unit.
The rice cooker is characterized in that the operation unit has a menu selection button for selecting a rice cooking menu and a button for selectively selecting a function related to cooking among the courses selected in the menu.

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