JPH01212519A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable display of a remaining time of cooking finish according to a rice cooking amount, by providing a rice cooking time deciding means to decide a time required for rice cooking from a weight output from a detecting means for the weight of an inner pot and a subtracting means to subtract a rice cooking time from a time required for rice cooking. CONSTITUTION:An inner pot 10 in which washed rice and water are placed is contained in a body 1, A heater 4 and a temperature sensor 8 are situated on the bottom surface of the inner pot 10. A spring 5 is compressed by means of the weight of the inner pot 10, a weight is detected from a volume between upper and lower electrodes 6 and 7 by means of a weight detecting means 17 to input it to a control part 15. A menu switch 16 is operated to select a proper heating program matching each menu by means of the program of a microcomputer. A rice cooking switch is operated, and according to the proper heating program suitable for a menu, a heater 4 is energized. From a menu selected by a menu selecting means 14 and a weight detected by a weight detecting means 17, a rice cooking time is corrected by a temperature sensor 8 by means of a deciding means 11 for a time required for rice cooking, and subtraction by a subtraction means 13 is displaced on a display means 12 to decide a rice cooking time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention detects the weight of rice to be cooked by a weight detection means,
This invention relates to a rice cooker that displays the required time for cooking rice.

Conventional technology Conventional technology includes a rice cooking amount detection device, a rice cooking time estimating device that estimates the cooking time until the rice is cooked based on the rice cooking amount detected by the recommended rice amount detection device, and outputs the current time. It consists of a clock device, an addition device that adds the rice cooking time estimated by the rice cooking time estimating device to the current time and outputs the cooking time, and a display device that displays the rice cooking time. There are rice cooker timer devices that display the estimated time when rice cooking will end.

(For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-53109) Problems to be Solved by the Invention With conventional general rice cookers, it was inconvenient to prepare meals because it was not known how many minutes it would take to finish cooking the rice. =Also, the above-mentioned tie~-The device also displays the estimated time of completion of cooking, taking into account the view of the rice cooker, which is somewhat convenient, but if you want to know how much time is left in the rice cooker, you have to look at the current time and count backwards. First, differences in rice cooking time due to differences in rice cooking menus or differences in water temperature are not taken into consideration, which can be a problem.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. 9. Weight detection means for detecting the weight of the main body or the inner pot;
Required rice cooking time determination means that determines the required time for cooking from the weight output from the weight output by the front bar weight detection manual; subtraction timer means for subtracting the rice cooking time from the determined required rice cooking time; After the start of cooking, a display means is provided to display the remaining time obtained by subtracting the rice cooking time from the required time for cooking. Alternatively, a menu selection means and a temperature sensor, or one of the menu selection means and a temperature sensor is added to the above.

Function: Due to the above-described structure, the weight detection means 1 and i
i*, a means for determining the time required for meals, and a subtraction time measuring means.

The display means has the function of determining the required time for cooking rice and displaying the remaining time ll&lff obtained by subtracting the cooking time from the required time for changing rice. Further, the menu selection means takes into account the required time for cooking rice according to the rice cooking menu, and functions to correct the required time for cooking from the temperature output from the temperature sensor.

□　Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the signal processing system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the display of the same □ display means.

In the figure, 1 is the main body, 2 is the exterior, 3 is the outer pot, 4 is the heater, 5 is the spring, 6 is above the electrode, 7 is below the electrode, 8 is the temperature sensor, 9 is the sensor spring, 10 is the inner pot, 1
1 is a rice cooking time determining means, 12 is a display means, 13 is a subtraction timer, 14 is a menu selection means, 15 is a control unit,
16 is a menu switch, and 17 is a weight detection means.

The main body 1 is composed of an exterior 2 and an outer hook 3. A heater 4 is attached to the bottom of the outer hook 3 via a 5-ft spring, and the heater 4 moves up and down within the range of expansion and contraction of the spring 5. An electrode top 6 is fixed to the lower part of the heater 4 and moves together with the heater 4. A lower electrode 7 is attached to the main body 1 in opposition to an upper electrode 6. Since the lower electrode 7 is fixed, when the upper electrode 6 moves up and down, the upper electrode 6.
The distance between the lower electrodes 7 varies. The space between the upper electrode 6 and the lower electrode 7 has a capacitance and serves as a capacitor. The capacitance C is 0=εS/d, where the area of the upper electrode 6 and the lower electrode 7 is 8, and the dielectric constant of air tls and the distance between the electrodes is d.
It is indicated by. Since S and ε are constant, 0 changes as d changes. The weight detection means 17 can detect the displacement of the spring 5 compressed in proportion to one weight by converting it into an A2 frequency or the like and inputting it to a microcomputer (not shown) of the control section 15. Temperature Sen+! ''-8 is attached to the heater 4 via the sensor spring 9f.

It comes into contact with the inner pot 10. The inner pot 10 is housed in the main body 1 and comes into contact with the heater 4. Required time for cooking rice determining means 11.

The subtractive clock means 13 is configured by a microcomputer program provided in a control section 15 inside the main body 1. The display screen 12 is connected to a microcomputer, the rice cooking menu selection means 14 is connected to a menu switch 16 connected to an icon,
This work begins with a microcomputer program that performs many operations.

We will discuss the works of Honkan that differ from the above structure.

For example, when a user prepares 6 cups of rice (t-2), he washes 6 cups of rice and pours 3 cups of water into the inner pot 10.

Inner pot 10t - When welded to main body 1, inner pot 1 is attached to heater 4.
The bottom surface of 0 touches. At this time, the temperature sensor 8 is also connected to the inner pot 1.
0 comes into contact with the bottom surface, and the sensor spring 9 is compressed.

Since the lower end of the sensor spring 9 is fixed, the temperature sensor 8 is connected to the inner pot 10 by the sensor spring 9.
be brought into close contact with When the inner pot 1° is inserted, the heater 4 compresses the spring 5 due to its weight.
It stops when the force and heavy electricity are balanced. At this time, the capacitance between the upper electrode 6° and the lower electrode 7 is detected by the weight detection means 17, and the weight is input to the microcomputer of the control section 15.

In this example, the weights of the inner pot 10, 3 cups of rice, and 3 cups of water are input. Next, when the user operates the menu switch 16, the menu selection means 14 operates and the microcomputer program selects a heat adjustment program suitable for each menu such as white rice, stew, brown rice, porridge, etc. In this example, it is assumed that white rice is selected.

Next, when the user operates the rice cooking switch (not shown),
The heater 4 is energized according to a heat adjustment program suitable for the menu selected by the menu selection means 14. At the same time, the rice cooking time determining means 71 operates. The rice cooking time required determining means 11 determines the rice cooking time from the menu selected by the menu selecting means 14 and the amount of cooked rice detected by the weight detecting means 17. In this example, since 3 cups of white rice are used, the required time for cooking the rice is determined to be, for example, 40 minutes from predetermined data.

However, if the water temperature is low, it will take longer to boil.
For example, if the output of the temperature sensor 8 indicates that the water temperature is 10° C., 40 minutes is corrected to 42 minutes.

The display means 12 displays this 42 minutes based on the output of the rice cooking time determining means 11. Thereafter, the subtractive timer 15 operates and the display means 12 displays a total of 42 minutes → 41 minutes → 40 minutes.
...The display will subtract from 2 minutes to 1 minute, and the rice will be cooked in 0 minutes.

As described above, since the time required for rice cooking at that point in time is displayed as the remaining time, it is convenient for the user to consider how many minutes it will take to complete rice cooking when preparing meals, such as making side dishes.

Incidentally, if the rice cooker does not have a menu switching function, a menu selection means is not necessary, and if the rice cooking is started after the water temperature is set to a constant temperature by the preheating method, correction by a temperature sensor is not necessary.

Effects of the Invention As described above, since the present invention is provided with all of the 9 weight detection means, the required rice cooking time determination means, the subtraction time measurement means, and the 1 display means, the remaining time until the rice is cooked is displayed according to the amount of rice to be cooked. Even if you look at the clock, you can tell how many minutes it will take for the rice to finish cooking without having to count backwards from the current time, which is convenient for preparing side dishes in the meantime. In addition, a device that includes a menu selection means can display the remaining time according to the rice cooking menu, and a device that includes a temperature sensor has the effect of correcting the required time for cooking depending on the temperature and displaying an accurate remaining time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a rice cooker showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a block diagram of the signal processing system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the display means. 1... Main body, 8... Temperature sensor. 10... Inner pot, 11... Means for determining the required time for cooking rice. 12... Display means, 16... Subtraction time measuring means. 14... Menu selection means, 17... Weight detection means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A weight detection means (17) for detecting the weight of the main body (1) or the inner pot (10), and a rice cooking time that determines the required rice cooking time from the output measured by the weight detection means (17). a time determining means (11), a subtracting time measuring means (13) for subtracting the rice cooking time from the determined rice cooking time; A rice cooker comprising display means (12) for displaying remaining time. 2. A menu selection means (14) for selecting a rice cooking menu is added to the rice cooker according to claim 1, and the required time for rice cooking is determined from the selected rice cooking menu and the output measured by the weight detection means (17). A rice cooker characterized in that the rice cooking time determining means (11) is modified to determine the required time for rice cooking. 5. A temperature sensor (8) is added to the rice cooker according to claim 1 or 2, and the rice cooking time required determining means ( 11) A rice cooker characterized by being modified.