JPH0324208B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a cooking device such as a jar rice cooker.

(Prior art and its problems) Usually, some types of cooked rice, such as matsutake mushroom rice, include ingredients that are added after the food to be cooked boils, and when making cooked rice with such ingredients, It is necessary to open the lid when the food is boiling, and at this time the steam filling the interior is released and the food is cooled by the inflow of outside air, resulting in a lack of heat. This will adversely affect the quality of the rice, such as gelatinization of the rice.
Therefore, the shorter the time it takes to open the lid during boiling, the better the finished product can be obtained, but housewives and the like are not aware of this, and there is a high risk of failure. Ta.

(Purpose of the Invention) The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned points. When adding ingredients after the food has boiled, if the lid is left open for a long time, the cooking will be affected. This system is designed to prompt the user to close the lid by notifying the user when a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention includes a temperature sensor provided inside an outer lid to measure the ambient temperature of the food to be cooked and detect boiling of the food to be cooked; an open lid detection means for detecting opening of the outer lid when the temperature falls below a predetermined temperature of the temperature sensor; A notification control means for operating a notification section when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the determination is made, and the intended purpose is achieved.

Next, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operating section. 15 is the time display section, 16 is the menu select button, 1
7 is the hour set key, 18 is the minute set key, 19
20 is a start key, 20 is a cancel key, 21 is a warming start key, a to k are display LEDs, and display LEDa indicates timer operation. For display
LEDs b to g are preheating, rice cooking (1st), rice cooking (2nd),
Each process of rice cooking (tertiary), double cooking/uncooking, and keeping warm is displayed, and the display LEDs h to k display menus for white rice, brown rice, cooked rice, and porridge.
Further, the operation section is marked with a notification time depending on the positional relationship with the display LEDs b to g.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the entire control circuit. In FIG. 3, 22 is a microcopy computer, mainly a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 2.
3. Electronic timer 24, read-only memory (hereinafter
It is written as ROM. ) 25, an arbitrary access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 26, and an interface (input/output signal processing circuit) 27. The ROM 25 stores a control program for the CPU 23, and the RAM 26 is used as a data memory for the CPU 23. Therefore, the above
The CPU 23 reads the status of each part on the input side via the interface 27 and also reads the control program in the ROM 25 to perform preheating,
Cooked rice (1st) (2nd) (3rd), twice cooked/unevenly,
It determines the process such as keeping warm and controls the heating unit etc. necessary to execute the process via the interface 27, and the process transition is controlled by the electronic timer 24.
It is carried out in conjunction with In addition, the electronic timer 24
It counts up or down the time according to instructions from the CPU 23 and outputs a signal.

In the above configuration, the control will be explained in detail below. In addition, Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a model of the temporal change in the temperature detected by the first and second sensors, and Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the temperature detected by the sensor and the rice cooking power as the capacity changes. .

First, after turning on the power, select a desired menu using the menu select button 16. In accordance with this selection, a predetermined display LED is turned on and a menu is displayed.

Cooking White Rice Now, we will explain the case where cooking white rice is selected. First, after selecting the menu, press the start key 19.
When turned ON, CUP23 turns ON the start key 19.
Check to determine which of the following flags is specified. Since white rice cooking is currently selected, the designation of flag 1 is determined and the control program in the ROM 25 corresponding to flag 1 is read out to perform control as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. Incidentally, when the start key 19 is turned on, a notification section (for example, a piezoelectric buzzer) is activated and produces a confirmation sound.

Γ Preheating Step In this preheating step, the food to be cooked (rice and water) is heated to a certain temperature, and the temperature is maintained until a certain period of time has elapsed from the start of rice cooking (preheating).
In addition, in FIG. 6, the frame indicated by D shows a flowchart of the preheating process.

When the preheating process starts, the rice cooking heater 3 is turned on and heats and raises the temperature of the object to be heated.
The detection temperature of the sensor 6 is a certain constant temperature (for example,
62℃) until the detected temperature reaches
When the temperature reaches 62℃, turn off the rice cooker heater 3.
Thereafter, the rice cooking heater 3 is turned on and off based on the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 until a certain period of time (for example, 10 minutes) has elapsed from the start of preheating.
The temperature is maintained at 62°C, and after 10 minutes, the next stage of rice cooking (first stage) is started.

The purpose of this process is to promote water absorption in the rice, to correct the temperature of the food to be cooked relative to the initial water temperature and air temperature, and to make the temperature distribution uniform regardless of the amount of rice cooked. and time are just examples, and any value necessary to achieve the intended purpose may be set.

In the preheating process, the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 is lower than the temperature detected by the first sensor 6, as shown in FIG. 4, and the rising curve is extremely gradual.

Γ Rice Cooking (Primary) Process In this process, capacity determination data is collected, the amount of rice to be cooked is determined based on this data, and the heating duty of the next stage is determined. In FIG. 6, the frame indicated by E shows a flowchart of the process.

Now, when moving to the rice cooking (first stage) process, the rice cooking heater 3 is turned on and the first sensor 6 is heated by continuous heating.
The detected temperature ranges from 62℃ to the specified temperature (e.g. 88℃)
While the food to be cooked is heated until the temperature reaches the temperature, the time from the start of the rice cooking process is counted up.
When it is determined that the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 has reached 88° C., the timer data T at this time is read and stored as data _T1 . Next, the amount of rice to be cooked is determined based on this timer data _T1 , and the heating duty for the next stage of rice cooking (secondary) step is determined.

Here, the determination of the amount of cooked rice will be explained. The amount of rice cooked is in 10 stages from 1 go (0.18) to 10 go (1.8), and the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 is
The time from 62°C to 88°C is divided into 10 stages according to their own time widths, and the heating duty is set for each amount of rice as described below, and the programmed contents are stored in the ROM 26 in advance. ing. For example, if the rice cooking heater 3 is set to 700W, and the timer data T ₁ is 500 seconds or more, 10
If it is 150 seconds or less, it is judged as 1 match, and from 500 seconds to 150 seconds.
The time between seconds is divided by the time width specific to each amount of rice cooked. Therefore, the amount of rice cooked is determined based on the timer data.
The time width for each amount of cooked rice is sequentially subtracted from T ₁ and the amount of cooked rice when the relationship T ₁ <0 is established is determined.

Next, the heating duty is set corresponding to each amount of rice to be cooked, and is used to adjust the time during which the rice cooking heater 3 is energized within a certain period (for example, 64 seconds). This heating duty is aimed at minimizing fluctuations in the execution time of the rice cooking (secondary) process due to the amount of rice cooked. For example, in the case of 10 cups, it is 64 seconds/64 seconds.
In the case of 1 cup, the rice cooking heater 3 is energized for 32 seconds/64 seconds, and the heating duty is set according to the amount of rice to be cooked during this time. Therefore, the heating power for the rice cooking (secondary) process is 700W for 10 cups and 350W for 1 cup.

In addition, in the rice cooking (primary) process, the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 is low as shown in FIG. 4, and the rising curve is also gradual. The end temperature of the rice cooking (primary) step and the cycle of duty control are not limited to the above values.

Γ Rice cooking (secondary) process After the rice cooking amount is determined in the previous step and the heating duty is determined, when moving to the rice cooking (secondary) process, the duty of the rice cooking heater 3 is controlled according to the above determination. While heating the food, the time is counted up following the previous step, and by determining whether the food has boiled, the process moves to the next rice cooking (tertiary) step.
In FIG. 6, the frame indicated by F shows a flowchart of the process.

Here, determination of boiling of the food to be cooked will be explained. As shown in Figure 4, the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 changes within a short time from the start of the rice cooking (secondary) process.
The temperature reaches 100°C, but this is due to partial boiling at the bottom of the food near the rice cooking heater 3 and the thermal influence of the rice cooking heater 3; at this point, the entire food is still in a boiling state. Therefore, determining boiling based on the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 lacks accuracy. On the other hand, the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 is
Next) After the start of the process, the temperature rises slowly, and when the entire food to be cooked begins to boil and steam is actively generated, and when the inner pot 4 begins to be filled with steam, it rises rapidly. Therefore, by detecting a sudden rise in the temperature detected by the second sensor 14, it is possible to accurately determine whether the entire food to be cooked has boiled.

However, when the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 suddenly rises, it is sensed that the temperature has reached a certain temperature (for example, 90° C.), and boiling is determined.

Therefore, the rice cooking (secondary) process is performed using the second sensor 1.
The process ends when it is determined that the detected temperature in Step 4 has reached 90°C, and the process moves to the next stage of rice cooking (tertiary) process. 2nd) Read the elapsed time until the end of the process and store it as data _T2 . next,
Based on this timer data _T2 , the amount of rice to be cooked is determined in the same manner as in the previous case, and the heating duty of the next stage is determined.

The amount of rice cooked is divided into 10 stages as in the previous case. For example, when the timer data T ₂ is 750 seconds or more, it is 10 cups, and when it is 350 seconds or less, it is 1 cup, and the time between them is the time specific to each rice cooking amount. It is divided by width. or,
In order to completely gelatinize the rice, the heating duty must be at least 20 minutes including the rice cooking (tertiary) process twice and the shading process, and the heating duty must be at least 20 minutes to avoid boiling over. The heating power is set for each amount of rice cooked, with the condition that the time from the start of the next) process to the end of the rice cooking (third) process is approximately constant regardless of the amount of rice cooked.For example, in the case of 10 cups, the heating power is
Set the heating power to 700W (64 seconds/64 seconds rice cooking heater ON) and 175W (16 seconds/64 seconds rice cooking heater ON) for 1 cup.

Γ Rice cooking (tertiary) process In this process, by duty-controlling the rice cooking heater 3 based on the above determination,
It is used to cook the food to be cooked, that is, white rice.
In FIG. 6, the frame indicated by G shows a flowchart of the process.

That is, heating progresses due to the duty control of the rice cooking heater 3, moisture in the inner pot 4 disappears, and the bottom temperature rises rapidly, causing the first sensor 6 to
When it is determined that the detected temperature has reached the finished cooking temperature (for example, 124℃), the rice cooking heater 3 is turned off.
Then move on to the next stage of twice-cooking and shading.

Furthermore, since the heating duty in the rice cooking (tertiary) process is set based on the conditions mentioned above,
As shown in the figure, the cooking time is approximately the same regardless of the amount of rice cooked. Also, the notification section is activated when the rice is cooked.

Γ Double-cooking and unevenness process This process finishes the rice by draining and browning the cooked rice, and by completing this process, sufficient unevenness is achieved and the rice is ready to eat. In FIG. 6, the frame indicated by H shows a flowchart of the process.

When you move on to the double cooking/smoothing process, a countdown for a certain period of time (for example 12 minutes) starts, while
The detected temperature of the first sensor 6 is a predetermined temperature (for example,
Wait for the temperature to drop to 110℃, and when it is determined that the temperature has reached 110℃, turn on the rice cooker heater 3 and turn it on again.
The rice is heated until it reaches 124°C, and when it reaches 124°C, the rice cooking heater 3 is turned off and the rice is stopped thereafter. and,
After 12 minutes, it will notify you that the rice is finished and move on to the warming process.

Γ Heat retention process When moving to the heat retention process, as shown by the frame in FIG. 6, the first sensor 6 and the second sensor 1
The heat-retaining heaters 5 and 8 are controlled in accordance with the detected temperature in step 4 to keep the rice at a warm temperature.

That is, the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 is, for example, 73
℃ or lower, or if the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 drops to, for example, 76℃ or lower, the heat insulating heaters 5 and 8 are turned on, and if the temperature detected by both sensors 6 and 14 exceeds the above temperature, Insulating heaters 5 and 8
This will turn off the heat, and the heat will be kept warm by repeating this process from now on.

The reason why the set temperature of the second sensor 14 is made higher than the set temperature of the first sensor 6 is to prevent dew from forming on the inner surface of the inner lid 10. Also, the reason why both the sensors 6 and 14 are used to control the heat retention heaters 5 and 8 is that the first sensor 6 alone cannot quickly detect the temperature drop in the upper part due to opening of the lid, and the second sensor 14 alone cannot detect the temperature drop in the upper part due to opening of the lid. This is because it is not possible to accurately capture the temperature change of the food to be cooked, that is, rice.

As described above, white rice is cooked.Next, brown rice will be explained.

Brown rice cooking When brown rice cooking is selected using the menu select button 16 and the start key 19 is turned on, the designation of flag 2 is determined, and the corresponding control program is read out, thereby controlling as shown in the flowchart shown in Figure 7. do. In FIG. 7, the parts common to those in FIG. 6 are designated by the reference numerals in the frame in FIG. 6, and the details are omitted.

The control of this brown rice cooking is basically the same as that of white rice cooking, and only the different points will be explained below.

In the preheating step for cooking brown rice, the execution time is set longer than in the preheating step for cooking white rice, so that even brown rice, which has poor water absorption compared to white rice, can sufficiently absorb water. As an example, the preheating process for white rice cooking is 10 minutes, but the preheating process is set to 30 minutes. After the preheating process, the rice cooking (first) (secondary) (third), twice-cooking/uniform cooking, and heat retention processes are controlled in the same way as when white rice is cooked. However, the reference time and heating duty for capacity determination are set to specific values based on experimental data for cooking brown rice.

For example, in the rice cooking (first stage) process, timer data
When T ₁ is 400 seconds or more, it is determined as 10 cups, and when it is 140 seconds or less, it is determined as 1 cup. In addition, in the rice cooking (secondary) process, timer data T ₂ is 10 cups when it is 1000 seconds or more, and 1 cup when it is 650 seconds or less.
It is determined that the Meanwhile, cooking rice (2
Next) The heating duty of the process is 60 seconds/64 at 10 cups.
Second rice cooker heater ON (heating power 656W), 1 cup: 32
seconds/64 seconds Set the rice cooking heater ON (heating power 350W), and the heating duty of the rice cooking (tertiary) process is 10
Rice cooking heater ON for 58 seconds/64 seconds when cooking (heating power
634W), the rice cooking heater is set to ON (heating power 175W) for 16 seconds/64 seconds for 1 cup, and the boiling period is set to be slightly longer than when cooking white rice.

Cooked rice When you select cooked rice using the menu select button 16 and turn on the start key 19, the designation of flag 3 is determined and the corresponding control program is read out, thereby controlling as shown in the flowchart shown in Figure 8. do. In FIG. 8, the parts common to those in FIG. 6 are designated by the reference numerals in the frame in FIG. 6, and the details are omitted.

Preheating the cooked rice, cooking rice (1st) (2nd), 2
The steps of boiling, uneven cooking, and keeping warm are basically the same as for white rice cooking, and the different rice cooking (tertiary) steps will be explained below.

Some of the ingredients for takikomi rice are added from the beginning of cooking, and others are added when the rice boils, so a boiling alarm is activated during the rice cooking (tertiary) process so that the addition of ingredients can be detected. .

First, when moving to the rice cooking (tertiary) step, the alarm unit is sounded to notify boiling and prompt the addition of ingredients. After that, if no ingredients are added, cooking is performed by duty-controlling the rice-cooking heater 3 according to the heating duty determined in the rice-cooking (secondary) process, and the first sensor 6 detects When the temperature reaches 124°C, move on to the next step.

On the other hand, when the lid is opened and the ingredients are put in, the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 decreases rapidly due to the inflow of outside air, as shown in FIG. 9, and the detected temperature reaches 90°C.
If it is determined that the temperature has decreased to below, the rice cooking heater 3
The second
The temperature rises in a short time until the temperature detected by the sensor 14 reaches 90°C. When it is determined that the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 has reached 90°C, the rice cooking heater 3 is thereafter duty-controlled until the temperature detected by the first sensor 6 reaches 124°C. become.

Also, after adding ingredients, the lid is left open,
When a certain period of time (for example, 10 seconds) has elapsed since it was determined that the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 had fallen to 90°C or less, the alarm unit would sound to issue an alarm to remind the user to close the lid. prompt. This prevents the rice from being left with the lid open unnecessarily, keeps heat loss to a minimum, and reduces adverse effects on the finished state of the rice, such as gelatinization due to lack of heat. and,
In this embodiment, the heating power is switched to the maximum value when the lid is opened, thereby compensating for the heat loss, that is, the heat deficiency, so that the rice is better prepared. The ringing of the reporting section continues even after the lid is closed, and the temperature detected by the second sensor 14 is
Stop when it reaches 90℃.

Note that the reference time and heating duty for capacity determination are set to specific values based on experimental data. For example, in the rice cooking (primary) process, timer data T ₁ is
When it is 650 seconds or more, it is judged as 10 cups, and when it is 250 seconds or less, it is judged as 1 cup, and in the rice cooking (secondary) process, timer data T ₂
When it is 800 seconds or more, it is judged as 10 go, and when it is 400 seconds or less, it is judged as 1 go. The heating duty of the rice cooking (secondary) process is 64 seconds/64 seconds for 10 cups (heating power 700W), 32 seconds/64 seconds for 1 cup.
(heating power 350W), the heating duty for the rice cooking (tertiary) process is 60 seconds/64 seconds for 10 cups (heating power 656W), and 15 seconds/64 seconds for 1 cup (heating duty). Heating power: 164W).

Rice porridge cooking When porridge cooking is selected using the menu select button 16 and the start key 19 is turned on, the designation of flag 4 is determined and the corresponding control program is read out, thereby controlling as shown in the flowchart in FIG. do. In FIG. 10, the parts common to those in FIG. 6 are designated by the reference numerals in the frame in FIG. 6, and the details are omitted.

The preheating, rice cooking (first) (secondary) steps of porridge cooking are basically the same as those for white rice cooking, and the different rice cooking (tertiary) and twice-cooking/shading steps will be explained. Note that no heat-keeping step is provided in cooking the porridge.

In porridge cooking, the elapsed time from the start of cooking is counted, and the rice cooking (tertiary) step shifts to the next step, the shading step, when a certain period of time (for example, 60 minutes) has elapsed from the start of cooking. The unevenness process ends when the rice cooking heater 3 is turned off and a certain period of time (for example, 5 minutes) has elapsed.

Note that the reference time and heating duty for capacity determination are set to specific values based on experimental data. For example, in the rice cooking (primary) process, timer data T ₁ is
When it is over 700 seconds, it is judged as 10 go, and when it is under 350 seconds, it is judged as 1 go. Also, in the rice cooking (secondary) process, timer data is used.
When T ₂ is 900 seconds or more, it is judged as 10 go, and when it is 500 seconds or less, it is judged as 1 go. On the other hand, the heating duty of the rice cooking (secondary) process is 32 seconds/64 seconds when the rice cooking heater is ON at 10 cups.
(heating power 350W), set the rice cooking heater ON (heating power 175W) for 16 seconds/64 seconds for 1 cup, and then set the rice cooker to ON (heating power 175W).
Next) The heating duty of the process is 16 seconds/64 at 10 cups.
Second rice cooking heater ON (heating power 175W), 12 seconds when cooking 1 go
seconds/64 seconds The rice cooking heater is set to ON (heating power 131W), and especially in the rice cooking (tertiary) process, the heating power is set to the minimum that can maintain boiling to prevent boiling over.

As described above, in this embodiment, the rice cooking heater 3
By controlling this, various kinds of cooking such as white rice cooking and brown rice cooking can be performed. In addition, in various types of cooking, the time from the start of preheating to the end of double cooking and steaming is controlled to be approximately constant regardless of the capacity, but this is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-232520, etc. This is to make it possible to implement the rice finishing timer as shown.

In the above embodiment, the amount of cooked rice is determined twice using the same method, but the method of determination is not limited to the above method. The method disclosed in Publication No. 232520 or the like may be adopted. In this method, while raising the food to be cooked from a certain temperature to a certain temperature, the set temperature is gradually increased in small increments, the amount of time the rice cooking heater is turned on during this period is accumulated, and the capacity is determined by the cumulative amount of time the rice cooking heater is turned on. This method uses the data as data and determines the amount of cooked rice based on this data. Therefore, such a method can be adopted not only for the first determination but also for the second determination in the case of white rice cooking which does not particularly require boiling detection.

Further, the second sensor 14 is not limited to the position in the above embodiment, but may be in any position as long as it can detect changes in the ambient temperature due to cooking.
However, it is desirable to thermally isolate it from the heat-retaining heater.

In the present invention, the lid open detection means is not limited to the one using the second sensor as in the above embodiment,
For example, a micro switch linked to opening and closing of the lid may be used. When a microswitch is used, it is also possible to operate the notification section at the same time as the lid is opened, and to stop the operation at the same time as the lid is closed.

In addition, the present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, when the lid is closed, the alarm unit can be activated to issue an alarm to prompt the user to close the lid, thereby preventing unnecessary leaving the lid closed. , it is possible to obtain favorable results in the finished state of the rice.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a jar rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the operating section of the above, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the entire control circuit of the above, and Fig. 4 is the detected temperature of the sensor of the above. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the temperature detected by the sensor and the rice cooking power as the capacity changes due to the change in capacity.
The figure is a flowchart for cooking white rice, Figure 7 is a flowchart for cooking brown rice, Figure 8 is a flowchart for cooking rice with rice, and Figure 9 is a model of the change in temperature detected by the second sensor during cooking rice. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for cooking the same porridge as above. 3: Rice cooking heater, 4: Inner pot, 6: First sensor, 7: Outer lid, 10: Inner lid, 14: Second sensor, 22: Microcomputer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A temperature sensor provided inside the outer lid to measure the ambient temperature of the food to be cooked to detect boiling of the food to be cooked; An open lid detection means detects the opening of the outer lid when the temperature drops below the temperature, and it is determined based on the output of the open lid detection means that the temperature detected by the temperature sensor has fallen below a predetermined temperature near boiling. A cooking appliance characterized by comprising: a notification control means that operates a notification section when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the cooking device has been used. 2. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined temperature near boiling is 90°C.