JPH04193118A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform deodorization with ozone in adaptation to various processes on rice cooking by providing a rice cooking control means controlling the inputs to heating means heating a container for rice cooking or heat insulation, an ozone generating means, and an ozone generation control means controlling it, and controlling the ozone generating means. CONSTITUTION:A rice cooking control means 51 controlling the inputs of heaters 23, 14 serving as heating means heating a container for rice cooking or heat insulation, an ozone generating means 21, and an ozone generation control means 52 controlling the ozone generating means 21 are provided. The ozone generation control means 52 controls the ozone generating means 21 according to the preset ozone generation propriety setting in various processes such as 'off', 'heat insulation' or 'timer action for reserved rice cooking' based on the signal from the rice cooking control means 51.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Purpose of invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a rice cooker equipped with a deodorizing function.

(Prior art) In general, a rice cooker uses a rice heater to cook rice and water, which are the food to be cooked, stored in a container, and then heats the cooked rice using a heat-retaining heater to keep it at a predetermined temperature. The rice cooker is configured so that it can be controlled by a microcomputer so that rice can be cooked using multiple menus such as white rice, cooked rice, brown rice, and rice porridge, and the user can reserve the cooking time by operating a switch. It is also equipped with a so-called reservation rice cooking function in which rice cooking is controlled so that rice cooking is completed at a reserved time by a timer operation of a microcomputer. .

By the way, it is known that when rice is kept warm for a long time, fatty acids such as linoleic acid and oleic acid in the rice oxidize and produce a bad odor, and this odor reduces the taste of the preserved rice. When cooking rice using seasonings such as pilaf, the odor from the seasonings permeates into the main body and creates an odor, and this odor tends to reduce the taste of the rice that is subsequently cooked. A rice cooker equipped with a deodorizing device using activated carbon has been proposed in order to prevent deterioration in taste due to unpleasant odors.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The above-mentioned conventional technology has a problem in that it is inconvenient to use because it is necessary to periodically replace the deodorizing device.

Therefore, it may be possible to omit periodic replacement of the deodorizing device by equipping the rice cooker with a deodorizing device that generates ozone.

By the way, ozone (03) is a faint blue gas with a garlic-like odor, and when dry oxygen or air is passed through a silent discharge by applying a high voltage, part of the oxygen changes to ozone. It has been recognized to have sterilizing, bleaching, and deodorizing effects through chemical decomposition, such as deodorizing by decomposing trimethylamine, etc. It is used for sterilizing and bleaching food and drinks as it is harmless to food and drink, and is used for deodorizing inside refrigerators. It is also used as However, concentrated ozone poses a risk of harming the respiratory system and is 0.01 to 0.0. Some odor is felt at O2ppm, and 0. 1ppm causes irritation to the nose and throat, 02 to 0.5 pps+ reduces vision after 3 to 6 hours of exposure, and 0.5 ppm causes irritation to the respiratory tract. Furthermore, exposure for 2 hours at 1 to 2 ppm causes headache and chest pain.
5 to 10 ppm causes increased pulse rate and anesthetic symptoms, and 50 ppm
m, one dew per hour can be life-threatening. For this reason, in Japan, the ozone concentration in the usage environment is regulated to 0.1 pp- or less. On the other hand, ozone has a half-life, and ozone gas alone can last approximately 12 hours in dry ice or 48 hours in water.
The ozone concentration will be halved after 30 minutes, and in a state where chemical reactions are occurring with other gases, the ozone concentration will be halved in about 30 minutes.

Ozone with such characteristics has not been used to deodorize rice cookers. This means that when ozone is used to deodorize a rice cooker, there are times when ozone can be used effectively by station staff, and times when it cannot be used effectively, in each process related to rice cooking, such as turning off, keeping warm, cooking, and timer operation during reserved rice cooking. For example, during rice cooking, the amount of ozone generated decreases due to the steam generated inside the container, making it impossible to effectively deodorize with ozone.Also, while the timer is running, reserved rice cooking is usually not done when the cherry blossoms bloom at night. Because of this, ozone is generated when it is unnecessary, and ozone cannot be used to effectively deodorize.For this reason, we have developed a function that can control ozone generation in accordance with each process of rice cooking. This is because if it is not used, the deodorizing device using Ocine cannot be effectively used as a rice cooker.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker that can perform deodorization using ozone in a way that is suitable for each step of rice cooking.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The rice cooker of the present invention includes a rice cooking control means 51 that controls input to the heaters 23 and 24, which are heating means for heating the container 4, to cook rice or keep the rice warm. , an ozone generation means 21, and an ozone generation control means 52 that controls the ozone generation means 21.
Based on the signal from the rice cooking control means 51, the ozone generation control means 52 generates the ozone according to a predetermined ozone generation permission setting in each process such as turning off, keeping warm, and operating the timer during reserved rice cooking. The means 21 are configured to control the means 21.

(Operation) With the above configuration, the ozone generation control means 52 executes the ozone deodorizing operation only when the current process based on the signal from the rice cooking control means 51 is effective for ozone deodorization. - (Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, an outer case 1 and an inner case 2 constitute a container body 3, and a container 4 is removably housed in the inner case 2. A heating space 5 is formed between the inner case 2 and the container 4, and the heating space 5 communicates the bottom and the peripheral side thereof.
A peripheral flange 6 is formed outward at the opening periphery so as to partition the heating space 5 .

An outer lid 7 is pivotally mounted on the container body 3 to open and close the upper opening of the container body 3, and an inner lid that closes the upper opening of the container 4 via a gasket 8 is disposed inside the outer lid 7. 9 are provided, and these outer lid 7 and inner lid 9 constitute a lid body 10. The lid body 10 has an air passage 1 that communicates with an air supply port 12 that introduces outside air through a filter 11 and an ozone supply port 13 that supplies ozone gas toward the top opening of the container 4.
4 is formed, and in this air passage 14, a ceramic discharge body 15 and a fan 16 for generating ozone are arranged. As shown in FIG. 4, the ceramic discharge body 15 is constructed by forming a discharge electrode 18 made of titanium oxide (AQ202) or the like on the surface of a plate-shaped insulator 17 made of aluminum oxide (AQ203) or the like by plasma spraying, etc. A dielectric electrode 18A made of copper (CLI) or the like is formed on the picture electrode 18. With the discharge electrode 18 as (+) and the dielectric electrode 18A as (-), a high voltage of about 1.5KV, about 1KH2 is applied to the picture electrode 18. 18 A is applied to generate creeping discharge on the surface of the insulator 17 as shown in FIG. 5, thereby generating ozone. Further, the ozone supply port 13 is provided with a valve 20 that is opened and closed by a solenoid 19, and the discharge body 15, the fan 16, and the valve 20 constitute an ozone generation means 21. In addition, the lid body 10 has a steam port 22.
is provided. A heating space 5 is provided at the inner bottom of the inner case 2.
A rice cooking heater 23 serving as a heating means is provided inside the rice cooker, and a heat retaining heater 24 serving as a heating means is provided on the outer side of the inner case 2 and the upper surface of the inner lid 9. Further, a cup-shaped heat sensitive part 25 is provided at the bottom of the inner case 2 so as to be in elastic pressure contact with the outer bottom of the container 4, and a temperature sensor 25A is provided inside this heat sensitive part 25. Furthermore, a power supply unit 27 is provided within the container body 3 via a heat insulating material 26, and a control unit 28 is provided within the lid body 10 via a heat insulating material 26. Further, the container main body 3 is provided with a lid opening detection means 29 consisting of a limit switch for detecting opening of the lid body 10.

FIG. 3 shows an operation panel 30 provided on the container body 3 or the lid 10, which includes an operation section 31 and a display section 32. The display section 32 is a current time display section 3 consisting of an LCD.
3, a cooking completion time display section 34, a menu display section 35 consisting of white rice, cooked rice, brown rice, and porridge, and mode display sections 36 to 40 consisting of LEDs, 36 for a timer, 37 is for rice cooking, 38 is for keeping warm, 39 is for clean indicating that manual mode processing is in progress, 4 is for cleaning
0 is for clean auto indicating that auto mode processing is in progress. The operation unit 31 includes an off switch 41, a rice cooking switch 42,
Timer rice cooking switch 43 for setting reservation rice cooking
, menu switch 44, clean switch 45 as a mode selection means for starting ozone generation, clean auto switch 46 as mode selection means for setting ozone generation to automatic, clock switch 47 for setting the current time or cooking time, timer advance. It has a switch 48 and a timer return switch 49. Each time the menu switch 44 is pressed, the selected menu display section 35 is displayed.
is surrounded by a frame 50.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the rice cooker.
This has a microcomputer 53 equipped with a rice cooking means 51 and an ozone generation control means 52 shown in FIG. 1, and this microcomputer 53 includes a CPU 54. Timer circuit 55. &! Memory 56, input circuit 57. In addition to having an output circuit 58 and the like, the memory 56 stores a plurality of types of rice cooking programs, a plurality of types of ozone generation programs, and predetermined ozone generation enable/disable setting data for each process related to rice cooking. And the rice cooking control means 5
1 is a temperature detection signal from a temperature detection means 60 composed of a temperature sensor 25A and an AID converter 59, and an operation unit 3
Based on the switch signal from 1, the input to the heaters 23 and 24 is controlled via the heater drive circuit 61 to execute a series of rice cooking operations and heat retention, and the display unit 32 is controlled via the display drive circuit 62. The ozone generation control means 52 receives a signal indicating the current process from the rice cooking control means 51, a clean switch 45 which is a mode selection means, a mode selection signal from the clean auto switch 46, and a lid open detection means 29.
A fan failure detection means 63 detects failure of the fan 16 based on a lid open detection signal from the motor lock and a current change in the motor lock.
The discharge body 15 is controlled via the discharge body drive circuit 64 based on the failure detection signal from the fan drive circuit 65.
further controls the valve 20 via the valve drive circuit 66, controls the buzzer 68 via the buzzer drive circuit 67, and controls the display section 32 via the display drive circuit 62. .

Next, the operation of the above structure will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 to 11.

First, the microcomputer 53 performs the mode setting process shown in FIG. 8 based on mode selection signals from the clean switch 45 and clean auto switch 46, which are mode selection means. This is step 1) to determine whether the clean auto switch 46 is ON or not, and if it is ON, step 2).
It is determined whether the clean switch 45 is ON or not. When it is determined in step 2 that the clean switch 45 is OFF, the process proceeds to step 3, where it is determined whether or not to start keeping warm, and at the time of starting keeping warm, the deodorizing mode is set in step 4. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 2 that the clean switch 45 is ON, the process moves to step 5 and the auto mode is set. Also, when it is determined that the clean auto switch 46 is OFF in step 1, the process moves to step 6, where it is determined whether the clean switch 45 is on, and when it is ON, the process moves to step 7, and the manual mode is switched on. If set and OFF, step 8
It is set so that the deodorization does not occur. In this way, deodorization is performed by operating the clean switch 45 and clean auto switch 46, which are selection means, as necessary, and auto mode, manual mode, or deodorization mode is set depending on the switch operation, and the microcontroller 53 controls the ozone generating means 21 according to the set mode;
Control in stand mode will be explained below.

As shown in Figure 9, in the auto mode, it is first determined whether or not the rice is being kept warm (step 1), and when the rice is being kept warm after completion of cooking or due to the operation of keeping warm only, the process moves to step 2 and ozone generation is turned on. To carry out the control of This ozone generation ON control applies a predetermined high voltage between the electrodes 18 and 18A of the discharge body 15 via the discharge body drive circuit 64 to generate ozone, and also operates the fan 16 via the fan drive circuit 65. , and opens the valve 20 via the valve drive circuit 66. As a result, the ozone generated in the discharge body 15 is gasified by the outside air introduced into the air passage 14 by the fan 16 as shown by the arrow in FIG. Odor molecules generated from the rice 69 that is poured into the air in the container 4 adhere to this ozone gas, causing a chemical reaction that oxidizes and decomposes the odor molecules, and the gas resulting from this chemical reaction is released from the steam port 22. and deodorized. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1 that the heat is not being kept warm, the process proceeds to step 3 where ozone generation remains OFF, and the process proceeds to step 4 where the buzzer 68 is immediately sounded via the buzzer drive circuit 67. Notify the user that ozone will not be generated. When ozone generation is turned ON in step 2, it is determined in step 5 whether 5 minutes have passed since the start of ozone generation, and if 5 minutes have passed, ozone generation is turned OFF in step 6. Take control.

This ozone generation OFF control cuts off the power to the discharge body 15, stops the fan 16, and closes the valve 20. This closing operation of the valve 20 causes steam to flow into the air passage 14.
prevent intrusion into After that, the process moves to step 7, where it is determined whether 30 minutes have passed since ozone generation was turned off, and if 30 minutes have passed, it is determined whether or not the clean switch 45 is turned off, at step 8, and the ozone generation is turned off.
If it is FF, it is determined in step 9 whether 12 hours have elapsed since the start of heat retention, and if 12 hours have not elapsed, the process moves to step 2. In this way, ozone generation is turned on for 5 minutes until 12 hours have passed from the start of heat retention, and 3
Repeat the control of ozone generation OFF for 0 minutes, and when it is determined in step 9 that 12 hours have passed, step 10
Turn ozone generation OFF and complete auto mode. On the other hand, if it is determined that the clean switch 45 is OFF during this time, the routine proceeds to step 8 according to rYEsJ, and the auto mode is immediately completed in step 10.

In the manual mode, as shown in FIG. 7, in steps 1 to 4, it is sequentially determined based on the signal from the rice cooking control means 51 whether the rice is turned off, kept warm, rice is cooked, or the timer is operating during reservation rice cooking. When it is determined in step 1 that the ozone generation is off, control is performed to turn on ozone generation in step 5 according to the ozone generation enable/disable setting data stored in the storage means 56, and in step 6, 15 minutes have elapsed since the start of ozone generation. It is determined whether or not 15 minutes have elapsed, and when 15 minutes have elapsed, ozone generation is controlled to be turned off in step 7, and the manual mode is completed.

Further, when it is determined in step 2 that the temperature is being kept warm, control is performed to turn on ozone generation in step 8 according to the ozone generation enable/disable setting data, and in step 9 it is determined whether 10 minutes have elapsed. When 10 minutes have elapsed, the process moves to step 7 to complete the manual mode. On the other hand, when it is determined that rice is being cooked in step 3, or when it is determined that the timer is operating in step 4, the process proceeds to step 10 according to the ozone generation enable/disable setting data, and the ozone generation is controlled to be OFF. 11, the buzzer 68 is sounded to notify the user that ozone generation will not be performed.

In the deodorizing mode, as shown in FIG. 10, in step 1 it is determined whether 2 hours have elapsed since the start of heat retention, and if 2 hours have elapsed, in step 2 ozone generation is controlled to ON.
After that, in step 3, it is determined whether 10 minutes have elapsed or not, and if it is determined that 10 minutes have elapsed, in step 4, ozone generation is controlled to be OFF, and then in step 5, 1 W
# It is determined whether the period has elapsed, and if it has elapsed, the clean auto switch 46 is turned off in step 6.
If it is OFF, it is determined in step 7 whether 12 hours have elapsed since the start of heat retention, and if not, the process moves to step 2. In this way, control of ozone generation ON for 10 minutes and ozone generation OFF for 1 hour is repeated until it is determined in step 7 that 12 FR has passed from the start of heat retention, and 12 FR from the start of heat retention is repeated.
After the elapse of time, in step 8, ozone generation is turned off to complete the deodorizing mode. During this time, if it is determined in step 6 that the clean auto switch 46 is OFF, the deodorizing mode is immediately completed in step 8 according to the YESJ routine in step 6.

The microcomputer 53 further performs the ozone generation interruption process shown in FIG. This is due to a failure based on the signal from the fan failure detection means 63 in step 2 when ozone generation is turned ON in step 1)
? At the same time, in step 3, it is determined whether the lid 10 is opened based on the signal from the lid open detection means 29, and it is determined whether the fan 16 is in operation and the lid 10 is closed. If it is in this state, the process moves to step 1 and continues to control ozone generation ON, and if it is judged in step 2 that the fan has stopped, or if it is judged in step 3 that the lid is open, the process moves to step 4. ozone generation
In this way, during ozone generation 'ION control in each mode, the determination of whether or not the fan is stopped in step 2 and the determination of whether or not the lid is opened in step 3 are continued, and when the fan is stopped or Ozone is generated immediately when the lid is opened.
By controlling F, ozone gas is prevented from being released directly toward the human body when the lid body 10 is opened, and ozone gas is released from the air supply port 12 due to failure of the fan 16, which poses a danger to the human body. prevent this from happening.

In this way, in this embodiment, the clean switch 45
When you press , it is determined whether the current process is off, keeping warm, cooking, or the timer is running, and deodorization control is applied to each process, so if the process is keeping warm, ozone deodorization is performed. is executed, and the bad odor caused by keeping the rice 69 warm is eliminated. When the container is in operation, a deodorizing operation using ozone is performed to eliminate the odor that has permeated the container body 3. Furthermore, when the rice is being cooked or the timer is running, the ozone deodorizing operation is controlled so that the deodorizing operation is not performed.
Steam is a problem when performing R odor operation.

Deterioration of the discharge body 15 and decrease in ozone concentration due to heat can be prevented, and generation of unnecessary ozone, which is a problem when deodorizing operation is performed during timer operation, can also be prevented. Furthermore, as an advantage of the embodiment, since the amount of ozone generated during cutting is greater than during warming, the odor in the main body 3 can be sufficiently eliminated. Further, in the auto mode and the deodorizing mode, the ozone deodorizing is performed only during the heat retention process, so that the above-mentioned effects can be obtained in the same way. Furthermore, as an effect of the embodiment, since outside air is introduced and ozonized gas is supplied into the container 4, the odor inside the container 4 and the rice cooker is reduced to clean air, and outside air is supplied. Since the ozone gas is dry and the ozone gas is at a lower temperature than the inside of the container body 3, a stable ozone concentration can be ensured without causing a decrease in the amount of ozone generated due to steam or heat.

FIG. 12 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and explanations of the same parts are omitted. In this embodiment, the air supply port 12 in FIG. , the filter 11 is omitted, and instead of it, air supply ports 12A and 12B are formed at the bottom of the outer case 1 and the inner case 2, respectively, and the side of the inner case 2 and the air passage 14 are connected by a communication pipe 70. As a result, in the first embodiment, outside air is introduced into the air passage 14 through the filter 11, whereas in this embodiment, the heated air in the heating space 5 is introduced into the communication pipe 10. The ozone gas is introduced into the air passage 14 through the ozone supply port 13 and the air for supplying ozone gas into the container 4 is raised to a high temperature, thereby suppressing an increase in the energization rate of the heat-retaining heater 24. .

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, the ozone generating means can be applied to various types, and the valve can also be omitted. Further, the setting of whether or not ozone is generated in each stroke is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be appropriately selected, such as not deodorizing during cutting, for example. Further, the heating means is not limited to the heater, and other heating means may be selected as appropriate. In addition, as shown in Fig. 11, a means for detecting valve failure is installed so that even when a valve failure occurs, ozone is generated.
It is also possible to control the FF. Further, by providing a deodorizing agent in the steam port, the gas which has undergone a chemical reaction with ozone gas can be released as clean air through the deodorizing agent.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention includes a rice cooking means for cooking rice or keeping it warm by controlling the input of a heating means for heating a container, an ozone generating means, and an ozone generating means for controlling the ozone generating means. The ozone generation control means controls the ozone generation means in accordance with a predetermined ozone generation enable/disable setting in each process such as turning off, keeping warm, and timer operation during reserved rice cooking based on the signal from the rice cooking control means. With this structure, it is possible to provide a rice cooker that can perform ozone deodorization in accordance with each process related to rice cooking.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 11 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a block diagram, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the rice cooker, Figure 3 is a front view of the operation panel, Figure 4 is a front view of the discharge body, Figure 5 is a plan view showing the discharge state of the discharge body, Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the rice cooker, Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of manual mode processing, Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of mode setting processing, and Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of auto mode processing. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of deodorizing mode processing, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of ozone generation interruption processing, and FIG. 12 is a cross section of the main parts of the rice cooker showing the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a diagram. 4... Container 21... Ozone generation means 23... Rice cooking heater (heating means) 24... Heat retention heater (heating means) 51... Rice cooking control means 52... Ozone generation control means Patent issued Applicant: Representative of Toshiba Thermal Appliances Co., Ltd.
Person Patent Attorney Ushiki Godo Patent Attorney Book 1) Long 4 Part 1
Figure 19 Figure 11 Figure 11 Figure 12

Claims (1)

[Claims] The ozone generation control means includes a rice cooking control means for controlling input of a heating means for heating a container to perform rice cooking or heat retention, an ozone generation means, and an ozone generation control means for controlling the ozone generation means. It is characterized by being configured to control the ozone generation means in accordance with a predetermined ozone generation permission setting in each process such as turning off, keeping warm, and timer operation during reserved rice cooking based on a signal from the rice cooking control means. A rice cooker.