JPH05123247A - Automatic rice cooking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a rice cooking failure caused by a fault of a sensor for detecting whether rice exists or not, and to prevent contamination and damage in the device caused by boiling-over, etc. CONSTITUTION:In the automatic rice cooking device constituted so that rice of a prescribed quantity is weighed by opening and closing alternately an inlet and an outlet of a rice weighing chamber 5 allowed to communicate with a bottom part of a rice storage chamber 3, weighed rice is washed and thrown into a rice cooker, and weight and washed rice of a prescribed quantity is cooked in the rice cooker, this device is provided with a weighing part sensor 12 for detecting whether rice exists or not before and after a weighing operation in the rice weighing chamber 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic rice cooker for automatically performing a series of operations including storage of rice, weighing, washing, rice cooking and heat retention.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of automatic rice cooker measures a fixed amount of rice stored in a rice storage chamber to wash the rice, and repeats the weighing and washing to bring a predetermined amount (set amount) of rice into a rice cooker together with water. It is to store and cook rice, but for example, if there is no rice in the rice storage chamber during this weighing, if the rice cooking process is continued in this state, the rice cooking operation will be performed without rice,
If the amount of water added becomes too large, problems such as rice porridge or heavy water will occur, and spillage from the rice cooker is likely to occur, resulting in contamination inside the device, resulting in malfunctions, poor insulation, and rust. ..

In order to eliminate such a problem, the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage chamber has been conventionally detected, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-34222 (A47J 27/0).
In the automatic rice cooker described in 0), a rotatable detection plate is arranged in an inclined passage connecting the rice box and the rice measuring chamber, and whether the remaining amount of rice falls below a certain amount depending on the rotation angle of the detection plate. The alarm lamp is turned on by detecting a certain amount or less of the remaining amount of rice.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-168908 (A)
47J 27/00), the rice cooker, such as a photointerrupter or a piezoelectric sensor or a mechanical sensor using a diaphragm, in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are opposed to each other on the lower inclined portion of the rice bowl. A cut-out detection unit is provided so that it can detect when the remaining amount of rice has dropped below a predetermined amount to notify the user or stop cooking rice.

[0005]

In each of the above-mentioned conventional devices, the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage chamber is detected to prevent the failure of rice cooking without rice in advance. If the quantity detection unit fails, the weighing, rice washing, and rice cooking steps may be executed despite the loss of rice, which may cause the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to provide a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rice, and
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic rice cooker capable of detecting a failure of this sensor.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the automatic rice cooker of the present invention, a fixed amount of rice is weighed by communicating with the bottom of the rice storage chamber and alternately opening and closing the inlet and the outlet. The rice weighing chamber is provided with a weighing unit sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rice before and after the weighing operation.

In this case, it is desirable to provide a rice remaining amount detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rice in the rice storage room before weighing, and the rice remaining detection sensor outputs a rice presence detection signal. The weighing of rice and washing of rice may be interrupted until such time, or the weighing of rice and washing of rice may be terminated, and only the rice in the rice cooker that has been weighed and washed may be cooked.

The rice remaining amount detecting sensor is provided with a light emitting element and a light receiving element which are mounted adjacent to each other on the same surface of the rice storage compartment and a light emitting element which opposes both elements in the rice storage compartment through a space. May be configured by a reflecting mirror that guides the light to the light receiving element.

[0010]

[Function] In the automatic rice cooker having the above-described configuration, when measuring rice, the rice metering chamber has an inlet opening and an outlet closed, so that a certain amount of rice from the rice storage chamber flows into the rice measuring chamber. Close the entrance,
A certain amount of rice is weighed by opening the outlet, but rice is temporarily lost during this weighing operation.A weighing unit sensor is installed in the rice weighing chamber to detect the presence or absence of rice before and after the weighing operation. By this, while rice can be detected,
It is possible to detect the failure of the sensor by comparing the states of the sensor before and after the weighing operation.

In addition to the above-mentioned weighing unit sensor, a rice remaining amount detecting sensor is provided in the rice storage chamber to detect the presence or absence of rice before weighing, so that the weighing unit sensor can detect that sufficient amount of rice has entered the rice weighing chamber. It is possible to prevent the presence of rice from being detected when there is no rice.

[0012]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) First, Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of the automatic rice cooker, wherein 1 is a box-shaped device body, 2 is a rice storage container in which a rice storage chamber 3 is formed inside the body 1, and 4 is rice. A weighing device provided at the bottom of the storage container 2 for weighing and dropping a fixed amount of rice, for example, one unit of rice, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a rice weighing chamber communicating with the bottom of the rice storage chamber 3. 5, a weighing plate 7 which is rotatably supported by the shaft 6 and which alternately closes the upper inlet and the lower outlet of the rice weighing chamber 5 by the partition plates 7a and 7b, respectively, and urges the weighing plate 7 to rotate. It comprises a spring 8, a plunger 9 for rotating the weighing plate 7 against the bias of the spring 8, and a rice dropping port 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the partition plates 7a and 7b of the weighing plate 7 are normally held open and closed by the spring 8 as shown in FIG. 1, and the rice in the rice storage chamber 3 flows into the rice weighing chamber 5. Cage,
By operating the plunger 9, as shown in FIG. 2, the partition plate portion 7a closes the inlet of the rice measuring chamber 5, and the partition plate portion 7b opens the outlet, so that a certain amount of rice is discharged into the rice dropping port 10. It is further dropped, and by stopping the operation of the plunger 9, the state of FIG. 1 is restored again. Therefore,
By causing the plunger 9 to operate a predetermined number of times, the above-described operation is repeated and a predetermined amount of rice is weighed.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a remaining rice amount detecting sensor provided at the bottom of the rice container 2, and detects the presence or absence of rice at the mounting position before the weighing device 4 weighs it. Reference numeral 12 denotes a weighing unit sensor provided in the rice weighing chamber 5 for detecting the presence or absence of rice before and after the weighing operation. Both of these sensors 11 and 12 detect the presence or absence of rice by the oscillation output of the piezoelectric element, and when a unimorph oscillator in which a piezoelectric element and a metal plate are bonded is oscillated at a resonance frequency, the vibration surface is affected by rice. When pressure is applied, the oscillating output becomes smaller, and conversely, if no vibration is applied and the vibrating surface is free, the oscillating output becomes large.

Numeral 13 is a rice washing container for accommodating and washing the rice dropped from the weighing device 4, 14 is a conveying device for moving the rice washing container 13 to the rice dropping position below the weighing device 4 at the time of weighing, and to the rice washing position at the time of rice washing. A water supply nozzle for supplying water for rice washing and cooking, which is connected to a faucet of the water supply via a solenoid valve, is arranged above the rice washing position, and a rice washing container 13 containing a fixed amount of rice at the rice dropping position 13 Moves to the rice washing position and is washed by water supply from the water supply nozzle. Reference numeral 15 is a drainage container arranged below the rice washing position.

Reference numeral 16 is an opening formed in the lower front surface of the main body 1, 17 is a pedestal provided at the bottom of the main body 1 so as to be drawn back and forth, and 18 is an outer pot mounted on the pedestal 17 so as to be movable back and forth. When the gantry 17 is stored in the main body 1, the outer pot 18 moves the rice cooking position shown in FIG.
To move between positions below. Reference numeral 19 denotes an inner pot accommodated in the outer pot 18, 20 denotes an inner lid of the inner pot 19, and 21 denotes an outer pot 18.
A heater, 22 disposed on the inner bottom of the heater, is a temperature sensor.

Reference numeral 23 denotes an outer lid provided above the outer pot 18 at the rice cooking position, which is vertically moved by an elevating mechanism 25 driven by a motor 24 to cover the upper face of the outer pot 18. The outer lid 23 has an opening / closing mechanism 26 for opening and closing the inner lid 20.
When the outer pot 18 is carried from the opening 16 to the rice cooking position, the locking body 27 of the opening / closing mechanism 26 is attached to the inner lid 2.
With the knob 28 of 0, the inner lid 20 is lifted in association with the upward movement of the outer lid 23. And these kettles 18, 19,
The rice cooker 29 is composed of the lids 20, 23, the heater 21, and the like. The pedestal 17 has an opening 16 when it is stored.
The decorative plate 30 that closes the door is integrally provided.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. 4 is a flow chart showing the outline of the automatic rice cooking operation. When the inner rice cooker 19 is set in the outer kettle 18 to start the automatic rice cooking operation, first, as shown in FIG. To
With the inner lid 20 lifted together with the outer lid 23, the outer pot 1
8 moves to the position below the weighing device 4, and then the rice washing container 13 moves to the rice dropping position.

Thereafter, the weighing device 4 performs weighing. Prior to this weighing, when the remaining rice amount sensor 11 detects the remaining amount of rice in the rice storage chamber 3 and the presence of rice is detected, In addition, the presence or absence of rice in the rice weighing chamber 5 is detected by the weighing unit sensor 12.

When the presence of rice is detected, a certain amount of rice is weighed and dropped by the weighing device 4 and stored in the rice washing container 13, and immediately after this weighing operation, the weighing unit sensor 1 is again provided.
When the presence or absence of rice is detected by 2 and it is confirmed that there is no rice in the rice measuring chamber 5, the rice washing container 13 is guided to the rice washing position, and the rice is washed by the water supply from the water supply nozzle. When the rice washing process for a certain period of time is completed, the rice washing container 13 containing a certain amount of rice and the water necessary for cooking this rice moves to the rice dropping position, and the opening on the bottom surface thereof is opened to remove the rice and water. Is stored in the inner pot 19.

The above steps of measuring and washing rice are repeated until the preset amount of rice (total number) is reached, and thus a predetermined amount (set total number) of rice and water are stored in the inner pot 19. Then, the outer pot 18 is brought to the rice cooking position, and the lifting mechanism 25
Is operated to cover the outer pot 18 and the inner pot 19 with the outer lid 23 and the inner lid 20, respectively, and the rice is started by energizing the heater 21.

When the rice cooking operation is completed, the rice is automatically kept warm. In addition, when taking out the rice, the pull-out button (not shown) may be operated, the outer lid 23 is lifted by the elevating mechanism 25, and the rack 17 and the outer pot 18 can be pulled out forward from the opening 16. At this time, the knob 28 of the inner lid 20 is disengaged from the locking body 27.

By the way, in the series of operations described above,
If the position of the rice in the rice storage room 3 is lowered to the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1 and the absence of rice is detected during the detection of the remaining amount of rice before weighing, the subsequent operation is temporarily suspended and not shown. Device body 1
No rice is displayed on the operation panel of, and the operation shifts to post-processing.

When the operation of this post-processing is started, the user is prompted to add rice by the display of no rice, and while waiting for the addition of rice, the start command is issued again during this waiting time. If there is any rice that has been weighed and washed before then, control is performed to cook up this portion.

Further, when the presence of rice is detected during the detection of the remaining amount of rice before the weighing, as shown in FIG. 1, rice naturally exists in the rice weighing chamber 5, but nevertheless, this Immediately after the rice sensor is detected by the weighing unit sensor 12,
Either of the sensors 11 and 12 is abnormal, and a failure display is displayed.

Furthermore, when the weighing unit sensor 12 detects the presence of rice and the weighing operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 2, rice is temporarily depleted in the rice weighing chamber 5, but nevertheless,
When the presence of rice is detected by the weighing unit sensor 12 immediately after the weighing operation, it is considered that the weighing unit sensor 12 is abnormal,
Fault indication is displayed.

As described above, by detecting the presence / absence of rice before and after the weighing operation by the weighing unit sensor 12 provided in the rice weighing chamber 5, not only the presence / absence of rice can be detected but also a sensor abnormality can be detected. It is possible to prevent a problem from occurring due to a failure and improve reliability.

In addition, by providing the rice remaining amount detecting sensor 11 separately from the weighing unit sensor 12, the weighing unit sensor 12 detects the presence of rice when the rice weighing chamber 5 does not have enough rice. Further, when the rice in the rice storage chamber 3 is insufficient, the rice cooking operation is interrupted and post-processing is performed, so that it is possible to prevent contamination or damage in the device due to loss of rice, blowout, or the like.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In these drawings, the point different from the first embodiment is a rice remaining amount detection sensor 31 provided at the bottom of the rice storage container 2 for detecting the presence or absence of rice before weighing. A light emitting element 32 such as a light emitting diode and a light receiving element 33 such as a phototransistor attached to the right side wall, and both elements 32 in the middle of the bottom.
A rice remaining amount detection sensor 31 is configured by a triangular plate-shaped reflecting mirror 34 provided so as to face 33, and the light from the light emitting element 32 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 34 and guided to the light receiving element 33. Is.

As shown in FIG. 7, the light emitting element 32 and the light receiving element 33 are mounted adjacent to each other on the same surface of one substrate 34, and are transparently provided on the rightmost wall at the bottom of the rice container 2. A glass plate 36 is fitted in the opening, and the substrate 34 is screwed so that both the elements 32 and 33 face the reflecting mirror 34 via the glass plate 36.

Therefore, when rice is stored in the rice storage chamber 3, the light path between the elements 32 and 33 and the reflecting mirror 34 is blocked by the rice, so that the light receiving element 33 is the light emitting element 32.
The rice remaining amount detection sensor 31 detects the presence of rice without receiving light from, and when the rice runs out, there is no shield in the optical path and the light from the light emitting element 32 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 34. Since light is received by the light receiving element 33, the sensor 31 detects the absence of rice.

Particularly, in the case of this embodiment, both elements 32 and 3 are
Since the elements 3 are arranged on the same surface, they can be integrally attached at the same time, and there is an advantage that the number of attachment steps can be reduced as compared with the case where both elements 32 and 33 are individually attached.

[0033]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. In the automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, since the weighing unit sensor is provided in the rice weighing chamber communicating with the bottom of the rice storage chamber to detect the presence or absence of rice before and after the weighing operation, It is possible to avoid the inconvenience of performing the rice cooking process as it is, detect a sensor failure, prevent a problem due to a sensor failure, and improve the reliability of the device.

Further, in the automatic rice cooker according to the second aspect of the present invention, the rice remaining amount detection sensor is provided in the rice storage chamber in addition to the weighing unit sensor to detect the presence or absence of rice before weighing. The lack of rice can be detected before weighing, and further, in the automatic rice cooker according to claim 3 or 4, when the rice remaining amount detection sensor detects the absence of rice, the operation thereafter is suspended or the rice is already weighed. Since only the washed rice is cooked, the inside of the device can be prevented from being contaminated or damaged due to loss of rice or spillage.

In the automatic rice cooker according to claim 5,
Since the rice remaining amount detecting sensor is composed of the light emitting element and the light receiving element and the reflecting mirror and both elements are mounted on the same surface, the mounting process of both elements can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cut-away side view of a main part before a weighing operation, showing an automatic rice cooker according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of a main part after the weighing operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cut side view showing the overall configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cut side view of essential parts showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG.

7 is a cut front view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Rice storage room 5 Rice weighing room 7 Weighing plate 11,31 Remaining amount of rice sensor 12 Measuring unit sensor 32 Light emitting element 33 Light receiving element 34 Reflector

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Noboru Yamaguchi 3 201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Minoru Tanaka 3 201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Prefecture Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takao Kishimoto 3 201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Takeshi Yamaoka 3 201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinichi Kawaguchi 3-201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori-shi, Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Daisuke Ikemoto 3-201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori-shi, Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kenichiro Komatsu 3-201 Minamiyoshikata, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture Tottori Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rice measuring chamber communicating with the bottom of a rice storage chamber is alternately opened and closed to weigh a certain amount of rice, wash the weighed rice and put it into a rice cooker to weigh, In an automatic rice cooker adapted to cook a predetermined amount of washed rice in the rice cooker, the rice weighing chamber is provided with a weighing unit sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rice before and after the weighing operation. Rice cooker. 2. The automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein a rice remaining amount detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rice before weighing is provided in the rice storage compartment. 3. The automatic rice cooker according to claim 2, wherein the weighing and washing of the rice are suspended until the detection signal indicating that the rice is present is output by the detection signal indicating that the rice is not present by the remaining rice detection sensor. 4. The automatic system according to claim 2, wherein weighing of rice and washing of rice are terminated by a detection signal indicating that there is no rice from the remaining rice sensor, and only the rice in the rice cooker that has been weighed and washed has been cooked. Rice cooker. 5. A rice remaining amount detecting sensor, a light emitting element and a light receiving element mounted adjacent to each other on the same surface of a rice storage compartment, and the light emitting element facing the both elements in the rice storage compartment through a space. The automatic rice cooker according to claim 2, wherein the automatic rice cooker comprises a reflecting mirror that guides light from the light receiving element to the light receiving element.