JPH05253049A - Rice cooking appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate 'insufficient cooking' of rice which is caused due to quality of rice or others. CONSTITUTION:This appliance is made up of a first timer means 8 which counts the time that passes after the start of cooking rice to produce an output when a specified rice cooking process (cooking process) is started, a second timer means 9 which counts the time as specified from the time when a first temperature detection means 4 detects the temperature reaching a specified value, a third timer means 10 which counts the time as specified after a second temperature detection means 5 detects a specified temperature and a heating stopping means 11 which outputs a stop signal to a heating means 3 till the end of counting time from the start of counting time by the second timer means 9. Thus, the cooking of rice continues by interposing the stoppage of heating of a fixed time thereby accomplishing the cooking of rice normally without 'insufficient cooking'.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker containing a microcomputer mainly used at home.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, consumers' needs for diversification and sophistication have become strong, and rice cookers controlled by a microcomputer have become popular in order to cook more delicious rice.

Conventionally, the rice cooking process of this type of rice cooker is generally as shown in FIG. That is, in the rice cooking process, when the rice absorbs water and gelatinizes during the cooking process and the boiling maintaining process, and the water in the pot is not absorbed by the rice, the temperature of the pan rises sharply to a predetermined temperature. When it reaches, the boiling maintenance process is completed and the steaming process is started. If the temperature of the pot exceeds the predetermined boiling maintenance stroke end temperature in the stroke before the boiling maintenance stroke, the rice cooking is finished and the heat retention stroke is started.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional rice cooker, when the convection of the water in the pan is hindered during the cooking process due to the quality of the rice, only a part of the rice is abruptly increased. When the temperature of the pan suddenly rises and becomes higher than the predetermined boiling maintenance stroke end temperature due to heating, the rice will finish cooking there even though the rice has not yet gelatinized, and "the rice is cooked" There was a problem that there was a so-called premature disconnection phenomenon.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker which does not cause a premature cutting phenomenon even if there are reasons such as rice quality.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, a rice cooker according to the present invention comprises a pot for putting cooked rice, a lid located on the pot and covering the cooked food in the pot. A heating means for heating the pan, an input means for inputting the start of cooking rice, and a pre-cooking step, a cooking step for controlling the electric power of the heating means,
Control means for executing a preset rice cooking program in the order of the boiling maintenance process and the steaming process, a first temperature detection device for detecting the temperature of the pot, and a second temperature detection for detecting the temperature of the lid. Means for measuring the elapsed time after the start of rice cooking and outputting the time when a predetermined rice cooking process (cooking process) is started, and the first temperature detecting device reaches a predetermined temperature. The operation of measuring a predetermined time from the time when it is detected is repeated any number of times during the heating process and during the initial predetermined time of the boiling maintaining process, and the predetermined temperature when starting the time measurement is the first time. Second timer means that can be changed by heating stop and heating stop for the second time or later, and third timer means for measuring a predetermined time after the second temperature detecting means detects a predetermined temperature, In the second timer means Period from the start of counting time until the count end that is obtained by providing a heating stopping means outputs a stop signal to the heating means.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the temperature of the pan suddenly rises in the cooking process to reach the predetermined end temperature of the boiling maintaining process in the cooking process, the heating is restarted after stopping the heating for a certain time without finishing the cooking. , The temperature near the predetermined end temperature of the boiling maintaining process until the temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the lid detects the predetermined temperature and enters the boiling maintaining process and for a predetermined time after entering the boiling maintaining process. When is detected, heating is stopped for a certain period of time and then heating is restarted, which is repeated. By controlling to restart heating after stopping this heating, the temperature of the pan is not only lowered to the level of normal rice cooking to heat it again, but it also stimulates the convection in the pan and restores the convection that has stagnated to normal. be able to. Then, after a lapse of a predetermined time after entering the boiling maintaining process, the above control is not performed and normal rice is cooked, so that convection of water in the pot is prevented due to the quality of rice in the cooking process. In fact, even if the rice has not gelatinized yet, even if the temperature of the pan suddenly rises and becomes higher than the predetermined temperature, rice cooking will continue and prevent rice from being cooked due to premature cutting. . In addition, the length of this heating stop time is set to be reasonably short so that it does not affect the temperature rise of rice and water in the kettle, so it does not adversely affect the quality of rice and is delicious as usual. You can cook rice.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to an embodiment, which includes a heating means 3 for heating the pan 1, a first temperature detecting means 4 for detecting the temperature of the pan 1, and a lid 2. The second temperature detecting means 5 for detecting the temperature, the control means 6 for inputting the signals of the first temperature detecting means 4 and the second temperature detecting means 5 to control the electric power of the heating means 3, and the start of rice cooking are input. The input means 7 for controlling, the first timer means 8 for counting the elapsed time after the start of rice cooking and outputting at the time when a predetermined rice cooking process (cooking process) is started, and the first temperature detecting means 4 have a predetermined boiling point. The operation of measuring a predetermined time from the time when the temperature near the end temperature of the sustaining stroke is detected is repeated many times during the cooking stroke and during the initial predetermined time of the boiling maintenance stroke, and the timekeeping is performed. Start the specified temperature at the first heating stop and after the second Third timer means stops the heating and the second timer means 9 to be changed, the the second temperature detection means 5 for counting a predetermined time from the detection of a predetermined temperature 10
And the heating means 3 during the time counting by the second timer means 9.
And a heating stop means 11 for outputting a stop signal to the.

FIG. 2 shows a partial cross section of the rice cooker, in which the first temperature detecting means 4 for detecting the temperature of the pot 1 is composed of a temperature resistance element for converting the amount of change in temperature into a resistance value. It is configured to move freely, and is placed in contact with the bottom surface of the pot 1. The second temperature detecting means 5 for detecting the temperature of the lid 2 is also composed of a similar temperature resistance element and is embedded near the inner surface of the lid 2. The input means 7 (switch) is connected to the control means 6. A control means 6, a heating stop means 11 for outputting a heating stop signal, and a first timer means 8,
A microcomputer (not shown) including the second timer means 9 and the third timer means 10 is incorporated in the circuit board 12 and attached to the bottom of the rice cooker body 13.
FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the temperature and the time when rice is cooked, when the rice is cooked normally and when the pot temperature rises sharply during cooking.

In the rice cooker configured as described above,
The operation when cooking rice will be described. First, pot 1
The pot 1 is placed on the heating means 3 as shown in FIG. When cooking rice is started, the input means 7
In response to the signal from the first timer means 8, the time measurement is started, and as shown in FIG. 3, the process of absorbing water for a certain period of time is followed by the cooking process, and the temperature of the pot 1 changes during the cooking process. Gradually rising, rice begins to absorb water and gelatinize. In the normal case, sufficient convection occurs in the pot 1, so that the temperature of rice and water rises evenly and the second temperature detecting means 5 embedded in the lid 2 detects the predetermined temperature φ1 and boils. In the maintenance process, the water absorption and gelatinization of rice progresses, the water in the pot 1 disappears, and the temperature of the pot 1 rises sharply. When the first temperature detecting means 4 detects that the temperature has reached the predetermined temperature θ1, the boiling maintaining process is ended and the steaming process is started. However, because of problems such as rice quality (crushed rice, slaughtered rice, etc.)
If the convection of water inside is disturbed, only a part of the rice will be heated rapidly during the cooking process and gelatinized, so that there will be no water in that part and the pot temperature will rise rapidly.

If the first temperature detecting means 4 detects that the temperature of the pot 1 has reached the predetermined boiling maintaining stroke end temperature θ1, the second timer means 9 starts the time measurement and at the same time the heating stopping means 11 is started. Outputs a heating stop signal, and heating is interrupted. The second timer means 9 has a predetermined time T1.
At the same time when the measurement of the time is finished, the heating stop signal from the heating stop means 11 is also released, and the heating is restarted. While the heating is stopped, the temperature of the pot 1 drops to near the normal temperature, and when the heating is restarted, the convection of the water in the pot 1 is restored and the normal rice cooking continues after that, and the convection remains suspended. Since the temperature of the pan 1 may suddenly rise again when the heating is restarted because the temperature has not recovered, the first temperature detecting means 4 detects that the temperature of the pan 1 has reached the predetermined temperature θ2. As described above, heating is stopped again for a certain time T1 and then heating is restarted.

The temperature of the rice and water in the pan 1 rises in due course, but this control is performed during the cooking process and during the initial fixed time of the boiling maintaining process, that is, after starting the cooking process, the lid is closed. The second temperature detecting means 5 embedded in 2 detects the predetermined temperature φ1 and enters the boiling maintaining process, from which a constant time T measured by the third timer means 10 is reached.
It is effective until 2 has elapsed, and when the first temperature detecting means 4 detects that the temperature of the pot 1 has reached the predetermined temperature θ2, the heating is stopped for a certain time T1 again as described above. After that, the operation of restarting heating is repeated many times. After the time counting by the third timer means 10 is finished, the above-mentioned control is not carried out, and the water absorption and gelatinization of rice progresses during the boiling maintaining process, and the water in the pan 1 disappears, and the first temperature detecting means 4 When it detects that the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature θ1, the boiling maintaining process is ended and the steaming process is performed to complete the rice cooking operation. As shown in FIG. 3, even when the temperature of the pan 1 rises near the predetermined cooking end temperature in the cooking process, the rice is cooked as described above by controlling the heating as described above. It solves the problem of not being able to cook.

[0014]

As described above, the rice cooker of the present invention comprises a pot for putting cooked rice, a lid located on the pot for covering the cooked rice in the pot, and a heating means for heating the pot. An input means for inputting the start of rice cooking, a control means for controlling the electric power of the heating means, a first temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the pot, and a second temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the lid. Equipped with
The first timer means for measuring the elapsed time after the start of rice cooking and outputting at the start of the predetermined rice cooking process (cooking process) and the first temperature detecting means detected that the temperature has reached the predetermined temperature. Second timer means for measuring a predetermined time from a time point, third timer means for measuring a predetermined time after the second temperature detecting means detects a predetermined temperature, and the second timer means By providing a heating stop means for outputting a stop signal to the heating means from the start of the time measurement to the end of the time measurement, the temperature of the pan rises sharply during the course of the rice cooking process to maintain a predetermined boiling point. Even when the temperature reaches the end temperature of the process, rice can be cooked normally without finishing the rice cooking, so rice can be cooked with confidence regardless of rice quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Partial sectional view of the rice cooker

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the cooking temperature of the rice cooker and time.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between cooking temperature and time of a conventional rice cooker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pan 2 Lid 3 Heating Means 4 First Temperature Detecting Means 5 Second Temperature Detecting Means 6 Control Means 7 Input Means 8 First Timer Means 9 Second Timer Means 10 Third Timer Means 11 Heating Stop Means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pot for putting cooked rice, a lid which is located on the pot and covers the cooked rice in the pot, a heating means for heating the pot, and an input means for inputting the start of cooking rice. A first temperature for detecting the temperature of the pot and a control means for controlling the electric power of the heating means to execute a preset rice cooking program in the order of a pre-cooking step, a cooking step, a boiling maintaining step, and a steaming step. A first timer provided with a detection means and a second temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the lid, and outputs the time when the predetermined rice cooking process (cooking process) is started by measuring the elapsed time after starting the rice cooking. Means, a second timer means for measuring a predetermined time from the time when the first temperature detecting means detects that the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature near the boiling maintaining stroke end temperature, and the time measurement by the second timer means From the beginning to the end of timing Heating stop means for outputting a stop signal is provided to the means, and the second timer means is configured to operate between the time when the first timer means outputs and the second temperature detecting means detects a predetermined temperature. A rice cooker that is configured to operate even if used once. 2. A third timer means for measuring a predetermined time after the second temperature detecting means detects a predetermined temperature,
The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the heating stop means is controlled by the output signal from the second timer means even during the operation of the third timer means. 3. The predetermined temperature when the stop signal is output when detected by the first temperature detecting means can be changed to a lower temperature in the second and subsequent heating stops than in the first heating stop. The rice cooker according to claim 1 or 2.