JPH0568425U - Fully automatic rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] A fully-automatic rice cooker equipped with each element for storing rice, washing rice, and cooking rice, and a means for transferring rice between these elements and a means for controlling each process. And to provide a fully automatic rice cooker with high precision. [Structure] A fully-automatic rice cooker equipped with a rice storage tank, a rice washing section, and a rice cooking section, and a means for transferring rice between them, and further a control means for controlling each step of washing, transferring, and cooking rice. Therefore, the raw material rice is partitioned by the top plate and the partition plate divided into 120 °, and the weighing chamber is provided with the holes having the end point and the starting point of the top plate shifted by 120 °, respectively. Alternatively, a fully automatic rice cooker configured to rotate and weigh either of the partition plates.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a fully-automatic rice cooker, and more particularly to improvement of a weighing method when supplying raw rice to a rice washing unit.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 In recent years, the issue of rice liberalization has become a hot topic in the world, and even for Japan, which has been eating rice for more than a thousand years, there is a tendency to revisit rice food. By the way, in recent years, the electrification and rationalization of household chores are being promoted more and more, but with the history of rice food as mentioned above, many proposals have been made especially for automation of rice cookers. Among them, the so-called fully-automatic rice cooker does not automatically perform only rice cooking, but controls the storage amount of rice, which is the raw material, measures the necessary amount, washing rice, and adjusts the amount of water to cook rice. Many of the processes are configured so that at least most of the processes can be performed automatically, and various proposals have already been made.

These proposals are roughly divided into those mainly using a rice-washing device and those that are carried out by an integrated and automatically controlled process from the storage of rice to the cooking of rice, and also regarding the means of supplying rice as a raw material. Each time, the required amount is supplied from the upper part, the rice storage tank is installed at the upper part of the device, the lower part is provided with various means such as suction or a screw to transfer the raw material to the upper part, and the measuring means is also a fixed amount hopper. , Various means such as a revolver container, a shooter with a switch are shown. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 51-51856 (providing a rice storage tank at the top and supplying the rice to the washing layer through a revolver-type measuring container) is mainly used for washing rice. Publication No. (transfer from the lowermost rice storage tank to the upper washing layer by a suction blower via a quantitative hopper), Jikken 2-39559 (raw rice shelves in the upper rice storage tank) (Supply to the rice washing tank via a rotary fixed hopper while preventing hanging).

On the other hand, as a method directed to the integrated automatic control, there is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-132619 (transfer from a lowermost rice storage tank to an upper portion by a suction method to weigh and wash rice, and a transfer fan). No. 58-8848 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-8848) (from the rice storage tank installed at the bottom, a transfer pipe with a built-in spiral is used to transfer the raw rice upward, and a switch to a shooter leading from the top opening to the rice washing tank. When the rice passes, the switch turns on, the timer starts weighing, and when the preset amount is reached, the spiral drive is turned off), Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-15845 (the installation position of the rice cooker is specified. The rice cooker is installed on the table, the table can be opened and closed freely, and the power is turned off when it is opened). Some of these technologies have been commercialized and appear in the market, and there are some catalogs and the like related to them. The present applicant has already made several proposals for such a fully-automatic rice cooker, including Japanese Utility Model Application No. 3-51836.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Each of the above-mentioned devices has its own characteristics and exerts its own effects. However, since these devices are often used in ordinary households, when they are actually used, it is pointed out that the points to be improved in terms of usability etc. are pointed out one after another. It is clear that various new proposals will be needed in the future for fully automatic rice cookers due to strong demand for labor saving.

That is, when considering the conventional technique with particular attention to the weighing means, first, for example, in the technique of Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-9381, when rice is transferred by a blower, it passes through a fixed amount hopper. It is like a method of measuring the amount of rice passing through, and in the technique of Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-8848, a switch is made depending on the weight of rice when the rice that has been spirally transferred passes over the shooter leading to the rice washing tank. This is a method in which the timer turns on and the motor for spiral drive operates during the set period, and the rice is weighed with this. Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 59-51856, the measuring container is composed of a plurality of revolver-type basins, which are sequentially rotated to supply the rice to the rice washing section. However, each of these means is likely to have a large measurement error and difficult to measure accurately, or the mechanism is complicated and further improvement is required to obtain practical means at low cost. Etc. are seen and further investigation is desired. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a simple weighing means that makes it possible to perform accurate weighing when supplying rice as a raw material to the washing section.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist of the invention is to wash the rice while holding the rice storage tank for storing the raw material rice and stirring the rice and water with stirring blades. Rice washing section, rice cooking section that cooks the washed rice with a predetermined amount of water, rice transfer means between the rice storage tank / rice washing section / rice cooking section, and control for controlling each step of rice washing / transfer / rice cooking And a means for providing a fully automatic rice cooker, the inside of which is divided by a partition plate at an angle of 120 ° between the rice storage tank and the rice washing unit, and the top and bottom plates are displaced by 120 °. The fully automatic rice cooker is provided with upper and lower partition plates each having an end point and a start point, and further provided with a weighing chamber in which either the partition plate or the partition plate is rotatable.

[0008]

[Action]

 In the present invention, when the rice, which is the raw material, is transferred from the rice storage tank to the rice washing section, it is weighed through the weighing chamber, and the inside of the weighing chamber is a partition plate at an angle of 120 °. Upper and lower partition plates having end points and starting points of holes are provided at positions separated by 120 ° as top and bottom plates, and either of these partition plates or partition plates is rotatably arranged. For example, by connecting a rotating means such as a driving motor to the central axis of the partition plate or the top and bottom plate, rice is fed from the holes of the upper partition plate into the weighing chamber divided by 120 °. After filling the inside of the room and rotating the partition plate as a measuring blade to push the rice around, the rice inside is discharged to the rice washing part when the measuring chamber matches the hole of the lower partition plate, or The lower partition You can use any means to rotate the inner partition to discharge the inner rice to the washing part when the hole in the lower partition plate reaches the position of the weighing chamber filled with rice. It is possible to measure rice well and accurately.

[0009]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows a front sectional view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a rice storage tank, 40 is a rice washing unit, and 60 is a rice cooking unit, which form the basic configuration of the fully automatic rice cooker 1. Next, 14 is a spiral, which is built in the transfer pipe 15, has a drive motor 13 for the spiral 14 at the lower end, and stands upright inside the rice storage tank 11. Further, there is a notch 20 opened near the lower end of the transfer pipe 15 for collecting rice as a raw material, and on the other hand, near the upper end of the transfer pipe 15 is transferred and raised by the spiral 14. A cut-out portion 16 having an opening is provided for supplying rice to the rice washing portion 40 through the weighing portion 17. Reference numeral 22 provided at the lower portion of the rice storage tank 11 is a receiving container for receiving crushed rice, rice bran, etc., and the container 22 is attached so that it can be drawn out if necessary.

In this case, the constructions of the rice storage tank 11 and its vicinity are shown in detail in the side sectional view of the right side portion of the embodiment apparatus of FIG. 1 shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 12 is an inlet for rice, which is a raw material, and 21 is a net having a mesh for dropping particles smaller than the rice diameter in a receiving container 22 for the crushed rice or the like. ) Is good. In the figure, 50 is a drainage pump, 46a is a damper driving motor, and 65a is a lid opening / closing motor, which will be described later.

Next, the configuration of the weighing unit 17 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the weighing unit 17 used in the present invention. In the figure, the weighing unit 17 has a substantially cylindrical container shape, and a hood 17b for receiving rice supplied from the upper end cutout portion 16 of the rice transfer pipe 15 is attached to the upper portion thereof, and the hood 17b is further provided. Is provided with a rotary shaft 17a having a motor 18a at one end thereof. The rotary shaft 17a further penetrates the upper partition plate 7a of the weighing unit 17 to reach the lower partition plate 7b, and the rotary shaft 17a The center is divided by three partition plates 18b at an angle of 120 ° to form three measuring chambers, that is, basins. Further, the upper partition plate 7a and the lower partition plate 7b are provided with holes 8a and 8b, respectively. The hole 8a and the hole 8b have the end point and the start point of the hole at positions displaced by 120 ° from each other. The arrangement of these holes is shown in the plan view of FIG. 4, and the holes 8a and 8b are provided on the upper and lower partition plates 7a and 7b with the line forming 120 ° as the tangent line. In this case, since the partition plate 18b or the upper and lower partition plates 8a and 8b are rotatably provided by the rotation of the rotary shaft 17a driven by the motor 18a, by rotating either of them, As will be described later, it is possible to accurately supply the divided rice in the weighing chamber to the rice washing section 40 via the shooter 19.

Next, other configurations of the fully automatic rice cooker of the present invention will be further described mainly with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the left side portion of the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. As described above, the shooter 19 is provided immediately below the weighing unit 17, and the rice released from the hole 8b provided in the lower partition plate 7b of the weighing unit 17 is supplied to the rice washing unit 40. Is becoming As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the rice washing unit 40 is mainly composed of a rice washing tank 43 composed of an inner tank 43a and an outer tank 43b, namely, an inner tank 2 and an outer tank 43b, and a stirring blade 44 driven by a rice washing motor 48. It is rotatably built in, and a shut-off valve 45 for shutting off the water in the inner tank 43a of the rice washing tank 43 during the rice washing is provided at the lower end of the rotating shaft through a bearing. On the side surface of the shutoff valve 45, water that has entered the inside of the rotary shaft, the bearing thereof, and the gap between the shutoff valve 45 itself is discharged from the side surface of the valve 45 when the shutoff valve 45 is raised. A discharge port 45a for this purpose is provided. These are integrally attached to the moving plate 42 so that they can be moved up and down in the direction A by the shutoff valve opening / closing device 49.

On the other hand, as a means for supplying water to the rice washing unit 40, a water supply pipe is provided via a flow rate sensor 52 via an electromagnetic valve 51, and the tip of the water supply pipe opens into the inner tank 43a, for example, an annular system. A nozzle 47 is provided, and the nozzle 47 is attached to a fixed plate 41 on which the moving plate 42 is placed. A damper 46 is provided in the lower part of the rice washing tank 43 for draining water in case the water leaks from the shutoff valve 45, and the opening / closing operation is driven by the opening / closing motor 46a. .. Furthermore, drainage pipes for draining the polishing juice, rinsing water, etc., after the completion of rice washing are made from the lower part of the outer tank 43b of the rice washing tank 43, and a drainage pump 50 is partly joined with the water distribution pipe from the damper 46. It is configured to be discharged to the outside of the system via

Next, the structure of the rice cooking unit 60 will be described. First, in the rice cooking unit 60, as shown in FIG. 5, a rice cooker 61 having a lid 6 is placed on a receiving stand 62 having a pantograph type elevating means. Preferably, it is effective to provide a concave portion to which the leg portion of the rice cooker 61 fits or a concave portion to fit the entire bottom portion of the rice cooker 61. The pantograph type elevating means is mechanically lightweight and has a required strength, and can be ergonomically arranged in terms of height when used after cooking rice. In addition, the provision of the recessed portion on the cradle 62 not only stabilizes the rice cooker but also keeps the position of the rice cooker constant, so that a very desirable condition for performing fully automatic rice cooking can be obtained.

Reference numeral 66 is a dolly for mounting the rice cooking unit 60, and is provided so as to be freely pulled out from the main body of the fully automatic rice cooker 1. Reference numeral 63 is a rice cooker moving device, which is preferably a combination of a motor and a chain, but is not limited to this. It is important that the moving device 63 pulls in the trolley 66 on which the rice cooker 61 is placed, moves the rice cooker 61 to the lower part of the rice washing section 40, and positions it so as to receive the washed rice and an appropriate amount of water. The lid 6 is opened by the lid opening / closing device 64 to receive rice and water. The opening / closing device 64 allows the lid 6 to be opened by, for example, releasing or pressing a claw provided on the lid 6 or a notch provided on the rice cooker 61 by using, for example, electrical means. It was composed. A lid closing lever 65 is driven by a drive motor 65a. The rice cooker 61 is filled with rice and water, and further moved to the rice cooking position by the moving device 63, and then the lid 6 is closed. It is what is done. In the figure, reference numeral 26 is an exhaust portion, and 27 is an intake port, which are provided for the purpose of efficiently discharging the steam generated during the operation of the rice cooker to the outside of the system. Reference numeral 30 denotes an operation unit, including the ON / OFF switch of the full-automatic rice cooker 1 and, for example, the amount of rice washing, which can be set by the program control of the central processing unit (CPU), the operation process ( LED displays etc. are used to display the rice amount, the amount of water, the amount of rice washed, the amount of rice changed, and changes / settings, etc., respectively.

Next, the operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, rice, which is a raw material, is supplied to the rice storage tank 11 of the fully-automatic rice cooker 1 from the charging port 12, and then the spiral drive motor 13 is driven to rotate the spiral 14 to cut the rice at the lower end of the transfer pipe 15. Collect it from the part 20 and eject it from the notch 16 at the upper end. The weighing portion 17 having the hood 17b is connected to the cutout portion 16, and the rice that has passed through the hood 17b is connected to the lower partition plate 7b through the hole 8a provided in the upper partition plate 7a of the weighing unit. It is introduced into a container divided into three measuring chambers by a partition plate 18b which divides the inside at an angle of 120 ° and is weighed. In this case, since the rotary shaft 17a is rotatably provided by the motor 18a attached to one end, the upper and lower partition plates 7a and 7b are fixed, and the partition plate 18b attached to the rotary shaft 17a is a three-blade type. When the rice-filled weighing chamber is rotated by the motor 18a as a rotary wing, a hole 8b is formed in the lower partition plate 7b at a position 120 ° away from the upper hole 8a. When reaching the position, the rice in the weighing chamber is released and transferred to the rice washing unit 40 via the shooter 19. On the other hand, contrary to the above, when three partition plates 18b were fixed and the upper and lower partition plates 7a and 7b attached to the rotary shaft 17a were simultaneously rotated by the motor 18a, rice was filled. The hole 8b moves to the position of the weighing chamber, and when the positions of both holes match, the rice in the weighing chamber is released and transferred to the rice washing unit 40 in the same manner as described above.

In this case, as a concrete measuring means, for example, if the capacity of the container is set to 0.5 and the two are required, the measurement is repeated 4 times, and further, the spiral type transfer pipe 15 is used during the measurement. A position sensor (not shown) is provided at an appropriate place such as in the weighing chamber of the weighing unit 17 or in the hood 17b so that the rice transfer can be interrupted, and when the rice is filled to some extent, the spiral drive motor 13 Is turned off, the driving of the motor 13 is stopped and the rice transfer is interrupted, and then the motor 18a and the rotary shaft 17a are rotated to rotate the upper and lower partition plates 7a and 7b or the partition plate 18b. It is also possible to rotate any of the above and transfer the weighed rice to the rice washing section 40 via the shooter 19. In addition, the basic measurement value of the basin was set at 0.5 unit in the above example, but this is naturally dependent on the usage frequency of the customers who are the targets of the fully-automatic rice cooker and the personnel composition. It seems to be different. Needless to say, it is more efficient to increase the unit measurement value for commercial use.

Next, it is transferred from the weighing unit 17 via the shooter 19 to the inner tank 43a provided in the rice washing tank 43 of the rice washing unit 40. This transfer has an entrance (not shown) in the fixed plate 41, and is carried out through the entrance. When the rice has been transferred, water is supplied from the nozzle 47 attached to the fixed plate 41 via the electromagnetic valve 51 and the flow rate sensor 52 to fill the inner tank 43a with water. After that, the rice is agitated by a stirring vane 44 rotated by a rice washing motor 48 attached to the moving plate 42 to be sharpened, and the drainage pump 50 is used to remove the sharpened juice through a drainage pipe provided at the lower part of the outer tank 43b. Discharge. A fine mesh is provided below the inner tank 43a, and the sharpening juice is discharged from the mesh to the outer tank 43b. Further, the shutoff valve 45 attached to the lower end of the rotating shaft of the rice washing motor 48 is closed during the rice washing, and there is no water leakage to the outside of the rice washing tank 43, but in the event of water leakage, the damper 46 is used. Drainage. This grinding process can be repeated multiple times if necessary by changing the water, and you can select carefully, standard, or light according to your preference for washing rice. Finally, as rinsing, water is supplied from the nozzle 47 without rotating the stirring blade 44 to overflow from the net portion provided in the upper portion of the inner tank 43a, and the drainage pump 50 is operated to drain the water.

After the rice washing is completed as described above, the shutoff valve opening / closing device 49 is used to raise the rice washing motor 48, the stirring blade 44, and the shutoff valve 45 attached to the moving plate 42 together in the direction A, and After moving the damper 46 by the damper drive motor 46a, the rice is moved to the lower side of the rice washing section 40 by the rice cooker moving device 63 in advance, and the washed rice is dropped into the rice cooker 61 with the lid 6 opened. Alternatively, the rice remaining in the inner tank 43a is rotated by the blades 44 and dropped by vibration. After that, an appropriate amount of water corresponding to the amount of rice is discharged from the nozzle 47 via the solenoid valve 51 and the flow rate sensor 52, and the remaining rice is washed away and the water content is adjusted. In this case, it is desirable that the amount of water added can be arbitrarily set according to the difference between new and old rice and the preference of each individual. For example, (rice weight x 1.5) x (1 ± 0.15) It is effective to set a range and set up a program that allows you to select the desired conditions. After the water adjustment is set in this way, the rice cooker 61 is moved to the back of the main body of the fully automatic rice cooker 1 by the moving device 63, and the lid 6 is closed by the drive motor 65a. After that, the rice is cooked by energization controlled based on the desired rice cooking program.

Since a large amount of steam is generated during rice cooking, the steam is discharged from the exhaust unit 26 to the outside of the system and is also sucked from the intake port 27 to effectively discharge the steam out of the system. In this case, when the rice is cooked, the lid opening / closing device 64 slightly opens the lid 6, releases excess steam in the rice cooker 61, and then closes the lid 6 again with the lid tightening lever 65 to keep the rice warm. Has the desired effect on the result. When using the rice cooker 61, the carriage 66 is pulled out and the rice cooker moving device 63 is used to take the rice cooker 61 out of the main body of the fully automatic rice cooker 1. In this case, when the pedestal 62 on which the rice cooker 61 is mounted preferably has, for example, a pan tag rough type elevating means, by raising this, the rice cooker 61 is moved to an appropriate height for convenience. Can be located. At the time of use, the rice cooker 61 may be left on the cradle 62, or the rice cooker 61 alone may be transported to another place for use.

In addition, regarding the receiving container 22 for crushed rice, rice bran, etc. provided at the lower end of the rice storage tank 11, foreign matter smaller than the other rice diameter of the crushed rice, rice bran separated from the rice in the rice storage tank 11 The particles containing P are accumulated in the container 22 through a net having a mesh through which only particles having such a diameter can pass, and the contents can be withdrawn and disposed of as necessary. Further, it is desirable that the operation unit 30 can be operated by using a control means such as a CPU having a program for automatically controlling the fully automatic rice cooker 1, and the control item is to turn on the device itself. / OFF, control of washing rice (careful / standard / light), operating process (during rice washing / cooking rice / keeping warm), various measuring means (weighing rice / number of rice washing / water adjustment), changing these conditions By setting up a system so that appropriate settings such as new settings and various timer means can be selected as needed, the operator can touch rice or water simply by pressing the necessary button. It is possible to cook rice close to ideal without having to do anything.

[0022]

[Effect of the device]

 As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, there is provided a fully automatic rice cooker equipped with the elements for storing rice, washing rice, and cooking rice, and means for transferring rice between these elements and means for controlling each process. It is possible to provide a fully-automatic rice cooker having a weighing means that enables accurate and accurate weighing when the raw material rice is supplied to the rice washing section, and its practical value is immeasurable. There is something.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the right side portion of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a weighing unit used in the device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an arrangement of holes of a measuring unit used in the device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the left side portion of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fully Automatic Rice Cooker 6 Lid 7a Upper Partition Plate 7b Lower Partition Plate 8a, 8b Hole 11 Rice Storage Tank 12 Input Port 13 Spiral Drive Motor 14 Spiral 15 Transfer Pipe 17 Measuring Section 17a Rotating Shaft 17b Hood 18a Motor 18b Partition Plate 19 Shooter 16, 20 Notch part 21 Net 22 Receiving container 26 Exhaust part 27 Inlet port 30 Operating part 40 Rice washing part 41 Fixed plate 42 Moving plate 43 Rice washing tank 43a Inner tank 43b Outer tank 44 Stirring blade 45 Shutoff valve 45a Drain port 46 Damper 46a Drive motor 47 Nozzle 48 Rice washing motor 49 Shutoff valve opening / closing device 50 Drainage pump 51 Electromagnetic valve 52 Flow rate sensor 60 Rice cooker 61 Rice cooker 62 Cradle 63 Rice cooker moving device 64 Lid opening / closing device 65 Lid closing lever 65a Lid opening / closing motor 66 Trolley

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A rice storage tank for storing rice as a raw material,
A rice washing section for washing rice and water with stirring blades, a rice cooking section for cooking washed rice with a predetermined amount of water, and a rice transfer means between a rice storage tank / rice washing section / rice cooking section, A fully automatic rice cooker provided with a control means for controlling each process of rice washing / transfer / rice cooking, wherein the inside is divided by a partition plate at an angle of 120 ° between the rice storage tank and the rice washing part. As a base plate, upper and lower partition plates having end points and start points of holes are provided at positions displaced by 120 °, respectively, and further, a partitioning plate or a partition plate is provided with a rotatable measuring chamber. Fully automatic rice cooker. 2. The fully automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the partition plate is rotatable. 3. The fully automatic rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the partition plate is rotatable.