JPH06181839A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a rice cooker easy in handling with an extremely simple constitution and capable of preventing the occurrence of non-rice/water cooking and a misoperation. CONSTITUTION:The rice cooker is constituted by providing a detecting mechanism 40 consisting of a switch for cutting off electric conduction of a heating means in response to a magnet provided at an inner cover 23 side in a closed cover state of a cover body 20 in a shaft 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and more particularly to a rice cooker provided with a detection mechanism capable of preventing empty cooking without an inner pot or forgetting to close the inner lid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows a rice cooker (inner pot) of a conventional rice cooker.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a main part showing a normal wearing state of FIG. In FIG. 4, 61 is a rice cooker, 62 is an inner lid, 63 is a switch, 6
Reference numeral 4 is a lid, and 65 is a bottom plate of the lid 64. Also, 66
Is a lead wire, 67 is a one-touch pin, 68 is a one-touch packing, 69 is a raised portion, 70 is a nut, 71 is a waterproof packing, and 72 is a convex portion of the inner lid 62. The switch 63 is led out to the main body side by a lead wire 66 and connected in series to a rice cooking heater (not shown). Further, the one-touch pin 67 is fixed to the lid body 64 side and protrudes from the lower surface of the lower surface plate 65. The inner lid 62 is removably attached to the protruding one-touch pin 67, and the lid 64 is provided integrally with the lid body 64 on the left side of the drawing and is rotated about a pivot not shown in the drawing as a fulcrum to rotate the upper surface of the rice cooker 61. Open and close.

In the conventional rice cooker having such a structure,
In a normal state where the rice cooker 61 housed in the main body is completely closed, the switch 63 is pushed by the convex portion 72 via the waterproof packing 71, and the rice cooker heater can be energized. Moreover, when the rice cooker 61 and the inner lid 62 are not provided,
When the lock is incomplete, the switch 63 is free and is in an off state, so that the power supply to the rice cooking heater is cut off. In this way, it is possible to prevent empty cooking when the conventional rice cooker does not have the rice cooker 61 and raw cooking of rice due to an erroneous operation such as "forgetting to put on the inner lid".

[0004]

In the conventional rice cooker, the switch 63 for turning on and off the electricity supply to the rice cooking heater is provided on the back side of the lid body 64 at the portion facing the convex portion 72 on the inner lid 62 side. , Empty cooking without rice cooker 61 or "forgetting to put on inner lid"
It is possible to prevent erroneous operations such as.

However, in the conventional rice cooker, the raised plate 69 for mounting the switch 63 is provided on the lower plate 65 as described above.
Is provided. The switch 63 is fixed to the lower surface plate 65 with a nut 70, and the periphery thereof is covered with a waterproof packing 71. On the other hand, a switch 63 is also provided on the opposite side of the inner lid 62
A convex portion 72 for exerting a force on is formed, and the convex portion 72 is brought into contact with the switch 63, which makes the structure extremely complicated. Moreover, since the convex portion 72 of the inner lid 62 made of metal is pressed against the switch 63 across the waterproof packing 71,
There is a high probability that the waterproof packing 71 will be damaged. Should the waterproof packing 71 be damaged, steam generated during rice cooking may enter the waterproof packing 71 and cause a short circuit.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the conventional rice cooker. The rice cooker has an extremely simple structure, is easy to handle, and can prevent the occurrence of empty cooking or erroneous operation. Is realized.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an inner pot, a main body in which the inner pot is removably housed and provided with a heating means, and a latch mechanism provided between the main unit and the main body are disengaged. A lid that rotates around the hinge as a fulcrum to open and close the upper surface of the main body, and an inner lid that is detachably attached via a packing to a shaft that projects and is fixed to the inner surface side of the lid to close the inner pot. In a rice cooker including a rice cooker provided with a detection mechanism including a switch in the shaft, which responds to a magnet provided on the inner lid side in a closed state of the lid and shuts off electricity to the heating means. Is.

[0008]

When the latch mechanism is locked and the main body is completely closed by the lid, the periphery of the inner lid is pressed by the lid onto the flange of the inner pot. Therefore, the relative positions of the inner lid and the shaft change, the magnet of the detection mechanism approaches the reed switch, and the normally open contact of the reed switch is closed by the magnetic action. The contact signal of the reed switch is output to the control unit, the mounting of the inner pot is detected, it is determined that the set operation is normal, and the continuation of the rice cooking operation is permitted.

On the other hand, when the user forgets to set the inner hook in the main body or when the lid is closed, the locking of the latch mechanism becomes insufficient. In such a case, the inner lid attached to the shaft is kept at the lower limit position of the shaft, and the reed switch is not driven by the magnet. Also, if the user forgets to attach the inner lid to the lid, the switch does not respond in the same manner. In these cases, the control unit considers it to be an erroneous operation, and the display unit or buzzer of the operation unit warns the operator. In this way, the detection mechanism detects an erroneous operation such as “no inner pot” or “forgetting to close the inner lid” before the occurrence of fire or the like due to “dry cooking”.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2,
The same members as those of the above-described conventional example are given different names and reference numerals, and some of them have different structures and functions, so that the description will be duplicated but will be described in some detail.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a rice cooker body, and 2 is a case. The case 2 comprises a body case 2a and a bottom case 2b, both of which are molded of synthetic resin. Legs 3 are provided on the bottom surface of the bottom case 2b. Reference numeral 5 is an outer hook, and 5a is a flange portion of the outer hook 5. The outer pot 5 is made of a non-metal such as molding resin, and the tip of the flange portion 5a is connected to the upper end of the case 2a. Reference numeral 7 is a coil base attached to the bottom surface of the outer pot 5 with screws, and 8 is an induction coil.

Reference numeral 10 is an inner pot, and 11 is a cylindrical shield. The inner pot 10 is formed in a two-layer structure in which different kinds of metal are polymerized on the inner and outer surfaces, the outer layer side 10a is made of an iron material having a high magnetic permeability and a large specific resistance, and the inner layer side 10b is made of a heat conductive material. Good quality aluminum is applied. In the inner pot 10, the inner and outer layers 10a and 10b are closely contacted and thermally coupled,
A coating layer of an incompatible substance such as Teflon (trade name) is formed on the inner surface. A standard water level scale indicating an appropriate amount of water for the capacity of rice is engraved in the inner pot 10, and the flange 10c is placed on the flange portion 5a of the outer pot 5 to form the main body 1
It is stored so that you can take it out freely.

Reference numeral 13 is a latch mechanism provided on the side surface of the main body 1, and 14 is a latch receiver of the latch mechanism 13. Reference numeral 15 is a ferrite attached to the coil base 7, 16 is a temperature sensor, and 17 is a coil spring. The ferrite 15 eliminates the leakage magnetic flux of the induction coil 8 and concentrates the magnetic flux on the inner pot 10 side to effectively generate heat. Further, the temperature sensor 16 is given an upward spring pressure by the coil spring 17, and the inner pot 10
It touches the bottom of the rice and detects the heat near the center as the rice cooking temperature. Reference numeral 18 is a control board formed of a printed board provided at the bottom of the main body 1, and 19 is a control section. The control board 18 is partially mounted with electronic components shown in the figure, and the control unit 19 is composed of, for example, a CPU and a microcomputer having a timer and a memory function. Further, a cord reel, a power cord wound around the cord reel and connected to an insertion plug, and the like are provided at the bottom of the main body 1.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a lid provided on the upper portion of the main body 1, and 2
0a is an inner plate. Reference numeral 21 is a hinge for opening and closing the lid 20, and 22 is a hinge shaft. Further, 23 is an inner lid, 24 is a shaft fixed to the inner surface plate 20a, and 25 is the shaft 2.
It is a packing integrated with 4. The inner lid 23 is removably attached to the shaft 24, and the packing 25 seals the inner lid 23 with no gap when the inner lid 23 is mounted. 26 is a push button of the latch mechanism 13, 27 is a lever, and 28 is a pin for supporting the lever 27. The tip of the lever 27 is engaged with the latch receiver 14, and when the push button 26 is pushed, the lever 27 rotates about a pin 28 as a fulcrum, and the engagement between the lever 27 and the latch receiver 14 is released. .

Reference numeral 30 indicated by a chain double-dashed line is an operating portion, which is provided on the front surface of the main body 1 and comprises a plurality of operating keys and a display. In addition to the LED for illuminating selection of a menu and the operating state, a liquid crystal display for displaying the present time and set time is also used for the display. The operation keys are provided on the surface of the operation sheet in combination with the display device, and are composed of a large number of touch keys on which functions and symbols are printed. 31 is water in the inner pot 10 and 32 is rice.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the inner pot 1
A detection mechanism 40 for detecting the presence or absence of 0 and the like is provided.
The detection mechanism 40 is provided in the central portion on the inner surface side of the lid body 20,
The configuration is shown enlarged in FIG. 41 is a reed switch of the detection mechanism 40, 42 is a lead wire for derivation, 4
3 is a magnet. The reed switch 41 is a normally-open type contact which is covered with an insulating material.
It is inserted in a. The reed switch 41 is connected to the control section 19 by a lead wire 42 so that the induction coil 8 is energized intermittently.

The magnet 43 is formed, for example, in an arc shape and is embedded in the thick portion of the mounting hole 25a of the packing 25. When the mounting hole 25a of the packing 25 is fitted into the shaft 24 and the inner lid 23 is attached to the lid body 20, the inner lid 23 is located at the lower limit of the shaft 24, and the reed switch 41 and the magnet 43 are arranged as shown in the figure. Are separated from each other by a distance δ, the reed switch 41 is out of the magnetic field, and the normally open contact is held as it is.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention having the above construction will be described below. While pushing the push button 26 to disengage the latch mechanism 13, the handle 20 is grasped and the lid 20 is hinged.
Is used as a fulcrum to open the upper part of the main body 1. The inner pot 10 is taken out from the inside of the opened main body 1 and subsequently washed together with the inner lid 23 removed from the lid 20. Next, after polishing the rice 32 with a desired amount of cooked rice, it is transferred to the cleaned inner pot 10 and water 31 is added to the indicated scale line. The inner pot 10 containing rice 32 and an appropriate amount of water 31 is housed in the main body 1 and set, and the pulled-out cord is connected to a power source.

On the other hand, the mounting hole 25a of the washed inner lid 23 is fitted to the shaft 24, and the inner lid 23 is attached to the back side of the lid body 20. At the time of this mounting, the inner lid 23 has its own weight and the elastic expansion force of the packing 25, and the inner lid 23
Is held at the lower limit position of the shaft 24 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the reed switch 41 is still in the off state. Then, the lid body 20 with the inner lid 23 mounted inside is rotated counterclockwise around the hinge 21 as a fulcrum to lock the latch mechanism 13 and cover the main body 1.

When the latch mechanism 13 is locked and the main body 1 is completely closed by the lid 20, the periphery of the inner lid 23 is covered with the lid 20 by the lid 20 and the flange 10c of the inner pot 10 is closed.
Pressed up. Therefore, the relative positions of the inner lid 23 and the shaft 24 change, and the state shifts from the right half position to the left half state in FIG. As a result, the magnet 43 approaches the reed switch 41 and moves into the magnetic field, and the normally-open contact of the reed switch 41 is closed by the action of the magnetic attraction force. The contact signal of the reed switch 41 is output to the control unit 19, the mounting of the inner pot 10 is detected, it is determined that the operation is normal, and the continuation of the rice cooking operation is permitted.

Subsequently, the time and the like of meals are reserved and set by the operation unit 30. When the time comes to start the cooking of rice corresponding to the time of the reserved meal after the passage of time, the timer of the microcomputer of the control unit 19 operates and the induction coil 8 is turned on to start cooking rice. When the rice cooks, the water 31 boils, the water content in the inner pot 10 decreases, and the temperature rises sharply,
When the control unit 19 receives the detection signal of the temperature sensor 16, the induction coil 8 is automatically de-energized and the reserved time comes to cook the ready-to-eat rice.

On the other hand, if the inner pot 10 is forgotten to be set in the main body 1 or the lid mechanism 20 is closed, the latch mechanism 13 may be insufficiently locked. In such a case, the inner lid 23 attached to the shaft 24 is kept at the lower limit position in FIG. 2 and the reed switch 41 is not acted upon by the magnet 43, as described above. Also, when the user forgets to attach the inner lid 23 to the lid body 20, the switch 4
1 does not respond. In these cases, the control unit 19 considers it to be an erroneous operation, and the display unit or the buzzer of the operation unit 30 gives a warning. In this way, the detection mechanism 4
By 0, an erroneous operation such as “no inner pot” or “forgetting to close the lid” is detected in advance to prevent the rice from being unable to be cooked due to “empty cooking” or the occurrence of fire.

In the above embodiment, the induction heating type rice cooker in which the induction coil 8 heats the inner pot 10 has been described, but an electric heating type rice cooker in which the inner pot 10 is heated by the rice cooking heater is also used. Good. Further, although the case where the inner lid 23 is attached to one shaft 24 fixed to the lid body 20 has been described, the present invention can be applied to the case where the shaft 24 is plural.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the hinge is fulcrum by engaging and disengaging the inner hook, the main body in which the inner hook is removably housed and the heating means is provided inside, and the latch mechanism provided between the inner hook and the main body. The rice cooker includes a lid body that opens and closes the upper surface of the main body by rotating the lid body, and an inner lid that is detachably mounted via a packing on a shaft that projects and is fixed to the inner surface side of the lid body to close the inner pot. In the cooker, a rice cooker was provided in which a detection mechanism consisting of a switch that cuts off the power supply to the heating means in response to a magnet on the packing side in the shaft with the lid closed.

As a result, the detection mechanism causes "no inner pot".
Erroneous operation such as "Forgetting to close the lid" is detected and "empty cooking"
The accidents such as raw cooking and fire are prevented from occurring. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a rice cooker which has an extremely simple structure and is easy to handle, and which can prevent the occurrence of empty cooking or erroneous operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a main part of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Body 2 Case 5 Outer Cooker 5a Flange Part 8 Induction Coil 10 Inner Cooker 10c Flange 13 Latch Mechanism 19 Control Part 20 Lid 20a Lower Plate 21 Hinge 23 Inner Lid 24 Shaft 24a Insertion Hole 25 Packing 25a Mounting Hole 26 Push Button 30 Operation Part 31 Water 32 US 40 Detection Mechanism 41 Reed Switch 42 Lead Wire 43 Magnet

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tadashi Fukushima 1728 Omaeda, Omaeda, Hanazono-cho, Saitama Prefecture 1 Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Eiji Kogure 1728 Omaeda, Haneda-cho, Osato-gun, Saitama Prefecture Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroo Ishii 1728 Omaeda, Omaeda, Hanazono-cho, Oza-gun, Saitama Prefecture 1 Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An inner pot, a main body in which the inner pot is removably housed and provided with heating means, and a latch mechanism provided between the main body and the main body are engaged and disengaged to rotate about a hinge as a fulcrum. And a lid that opens and closes the upper surface of the main body, and an inner lid that is detachably mounted via a packing to a shaft that projects and is fixed to the inner surface side of the lid to close the inner pot. In the rice cooker, a detection mechanism including a switch is provided in the shaft in response to a magnet provided on the inner lid side in a closed state of the lid body, the detection mechanism including a switch that shuts off energization of the heating means. .