JPH08308724A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable optimum water absorption even when prescribed time to the start of rice cooking is changed by varying the time for a precooking process correspondingly to the prescribed time to the start of rice cooking in a reserved rice cooking course while using a heating control means, and performing control so as not to perform the precooking process when the prescribed time is longer than a fixed time. CONSTITUTION: An inner pot 1 for putting in rice and water is housed in a protecting frame 2, and a lid body 3 is provided above it. The inner pot 1 is inductively heated by an induction coil 4 while controlling heating with a heating control means 5. A temperature sensor 6 is provided on the bottom of the protecting frame 2, detects the temperature of the inner pot 1 while being abutted to the bottom surface of the inner pot 1 and outputs a signal to the heating control means 5. When the prescribed time from the setting of the reserved rice cooking course to the start of rice cooking is shorter than the fixed time, the time of the precooking process is changed correspondingly to the prescribed time but when the prescribed time is longer, the time of the precooking process is changed so as to be short so that optimum water absorption can be provided even when the prescribed time is changed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, rice cookers having a reserved rice cooking course for starting rice cooking after a predetermined time have come into wide use. In such a rice cooker, a pre-cooking process is generally performed if a predetermined time until the start of rice cooking is shorter than a certain fixed time, and if the predetermined time is longer than a certain fixed time, the rice is cooked without the pre-cooking process.

[0003]

In such a conventional rice cooker, there is a predetermined time from the rice cooking setting in the reserved rice cooking course because there is a pre-cooking process with or without a pre-cooking process at a certain fixed time. When the time is a little shorter than a certain time, the water absorption process is performed more than necessary, and when the time is a little longer than a certain time, the water absorption becomes insufficient.

The present invention solves the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker capable of optimal water absorption even if a predetermined time before starting to cook rice changes in a reserved rice cooking course.

A second object is to provide a rice cooker capable of optimal water absorption even if the temperatures of rice and water change in a reserved course.

[0006] The third purpose is to make a reservation cooking rice course.
It is to obtain a rice cooker that can always provide a constant rice cooking performance regardless of the temperature of rice and water.

[0007]

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention is to detect an inner pot for containing rice and water, a heating means for heating the inner pot, and a temperature of the inner pot. And a heating control means for controlling the heating means by using the output of the temperature detection means as an input, and the heating control means supplies water of rice according to a predetermined time until the start of rice cooking in a reserved rice cooking course. The time of the pre-cooking step for promoting the above is variable, and the pre-cooking step is controlled so as not to be performed if the predetermined time becomes longer than a certain time.

In order to achieve the second object, the present invention variably controls the time of the precooking step in accordance with the temperature of the inner pot detected by the temperature detecting means in the reserved rice cooking course. This is a heating control means.

Further, the third object is achieved by controlling so as to start the rice cooking after heating and maintaining the temperature of the inner pot detected by the temperature detecting means in the reserved rice cooking course to a predetermined temperature.

[0010]

With the above structure, the present invention enables optimum water absorption by changing the time of the pre-cooking process even if the predetermined time from setting the reserved rice cooking course to starting rice cooking varies. To do.

Further, the higher the temperature of the inner pot, the shorter the time of the pre-cooking process, so that optimum water absorption is possible even if the temperatures of rice and water are various.

Further, when the temperature of the inner pot is low, by heating and maintaining the temperature up to a predetermined temperature and then starting rice cooking, it is possible to obtain a constant rice cooking performance regardless of the temperatures of rice and water.

[0013]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 1, the inner pot 1 containing rice and water is
A lid 3 that is housed in the protective frame 2 and that can be opened and closed is provided above. Reference numeral 4 denotes an induction coil which is a heating means, and heating control is performed by the heating control means 5 to induction-heat the inner pot 1. A temperature sensor 6, which is a temperature detecting means, is provided at the bottom of the protective frame 2, contacts the bottom surface of the inner pot 1 to detect the temperature of the inner pot 1 and outputs a signal to the heating control means 5.

The operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step 7, it is judged whether it is a reserved rice cooking course. If it is not a reserved rice course, step 8
The pre-cooking process is performed at and the time T of the pre-cooking process is performed at step 9.
After performing the precooking process until 1 has passed, step 1
After the rice cooking process of 0 and the additional cooking process of step 11, the rice cooking is completed. If it is determined in step 7 that the rice is a reserved rice cooking course, in step 12, if the time tx until the rice starts to be cooked is longer than a certain time t1, it is determined in step 13 that the time tx has elapsed, and if the time tx has elapsed, the rice cooking process in step 10 Then, the cooked rice is finished through the additional cooking process of step 11. When the time tx is shorter than the predetermined time t1 in step 12, the precooking process starts in step 14 and the precooking process is performed in step 15 until the time Tx elapses. The time Tx is set shorter if the predetermined time tx before starting to cook rice is longer. In step 15, the precooking process is performed until the time Tx elapses, and then the rice cooking process of step 10 and the additional cooking process of step 11 are performed to complete the rice cooking.

As described above, according to the rice cooker of the embodiment of the present invention, when the predetermined time tx from the setting of the reserved rice cooking course to the start of rice cooking is shorter than the predetermined time t1, tx is changed in accordance with the predetermined time tx. Since the time Tx of the pre-cooking process is shortened as the time becomes longer, the optimum water absorption can be obtained even if the predetermined time tx changes.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described.

Step 1 in the flowchart of FIG.
The operations from 6 to 20 are the same as the operations from step 7 to step 11 in the first embodiment. If the time tx is shorter than the constant time t1 in step 21, step 2
Measure the temperature θy of the inner pot 1 with the temperature sensor 6 at 3,
In step 24, the precooking process is started, and in step 25, the elapse of time Ty is determined. Here, the time Ty is short if the predetermined time tx before starting the rice cooking is long, and the temperature θy of the inner pot 1 is
The higher is, the shorter is set. Step 2
In step 5, the pre-cooking process is performed until the time Ty elapses, and then the rice cooking process of step 19 and the additional cooking process of step 20 are performed to complete the rice cooking.

As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the time of the pre-cooking process at the reserved rice cooking course is the predetermined time tx from the setting of the reserved rice cooking course to the start of rice cooking and the temperature of the inner pot 1. Since it is changed according to θy, even if the temperature of rice and water changes, optimum water absorption suitable for that temperature can be achieved.

(Embodiment 3) Next, a third embodiment will be described.

Step 2 in the flow chart of FIG.
The operation from 6 to step 30 is the same as the operation from step 7 to step 15 in the first embodiment. When the time tx is longer than the constant time t1 in step 31, the temperature θx of the inner pot 1 is measured by the temperature sensor 6 in step 32, and the elapse of time tx-tθ is determined in step 33, and then the temperature θ1 is determined in step 34. Heating control,
In step 35, it is continued until the time tθ elapses.
After the time tθ has elapsed, the rice cooking process of step 29, step 3
The rice is finished after the additional cooking process of 0. If the time tx is shorter than the constant time t1 in step 31, the rice cooking process of step 29 is performed through steps 36 to 38,
The additional cooking step of step 30 is performed to complete the rice cooking, which is the rice cooking step of step 19, step 20 after step 23 to step 25 in the second embodiment.
This is the same operation as the step of performing the additional cooking step and ending the rice cooking.

As described above, in the third embodiment of the present invention,
Even if the pre-cooking process is not entered in the reserved rice cooking course, the rice cooking process is started while maintaining the constant temperature θ1 at the beginning of rice cooking, so that a constant rice cooking performance can be obtained even if the temperature of rice and water changes. .

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, an inner pot for containing rice and water, heating means for heating the inner pot, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the inner pot, and the temperature detecting means. And a heating control means for controlling the heating means as an input, and has a reserved rice cooking course for starting rice cooking after a predetermined time, and a precooking step for promoting water supply of rice if the predetermined time until the rice starts to be cooked is long. The time of the pre-cooking process can be set even if the predetermined time from setting the reserved rice cooking course to starting the rice cooking varies by shortening the time of Optimal water absorption can be achieved by changing the.

Further, according to the present invention, when the reserved rice cooking course is set, the temperature of the inner pot is detected by the temperature detecting means, and the higher the detected inner pot temperature is, the shorter the time of the precooking process is. Optimal water absorption can be performed even if the temperature of water changes.

Further, according to the present invention, the temperature of the inner pot is detected by the temperature detecting means while waiting in the reserved rice cooking course, and if the detected inner pot temperature is low, the rice is heated to a predetermined temperature and then the rice is started. , Even if the temperature of rice and water changes, a constant rice cooking performance can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway sectional view of a rice cooker according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of heating control in the rice cooker.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of heating control in the rice cooker according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of heating control in the rice cooker of the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner pan 4 Induction coil 5 Heating control means 6 Temperature sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An inner pot for containing rice and water, a heating means for heating the inner pot, a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the inner pot, and the heating means using the output of the temperature detecting means as an input. And a heating control means for controlling the heating control means, wherein the heating control means varies the time of the pre-cooking process for promoting the water supply of rice in accordance with a predetermined time until the start of rice cooking in the reserved rice cooking course, and the predetermined time is a fixed time. A rice cooker that controls so that the pre-cooking process is not performed if it becomes longer. 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the heating control means variably controls the time of the precooking process according to the temperature of the inner pot detected by the temperature detection means in the reserved rice cooking course. 3. The cooked rice according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heating control means controls to start cooking after heating and maintaining the temperature of the inner pot detected by the temperature detecting means in the reserved rice cooking course to a predetermined temperature. vessel.