JPH08455A - Pot rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a pot rice cooker which enables the heat retaining to keep the taste of the rice as intact regardless of the quantity of the rice. CONSTITUTION:This rice cooker is provided with an inner pot 1 to house material to be cooked, a heating means 2 to heat the material, a rice cooking quantity detection means 5 to detect the amount of the material in the inner pot 1, a rice cooking control means 6 to control the operation of cooking rice and a heat retaining control means to control the heat retaining operation. The heating means 2 is driven by the heat retaining control means in a heat retaining mode according to a rice cooking quantity detected by the rice cooking quantity detection means 5 during the heat retaining operation after the end of the rice cooking operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a jar rice cooker used in general households.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, most electric rice cookers have become jar rice cookers having a heat retaining function for keeping rice warm. In addition, some models have a reheat function, and there is also a model in which the temperature is kept close to freshly cooked just before eating warm rice so that it can be eaten more deliciously. The conventional jar rice cooker will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional jar rice cooker. Reference numeral 10 denotes an inner pot in which food is to be cooked, which is cooked or kept warm by the heating means 11. Reference numeral 12 is a first input means operated by the user, and this operation signal is the rice cooking control means 1.
5, the rice cooking operation is started. At the initial stage when the rice cooking operation is started, the rice cooking amount detecting means 14 is set to the inner pot 1.
The amount of food in 0 is detected, and this information is transmitted to the rice cooking control means 15.

The cooked rice control means 15 is the cooked rice amount detecting means 1
4 receives the information from 4, and controls the heating means 11 according to the rice cooking program suitable for the amount of rice held, and cooks rice. Further, when the rice cooking operation is completed, the operation is shifted to the heat retention operation to drive the heat retention control means 16. Further, in a model having a reheating function, when the user operates the second input means 13 during the heat retention operation or the standby, the reheat control means 17
Controls the heating means 11 to perform the reheating operation.

[0005]

The structure of the conventional jar rice cooker has a constant heat-retaining operation regardless of the amount of food to be cooked. Similarly, the reheating operation also has certain conditions. Therefore, depending on the amount of food to be cooked, the rice may turn yellow or smell due to heat retention. In addition, the rice may be dried or may not be sufficiently heated due to the reheating operation.

[0006] The present invention solves the problems of the conventional structure as described above, and provides a jar rice cooker capable of storing delicious rice for a long time regardless of the amount of cooked rice. Is the primary purpose.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a jar rice cooker capable of performing an optimum reheating operation regardless of the amount of cooked rice and finishing cooked rice more deliciously.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first means of the present invention for achieving the first object is to provide an inner pot for holding a food product, a heating means for heating the food product, and an instruction for starting a rice cooking operation. A first input means for giving, a rice-cooking amount detecting means for detecting the amount of food to be cooked during the rice-cooking operation, a rice-cooking control means for controlling the rice-cooking operation, and a heat-retention controlling means for controlling a heat-retaining operation. The means is a jar rice cooker configured to perform a heat retaining operation based on the amount of cooked food detected by the rice cooking amount detecting means.

The second means of the present invention for achieving the second object is, in addition to the configuration of the first means of the present invention, the start of a reheating operation for heating the cooked food again during the heat retention. A second input unit for instructing and a reheating control unit for controlling the reheating operation are provided, and the reheating control unit performs the reheating operation based on the amount of cooked food detected by the cooked rice amount detection unit. It is used as a jar rice cooker.

[0010]

According to the first means of the present invention, the heating pattern of the heat retaining operation is determined based on the amount of cooked food detected by the cooked rice amount detecting means, and the heat retaining operation is executed according to this heating pattern. . Therefore, it is possible to realize a jar rice cooker that can keep warm for a long time with little deterioration of rice regardless of the amount of cooked rice.

The second means of the present invention operates so as to determine the heating pattern of the reheating operation based on the amount of cooked food detected by the cooked rice amount detecting means and execute reheating in accordance with this heating pattern. It is a thing. Therefore, it is possible to realize a jar rice cooker that can be reheated with good quality regardless of the amount of cooked rice.

[0012]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes an inner pot in which food is to be cooked, which is heated by the heating means 2 in the rice cooking / heat retaining / reheating mode. Reference numeral 3 denotes a first input means operated by the user to start the rice cooking operation, and this information is transmitted to the rice cooking control means 4. Reference numeral 5 denotes a cooked rice amount detecting means for detecting the cooked rice amount in the initial stage of the cooked rice operation, and information on this cooked rice amount is transmitted to the cooked rice control means 4. When the rice cooking control means 4 detects the end of the rice cooking process, the heat retention control means 6 is operated to enter the heat retention mode.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. The cooked rice amount detecting means 5 detects the cooked rice amount during the cooked rice operation according to an instruction from the cooked rice control means 4. This detection of the amount of cooked rice is
This is carried out by comparing the time required for the temperature of the inner pot 1 to rise by a constant temperature width with the standard while the heating means 2 is controlled at a constant duty ratio. In addition to this method, a method of determining by looking at the length of time that passes a certain temperature range, a method of determining the time until the detected temperature returns to the temperature at the time when power is cut off once at a predetermined temperature Various methods are conceivable. The information on the amount of cooked rice thus obtained is used for the cooked rice control means 4 by the end of the cooked rice process.
Is transmitted to the heat retention control means 6. The heat retention control means 6 receives the information on the cooked rice amount, and determines the heat retention heating mode of the heating means 2 according to the cooked rice amount as shown in FIG.

2 (a) and 2 (b) illustrate the heat retention mode of the conventional jar rice cooker. Where θ _K is the temperature at which rice is kept warm. The conventional heat insulation heating mode is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), when the temperature of the rice is lower than the heat retention temperature θ _K regardless of the amount of the rice, the heating means 2 is heated with the duty ratio of 7/16. Moreover, when the temperature of the rice is higher than the heat retention temperature θ _K , the power is not supplied. However, when the amount of rice is large, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the temperature change is slow even if the same amount of electricity is applied. In other words, when the temperature of the rice falls and falls below the heat retention temperature θ _K , the duty factor 7
/ Even 16 by energizing the heating means 2, the temperature of the rice does not immediately increase the minimum temperature be composed considerably lower than the retained temperature theta _K, eventually the average temperature of the rice than retained temperature theta _K The result will be below. When the amount of rice is small, the temperature changes sharply as shown in FIG. 2 (b). In other words, when the temperature of the rice falls below the heat retention temperature θ _K , when electricity is energized at a duty ratio of 7/16,
Even if the power supply is stopped when the heat retention temperature is reached, the maximum temperature is considerably higher than the heat retention temperature θ _K due to the heat storage effect of the inner pot 1 and the like. In this way, the average temperature of rice eventually exceeds the heat retention temperature θ _K.

In this respect, in the present embodiment, the heat retention control means 6 is adapted to adjust the current-carrying rate itself according to the amount of cooked rice, as shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and 2 (d).
The average temperature of rice comes to coincide with the heat retention temperature θ _K. That is, the energization rate itself is adjusted according to the amount of rice. Figure 2
As shown in (c), when the amount of rice is large,
The duty ratio is set to 12/16, and because the duty ratio is set high in this way, even if the temperature of the rice falls below the heat retention temperature θ _K , it immediately recovers to the heat retention temperature θ _K, and the average temperature of the rice Is close to the heat retention temperature θ _K. Further, as shown in FIG. 2 (d), when the amount of rice is small, the energization rate is set to 3/16. Since the setting of the duty ratio is low in this way, the temperature of the rice is
Even if it is lower than _K , it slowly recovers to the heat retention temperature θ _K. In this case, even if the temperature of the rice exceeds the heat retention temperature θ _K , the maximum temperature does not rise so much because the amount of heat stored in the inner pot 1 or the like is small.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the temperature of the rice at the time of heat retention is kept at the heat retention temperature θ regardless of the amount of the rice cooked by setting the energization rate at the time of heat insulation according to the amount of cooked rice.
It can be close to _K.

The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. In the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration described in FIG. 1, a second input unit 7 and a reheating control unit 8 that receives information from the second input unit 7 and heats the heating unit 2 in the reheating mode are provided. It is what The second input means 7 transmits a reheating instruction to the reheating control means 8 when the user operates the warming operation. The reheating control means 8 receives information on the amount of cooked rice detected by the cooked rice amount detecting means 5 via the cooked rice control means 4, and the heating means 2 according to this cooked rice amount.
Is driven in the reheating mode.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) show the energization rate during the reheating operation of the conventional jar rice cooker. Here, θ _K is the temperature at which rice is kept warm, and θ _E is the temperature at which rice is eaten. This Figure 4
As shown in (a) and (b), regardless of the amount of rice, conventionally, the heat conduction rate was set to 7/16 and the reheat rate was set to 14/16. There is something. Further, as in the above-mentioned embodiment, when the temperature of the rice exceeds the temperature θ _E around the time of eating, the energization is stopped. Further, the reheating operation time is constant and is set to t ₀ . As a result, when the amount of rice is large, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the temperature of the rice does not reach the ready temperature θ _E when it is energized only for the reheating operation time t ₀ . Further, when the amount of rice is small, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), if electricity is supplied at a duty ratio of 14/16 for t ₀ hours, the temperature at the time of eating will be maintained until the reheating operation is completed. May dry out.

In this respect, in this embodiment, the reheating control means 8 sets the energization rate and the reheating operation time of the heating means 2 at the time of reheating in accordance with the rice cooking amount detected by the rice cooking amount detecting means 5. There is something. In other words, when the amount of rice is large,
As shown in (c), the reheating rate is 16/16.
In addition, the reheating time is set to t _1, which is longer than t ₀ . Therefore, the temperature of the rice reaches the temperature θ _{E around the} time of eating just before the end of the reheating time t ₁ , and the heat retention is started from this temperature. When the amount of rice is small, as shown in FIG. 4 (d), the duty ratio is set to 8/16 and the reheating time is set to t ₂ which is shorter than t ₀ . For this reason, the temperature of the rice is shorter while the temperature θ _E is maintained around the time of eating. Therefore, even if the amount of rice is small, the reheating operation that makes it difficult for the rice to dry can be performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the reheating control means 8 drives the heating means 2 in the reheating mode according to the amount of cooked rice. It realizes a jar rice cooker that can be reheated well.

In the first embodiment, the heat retention control means 6 determines the heating rate of the heating means 2 in accordance with the amount of cooked rice, but determines the heating temperature θ _K instead of the heating rate. Of course, both the duty ratio and the heat retention temperature may be determined. In the second embodiment, the reheating control means 8 determines both the reheating rate and the reheating operation time of the heating means 2 according to the amount of cooked rice, but either one of them is determined. May be determined, or the temperature at the time of eating θ _E may be determined. It goes without saying that it is also possible to determine all of the duty ratio, the operating time, and the temperature at the time of eating, or to determine only two of them.

[0022]

The first means of the present invention is an inner pot for containing a food product, a heating means for heating the food product, a first input means for giving an instruction to start a rice cooking operation, and cooking during the rice cooking operation. The rice cooking amount detection means for detecting the amount of food, the rice cooking control means for controlling the rice cooking operation, and the heat retention control means for controlling the heat retention operation are provided, and the cooked food detected by the heat retention control means by the rice cooking amount detection means As a structure that performs heat retention operation based on the amount, it realizes a jar rice cooker that can store delicious rice for a long time regardless of the amount of rice.

The second means of the present invention further comprises a second input means for instructing the start of a reheating operation for reheating the cooked food while the temperature is kept warm, and a reheating control means for controlling the reheating operation. Then, the reheating control means performs the reheating operation based on the amount of the cooked food detected by the rice cooking amount detection means, so that the optimum reheating operation can be performed regardless of the amount of rice and the temperature is kept warm. It realizes a jar rice cooker that can make rice more delicious.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

[FIG. 2] (a) Time chart of heat retention operation when the amount of rice is large in the conventional example (b) Time chart of heat retention operation when the amount of rice is small (c) First embodiment of the present invention Time chart of heat retention operation when the amount of rice is large in (d) Time chart of heat retention operation when the amount of rice is small

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a jar rice cooker according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a time chart of the reheating operation when the amount of rice is large in the conventional example. FIG. 4B is a time chart of the reheating operation when the amount of rice is small. Time chart of reheating operation when the amount of rice is large in the example (d) Time chart of reheating operation when the amount of rice is small

FIG. 5: Block diagram of a conventional jar rice cooker

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner Pan 2 Heating Means 3 First Input Means 4 Rice Cooking Amount Control Means 5 Rice Cooking Amount Detecting Means 6 Insulation Control Means 7 Second Input Means 8 Reheating Control Means

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Makoto Katagasu 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Seiichi Takagura, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inner pot for holding a cooked food, a heating means for heating the cooked food, a first input means for giving an instruction to start a rice cooking operation, and a rice cooking amount detection for detecting the amount of the cooked food during the rice cooking operation. Means, rice cooking control means for controlling the rice cooking operation, and heat retention control means for controlling the heat retention operation, and the heat retention control means performs the heat retention operation based on the amount of the cooked food detected by the rice volume detection means. Jar rice cooker 2. A second input means for instructing the start of a reheating operation for reheating the cooked food while keeping the heat and a reheating control means for controlling the reheating operation are added. The jar rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the reheating operation is performed based on the amount of cooked food detected by the amount of cooked rice detecting means.