JPH0928564A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a rice cooking with an optimum electric energy according to rice cooking quantity by calculating the ratio of the outputted time to the resting time to the next output every output from a pan heating means, and judging the rice cooking quantity from the result. SOLUTION: When rice boiling is stated in the state where rice and water is put in a pan 1, control means 4 first performs a preboiling stroke for dipping rice in water for a fixed time while keeping a constant temperature θ1 to make rice absorb water. In this preboiling stroke, time measuring means 5 starts to measure the time simultaneously with the start of heating, and counts the time until temperature detecting means 3 detects that the temperature of the pan 1 rises to θ1. When the temperature reaches θ1, the heating from the heating means 2 is stopped, and the time until the temperature of the pan 1 lowers to θ1 after the stop of the heating is counted. The average value of the value obtained by dividing ON time by OFF time is determined by arithmetic means 6, and the rice cooking quantity is judged from the average value by rice cooing quantity judging means 7.

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, consumers' needs for diversification and sophistication have become strong, and rice cookers equipped with a microcomputer have become popular in order to cook delicious rice.

Conventionally, the rice cooking process of this type of rice cooker has generally been as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, as a preparation for cooking rice, the rice is kept at a constant temperature θ ₁ for a certain period of time (T1) and immersed in water to absorb water. The raising process is performed, and the time (T2) from the start point of the cooking process until the temperature reaches the predetermined temperature θ ₂ in the cooking process is counted, and the electric energy of the boiling maintaining process is controlled by this temperature rising gradient. ing.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional rice cooker, the temperature rising gradient until reaching the predetermined temperature θ ₂ becomes very steep depending on the kind of heating means, and the value of T2 also varies. Can grow,
It has been difficult in some cases to accurately determine the amount of electric power in the boiling maintaining process. Therefore, there is a problem that the rice cannot always be stably cooked with the optimum heating power according to the amount of cooked rice, and the quality of the rice is not uniform.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to cook a delicious rice by determining the amount of cooked rice during the pre-cooking process in which rice absorbs water and performing the boiling maintaining process with the optimum heating power. The purpose is to provide a rice cooker.

[0006]

In order to solve this problem, the rice cooker of the present invention comprises a pan for putting cooked rice, a heating means for heating the pan, and a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the pan. Controlling the electric power of the heating means to execute a preset rice cooking program in the order of the pre-cooking step, the cooking step, and the steaming step; and controlling the rice to maintain a constant temperature by the control means. When the output from the heating means is output every time and the time measuring means for measuring the pause time until the next output, and the ratio of the output time to the pause time using the measurement value of the time measuring means It is composed of a calculating means for calculating and a rice cooking quantity judging means for inputting information of the value calculated by the calculating means to judge the rice cooking quantity and output it to the control means.

[0007]

According to the present invention, since the amount of cooked rice is determined during the pre-cooking process and the boiling maintaining process is performed with the optimum heating power according to the above configuration, the boiling maintaining process is performed by using the temperature rising gradient of the cooking process. Even if it is a rice cooker where it is difficult to control the amount of electricity in the process, delicious rice can always be cooked stably.

[0008]

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 of the present invention, in which a heating means 2 for heating a pan 1, a temperature detecting means 3 for detecting the temperature of the pan 1 and a temperature detecting means. Three
When the control means 4 controls the heating means 2 by inputting the above signal and the rice is kept at a constant temperature by the control means 4, the time when the output from the heating means 2 is output and the next time Time measuring means 5 for measuring the pause time until output
And the calculation means 6 for calculating the ratio of the output time to the rest time by using the measurement value of the time measurement means 5, and the information of the value calculated by the calculation means 6 is inputted to judge the amount of cooked rice and the control means 4 is controlled. It is constituted by the cooked rice amount judging means 7 for outputting. Then, the control means 4 controls the amount of electric power of the heating means 2 based on the information of the cooked rice amount determination means 7, and executes a preset cooked rice program. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the rice cooker, in which the temperature detecting means 3 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 and is configured to move up and down. Done, pot 1
Is arranged so as to abut the bottom surface of the. A microcomputer (not shown) including the control means 4 has a time measuring means 5, a computing means 6 and a cooked rice amount judging means 7, is incorporated in a circuit board 8 and is attached to the bottom of a main body 9.

In the rice cooker configured as described above,
The operation when cooking rice will be described. First, when rice cooking is started with rice and water in the pan 1, as shown in FIG. 3, the rice is kept at a constant temperature θ ₁ for a certain time (T1).
Perform the cooking process before soaking in water and absorbing water. At this time, at the same time when heating is started, the time measuring means 5 starts measuring time, and the time (t ₁ ) is counted until the temperature detecting means 3 detects that the temperature of the pot 1 has risen and reached θ ₁ .
When the temperature of the pan 1 rises and reaches θ ₁ , the heating from the heating means 2 is stopped by the control means 4, and the time (t ′) after the temperature of the pan 1 drops again to reach θ ₁ after the heating is stopped. ₁
) Is counted by the time measuring means 5. After that, the heating is started again, and the energization of the heating means 2 is turned on and off for a certain time until the time is up, and each time the energization is turned on (t ₂ , t ₃ ...) And the energization off time (t ′ ₂ , t
' ₃ …) while counting the temperature of pot 1 water absorption temperature θ ₁
And a value obtained by dividing the energization ON time by the energization OFF time up to an arbitrary predetermined number of times (for example, 3 times counting from the fourth energization) at any part of the pre-cooking process by the calculation means 6, that is, t _n / t ' _n is calculated, the average value thereof is calculated and stored in the microcomputer. Utilizing the fact that this average value increases correspondingly when the amount of cooked rice is large, the amount of cooked rice is judged by the cooked rice amount judging means 7 after the time is up, and then the cooking process is started, and the pot is cooked. When the cooked rice inside is boiled, the boiling maintenance process is performed with the optimum power amount according to the cooked rice amount, and if the temperature of the pot 1 reaches the predetermined cooking end temperature θ ₃ as the water absorption gelatinization progresses, the boiling maintenance process is performed. The rice cooking operation is completed through the steaming process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the amount of cooked rice is large (small) in order to maintain the water absorption temperature θ ₁ by turning the heating means 2 on and off during the pre-cooking process in which the rice absorbs water. ) At this time, the ratio of the energization ON time to the energization OFF time becomes large (small), so that the amount of cooked rice can be determined using this, and the electric power amount in the boiling maintaining process can be determined to the optimum value.

[0012]

As described above, the present invention calculates the ratio of the output time and the rest time until the next output each time there is an output from the heating means for heating the pan, and the rice cooking amount is calculated from the result. Even if it is difficult to determine the amount of cooked rice by using the temperature rise gradient of the cooking process, it is possible to always stably cook delicious rice with the optimum amount according to the amount of cooked rice. An excellent rice cooker can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between rice cooking temperature and time by the rice cooker according to one embodiment of the present invention.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pan 2 Heating Means 3 Temperature Detecting Means 4 Control Means 5 Hours Measuring Means 6 Computing Means 7 Rice Cooking Amount Judging Means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Emi Miyago 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Miwa Horiuchi 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 72) Inventor Koji Niiyama 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pot for putting cooked rice, heating means for heating the pot, and temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the pot.
Control means for controlling a heating state by the heating means to perform a precooking process, a cooking process, and a steaming process, a time measuring device for measuring a heating time and a dwell time by the heating device, and the heating time with respect to the dwell time. A rice cooker comprising: a calculating unit that calculates the ratio of the rice cooker, and the control unit determines the amount of the cooked rice based on the output of the calculating unit when controlling the rice so as to keep the rice at a constant temperature.