JPH1014753A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the height of a rice cooker, to reduce the number of parts and to simplify a structure by arranging a circuit board and a cooling fan for cooling the circuit board in a space between a peripheral wall part and an inner pot on the front side of an exterior body. SOLUTION: In this rice cooker provided with the exterior body 18 composed of a main body 15, a bottom body 16 and a lid body 17 and the inner pot 19, a substrate attaching member 30 is arranged in the space between the inner pot housing part 21 of the main body 15 and the peripheral wall part on the front side of the main body 15, and the circuit board 31 and the cooling fan 32 are attached to the substrate attaching member 30. The substrate attaching member 30 is provided with a base part 34 almost vertical to the bottom surface of the bottom body 16, the periphery of the supporting parts 35 and 36 of the base part 34 is turned to a mounting part 38 by being surrounded by a peripheral wall 37 and a display operation substrate composed of a liquid crystal display device or the like is attached to the mounting part 38 so as to face a display operation panel part 39. By shifting the inner pot 19 and the cooling tan 32 to the front and back and arranging them in such a manner, the height of the rice cooker is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker such as a rice cooker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since rice cookers are often used for home use, miniaturization is required, and in particular, height is required to be reduced as much as possible. For example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, this type of rice cooker 1 may be used in a state where it is arranged in a rack 2 having a canopy 2a. In this case, if the height H1 of the rice cooker 1 is large, the lid Body 1
a can be placed in the rack 2 in a closed state, but as shown by a dashed line in FIG.
In some cases, the cover 1a may not be completely opened due to the contact of the cover 1a, which is inconvenient in use.

On the other hand, various attempts have been made to reduce the height of rice cookers. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-10149, a circuit board 7 on which electric components for controlling the induction coil 6 are mounted in a front side inside a main body 5 is disposed vertically. There is disclosed a rice cooker in which a cooling fan 10 for cooling the circuit board 7 is arranged on a side of the heat sink 8 attached to a lower end of the circuit board 7 and below the inner pan 9. I have. With such a structure, the height H2 of the rice cooker is reduced as compared with a structure in which the heat sink 8 and the cooling fan 10 are stacked vertically.

[0004]

However, since the rice cooker shown in FIG. 6 has a structure in which the inner pot 9 and the cooling fan 10 are vertically stacked, the height H2 is sufficiently reduced. Absent.

A guide member 11 is provided in the main body 5, and as shown by a two-dot chain line A1 in FIG.
When the cooling fan 10 is operated, the outside air sucked from the air inlet 12 provided at the bottom of the main body 5 is discharged from the cooling fan 10 and then guided by the guide member 11 to the circuit board 7.
After being guided to the heat sink 8 attached to the inner pan 9
Is discharged to the outside through an exhaust hole (not shown) provided behind the main body 5 through the outer periphery of the main body 5. As described above, in the rice cooker of FIG. 6, it is necessary to provide a special guide member 11 in order to guide the outside air to the circuit board 7, and the number of parts increases and the structure becomes complicated. Is not good, and the cost is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems in the conventional rice cooker, and aims to reduce the height of the rice cooker, reduce the number of parts, and simplify the structure. It is an issue.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an exterior body, an inner pan accommodated in the exterior body, a heating means for heating the inner pan, In a rice cooker including a circuit board provided with a circuit for controlling the amount of electricity, in the space between the peripheral wall on the front side of the exterior body and the inner pot, the circuit board, and for cooling the circuit board And a cooling fan.

With such a configuration, the height of the rice cooker is reduced because the inner pan and the cooling fan are not arranged one above the other.

Further, it is preferable that the temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the inner pot is disposed so as to contact the peripheral wall of the inner pot.

[0010] With this configuration, the height of the rice cooker is further reduced because no temperature sensor is disposed below the inner pot.

It is preferable that a board holding member for holding a circuit board is attached to the outer package, and a cooling fan is attached to the board holding member.

In this configuration, the circuit board and the cooling fan are attached to the board holding member in advance, and then the circuit board and the cooling fan can be attached at once by attaching the board holding member to the exterior body.

It is preferable that the exterior body is provided with an intake hole, and the substrate holding member and the exterior body constitute an outside air introduction path for guiding outside air sucked from the intake hole to the cooling fan.

Specifically, the exterior body includes a main body having an upper and lower opening in which the inner pan is housed, a lid closing an upper opening of the main body, and a bottom fixed to the bottom opening of the main body. The suction hole is formed in the suction recess provided on the bottom body so as to swell toward the inside of the main body, while the substrate holding member is provided on the substrate holding member from the front peripheral wall side of the main body toward the inner pot side. The cooling fan and the circuit board are sequentially mounted at a required interval, and a pair of guide side walls protruding toward the front side of the peripheral wall of the main body are provided on both left and right sides of the cooling fan mounting portion of the board holding member. The outside air introduction path is preferably configured by a space surrounded by the guide side plate portion, the bottom body, and the inner surface of the main body.

When the outside air introduction path is constituted by the substrate holding member, the bottom body and the main body of the exterior body, it is not necessary to separately provide a member for guiding outside air to the circuit board, so that the number of components is reduced.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The rice cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 includes a main body 15, a bottom body 16 and a lid 1.
7 and an inner pan 19.

The main body 15 is a substantially rectangular box with upper and lower openings, and a bottom 16 is fixed to the lower opening.
An inner pot housing 21 for housing the inner pot 19 is attached to the upper opening. The inner pot storage portion 21 includes a shoulder member 22,
It is composed of a body member 23 and a protection member 24. The shoulder member 22 is attached to an upper opening of the main body 15, and an upper end of a body member 23 having a substantially thin metal plate is fixed to an inner peripheral edge thereof. The protection member 24 has a bottomed cylindrical shape, and its upper end is fixed to the lower end of the body member 23. Further, two induction heating coils 26A and 26B and a ferrite 28 are mounted on the bottom surface of the protection member 24. Further, the inner pot 1 is provided on the protection member 24.
The temperature sensor 29 is mounted so as to be positioned on the side of the inner pan 9, and the tip of the temperature sensor 29 is in contact with the peripheral wall of the inner pan 19.

The lid 17 is rotatably provided at the upper edge of the main body 15, and includes the main body 15 and the inner pan housing 2.
The upper opening of the inner pan 19 accommodated in the first pan 1 is openably and closably closed.

A board mounting member 30 is disposed in a space between the inner pot housing 21 and the peripheral wall on the front side (left side in FIG. 1) of the main body 15.
, A circuit board 31 and a cooling fan 32 for cooling the circuit board are attached.

The board mounting member 30 has a rectangular plate-shaped base 34 substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface of the bottom body 16.

The base portion 34 has a first support portion 35 whose upper end portion is inclined rearward (to the right in FIG. 1), and a second support portion 35 which projects substantially horizontally forward from the vicinity of the upper end portion. And a mounting portion 38 is formed by surrounding the periphery of the first and second support portions 35 and 36 with a peripheral wall 37. The mounting section 38 has a display operation panel section 39 provided above the front side of the main body 15.
, A display operation board (not shown) including a liquid crystal display device, various switches, and the like is mounted.

A pair of locking projections 40, 40 projecting downward in the figure are provided at the tip of the second support portion 36. On the other hand, a pair of locking arms 41, 41 are provided at the lower end of the base 34 so as to face the locking projections 40, 40 provided on the support portion 36, respectively. The locking arm 41 projects substantially horizontally forward from the base 34, and has a locking projection 41a formed at the tip thereof.

The locking projection 40 and the locking arm 4 of the base 34
As shown in FIG. 2, four vent holes 43a, 43 each having a fan shape
b, 43c and 43d are provided.

The base 34 has the above-mentioned ventilation holes 43a to 43a.
A pair of guide side plates 45A and 45B protruding forward are provided on both left and right sides of 43d so as to face each other. Each of the guide side plates 45A and 45B has a lower end protruding below the lower end edge of the base 34, and an upper end extending to the vicinity of the second support portion 36 of the mounting portion 38 described above. At the lower end of each guide side plate 45A, 45B,
Nipping rib portions 46, 46 protruding inward are provided. The substrate mounting member 30 is mounted on the bottom body 16 by sandwiching, from the outside, an intake recess 65 provided in the bottom body 16 between the holding ribs 46, 46, which will be described later. In addition,
A support rib portion 48 is provided outside each of the guide side plate portions 45A and 45B.

Further, on the guide side plate portion 45B located on the right side in FIG. 2, there are provided positioning ribs 50, 50 protruding inward near the upper end and a little lower end position near the center. The base 3 is also located at a position facing the positioning ribs 50, 50 with the ventilation holes 43a to 43d interposed therebetween.
Positioning ribs 51, 51 are provided on the projection 4.

On the front side of the base 34, the above-described ventilation holes 43a to 43a are provided.
As shown in FIG. 1, a cooling fan 32 for cooling the circuit board 31 is attached to a location where 43d is provided. The cooling fan 32 has a well-known structure, and includes a motor 54 in a rectangular parallelepiped frame 53, and blades 55 that are rotationally driven by the motor 54. The cooling fan 32 is fitted into the front and rear sides of the frame 53 between the front side of the base 43 and the locking projections 40 and 41a.
3 are the positioning ribs 50 and the positioning ribs 5
1 and positioned and fixed.

On the other hand, a pair of side plate portions 56A, 56B protruding rearward are provided at both left and right end portions on the rear surface side of the base portion 34 so as to face each other.
56B is provided with locking portions 57, 57 protruding inward. The circuit board 31 is fixed to the rear end portions of the side plate portions 56A, 56B in parallel with the base 34 erected substantially perpendicular to the bottom body 16 and at a distance from the base 34. ing. The rear surfaces of the left and right ends of the circuit board 31 are locked by the locking portions 57, 57.
It is fixed to the base 34 by a screwing structure (not shown).

The base 34 side (front side) of the circuit board 31
Various electrical components 59 (only shown in FIG. 2)
Are mounted, and these electric components 59 form a circuit for controlling the amount of electricity supplied to the induction heating coils 26A and 26B. A metal heat sink 63 is attached near the upper end of the surface of the circuit board 31 on the base 34 side so as to be located slightly above the cooling fan 32. The heat sink 63 has a well-known structure, and includes cooling fins 63a, 63a,... Made of a plurality of rectangular thin plates arranged at required intervals as shown in FIG. The distal ends of the cooling fins 63a are located near the rear surface of the base 34 of the substrate mounting member 30.

The bottom body 16 has a bottomed cylindrical shape, and an intake recess 65 bulging toward the inside of the main body 15 is provided at the front side of the bottom wall 16a of the bottom body 16. . As shown in FIG. 2, the intake recess 65 has a rectangular cross section.

Further, as shown in FIG.
5 is set to be larger than the recess on the front side, and a step 66 is formed at the bottom of the intake recess 65. In the vicinity of the rear side of the step 66, the lower end 24a of the protection member 24 of the inner pot housing 21 extends to the vicinity of the bottom of the bottom body 16, and a crank-shaped gap 68 having a downward convex shape is formed. Is formed.

Further, a plurality of suction holes 69, 69,... Formed of narrow rectangular slits extending from the front end wall portion of the intake recess 65 to the bottom wall portion 16a of the bottom body 16 are provided.
Are arranged side by side in the width direction.

The rear end side of the intake recess 65 is located at the bottom wall 1.
The portion of 6a facing the inner pot accommodating portion 21 is continuous with the central concave portion 70 bulging into the inside of the main body 15. Further, at the rear end of the peripheral wall portion 16b of the bottom body 16, a plurality of exhaust holes 72, 72,... Formed of narrow rectangular slits are arranged in the width direction of the bottom body 16. The bottom wall 16a of the bottom body 16 is provided with legs 73a to 73d.

In the rice cooker according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the circuit board 31 having the heat sink 63 attached thereto is provided in the space between the inner pot 19 and the front of the peripheral wall of the main body 15 as described above. Since cooling fan 32 for cooling 31 is arranged, height H3 of the rice cooker can be reduced. That is, the cooling fan 32 is
1 and the inner pan 19 are not vertically stacked, so that compared to the case where the inner pan and the cooling fan are vertically stacked and arranged as in the conventional rice cooker shown in FIG. The height H3 of the rice cooker is reduced by the thickness of the cooling fan.

Further, in this embodiment, since the temperature sensor 29 is provided on the side of the inner pot 19 as described above, compared with the case where the temperature sensor 29 is disposed below the inner pot 19, The height H3 of the rice cooker can be reduced.

For example, in a rice cooker in which the capacity (cooker capacity) of the inner pan 19 is 1.8 liters, a cooling fan 32 is disposed in a space between the inner pan 19 and the main body 15 in the present embodiment, and a temperature sensor is provided. When the configuration in which 29 is disposed on the side of the inner pot 19 is adopted, the height H3 can be reduced by about 15 mm to 20 mm as compared with the conventional rice cooker having the conventional structure shown in FIG.

Since the display operation section 39 is generally provided at the upper front side of the main body 15, the inner pan 19 below the display operation section 39 and the peripheral wall of the front side of the main body 15 are formed. There is necessarily a certain amount of space between them. In the present embodiment, since the cooling fan 32 is arranged in this space, the size of the rice cooker in the front-back direction hardly increases as compared with the case where the cooling fan is arranged below the inner pot.

As described above, the board mounting member 30 is provided with the holding ribs 4 provided at the lower ends of the guide side plates 45A and 45B.
6 and 46 are attached by sandwiching both sides of the intake recess 65, and the intake hole 6 is provided inside the main body 15.
Guide side plates 45A, 45B are arranged on both sides of 9, 69. The front end portions of the guide side plates 45A and 45B are in contact with the bottom body 16 and the inner surface of the main body 15. Therefore, the outside air introduction passage 73 is formed by the guide side plates 45A and 45B, the bottom body 16 and the main body 15 between the intake holes 69, 69 and the cooling fan 32.

When the motor 55 of the cooling fan 32 is started and the blades 55 rotate, outside air is sucked into the main body 15 through the suction hole 69 from the suction recess 65 as shown by a two-dot chain line A2 in FIG. Is done. The sucked outside air is guided to the outside air introduction path 73 and reaches the cooling fan 32. The outside air discharged from the cooling fan 32 to the rear side passes through the ventilation holes 43a to 43d formed in the base portion 34 of the board mounting member 30, and collides with the circuit board 31 disposed on the rear side of the base portion 34. And rise. The outside air that has risen along the circuit board 31 passes through the gap between the cooling fins 63 a of the heat sink 63 from the lower end to the upper end, and then flows to the rear side of the main body 15 along the outer periphery of the inner pot 19. , Are discharged outside through the exhaust port 72. As described above, in the rice cooker according to the present embodiment, when the cooling fan 32 is operated, the outside air sucked from the air intake holes 69 is guided to the outside air introduction path 73 and reaches the cooling fan 32 without fail. The circuit board 31 provided with the heat sink 63 is disposed immediately behind the cooling fan 32 and is discharged to the side, so that the circuit board 31 can be efficiently cooled.

At the lower end of the circuit board 31, the intake recess 65 and the lower end 24a of the protection member 24 form a crank-shaped gap 68 as described above.
The flow of the air discharged from 2 to the lower end of the circuit board 31 has a large resistance. Therefore, most of the outside air discharged from the cooling fan 32 flows to the upper end side of the circuit board 31, that is, the mounting position of the heat sink 63. Therefore, the circuit board 31
Can be cooled more efficiently.

Further, in the present embodiment, as described above, the guide side plates 56A and 56B of the board mounting member 30 and the bottom 16
The outside air introduction passage 73 for guiding the outside air sucked by the cooling fan 32 is formed by the inner surface of the peripheral wall and the external air introduction passage 73. Since there is no need for a separate component for guiding the outside air, the number of components can be reduced accordingly. .

Further, in this embodiment, since the cooling fan 32 and the circuit board 31 are both attached to one board attaching member 30, first, the cooling fan 32 and the circuit board 31 are attached to the board attaching member 30. ,afterwards,
If the board attachment member 30 is attached to the bottom body 16, the cooling fan 32 and the circuit board 31 can be attached to the bottom body 16 at one time, and the assemblability is excellent.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the heat sink 63 is attached near the upper end of the circuit board 31, but the heat sink is attached to the lower end side of the circuit board, and the external air discharged from the cooling fan flows horizontally after collision with the heat sink. You may do so.

[0043]

As is apparent from the above description, in the rice cooker according to the present invention, the circuit board and the circuit board are cooled in the space between the inner pan and the peripheral wall on the front side of the exterior body. The height of the rice cooker can be reduced because the cooling fan for the rice cooker is arranged. In this case, if the temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the inner pot is arranged to be in contact with the side peripheral wall of the inner pot, it is possible to further reduce the number of components disposed below the inner pot. In addition, the height of the rice cooker can be further reduced.

Further, a cooling fan is attached to a board holding member for holding the circuit board. The board holding member and the outer casing form an outside air introduction path for guiding outside air from an intake hole provided in the outer casing to the cooling fan. In this configuration, there is no need to provide separate components for introducing outside air,
The number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

Further, when the cooling fan and the circuit board are both mounted on one board mounting member,
The assemblability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing the rice cooker shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a heat sink.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a problem caused by the height of the rice cooker.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a conventional rice cooker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Main body 16 Bottom body 17 Lid 18 Outer body 19 Inner pan 21 Inner pan accommodating part 30 Board mounting member 31 Circuit board 32 Cooling fan 34 Base 45A, 45B Guide side plate part 56A, 56B Side plate part 63 Heat sink 65 Intake recess 69 Intake hole 72 Exhaust port 73 Outside air introduction path

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 11, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG.

FIG. 4

FIG. 5

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 6

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rice cooker comprising: an exterior body; an inner pot accommodated in the exterior body; a heating means for heating the inner pot; and a circuit board provided with a circuit for controlling the amount of electricity supplied to the heating means. A rice cooker, wherein the circuit board and a cooling fan for cooling the circuit board are arranged in a space between a peripheral wall portion on a front side of the exterior body and the inner pan. 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the inner pot is arranged so as to contact the peripheral wall of the inner pot. 3. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein a board holding member for holding the circuit board is attached to the exterior body, and a cooling fan is attached to the board holding member. 4. An external air introduction passage for guiding the external air sucked from the air intake hole to the cooling fan, the air intake hole being provided in the exterior body, and the substrate holding member and the exterior body being constituted. Any one of claims 1 to 3
A rice cooker according to the item. 5. The exterior body includes a main body having an upper and lower opening in which the inner pan is housed, a lid closing an upper opening of the main body,
A bottom body fixed to a lower opening of the main body, wherein the bottom body is provided with the suction hole in a suction concave portion provided to swell toward the inside of the main body; The cooling fan and the circuit board are mounted in order from the peripheral wall part side to the inner pot side at a required interval, and the left and right sides of the cooling fan mounting part of the board holding member are directed toward the front side of the peripheral wall part of the main body. 5. The rice cooker according to claim 4, wherein a pair of projecting guide side walls are provided, and the outside air introduction path is constituted by a space surrounded by the pair of guide side plates, the bottom body, and the inner surface of the main body.