JPH1023963A - Continuous rice cooking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a clean environment by eliminating the generation of steam and carbon dioxide gas by making a conveyer, which conveys rice cookers while mounting on a palette and supplying power, into linear type carrier conveyer, vertically constituting these conveyers over plural steps and electrifying them without being interrupted. SOLUTION: Rice cookers 9 are placed through a palette 10 onto the conveyer and power is supplied. At such a time, rice cooking conditions are inputted to the respective rice cookers 9 by a system controller and afterwards, the rice cookers 9 on the conveyer are moved to left while heating. Then, the rice cookers 9 moved to left are moved down by a lifter 11 and pushed out onto the conveyer of the lower step and that conveyer of the lower step is moved to right. Finally, when the rice cooker 9 arrives at the right end of the lower step conveyer, rice cooking processing is completed. Thus, the clean environment can be provided by eliminating the generation of steam and carbon dioxide gas.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous rice cooker used in a rice cooker or the like that supplies rice by cooking rice in large quantities every day.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Most conventional rice cookers of this type are gas-type rice cookers. In order to reduce the gas burner in a straight line or space factor, rice was cooked in an oval shape. An example of this gas-type continuous rice cooker will be described with reference to FIGS.

A washed rice and water are put in a rectangular aluminum rice cooker 21 (usually the ratio is adjusted to about 1: 1.3 to 1.4) and set on a conveyor 22. When the gas burner 23 is ignited and the rice cooker 21 is heated, boiling occurs in about 8 minutes, and the cooking is completed in about 16 minutes. At this time, the heating power of the gas is constant and heating is controlled by the heating time. In the spotting process, the heating is stopped and the state is kept as it is (see FIG. 13).

FIGS. 11 and 12 schematically show a rice cooker in which rice and water are put in a rice cooker 21 and placed on a conveyor 22. 23 is a linear gas burner and a conveyor 22
The rice cooker 21 is heated via. Exhaust duct 2 at the top
4 are provided to discharge exhaust gas to the outside.
This device is a rice cooker 21 at the start of the conveyor 22.
Then, rice and water are put in the container, and the lid is moved. CO ₂ and water vapor associated with gas combustion are exhausted into exhaust duct 2.
Exhaust from 4. After the rice cooking is completed, the rice cooker 21 is transferred to the mulling process conveyor by the rice cooker transfer device. The steaming is performed for about 13 minutes, and the rice is taken out by the kettle take-out device, and the cooked rice is taken out from the rice cooker 21 to complete the rice cooking. As described above, the gas-type rice cooker is a rice cooker in which the thermal power of the gas is almost constant and the conveyor speed is kept constant to control the time.

[0005]

The conventional gas-cooked rice has the following problems.

(1) A large amount of water vapor and C accompanying the combustion of gas
O ₂ is produced, temperatures rise. This occurs because the chemical reaction of gas combustion and the thermal efficiency are as low as 30%. In summer, the indoor temperature becomes 50 ° C. or higher, and the working environment is poor.
It required a large work area to allow for ventilation and a large space to raise the ceiling.

(2) The burning rate of gas depends on the temperature,
For this reason, the combustion speed differs between seasonal variations or daytime and nighttime, and automation is difficult.

(3) If a failure occurs in the rice cooking line, several tens of kettles cannot be cooked and are boiled or burned, resulting in serious damage.

(4) In recent years, due to the increase in imported rice, fluctuations in rice crops, revision of the stomach method, etc., there has been an increasing demand for cooking rice and cooking only the required amount. As a result, it has become difficult to respond to customer needs with constant thermal power.

As described above, gas cooking has many problems, and in order to improve these problems, the present invention employs an efficient electromagnetic induction heating system.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an electromagnetic induction heating (hereinafter referred to as IH).
It adopts the system. 86% thermal efficiency with IH method
As described above, it is very efficient and can obtain electric power corresponding to the gas type.

In the present invention, the heat source is an IH system, a plurality of rice cookers are placed on a pallet, and a conveyor for transferring the rice cookers while energizing is formed as a linear conveyor.
It is configured so as to be stepped up and down and can be energized seamlessly.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, a plurality of rice cookers are placed on a conveyor to cook rice continuously using induction heating as a heat source. Further, the conveyor is constructed in a two-stage linear manner, and It is designed to be able to conduct electricity without interruption.

The pallet on which the rice cooker is mounted has one or more pairs of current collectors, and the plurality of current collectors are brought into contact with the sliding rail. Further, lifters for moving the pallets up and down are provided at both ends of the two-stage type upper and lower conveyors, and the sliders are provided with sliding electric rails dedicated to the vertical movement.

[0015]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of an IH rice cooker, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of a rice cooking process based on the IH method.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a rice cooker,
It is molded from aluminum and has a magnetic material welded to the outer surface. 2
Is a lid, and 3 is an induction coil. Reference numeral 4 denotes a high frequency generator controlled by a microcomputer, in which a rice cooking process program is set. Reference numeral 5 denotes a temperature sensor, and 6 denotes a control panel. Data is input and controlled by a system controller. Reference numeral 7 denotes an outer box constituting an outer shell. The rice cooker 9 is mounted and moved on a pallet arranged on a conveyor described later.
An outlet is provided on the pallet, and power is supplied by inserting the plug 8 of the rice cooker 9 into this outlet.

In the IH type rice cooker 9 composed of these components, a high frequency generator 4 generates a high frequency of about 25 kHz and a high frequency current of several tens of amps flows through the induction coil 3 to generate a high frequency magnetic field along the coil. As a result, an eddy current is generated in the magnetic part of the rice cooker 1. Heat is generated by the eddy current and the skin resistance of the magnetic material, which is transmitted to water and rice and heated.

Next, the rice cooking process by induction heating according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. When energization is started, heating is performed at approximately 5 kW of full energization until boiling, and the electric power is gradually reduced to 300 W from boiling to 18 minutes after cooking. Then, in the spotting step, intermittent heating is performed so as to keep 95 ° C.

As described above, the characteristic of induction heating is 300 w to 5
Electricity can be effectively used because the heat can be controlled freely up to kw. Further, since the heating state is constantly checked by the temperature sensor 5, fine control not available in the gas method can be performed. This is the secret to cooking delicious rice by the IH method.

Next, a continuous rice cooker using a large number of rice cookers will be described with reference to the drawings, in which an embodiment using an upper and lower two-stage linear conveyor system is described.

In FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, reference numeral 9 denotes the above-mentioned rice cooker, which is a start position at the upper right end of the rice cooker 1 containing a set rice type and amount and water corresponding thereto.
Are set respectively. The rice cooker 9 is placed on a conveyor via a pallet 10 and supplied with power. At this time, although not shown, rice cooking conditions are input to each rice cooker 9 by a system controller. Then, it moves to the left while heating. At the left end, a lifter 11 for moving the pallet 10 up and down is provided, and the rice cooker 9 moved to the left is moved downward by the lifter 11 and pushed out by the lower conveyor to move the lower conveyor to the right. Go. When the rice cooker 9 arrives at the right end of the lower conveyor, rice cooking is completed, and the rice cooker 1 is taken out. The rice cooker 9 from which the rice cooker 1 has been taken out moves to the upper conveyor side by the lifter 11 attached to the right end and is pushed out onto the upper conveyor, and the rice cooker 9 is located at the start position described above.

In the above configuration, the IH type rice cooker 9 is controlled by a microcomputer, and must be energized at any point on the conveyor, in any case. It is important to give special consideration to brushes to prevent poor contact such as chattering.

The structure of the current collector for this purpose will be described with reference to FIGS. In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes a current collector, which comprises a pair of current collectors A and B. Current collector 12
The sliding current rail 17 comes into contact with the central groove of. The current collector 12 is pushed upward by a spring 13 and is brought into pressure contact with a sliding rail 17.
The current collector 12 is fixed on the pallet 10 by a conductive fitting 15 via a holding plate 14 made of an electric insulating plate. A code line 16 is provided at the center of the pallet 10, and the pallet is connected via the code line 16. Connected to 10 outlets.

Next, by using two current collectors 12,
Since two pieces are in contact with the sliding rail 17 at the same time, reliability against poor contact is improved. That is, even if one of the current collectors A causes a contact failure, the current collector B maintains the contact.

When the pallet moves, the current collectors A and B also move, but when switching from the sliding current rail A to the sliding current rail B, when the current collector A passes through the gap, the current collectors B still remain.
Is in contact with the sliding current rail A, and when the current collector B approaches the gap, the current collecting terminal A is surely in contact with the sliding current rail B, so that no contact failure occurs during this time. Therefore, current can be continuously supplied, and the change of the sliding rail can be performed without interruption of the power supply.

In this embodiment, two current collectors are used. However, in order to increase the reliability when the gap is exceeded, the reliability is improved by increasing the number of the current collectors by two or more.

Further, the sliding rail 17 in the straight line portion in FIG. 5 is a single continuous rail. However, the sliding rail 17b at the left end of the lifter 11 moves vertically and is provided exclusively for the lifter (see FIG. 6). Accordingly, the lifter 11 is provided with an independent sliding rail 17b so as to move up and down.
Is sent into the lifter 11, the rice cooker 9, the pallet 10 and the sliding rail 17b go to the lower position,
The rice cooker 9 is pushed out to the lower conveyor, and when the pushing is completed, the sliding rail 17b returns to the upper position. The next rice cooker 9 is stopped until returning. By repeating this, the rice cooker 9 can be circulated.

[0028]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects.

Since the heat source is of the IH type, combustion is eliminated, and therefore, generation of water vapor and carbon dioxide is eliminated, resulting in a clean environment. Also, the conveyor on which the rice cooker is placed can be made inexpensive without being exposed to high temperatures as in the gas type. Furthermore, since it does not become hot, the ceiling can be lowered and the installation of the rice cooker becomes easy.

Further, since the conveyor is formed in a three-dimensional manner in the vertical direction, the installation area is reduced to about half or less of the conventional system, and the space can be saved. In addition, a straight-line right-angle reversing type conveyor is easy to install a sliding rail to supply power.
Supply of electric power to the rice cooker is facilitated. Furthermore, the configuration of the conveyor is sufficient if a rice cooker is placed on the conveyor, and the time management of the movement does not require precision.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a rice cooker showing one embodiment of a continuous rice cooker of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the rice cooker.

FIG. 3 is a cooking process diagram of the IH method.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the system.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the same.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a part of the system.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a part of the power supply mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a part of the power supply mechanism.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of changing the sliding rail of the power supply mechanism.

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional continuous rice cooking device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram similarly.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the system.

FIG. 13 is a rice cooking process diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 rice cooker 3 induction coil 4 high frequency generator 5 temperature sensor 9 rice cooker 10 pallet 11 lifter 12 current collector 17, 17b sliding current rail

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A continuous rice cooker in which a plurality of rice cookers are successively placed on a conveyor to cook rice, wherein a conveyor for placing the rice cookers on a pallet and transporting the rice cooker while supplying power is provided.
A continuous rice cooker characterized by having a linear conveyor, comprising a plurality of upper and lower stages and being able to conduct electricity without interruption. 2. The continuous rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the pallet has one or more pairs of current collectors, and the plurality of current collectors are brought into contact with a sliding current rail. 3. The continuous rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein lifters for moving the pallet up and down are provided at both ends of the conveyor, and the lifters are provided with sliding electric rails dedicated to the vertical movement.