JPS60203210A - Controller of rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a rice cooker used in general households.

Conventional structure and its problems Traditionally, rice was heated at a predetermined temperature below the gelatinization temperature of rice (approximately 40°C to There is a known rice cooker that cooks rice after heating and absorbing water at 60"C for a certain period of time (hereinafter referred to as pre-cooking function). In this rice cooker, when cooking rice using a timer device, the timer Pre-cooking is always performed regardless of the length of time, so if the timer is one hour long (
For example, for 12 hours), the rice that has sufficiently absorbed water is further heated to absorb water. This has the disadvantage that the rice becomes too soft when cooked. Furthermore, the above-mentioned timer device also has the disadvantage that the timer can only be set for one hour before rice cooking starts.

Purpose of the Invention In view of the above-mentioned problems with the conventional VC, the present invention is capable of automatically determining whether or not to pre-cook rice according to the one-hour timer, and is also capable of setting the one-hour timer until the end of cooking. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a control device for a rice cooker.

Structure of the Invention The rice cooker control device of the present invention comprises: a timer one hour setting means for setting a timer one hour at the end of rice cooking; a time comparison means comparing the timer one hour with a predetermined time; A first timer that operates for a time obtained by subtracting the rice cooking time for pre-cooking (first rice cooking time) from the one hour timer based on the first output of the time comparing means, and a second output of the time comparing means. A second timer that operates for a time obtained by subtracting the rice cooking time (second cooking time) during which no pre-cooking is performed from the one hour timer, and a second timer that starts operation according to the output of the first timer and maintains the rice at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time. It is composed of a pre-cooking means that controls the heating of the rice-cooking container, and a rice-cooking means that cooks the rice after the pre-cooking is completed or according to the output of a second timer. This automatically determines whether pre-cooking is necessary and, if pre-cooking is not necessary, can skip pre-cooking and only cook the rice.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a time setting means 2 for setting the rice-cooking end time, a clock means 3 for outputting a signal of the current time, and a time calculation means for calculating one hour of the timer by subtracting the current time from the rice-cooking end time when the rice-cooking end time is set. This is a timer hour setting means consisting of means 4. Reference numeral 6 denotes time comparison means for comparing one hour of the timer with a predetermined time. Reference numeral 6 designates a first timer which operates for a time equal to the timer 1 hour minus the first rice cooking time based on the first output of the time comparison means 5.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a second timer which operates for a time equal to the timer one hour minus the second rice cooking time based on the second output of the time comparison means 5.

Here, the first rice cooking time is the rice cooking time when pre-cooking is performed, and the second rice cooking time is the rice cooking time when pre-cooking is not performed. Reference numeral 8 denotes a pre-cooking means that starts its operation in response to the output of the first timer 6. Reference numeral 9 denotes a rice cooking means that cooks rice after the pre-cooking is finished or according to the output of the second timer 7.

The above-mentioned determination of whether or not to pre-cook rice using the 1-hour timer is made by checking whether the 1-hour timer is longer than the predetermined time required for the rice to absorb water without heating. If so, do not pre-cook the rice. That's how it is.

For example, if the room temperature and water temperature are in the range of approximately 5°C to 35°C, water can be absorbed sufficiently in about 3 hours, so the cooking time including pre-cooking, additional cooking, and unevenness (pre-cooking In this case, it takes about 64 minutes, which corresponds to the first rice cooking time.

Moreover, when pre-cooking is not performed, it takes about 46 minutes, which corresponds to the second cooking time. ), we set approximately 4 hours as the standard time for determination.

FIG. 2 shows a specific configuration including the peripheral portion of this embodiment. 9 is a rice cooking container, and a heating device 1 is installed around it.
o and a temperature sensor 11 are provided. 12 is a key switch for setting the rice cooking end time; 13 is a reference clock that is a time reference; and 14 is a display that shows the operating status of the device (including time, etc.). Reference numeral 15 denotes a microcomputer, which implements the functions of each means shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 by built-in programs.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

At step 20, a desired rice cooking end time is input by operating the key switch 12. Next, in step 21, this rice cooking end time is subtracted from the current time and the result (difference) is stored as one hour in the timer.

In step 22, it is determined whether this timer time is 4 hours or more, and if it is less than 4 hours, the process proceeds to step 23.
If it is 4 hours or more, proceed to step 24. Step 23
Now, start the first timer 6, which operates for a time equal to the one hour timer minus the first rice cooking time (approximately 64 minutes). In step 24, the second timer 7 is activated to operate for a time equal to the one hour timer minus the second rice cooking time (approximately 45 minutes). Next, in step 25, the operation of the first timer 6 is waited until the operation of the first timer 6 is completed, and in step 26, a pre-cooking operation is performed to heat and absorb water at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time, and after this predetermined time has elapsed, step At step 27, a series of rice cooking operations including finishing, additional cooking, and uneven cooking are performed. Second
If the timer 7 is selected, step 28 follows step 24 to wait until the operation of the second timer 7 is completed, and the pre-cooking operation of step 26 is omitted.
Proceed to step 27, the rice cooking operation.

In addition, in step 22, if the timer time is a short time such as 3 minutes, the rice should be cooked immediately or
Alternatively, it may be possible to have the rice cooker stop.

The status during the series of steps 20 to 28 described above is displayed on the display 14.

In addition, in this embodiment, the rice cooking end time can be set as is, but it is also possible to use a timer that ends the rice cooking after a predetermined time to set the timer for one hour. It is also possible to apply the method of omitting pre-cooking and performing only the rice-cooking operation when the timer one hour of this embodiment is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above embodiment, the rice cooker control device of the present invention starts pre-cooking when the timer time is longer than the predetermined time (about 4 hours in the embodiment, taking into account the rice cooking time). By performing only the rice-cooking action without repeating the movements, delicious rice that is always appropriately soft can be cooked. Furthermore, since the above operations are performed automatically, an excellent effect is achieved in that troublesome operations and mistakes can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are block diagrams showing the configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a program of a microcomputer used in the embodiment. 1...Timer one hour setting means, 2...Time setting means, 3...Timekeeping means, 4...
Time calculation means, 6... Time comparison means, 6...
. . . first timer, 7 . . . second timer, 8 . . . pre-cooking means, 9 . . . rice cooking means. Figure 2 q Figure 3 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] a timer one hour setting means for setting one hour of the timer until the end of rice cooking; a time comparison means for comparing the one hour of the timer with a predetermined time; and a first output of the time comparison means to set the one hour of the timer. A first timer that operates for a time obtained by subtracting the rice cooking time for pre-cooking (first rice cooking time) from 1 hour, and a second output of the time comparing means calculates the rice cooking time for which pre-cooking is not performed (1 hour) from the timer 1 hour. a second timer that operates for a time obtained by subtracting the second rice cooking time;
A rice cooker consisting of a pre-cooking means that starts operation according to the output of a timer and controls heating the rice cooking container to a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time, and a rice-cooking means that cooks the rice after the predetermined time or according to the output of a second timer. Control device.