JPS63181717A - 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 Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and particularly to a rice cooker that incorporates a microcomputer and has a timekeeping function and a clock function.

(Prior Art) Recently, rice cookers have adopted microcomputers as their control devices, which not only control the power of a series of operations from preheating, cooking, steaming, and keeping warm. The mainstream is the so-called electronic rice cooker, which has features such as a clock function that displays the current time, a timer rice cooking function that starts rice cooking after a set time has passed, and a memory rice cooking function that completes rice cooking at a preset time. There is.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, even if the rice cooker has a memory rice cooking function, the cooking time can only be determined when the rice is cooked in memory. There is a problem in that it irritates users when they need to eat in a hurry to go to school or work.

In order to solve this problem, it is possible to display the cooking time on a display device at the same time as rice cooking starts. It is not possible to unambiguously set the time for rice to finish cooking because it varies depending on the water temperature, fluctuations in power supply voltage, and other factors.Even if you change the time for rice to finish cooking depending on the amount of rice cooked, There is a problem in that it is inaccurate due to variations in time.

(Means for solving the problem) As a means for solving this problem, the present invention provides a rice cooker having a clock means and a display means, in which the display means displays the time when the rice has been cooked after the rice cooking operation is completed. The present invention provides a rice cooker featuring the following features.

(Function) Regardless of whether the rice cooker according to the present invention is a timer rice cooker or not, the time from the completion of the rice cooking operation to the completion of steaming, that is, the time until the rice is cooked, is related to the amount of rice cooked. Moreover, since the temperature of the rice at the time of completion of the rice cooking operation is almost constant, when the rice cooking operation is completed,
A microcomputer calculates the cooking completion time from the current time when the rice cooking operation is completed and the required time for steaming, and the cooking completion time is displayed on a display means.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a control device for a rice cooker according to the present invention, in which 1 is a rice cooking operation completion detection means, 2 is a display device, and 3 is a microcomputer, which has a built-in timer and has a timekeeping function and a clock function. and its memory (ROM
) has a series of programs written in it, from preheating to rice cooking and steaming to warming.

The rice cooking completion detection means includes a temperature detection circuit formed by connecting a temperature sensor (for example, a thermistor) in series with a resistor that contacts the bottom of a container containing rice, etc., and a reference voltage that corresponds to the temperature at the completion of rice cooking. The reference voltage setting means and the comparison means compare the output voltage of the temperature detection circuit with the reference voltage and output when the output voltage reaches the reference voltage. It is composed of a computer 3.

The display device 2 includes, for example, a display panel 4 integrated with an operation panel, as shown in FIG.
Display characters and other information are written on the sides, and a 7-segment liquid crystal display element for displaying the current time and cooking completion time is arranged on the back of each side.

The operation panel 5 includes a plurality of touch switches (for example, a set switch SW1, a first time setting switch SW2, and a second time setting switch SW3) as switch input means.
, rice cooking switch SW4, 1st memory rice cooking switch SW
s, second memory rice cooking switch SW8, and menu selection switch SW? etc.), and these switches are connected to the microcomputer 3.

When using the rice cooker with the above configuration, when the rice cooking operation progresses and the rice cooking operation is completed, the rice cooking operation completion detection means consisting of a temperature sensor detects this and outputs the signal as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. In response, the microcomputer 3 determines that the rice cooking operation has been completed.Step I)
Step 2: Calculate the cooking time from the current time when the rice cooking operation is completed and the preset time required for steaming.
), the cooking completion time is displayed on the display device 2 along with the current time (step 3).

That is, when cooking rice with the rice cooker, when rice is placed in a container with water and the rice cooking switch SW4 is pressed, the preheating operation is first started, and then electricity is supplied to the rice cooking heater according to the water temperature and maintained for a predetermined period of time. , shift to rice cooking operation. In this rice cooking operation, the rice is heated with 100% electric power at first, so the temperature detected by the temperature sensor on the container wall rises rapidly, as shown in Figure 4, but the rate of increase in temperature remains stable. The amount of rice to be cooked is calculated based on the time required for the temperature to rise by a predetermined amount after the heating, and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the start of 100% power supply, the power supplied to the rice cooking heater is controlled according to the amount of rice to be cooked.

Therefore, after the inside of the container gradually reaches the boiling temperature, the boiling state is maintained, and the detected temperature is maintained constant.

When the water in the container completely evaporates while the boiling state is maintained and there is no water at the bottom of the container, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor starts to rise rapidly, and then reaches the rice cooking completion reference temperature, for example, 130. ℃, the microcomputer 3 receives this signal and determines that the rice cooking operation has been completed, stops the power supply to the rice cooking heater, and determines the steaming completion time based on the current time and the preset time required for steaming. That is, the cooking time is calculated, and the cooking completion time is displayed on the display device together with the current time.

In this way, the cooking completion time is displayed, and when a predetermined period of time has passed since the steaming operation started, a predetermined power is supplied to the rice cooker for a certain period of time, and when the specified period of time has passed, the steaming operation is completed and the rice is cooked. It will be cooked.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, after the rice cooking operation is completed, the time when the rice is cooked is calculated and the time is displayed on the display device. Since you can easily determine whether you can eat rice, you don't have to worry about whether you can cook rice. In addition, since the rice-cooked time is calculated after the rice cooking operation is completed, there is no error between the actual rice-cooked time and the calculated time, and the rice-cooked time can be displayed with high accuracy. It will be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device for a rice cooker according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of the main parts of the rice cooker, FIG. 3 is a flowchart when the control device of FIG. 1 displays the cooking completion time, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing changes in the temperature of the rice cooker container. 1 - Rice cooking completion detection means, 2 - Display device (display means)
, 3-microcomputer (control means), 4-display panel, 5-operation panel, SW4-rice cooking switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A rice cooker comprising a display means and a control means for controlling the display means and having a clock function, characterized in that the display means displays the time when the rice has been cooked after the rice cooking operation is completed.