KR101137809B1 - Electric rice cooker and heat retaining method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention, the heater for generating heat to heat the inner pot accommodated the heating object; A power supply unit configured to receive external power and supply driving power to heat the heater; A temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the inner pot by the heat of the heater; The heating object is cooked by controlling the calorific value of the heater based on the measured temperature of the inner pot, and when the cooking is completed, based on the temperature of the inner pot measured to maintain the temperature of the heating object at a reference warming temperature. The heating object is driven by determining the capacity of the heating object based on the number of driving per unit time of the heater after a predetermined time has elapsed, and executing the insulation algorithm according to the determined capacity to drive the heater. It provides an electric rice cooker characterized in that it comprises a microcomputer to keep warm.

Electric cooker, heat insulation, heating heater

Description

Insulation method of electric rice cooker and rice cooker {ELECTRIC RICE COOKER AND HEAT RETAINING METHOD FOR THE SAME}

The present invention relates to an electric rice cooker and a method for keeping an electric rice cooker, and more particularly, an electric rice cooker and an electric rice cooker capable of efficiently insuring rice by determining a capacity of a housed rice and changing a thermal insulation algorithm corresponding to the determined capacity. It is about the warming method of a rice cooker.

An electric rice cooker is a cooking apparatus which accommodates rice and water in an inner pot, drives a heating heater which mainly contacts the lower part of an inner pot, heats an inner pot, and cooks rice by heating rice and water by the heat of the heated inner pot.

At this time, when cooking is completed, the electric rice cooker drives and stops the heating heater according to a predetermined heat insulating algorithm to maintain warmth for maintaining the rice (heating object) remaining in the inner pot at a constant temperature (reference heat insulating temperature) of, for example, 73 ° C. Will be done.

On the other hand, in a general electric rice cooker having such a function, the amount of rice remaining in the inner pot is not determined separately, but a certain amount of rice is regarded as accommodated, and heat is maintained by controlling the driving of the heater according to a pre-designed heat insulating algorithm. . That is, in the design of the electric rice cooker, after accommodating any amount of rice in the inner pot, such as 4 servings or 6 servings, the time until the heater for heating the inner pot stops by starting to generate heat, and the heating of the heater per unit time The optimum warming algorithm is calculated by experiments varying the electric power and the warming temperature of the rice during warming, and the calculated optimal warming algorithm is stored in the electric rice cooker, and then the optimal warming memorized in the subsequent warming operation. The algorithm is being applied.

However, in actual application, various amounts of rice are insulated. When the rice is kept in a larger amount than the amount of rice used in the experiment for calculating the stored optimal warming algorithm, there is enough heat in each part of the rice. When some of the rice that is not evenly supplied and not supplied with heat cools, whitening occurs in the inner pot, or drops of water form on the inner pot wall or on the inner surface of the upper lid of the inner pot. When warming less than the amount of rice, because too much heat is supplied to the rice, a portion of the rice may dry, discolor or cause a unique warm odor.

Therefore, even if the amount of rice changes, there is a need to properly grasp such a situation, and to keep the rice warm with an appropriate warming algorithm according to the amount of rice.

An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide an electric rice cooker capable of accurately determining the amount of rice to be kept warm after cooking.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric rice cooker and a method of keeping the rice cooker that can efficiently keep rice by applying a heat insulating algorithm optimized according to the amount of the rice to be kept warm.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electric rice cooker for heating and heating a heating object, comprising: a heater that generates heat to heat an inner pot in which the heating object is accommodated; A power supply unit configured to receive external power and supply driving power to heat the heater; A temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the inner pot by the heat of the heater; The heating object is cooked by controlling the calorific value of the heater based on the measured temperature of the inner pot, and when the cooking is completed, based on the temperature of the inner pot measured to maintain the temperature of the heating object at a reference warming temperature. The heating object is driven by determining the capacity of the heating object based on the number of driving per unit time of the heater after a predetermined time has elapsed, and executing the insulation algorithm according to the determined capacity to drive the heater. It provides an electric rice cooker characterized in that it comprises a microcomputer to keep warm.

In addition, the capacity of the object to be heated is determined as the first capacity when the number of times of driving per unit time of the heater is greater than or equal to the standard number of times of driving per unit time, and the second capacity when the number of times of unit driving per unit time is less than. do.

The warming algorithm may include information for setting a control amount for at least one of a heat generation on and off time of the heater, a heat generation driving power per unit time, and a heat retention temperature of the heating target.

In addition, the present invention provides a method of heating an electric rice cooker for heating and heating a heating object, the method comprising: cooking the heating object by controlling the amount of heat generated by the heater based on the temperature of the inner pot in which the heating object is accommodated; When the cooking is completed, maintaining the temperature of the heating target object to the reference warming temperature by driving the heater based on the temperature of the inner pot; Determining a capacity of the heating object based on the number of driving per unit time of the heater after a predetermined time has elapsed; Warming the heating object by executing the warming algorithm according to the determined capacity to drive the heater; It provides a method of warming the electric cooker comprising a.

The determining of the capacity of the object to be heated may include determining the first capacity when the number of driving per unit time of the heater is greater than or equal to the reference driving number per unit time, and determining the second capacity when less than the standard driving number per unit time. It is characterized by.

The changing of the warming algorithm may include changing a control amount of at least one of a heat generation on and off time of the heater, a heat generation driving power per unit time, and a heat retention temperature of the heating target.

According to the electric rice cooker according to the present invention, even if the amount of rice that is different from the amount of the rice of the thermal insulation algorithm set at the time of designing the electric rice cooker, the amount of rice that is currently kept warm is determined, and the optimal amount corresponding to the amount of rice Since the warming algorithm can be applied, it is possible to prevent rice drying, discoloration, and falling water, and to maintain the rice taste and quality of the warmed rice optimally.

In addition, since the present invention does not determine the amount of rice by the temperature measured by the temperature sensor, but merely uses the number of driving per unit time of the heating heater, there is no need to add a separate part, and the amount of rice is determined accurately. It is also easy.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to attached drawing.

1 is a view schematically showing the structure of an electric rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the electric rice cooker 100 includes an inner pot 10, a rice cooker body 20, and a rice cooker lid 30. In addition, the cooker body 20 is provided with a power supply unit 21, a heating heater 22, a temperature sensor 23 and the microcomputer 24.

The inner pot 10 is a container that can hold a mixture of rice and water or various foods to be heated.

The cooker body 20 is provided with a space in which the inner pot 10 can be mounted, and couples the cooker lid 30 to the rotatable structure.

The rice cooker lid 30 is configured such that one side is coupled to the rice cooker body 20 to be closed or opened.

In particular, the cooker body 20 is provided with a power supply unit 21, a heating heater 22, a temperature sensor 23, and a microcomputer 24 to perform cooking and warming of the electric cooker 100.

The power supply unit 21 has a plug P coupled to a commercial power source, and performs a process such as rectifying and boosting the power inputted through the plug P appropriately, so that each component of the electric cooker 100 Supply the power you need. That is, the driving power for allowing the heating heater 22 to generate heat, the operating power for allowing the microcomputer 24 to perform a control operation, and the like are supplied.

The heating heater 22 receives drive power from the power supply unit 21 and generates heat. The heating heater 22 heats the inner pot 10 by contacting at least a lower portion of the inner pot 10 in a state where the inner pot 10 is mounted on the cooker body 20.

The temperature sensor 23 contacts one side of the inner pot 10 and measures the temperature of the inner pot. The actual role of the temperature sensor 23 is to sense the temperature of the heating object contained in the inner pot 10, but since it cannot directly contact the heating object, the temperature of the inner pot 10 is measured to predict the temperature of the heating object. do.

The microcomputer 24 controls the operation of the power supply unit 21 to control the on / off or supply amount of the driving power supplied to the heating heater 22, thereby heating and heating the heating object contained in the inner pot 10 to cook and keep warm. Is done.

The electric rice cooker 100 configured as described above controls the driving of the heater 22 by receiving the inner pot temperature, which is measured and provided from the temperature sensor 23, by the microcomputer 24 according to a preset cooking algorithm. , To cook rice (cooking operation) to heat the rice and water contained in the inner pot (10). After the cooking is completed, the temperature lower than the temperature detected in rice and water (cooking temperature) at the time of cooking is set to the reference warming temperature (for example, 73 ° C or may be set in a range such as 73 to 75 ° C). In order to maintain (warm operation), whenever it detects that the temperature of a rice becomes lower than this heat retention temperature, it heats by driving the heating heater 22 until the temperature of a rice becomes a reference | standard heat retention temperature again.

At this time, in the warming operation, the heating heater 22 may be controlled on / off, for example, at an n / 16 duty ratio. That is, the duty ratio of 1/16 means that the duration of 1/16 of the arbitrarily set period is turned on and the duration of 15/16 is turned off. Similarly, the duty of 7/16 means that the heating heater 22 is turned on for the 7/16 section and the heating heater 22 is turned off for the 9/16 section.

On the other hand, when the amount of rice contained in the inner pot 10 is large, since the amount of heat required to heat the rice lowered below the standard warming temperature is large, the duty ratio is increased (for example, 8/16, etc.) to increase heating. However, once the rice is heated, the heat capacity of the heated rice is so large that the rice does not cool easily, the time until the next heating is long.

On the contrary, when the amount of rice contained in the inner pot 10 is small, since the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of the lowered rice is small, the duty ratio for driving the heating heater 22 is reduced (for example, 4 / 16) can be heated, but since the rice cools quickly, the cycle to be heated again soon arrives.

This phenomenon is summarized in the table by experiment as follows.

<IH counts per unit time per serving> Warm time 1 hours 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours 5 hours 6 hours 7 hours 8 hours 9 hours 10 hours 11 hours 4 servings 9 40 45 47 47 48 47 46 46 46 48 8 servings 0 0 0 0 3 13 16 14 18 18 20 ΔIH 9 40 45 47 44 35 31 32 28 28 28

In Table 1, as an experimental result of an example, the unit time in the case of keeping four servings of rice and the eight servings of rice in the electric rice cooker 100 which can cook 10 servings of rice ( The number of times (IH times) of driving the heating heater 22 per one hour) is shown, and ΔIH represents the difference between the number of IH times for 4 servings and the number of IH for 8 servings.

Referring to the table above, when the amount of rice is small (for 4 servings), the number of IHs is very large, and when the amount of rice is large (for 8 servings), the number of IHs is small. . That is, when the amount of rice is small, the rice needs to be reheated by frequently driving the heating heater 22 because the rice is quickly cooked. When the amount of rice is large, the rice is sometimes slowly cooked because the rice is slowly cooked. It can be confirmed that it is sufficient to maintain the standard warming temperature.

Thus, referring to [Table 1] based on the measurement results, even if the duty ratio for driving the heating heater 22 every heating or the driving power supplied for each heating is not considered, the unit time (1 hour) By referring only to the number of times the heating heater 22 has been driven during this time, it is possible to determine the amount of the rice being kept warm in a small amount (first capacity) and a large amount (second capacity).

That is, the amount of rice contained in the inner pot 10 can be divided into a small amount and a large amount based on about 25 times using the number of IH. The 25 times are values set as the reference drive times per unit time of the heating heater, and may be changed by proper treatment during actual use in consideration of the aging of the electric cooker 100 or the aging of the electric cooker 100 by various experiments. It could be.

On the other hand, when the quantity of the said rice is determined, referring to [Table 1], it is preferable that it is 5 hours after cooking completion (after the start of heat retention). In other words, when the heating heater is operated for the first time when the heating of 8 people is the first time, it can be seen that 5 hours, which is the heat that can be maintained due to the large amount of rice in the case of warming after cooking 8 servings of rice There are many, and rice does not cool well, and this means that the time which the temperature of rice reaches from the cooking temperature after completion of cooking to a reference heat retention temperature is 5 hours. Therefore, the time point for determining the amount of rice to be kept warm is set to this time point.

Here, the time point for determining the amount of rice is set to 5 hours as an example, but this can be arbitrarily set to an appropriate time by various experiments.

In addition, the unit time is set to 1 hour, but may be appropriately set to 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or the like.

By the method as described above, when the quantity of the rice contained in the inner pot 10 is determined to be small and large, a thermal insulation algorithm suitable for each capacity is selected.

That is, in the current warming operation, the driving duty ratio of the heating heater 22 is maintained at, for example, 7/16, but the heating heater 22 is driven and the amount of cooked rice is small so that the rice cools quickly 1 If the number of IH times is measured 30 times during the time, the microcomputer 24 may determine that the amount of rice is small and reduce the driving duty ratio of the heating heater 22 to 5/16 or the like (a small amount of thermal insulation algorithm).

In addition, the duty ratio of the heating heater 22 is operating at 7/16, but since the amount of heated rice is large, the rice cools slowly, and accordingly, the heating heater 22 does not need to be driven frequently, so If the number of times of IH has been measured 16 times, it can be determined that the amount of rice is large and the processing such as raising the driving duty ratio of the heating heater 22 to 8/16 can be performed (a large amount of thermal insulation algorithm).

On the other hand, as a factor constituting the thermal insulation algorithm, the duty ratio for driving the heating heater 22, the heat generation on time and off time of the heater 22, the instantaneous drive power of the heater 22 or the total drive power per unit time, It can be used in various settings such as the standard thermal insulation temperature of the rice.

In addition, the thermal insulation algorithm, the lower heater for heating the lower portion of the inner pot 10 in the electric cooker 100, the side heater for heating the side portion of the inner pot 10, and to heat the upper portion of the inner pot (10) When the upper heater is provided in the cooker lid 30, information for properly controlling the driving of each of these heaters may be included.

In addition, by dividing the amount of rice into a small amount and a large amount of two steps, and setting two algorithms of a small amount of thermal insulation algorithm and a large amount of thermal insulation algorithm, the number of driving per unit time of the heating heater 22 is divided into various sections. By differentiating the amount of rice in a variety of ways, you can design a variety of thermal insulation algorithm corresponding to the corresponding amount.

According to the electric cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention to determine the amount of the rice being kept in this manner to change the thermal insulation algorithm, the amount of rice in the thermal insulation algorithm set at the time of designing the electric rice cooker 100 Even if the rice is warmed, the amount of rice can be judged and an appropriate warming algorithm can be applied, which prevents rice dryness, discoloration, and falling water, so that the rice taste and quality of the warmed rice can be optimally maintained. Will be.

Next, with reference to Figure 2, a method of keeping warm by the electric cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention made of the configuration as described above will be described.

First, when the user operates the electric cooker 100 after mixing the rice and water in the inner pot 10 at a predetermined ratio, the electric cooker 100 continuously cooks the rice while measuring the temperature of the inner pot (S11). ).

When the cooking is completed and the rice is completed (S12), the warming of the rice is performed by driving the heater 22 to maintain the temperature of the rice at a constant temperature (reference warming temperature) (S13). That is, when the temperature of the rice is lowered below the reference thermal insulation temperature (S14), the heating heater 22 is driven in accordance with a predetermined duty ratio to heat the rice (S15), and heating when the temperature of the rice exceeds the reference temperature The drive of the heater 22 is stopped.

Thus, measurement of time starts from the time when rice is completed and heat retention starts. When the measured time exceeds the predefined reference time (S16), the number of driving per unit time of the heater 22 is inspected (S17). When the number of times of driving checked in this way exceeds the predetermined number of standard driving times per unit time (S18), as the rice cools quickly, the heating heater 22 is regarded as being frequently driven, and the amount of rice is determined in a small amount. Then, a small amount of algorithm is executed to keep warm (S21). On the other hand, if the number of drive inspections is smaller than the predetermined reference drive number per unit time, since the rice has cooled slowly, it is considered that the number of driving of the heating heater 22 is small and the amount of rice is determined to be large. Then, the thermal insulation is continued by executing the large-volume algorithm for the large amount of rice (S22).

1 is a view schematically showing the structure of an electric rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of keeping warm by an electric rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (6)

In an electric rice cooker which heats a heating object and cooks and heats it: A heater that generates heat to heat the inner pot containing the heating object; A power supply unit configured to receive external power and supply driving power to heat the heater; A temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the inner pot by the heat of the heater; The heating object is cooked by controlling the calorific value of the heater based on the temperature of the inner pot measured by the temperature sensor, and when the cooking is completed, the temperature sensor is provided to maintain the temperature of the heating object at a reference warming temperature. The heater is driven or stopped based on the temperature of the inner pot measured by the controller, and after the predetermined time has elapsed, the capacity of the heating object is determined based on the number of driving per unit time of the heater, and the heat retention according to the determined capacity And a microcomputer for warming the heating object by executing an algorithm to control driving of the heater. The method of claim 1, The capacity of the object to be heated is determined as the first capacity when the number of driving per unit time of the heater is greater than or equal to the reference driving number per unit time, or as the second capacity when the number of driving times per unit time is less than the standard driving number per unit time. Rice cooker. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The warming algorithm may include information for setting a control amount for at least one of a heat generation on and off time of the heater, a heat generation driving power per unit time, and a heat retention temperature of the heating target. As a method of keeping the electric rice cooker heating and heating the object to be heated and cooking: Cooking the heating object by controlling the amount of heat generated by the heater based on the temperature of the inner pot in which the heating object is accommodated; When the cooking is completed, maintaining the temperature of the heating object to the reference warming temperature by driving or stopping the heater based on the temperature of the inner pot; Determining a capacity of the heating object based on the number of driving per unit time of the heater after a predetermined time has elapsed; And a step of warming the heating object by executing a warming algorithm according to the determined capacity to control driving of the heater. 5. The method of claim 4, Determining the capacity of the heating object, And the first capacity is determined when the number of times of driving of the heater is greater than or equal to the standard number of driving times per unit time, and the second capacity is less than the number of times of reference driving per unit time. The method according to claim 4 or 5, Changing the warming algorithm, And a control amount of at least one of a heat generation on and off time of the heater, a heat generation driving power per unit time, and a heat retention temperature of the heating target.

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