KR20010073392A - Device for Sensing Pressure Lock State of Electric Rice Cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A pressure connection sensing device for an electric pressure kettle is provided to prevent a stoppage of operation due to a defective switching by accurately detecting connection and release of pressure. CONSTITUTION: A pressure connection sensing device has an optical sensing unit(360) attached to the edge of a through hole(322) of a lid fixing part(320). The sensing unit is a photocoupler converting electrical energy into optical energy including a light emitting part(362) and a light receiving part(364). Upon turning a heating panel(330) to the left or right, pressure connection/release state is set up. If a handle member(334) of the heating panel is turned correctly, pressure connection is decided and accurate connection of a lid(300) is recognized. Then, normal process is progressed. If the handle member is wrongly turned, a shut-off member(354) of a steam guide part(350) is displaced from the light emitting part and the light receiving part. An optical path formed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part is exposed. Then, preparation of the pressure connection or completion of boiling is decided. Therefore, operation of an electric pressure kettle is stopped.

Description

Device for Sensing Pressure Lock State of Electric Rice Cooker

The present invention relates to a pressure fastening detection device of an electric pressure cooker, and more particularly, to accurately detect the final pressure fastening state according to the rotation of the heat sink after the fastening of the lid body to prevent unnecessary interruption during cooking. It relates to a pressure tightening detection device of an electric pressure cooker.

In general, an electric pressure cooker is an advanced pressure heat cooker using electric energy that is distinct from conventional cookers such as, for example, a pressure cooker using a gas stove or an electric heat cooker. This is to increase the sealing pressure during cooking to increase the alpha ratio of the starch contained in the rice to make the rice more cold and sweet compared to the general cooker.

In this electric pressure cooker, as shown in Figure 1, the outer cylinder 12 is coupled to the inside of the main body 10, the upper surface is opened, the inner cylinder 20 in which rice is contained in the outer cylinder 12 is seated. Here, the upper circumference of the inner cylinder 20 is formed with a plurality of engaging jaw 22 is bent at a predetermined interval. The side of the main body 10 is provided with a function operation unit 14 for operating the selection of cooking menu, cooking time, etc., the upper end of the hinge (Roker) member 16 is elastically rotatable hinge Combined.

On the other hand, the upper end of the body 10, that is, the opposite side of the rocker member 16, the lid 30 is hinged to open and close. The lid 30 has an outer lid 31 having a steam discharge portion 31a coupled to a center of an upper surface thereof, a ring-shaped lid fixing portion 32 fixedly coupled to a bottom surface of the outer lid 31, and The heat sink 33 is rotatably coupled to the bottom of the lid fixing portion (32).

Here, the heating plate 34 is attached to the upper circumference of the heat sink 33, and the locking projection 33a is engaged with the locking projection 22 of the upper end of the inner cylinder 20 at the bottom edge thereof so as to be engaged and released. It is bent at intervals. In addition, the handle member 33b protrudes to the outside of the rice cooker on one side of the heat sink 33 along the guide grooves 31b and 32b formed on the side surfaces of the outer lid 31 and the lid fixing part 32. .

In addition, a cup-shaped steam guide part 35 is inserted and seated in the through hole 32a at the center of the lid fixing part 32, and the steam guide part 35 has a heat sink 33 and a plurality of screws 36 at the lower part thereof. By fastening is interlocked by). In addition, the solenoid (Solenoid) 37 is coupled to the steam guide portion 35 to intermittently open and close the steam discharge hole (35a) to prevent the high-temperature steam inside the inner cylinder 20 is suddenly discharged to the outside. .

Moreover, after the main body 10 and the lid 30 are first fastened to each other by the rocker member 16 so as to maintain the sealed state of the inner cylinder 20, a pressure fastening that enables the final fastening to be possible The sensing means 12 is provided inside the lid 30.

Conventionally, the pressure fastening detecting means 38, as shown in Figure 2, the magnet (38a) attached to the upper bent portion (35b) of the vapor guide portion 35, and the lid fixing portion 32 The reed switch 38b attached to the periphery of the center insertion hole 32a is mutually opposed.

The operating state of the conventional pressure tightening detecting device configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 3. When the heat dissipation plate 33 which is a rotating member on the lid body fixing part 32 which is a fixing member is rotated left and right within the formation range of the guide groove 32b of the lid fixing part 32 using the handle member 33b, It is set to a 'pressure' state or a 'release' state. That is, when the handle member 33b is rotated in the direction of the solid arrow, the magnet 38a on the vapor guide portion 35 is also interlocked and moved to the position directly facing the reed switch 38b. At this time, the magnetic force generated from the magnet 38a has a direct influence on the reed switch 38b, thereby 'turning on' the reed switch 38b, and this signal is input to the controller 40 so as to be in a 'pressure' state. Detect that the fastening is complete and proceed with cooking.

On the other hand, when the handle member 33b is rotated in the above-described opposite direction (dotted arrow direction), the magnet 38a is moved from the position of the reed switch 38b to the position where the influence of the magnetic force is not affected. At this time, the reed switch 38b is 'OFF' so that the control unit 40 determines that cooking is completed or the pressure is not ready yet ('release' state) so that the operation of cooking is stopped. do.

However, the conventional electric pressure cooker having such a pressure fastening detecting means 38 detects that the fastening is completed correctly by the interaction of the magnet 38a and the reed switch 38b, and proceeds to the next process such as cooking. However, there is a problem that the magnet 38a tends to deteriorate due to the influence of high heat applied to the lid 30 during the cooking operation.

In this case, since the magnetic force of the magnet 38a is considerably weakened, the reed switch 38b does not properly sense this even though the handle member 33b is correctly rotated to the position of the pressure state, so that the control unit 40 is in a pressure state. It judges that there is no and stops process progress even during cooking.

Therefore, the present invention was created to solve the above-mentioned problems, the object of the present invention, even though the pressure is in a fastening state, the pressure fastening of the electric pressure cooker to prevent the operation of cooking, etc. due to poor switching To provide a sensing device.

1 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing the internal configuration of a general electric pressure cooker.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of a partial cutaway of the pressure tightening detection device of a conventional electric pressure cooker.

Figure 3 is a plan view showing the operating state of the pressure tightening detection device of a conventional electric pressure cooker.

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the main portion showing the configuration of the pressure tightening detection device of the electric pressure cooker according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the main part of Fig. 4;

Figure 6 is a plan view showing the operating state of the pressure tightening detection device of the electric pressure cooker according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

300: lid body, 310: outer lid,

312: steam discharge portion, 320: lid fixing portion,

322: through hole, 330: heat sink,

334: handle member, 350: steam guide,

352: upper jaw, 354: blocking member,

360: light sensing means, 362: light emitting unit,

364: light receiver.

Pressure fastening detection device of the electric pressure cooker according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the lid fixing portion having an outer lid coupled to the vapor discharge portion in the center of the upper surface, and a central through hole fixedly coupled to the bottom of the outer lid; A heat sink having a steam guide part seated on an upper end of the lid fixing part, a handle member fixedly coupled to the steam guide part and rotatably coupled to a bottom of the lid fixing part, and a through hole of the lid fixing part; The edge is characterized in that it comprises a light sensing means having a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion is attached so as to detect the self-adjustable pressure fastening state using light.

The upper jaw of the vapor guide portion is preferably provided with a blocking member protruding to open and close the optical path between the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion of the light sensing means in accordance with the rotation of the heat sink handle member.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the main portion showing the configuration of the pressure tightening detection device of the electric pressure cooker according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a sectional view of the main portion of Fig.

In the figure, reference numeral 300 denotes a lid of the electric rice cooker of the present invention, in which the outer lid 310, the lid fixing portion 320, the heat sink 330 and the like are sequentially coupled. That is, looking at the configuration of the lid 300 in detail, the vapor discharge portion 312 is coupled to the center of the upper surface of the outer lid 310. The bottom of the outer lid 310 is coupled to the lid fixing portion 320 to serve as a frame of the lid body 300, the through hole 322 is formed in the center of the lid fixing portion 320. The upper portion of the through hole 322 of the lid fixing portion 320 is inserted into the cylindrical cup-shaped steam guide portion 350. The steam guide part 350 is fastened to the bottom surface of the lid fixing part 320 so as to be interlocked with the lower heat dissipation plate 330. Of course, a solenoid (not shown) is coupled to the vapor guide part 350. The heating plate 340 is attached to the upper circumference of the heat sink 330, and the bottom edge of the heat sink 330 is bent at a predetermined interval so as to engage with and release the engaging jaw of the upper end of the inner cylinder (not shown). . In addition, one side of the heat sink 330, the handle member 334 is protruded to the outside of the cooker to move along the guide grooves 314, 324 formed on the side of the outer lid 310 and the lid fixing portion 320. .

In particular, the pressure fastening detection means of the present embodiment, as shown in enlarged in Figure 4, the light detection means 360 is attached to the edge of the through hole 322 of the lid fixing portion 320. The sensing unit 360 is a photo coupler that converts electrical energy into energy of light and senses the photo coupler. The light emitting unit 362 and the light receiving unit 364 are configured to face each other.

Further, when the blocking member 354 is further protruded from the upper jaw 352 of the vapor guide part 350 to the position opposite to the light sensing means 360, the heat sink handle member ( The rotation of the 334 is preferable because the optical path between the light emitting part 362 and the light receiving part 364 of the light sensing means 360 can be opened or closed. In addition, the blocking member 354 is preferably bent in a range not limited by the rotation radius within the width between the light emitting portion 362 and the light receiving portion 364.

The operation state of the pressure fastening detection device of the electric pressure cooker according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 6. Holding the handle member 334 of the heat sink 330 and rotating the heat sink 330 to the left and right within the formation range of the guide groove 324 of the lid fixing portion 320, in the 'pressure' state or 'release' state Is set. That is, when the handle member 334 is rotated in the direction of the solid arrow, the blocking member 354 of the steam guide unit 350 also interlocks and is inserted between the light emitting unit 362 and the light receiving unit 364 of the light sensing unit 360. do. At this time, the optical path between the light emitting unit 362 and the light receiving unit 364 is blocked. Therefore, the detection signal is input to the control unit 400, for example, if it is determined that the 'pressure' fastening state, the lid 300 is recognized that the fastening is completed can proceed to the next process, such as cooking To be.

On the other hand, when the handle member 334 is rotated in the opposite direction (dotted arrow direction) described above, the blocking member 354 of the vapor guide unit 350 is also linked to the light emitting unit 362 of the light sensing means 360 Is separated between the light receiving unit 364. At this time, the optical path between the light emitting unit 362 and the light receiving unit 364 is opened, so that the control unit 400 determines that cooking is completed or the pressure is not ready yet ('off' state) to operate the cooking unit. To stop.

Of course, contrary to the above-described case, the case where the blocking member 354 is inserted between the light emitting unit 362 and the light receiving unit 364 to block the optical path may be set to a pressure 'release' state. In this case, the fastening directions are reversed.

Therefore, if only the mechanical operation of the heat sink handle member 334 is properly maintained, the pressure fastening and releasing state can be accurately sensed, thereby preventing malfunction of the magnet due to magnetic deterioration.

According to the present invention described above, by taking the light sensing structure that is not affected by the heat, the detection of the fastening state as in the prior art during the process of cooking, such as not only the lid body being opened but also maintaining the pressure fastening state continuously, Process interruptions can be prevented beforehand.

Claims (2)

An outer lid combined with a vapor discharge unit at the center of the upper surface, A lid fixing portion having a central aperture fixedly coupled to a bottom of the outer lid, A steam guide part seated on an upper end of the through hole of the lid fixing part; A heat sink having a handle member fixedly coupled to the vapor guide portion and rotatably coupled to a bottom of the lid fixing portion; The through-hole edge of the lid fixing portion includes a light sensing unit having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit attached to detect a pressure fastening state that can be cooked using light. The method of claim 1, The upper jaw of the steam guide portion of the pressure member of the electric pressure cooker characterized in that the blocking member protrudes to open and close the light path between the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion of the light sensing means in accordance with the rotation of the heat sink handle member.