KR20040045704A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A rice cooker is provided to prevent the spoilage of cooked rice even for a long time by keeping the cooked rice cold. CONSTITUTION: A rice cooker is composed of an outer casing(10), an inner casing(12) having an inner space(14), a heater(30) installed at the bottom of the inner casing and heating the inner casing, a door(20) installed at one side of the outer casing, a vaporizer(22) enclosing the outer surface of the inner casing, a compressor(24) for compressing refrigerant, and a condenser(26). The condenser condenses the compressed refrigerant into liquefied refrigerant, and supplies the liquefied refrigerant to the vaporizer.

Description

Rice cooker {Rice cooker}

The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and more particularly, not only to heat rice, but also to cook rice, and to allow the remaining rice to be refrigerated or frozen, thereby preventing the color of the rice from being deteriorated even after long-term storage. On the other hand, it is about a rice cooker that can maintain the taste of rice for a long time.

For Koreans whose stock is rice, a rice cooker is used to cook rice.

Types of such rice cookers include electric rice cookers using electricity and pressure cookers to cook rice using high temperature / high pressure by gas fire.

Like this, the rice cooker is cooked using an electric rice cooker or a pressure rice cooker, and when a certain amount of rice remains, the rice is stored. If the rice is not damaged by avoiding contact with the outside air, the rice cooker is mainly used.

By the way, a conventional electric rice cooker has a heat retention function that can store rice for a long time, providing convenience of use.

However, when the rice is stored for a long time in a conventional electric rice cooker, the moisture contained in the rice evaporates not only the color of the rice is deteriorated but also has a disadvantage in that the taste of the rice falls.

For this reason, some users put the remaining rice in a plastic pack and put it in the freezer of the refrigerator to freeze and then thaw if necessary to eat.

However, when the rice is put in the normal refrigerator, the smell from other foods in the refrigerator is soaked in the rice, and there is a drawback that the taste of rice is also deteriorated.

Recently, frozen rice as described above may be sold in the form of a sealed package to be thawed if necessary after suppressing water evaporation as much as possible.

After all, if the conditions that the rice should be refrigerated or frozen so that the rice color does not change due to the evaporation of water and the taste of the rice does not deteriorate as much as possible can preserve the rice for a long time, then the remaining rice in addition to the ability to cook rice The development of a rice cooker that can be refrigerated or frozen is required, and if the rice cooker is developed to meet such needs, it can be used very practically.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional electric rice cooker as described above, the object of the present invention is not only to cook rice by heating the rice, but also to store the rice left for a long time by refrigerated or frozen storage Even if it is to provide a rice cooker to prevent the color change of the rice while maintaining the taste of the rice for a long time.

1 is a schematic internal cross-sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a control block diagram of the rice cooker shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: outer casing 12: inner casing

14: internal space 16: container

18: foot member 20: door

20: machine room 22: evaporator

24 compressor 26 condenser

28: cooling fan 30: heater

40: control unit

The present invention for achieving the above object, the outer casing to form an appearance; An inner casing having an inner space for cooking or storing rice inside, and having a vacuum holding space with the outer casing, and disposed radially inward from the outer casing; A heater configured to heat the rice introduced into the inner space to be provided at the bottom of the inner casing to cook rice in the inner space; A door provided at one side of the outer casing to open and close an opening of the inner space; An evaporator surrounding an outer wall surface of the inner casing; A compressor provided in the lower mechanical chamber of the inner casing to compress the refrigerant; It is achieved by providing a rice cooker comprising a condenser for condensing the compressed refrigerant in the liquid phase and sent to the evaporator.

The apparatus may further include a cooling fan disposed at one side of the condenser to cool the compressor and the condenser provided in the machine room.

A control unit may be further provided on the outer casing to control on / off operation of the compressor and the heater.

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

1 is a schematic internal cross-sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a control block diagram of the rice cooker shown in FIG.

As shown in these drawings, the cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, the outer casing 10 to form an appearance, and the inner space of the inner casing 12 to be described later provided on one side of the outer casing 10 ( It has the door 20 which opens and closes the opening part 14a of 14.

A lower portion of the outer casing 10 is provided with a plurality of foot members 18 for supporting a rice cooker with respect to the ground, and a pair of carrying holding portions 11 for transporting the rice cooker are provided on the side of the outer casing 10. It is prepared.

In this embodiment, the opening 14a of the inner space 14 faces upward.

Therefore, the door 20 is also provided on the upper side of the outer casing 10, but this is only one embodiment. If the opening 14a of the inner space 14 faces the front of the outer casing 10, the door ( 20) Its position can also be changed to correspond thereto.

The door 20 is provided with a handle portion 20a for opening and closing the door 20.

The outer casing 10 has an inner space 14 for storing rice inside, and is disposed radially inward from the outer casing 10 with a vacuum holding space 10a with the outer casing 10. The inner casing 12 is provided.

In the inner space 14, a container 16 for storing rice is accommodated.

At this time, by forming a region between the outer casing 10 and the inner casing 12 as the vacuum holding space 10a, the interior of the inner space 14 is overcome from high heat.

Therefore, it is advantageous to form this region as the vacuum holding space 10a as shown.

At the bottom of the inner casing 12 is provided a heater 30 for selectively heating the interior of the interior space 14.

The heater 30 is operated on / off by the control unit 40, and when rice and predetermined water are accommodated in the inner space 14, the heater 30 is heated to cook rice. do.

As such, the heater 30 not only performs a heating function to make rice using rice, but also does not operate a refrigeration cycle to be described later, that is, when the operation of the compressor 24 is turned off. By heating the space 14, it serves as a thermal insulation so that the rice in the container 16 accommodated in the interior space 14 can be warmed.

On the other hand, the rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, a conventional refrigeration cycle is applied as a method for refrigerating or freezing the rice in the container 16 stored in the interior space (14).

To this end, an evaporator 22 is disposed on an outer wall of the inner casing 12, and a compressor 24 for compressing a refrigerant in the lower machine room 20 of the inner casing 12, and the compressed refrigerant as a liquid phase. The condenser 26 which condenses and sends it to the evaporator 22 is provided.

In addition, one side of the condenser 26 is provided with a cooling fan 28 for cooling the compressor 24 and the condenser 26 provided in the machine room 20, and the condenser 26 and the lower part of the condenser 26 are condensed. A backing plate 29 is arranged to receive condensate that can be generated during the run.

The outer casing 10 is provided with a control unit 40 for selectively turning on and off the heater 30 and the compressor 24.

By this configuration, as in a conventional electric rice cooker, the door 20 is opened to fill the interior space 14 with rice and an appropriate amount of water, and the door 20 is shielded, and then through the control unit 40. The operation of the heater 30 is turned on.

The rice accommodated in the internal space 14 by the heating of the heater 30 is made of rice to eat rice.

If you do not eat all of the cooked rice in the inner space 14, if some remain, it must be refrigerated and frozen to store the moisture contained in the rice to evaporate the color of the rice as well as to overcome the disadvantage that the taste of the rice is degraded. have.

If the remaining rice is to be stored in this way, the operation of the compressor 24 is turned on through the control unit 40.

Of course, at this time, the operation of the heater 30 takes a state that is turned off (Off).

When the compressor 24 is operated to compress the refrigerant at high temperature / high pressure, the compressed refrigerant is condensed by the condenser 26 and then directed to the evaporator 22.

The evaporator 22 generates cold air into the internal space 14 by using latent heat of surroundings while evaporating the condensed refrigerant.

As a result, the interior space 14 can be cooled to a predetermined temperature so that the remaining rice can be refrigerated.

Of course, if the rice is to be stored for a longer time, by increasing the start-up time and efficiency of the compressor (24) it may be possible to store the frozen food rapidly by lowering the internal temperature of the inner space (14).

After a certain time, in order to eat chilled or frozen rice, the container 16 may be taken out of the rice cooker, and then cold rice may be heated by using a microwave oven, but the rice cooker of the present embodiment is provided with a heater 30. Before the container 16 is taken out, the operation of the heater 30 is turned on.

At this time, of course, the operation of the compressor 24 is off (Off) state, the rice stored in the refrigerator due to the operation of the heater 30 can be warmed up.

After a certain amount of time, when the rice is completely warm, the operation of the heater 30 is turned off, the door 20 is opened, and the container 16 may be taken out from the internal space 14 to be used.

Thus, according to the rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, while the rice can be cooked by the heater 30, by applying the principle of the refrigeration cycle the rice can be refrigerated or frozen storage even if the rice is stored for a long time It prevents the color from changing and provides a long lasting effect.

In the above-described embodiment, one inner space 14 is provided inside the inner casing 12.

However, when there is a relatively large amount of rice to be stored, it may be necessary to distinguish between rice to be stored for a short time and rice to be stored for a long time.

In this case, it is advantageous to freeze the rice to be stored for a long time and to refrigerate the rice to be stored for a short time. To this end, there are a plurality of internal spaces 14 provided in the inner casing 12, and one of each internal space is used as a refrigerated type. And the other one will have to be frozen.

In addition to the above-described embodiment, if the control program for checking the temperature and time for storing the cold storage of the rice to add more to the control unit 40 (see Fig. 2) will be able to store the rice more effectively.

In the above-described embodiment, the rice is placed in the container 16 and stored in the internal space 14, but in addition to the container 16, a plastic pack or other foil may be used, and the rice is refrigerated as it is in the internal space 14. Can be frozen.

As described above, according to the present invention, not only the rice can be heated but also cooked, and the remaining rice can be refrigerated or frozen. It can be effected.

Claims (3)

An outer casing forming an appearance; An inner casing having an inner space for cooking or storing rice inside, and having a vacuum holding space with the outer casing, and disposed radially inward from the outer casing; A heater configured to heat the rice introduced into the inner space to be provided at the bottom of the inner casing to cook rice in the inner space; A door provided at one side of the outer casing to open and close an opening of the inner space; An evaporator surrounding an outer wall surface of the inner casing; A compressor provided in the lower mechanical chamber of the inner casing to compress the refrigerant; And a condenser that condenses the compressed refrigerant into a liquid phase and sends the condenser to the evaporator. The method of claim 1, The rice cooker further comprises a cooling fan disposed at one side of the condenser to cool the compressor and the condenser provided in the machine room. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The rice cooker further comprises a control unit provided in the outer casing to control an on / off operation of the compressor and the heater.