JP2790384B2 - Cooking device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooking device, in particular a rice cooker or a cooking jar, which detects the capacity of an object to be cooked in the course of cooking and controls the electric power supplied to the heating means in accordance with the capacity. To a cooker that does.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cooking device of this type includes a container for storing an object to be cooked, heating means for heating the container, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the object to be cooked or the temperature of the container, and detecting the temperature. A control device for controlling the power supplied to the heating means in accordance with the temperature detected by the means, and wherein the power supplied to the heating means is controlled so that the heating can be performed according to a heating pattern suitable for the object to be cooked. . For example, in the case of a rice cooker, as shown in FIG. 8, small electric power is first supplied to the heating means in the preheating step to absorb water for a predetermined time, and rice is supplied by supplying maximum electric power to the heating means in the middle papper step to cook rice. In the process, the amount of cooked rice is determined based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means, and when the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means reaches a predetermined temperature close to the boiling temperature, the supply power is reduced to a predetermined power suitable for the determined amount of cooked rice. When the detected temperature rises rapidly and reaches a predetermined temperature exceeding 100 ° C. when the excess water in the container is exhausted and the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature exceeding 100 ° C., the power supply to the heating means is stopped and the heating is continued for a predetermined time. Steaming is performed, and if necessary, a predetermined power is supplied to the heating means for a short time during the steaming to complete the rice cooking.

[0003] In this case, the method of determining the amount of cooked rice is usually from when the temperature of the object to be cooked in the container rises to some extent and reaches a predetermined temperature until the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature slightly lower than the boiling point. A method of judging from the temperature rising within a certain time, or a method of judging from the time required until the temperature of the object to be cooked in the container reaches the predetermined temperature from the time of reaching the predetermined temperature to the predetermined temperature slightly lower than the boiling point is adopted. I have.

[0004]

However, in this type of rice cooker, the amount of cooked rice is classified into several ranks and discriminated, so that it is difficult to cook with the optimal thermal power for the amount of cooked rice. That is, in this type of rice cooker, when rice is cooked with an appropriate heating power corresponding to the rice cooking capacity, a curve a in FIG.
The curve and temperature rise rate curve are as shown by curve b (medium amount appropriate) and curve c (full amount appropriate). Since it is not possible to cook, a heating means having a rating corresponding to the maximum amount of cooked rice is adopted, and the setting is made such that the full rated power is supplied to the heating means during the middle and middle strokes. For this reason, when the amount of cooked rice is remarkably smaller than the maximum amount of cooked rice, the thermal power is too strong and the water temperature rises rapidly as shown by the curve d in FIG. There is a problem that rice near the bottom or side wall of the container is cooked before water is sufficiently absorbed, resulting in rice having a hard core and cannot be cooked deliciously. In addition, when a small amount of rice is cooked, the amount of cooked rice is determined to be one rank higher or one rank lower due to water addition even if the amount of rice is constant, and there is a problem that it is not possible to perform appropriate capacity determination.

In order to prevent this, for example, it is conceivable to introduce fuzzy control to control the heating power in the middle papper stroke, that is, the power supplied to the heating means, to power suitable for the amount of cooked rice. In the control device, if the thermal power is constant, the rate of temperature rise of the cooked food is proportional to the amount, and the amount of cooked rice is determined from the temperature rising within a certain time or the time required for the temperature to rise. Therefore, if the power supplied to the heating means changes on the way, the prerequisites will be broken, and erroneous capacity determination will be performed. Therefore, in order to detect the amount of cooked rice, it is essential to keep the heating power (supply power to the heating means) constant during the middle papper stroke as long as the conventional capacity discrimination method is adopted,
It was impossible to cook delicious rice by changing the heating power in the middle pass process.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to accurately determine the capacity even when the power supplied to the heating means changes in the process of determining the amount of the object to be cooked. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to cook deliciously even when the actual cooking amount is significantly smaller than the maximum cooking amount of the cooking device.

[0007]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, there is provided a container for accommodating an object to be cooked,
A heating unit that heats the container, a temperature detection unit that detects the temperature of the object to be cooked or a container temperature, and a control device that controls power supplied to the heating unit according to the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit. In the cooking device, the control device is configured to set a plurality of temperature region boundary values for dividing a temperature region from room temperature to a boiling point into a plurality of regions, and a temperature increase in each of the temperature regions. A temperature rise rate boundary value setting means for setting a plurality of temperature rise rate boundary values for dividing the rate into a plurality of regions; and from the time when the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches a predetermined temperature to a temperature higher than the predetermined temperature. Calculating means for calculating the temperature rise rate from the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means and the temperature detected immediately before it at predetermined time intervals; and calculating the calculated value of the calculating means and the detected temperature with the temperature rise rate boundary value and Power supply setting means for setting power to be supplied to the heating means in comparison with the temperature region boundary value, and control means for controlling power supplied to the heating means based on the set value of the supply power setting means. An integrated power amount detection means for detecting an amount of power supplied to the heating means from a time when the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches a predetermined temperature to a predetermined temperature higher than the predetermined temperature, and a detection by the integrated power amount detection means. A capacity discriminating means for discriminating the amount of cooked rice by comparing the value with a preset reference electric energy is provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control device is connected to a heating means via a drive circuit including a relay, and instead of directly detecting the integrated electric energy, the time during which the relay is turned on during the capacity determination period is measured. And a capacity discriminating means for discriminating the amount of cooked rice by comparing the measured value with a preset reference value.

Further, the present invention provides a container for accommodating an object to be cooked, heating means for heating the container, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the object to be cooked or the temperature of the container, and detection by the temperature detecting means. A cooker comprising: a control device that controls power supplied to the heating means in accordance with the temperature;
A means for setting a reference integrated power amount to be supplied to the heating means after the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the reference temperature; and an integrated power amount detection means for integrating and detecting the power amount supplied to the heating means. Calculating means for calculating a temperature rise rate from a detected temperature of the temperature detecting means when the detected value of the integrated power amount detecting means reaches the reference integrated power amount and the reference temperature; and a calculated value of the calculating means. A capacity discriminating means for discriminating the amount of cooked rice by comparing with a preset temperature rise rate is provided.

[0010]

In order to heat an object to be cooked (eg, rice) with a proper heating power to the cooking amount (cooking rice amount), the heating means is turned on and off so that the temperature of the object to be cooked falls within a certain temperature range, thereby supplying electric power. Control, the amount of power per unit time changes, but when the heating means is turned off and then turned on, the temperature is not so low as to be lower than the temperature when the heating means is turned off. The temperature of the object to be cooked is the total amount of heat supplied between the time when the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means reaches the capacity determination start reference temperature and the time when the temperature reaches the higher capacity determination end reference temperature, in other words, the integrated power. Will rise in proportion to the quantity.

[0011] Therefore, since the integrated electric energy required to raise the object to be cooked by a certain temperature changes according to the capacity of the object to be cooked, if the integrated electric energy during the capacity discrimination period is detected, the amount of the electric energy to be cooked is increased. The amount of the food can be determined. Conversely, when a constant amount of electric power is supplied to the object to be cooked, the degree of the temperature rise changes according to the capacity of the object to be cooked. If the rate of increase in the temperature of the object to be cooked during that period is detected, the capacity of the object to be cooked can be determined.

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

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a rice cooker. This rice cooker has a container 1 for storing an object to be cooked.
A rice cooker 2 for heating the container 1, a temperature sensor 3 for detecting the temperature of the object to be cooked (actually, the temperature at the bottom of the container) via the container 1, and controlling electric power supplied to the rice cooker 2 The rice cooker 2 is attached to the heating plate 5. The heating plate 5 is disposed in the outer container 4 surrounding the container 1, and a through hole is provided at the center so that the temperature sensor 3 can contact the bottom center of the container 1 when the container 1 is mounted thereon. Is formed. The outer container 4 is provided inside the exterior body 6, and its upper opening is opened and closed by a lid 7 that is attached to the exterior body 6 so as to be openable and closable. Heat retaining heaters 8 and 9 are provided on the lid 7 and the body of the outer container, respectively, and both heaters are connected in parallel and connected in series to the rice cooker 2 as shown in FIG.

The control device 10 includes a central processing unit that mainly performs calculation and control, a storage element (ROM) in which a series of rice cooking programs is written, a temporary storage element (RAM) that temporarily stores data, and As shown in FIG. 2, these microcomputers comprise input / output interfaces for exchanging data with external elements. These microcomputers are used to set a capacity determination start reference temperature, a capacity determination end reference temperature, and a capacity determination reference value. Value setting means 1
1, a comparison means 12 for comparing a reference temperature from the reference value setting means 11 with a temperature detected by the temperature sensor 3, and a time measurement is started by a capacity discrimination start signal from the comparison means 12; , A capacity discriminating counter 14 for receiving a signal from the clocking means 13 and counting the ON time of the relay Ry, and receiving a capacity discriminating end signal from the comparing means 12 to determine the capacity at that time. A capacity discriminating means 15 for comparing the count value of the counter 14 with the capacity discriminating reference value from the reference value setting means 11 to discriminate the amount of cooked rice, and controls the rice cooker 2 based on a signal from the capacity discriminating means 15. The control means 16 is connected to a rice cooker via a drive circuit 17 including a relay Ry, and is controlled via a drive circuit 19 including a triac 18. It is connected to the lid heater 8 and cylinder heater 9 Te.

In use, the rice cooker having the above-described configuration sequentially performs each of a preheating process, a medium wrapper process, a power control process, and a steaming process in accordance with a program written in the ROM. First, in the preheating process, as in the conventional case, if the detected temperature Tc of the temperature sensor 3 (actually, the temperature at the bottom of the container corresponding to the temperature of the object to be cooked) is a certain set temperature, for example, 30 ° C. or less. If the detected power Tc is equal to or higher than the set temperature T ₀ , the supply power to the rice cooker 2 is intermittently supplied to, for example, half of the rated power to heat the container 1 to promote the water absorption of rice. Then, without supplying power to the rice cooker, water is absorbed for a predetermined period of time.

After a lapse of a predetermined time, the preheating process is completed, and the process shifts to the middle hopper process. In the middle passper process, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, first, a rated power of 100% is supplied to the rice cooker 2 (step 1), and the temperature before and after the temperature rise of the food starts to be affected by the amount of cooked rice. For example, with 40 ° C. as a reference temperature T ₀ , the object to be cooked is heated with full power until the temperature reaches the reference temperature T ₀ (step 2). When the temperature Tc detected by the temperature sensor reaches the reference temperature T ₀ , the temperature rise rate α is set to α = 0 (step 3).
Heating is performed while controlling the power supplied to the rice cooking heater so that the heating power becomes suitable for the amount of rice cooked (step 4).

As shown in FIG. 4, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the power supplied to the rice cooking heater in the middle pass process is divided into three ranges of "high", "medium", and "low" from the normal temperature to the boiling point of water. FIG. 4A shows that the temperature is "high" when the detected temperature is in the area of (1) in FIG. 4A. The temperature is "medium" when it is in the area (2), the temperature is "low" when it is in the area (3) of FIG.
When the temperature rise rate is “large” when the temperature rise rate is in the area (1) of (b) and “medium” when the temperature rise rate is in the area (2) of FIG. When the temperature rise rate is in the region (3) in the drawing, the temperature rise rate is “small”, and the control is performed according to the rules shown in Table 1.

[0018]

[Table 1]rule  1 If the temperature is low and the rate of temperature rise is small, increase the power. 2 If the temperature is low and the rate of temperature rise is medium, slightly raise the power. 3 If the temperature is low and the rate of temperature rise. If the temperature is large, the power remains unchanged 4 If the temperature is medium and the temperature rise rate is small, raise the power slightly 5 If the temperature is medium and the temperature rise rate is medium, the power remains unchanged 6 If the temperature is medium and the rate of temperature rise is large, slightly lower the power 7 If the temperature is high and the rate of temperature rise is small, the power remains unchanged 8 If the temperature is high and the rate of temperature rise is medium If so, lower the power a little9 If the temperature is high and the rate of temperature rise is large, lower the power

In the control in step 4 in FIG. 3, when a digital computer is used as the computer, for example,
It can be executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the boundary values of the temperature region in FIG. 4A are the reference temperatures T ₁ and T ₂ (T ₁ <T ₂ ), and the boundary values of the temperature rise rates are the reference rise rates α ₁ and α ₂ (α ₁ <α _2). ), If it is determined in step 2 that the detected temperature Tc of the temperature sensor 3 has exceeded the reference temperature T ₀ , the temperature rise rate α ₀ is set to 0 (step 3), and the process proceeds to step 4. The temperature detected by the temperature sensor 3 at that time is read (step 101).
And the detected temperature Tc _i the preceding detected temperature Tc _(i-1) because the temperature rise rate alpha _i is calculated (step 102), according to the rules 1-9 from said detected temperature Tc _i and the temperature increase rate alpha _i The heating power, that is, the power supplied to the rice cooker is set (steps 103 to 120), and the state is maintained for a predetermined time t.
_0, for example, was maintained for 2 minutes (step 121), the process proceeds to step 4, the detected temperature Tc _i capacitance discrimination initiation temperature Ts of the temperature sensor, for example, to over 70 ° C., the control operation and step 5 in Step 4 Is repeated.

Therefore, after the temperature Tc detected by the temperature sensor reaches the reference temperature T ₀ , every time a predetermined time elapses (in the above example, every two minutes), the detected temperature Tc _i detected by the temperature sensor and the previous temperature Tc _i The temperature increase rate α _i per unit time is calculated by the calculating means from the detected temperature Tc _(i-1), and the power supplied to the rice cooker is controlled from the detected temperature Tc _i of the temperature sensor and the temperature increase rate α _i. Is done.

As described above, heating is performed while controlling the power supplied to the rice cooker. When it is determined that the temperature Tc detected by the temperature sensor has reached the reference temperature Ts for detecting the amount of cooked rice (step 5), the capacity determination is started. The timer for counting the elapsed time starts counting (step 6), and it is determined whether the relay Ry is on (step 7). If the relay is on, the capacity discrimination counter is counted up (step 8), and if the relay is off, the process directly proceeds to the next step, and the detection temperature Tc _{(i) of the} temperature sensor becomes the rice cooking amount detection end temperature Te, For example, it is determined whether the temperature exceeds 96 ° C. (step 9). In this step, the detected temperature T
If it is determined that c _(i) exceeds the rice cooking amount detection end temperature Te, the process proceeds to the rice cooking amount determination operation. If not, the operation from step 4 is repeated.

If it is determined in step 9 that the detected temperature Tc of the temperature sensor has exceeded the rice cooking amount detection end temperature Te,
As shown in FIG. 6, the count value ta of the capacity discrimination counter is sequentially compared with a discrimination set value to rank the rice cooked amount (steps 11 to 19). The temperature at the bottom of the container and the supply power in the process from when the detected temperature Tc exceeds the temperature at which the detection of the amount of cooked rice exceeds the temperature at which the detection of the amount of cooked rice is completed change as shown in FIG. When the ranking of the amount of cooked rice is completed, the process shifts to the power control process, and the power supplied to the rice cooker is set so as to be a thermal power according to the ranked amount of cooked rice. The cooked rice is continued with the set electric power until there is no excess water in the container, and when the detected temperature Tc of the temperature sensor reaches a predetermined temperature, for example, 137 ° C. or more, the cooked rice is completed through the steaming process.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the total amount of electric power supplied to the rice cooker during the middle papper stroke, that is, the accumulated electric energy, can be used to determine the capacity of the object to be cooked. The electric power supplied to the rice cooker in the pupper process can be controlled independently of the capacity determination, and an excellent effect that delicious rice can be cooked can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a cooking device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control device of the cooking device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the control device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing an appropriate temperature change during rice cooking.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart at the time of power control.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for ranking rice cooking amounts.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing changes in container temperature and supply power during power control.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a heating pattern of a conventional rice cooker and a temperature change in the process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Container 2: Rice cooking heater 3: Temperature sensor 10: Control device 11: Reference value setting means 12: Comparison means 13: Clocking means 14: Capacity discrimination counter 15: Capacity discrimination means 16: Control means 17: Drive circuit Ry: Relay

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A container for storing an object to be cooked, heating means for heating the container, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the object to be cooked or the temperature of the container, and according to the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means. A cooking device provided with a control device for controlling power supplied to the heating means, wherein the control device sets a plurality of temperature region boundary values for dividing a temperature region from room temperature to a boiling point into a plurality of regions. Area boundary value setting means, temperature rise rate boundary value setting means for setting a plurality of temperature rise rate boundary values for dividing the temperature rise rate in each of the temperature areas into a plurality of areas, and a temperature detected by the temperature detection means being predetermined. Calculating means for calculating a temperature rise rate from a temperature detected by the temperature detecting means and a temperature detected immediately before the temperature at a predetermined time interval from a time when the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature higher than the temperature, a calculated value of the calculating means and detection A supply power setting unit configured to set the power to be supplied to the heating unit by comparing the temperature with the temperature rise rate boundary value and the temperature region boundary value, respectively, and to the heating unit based on the set value of the supply power setting unit; Control means for controlling the supplied power, and integrated power amount detection means for detecting the amount of power supplied to the heating means from the time when the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches a predetermined temperature to a predetermined temperature higher than the predetermined temperature And a capacity discriminating means for discriminating the amount of cooked rice by comparing a detection value of said integrated power amount detecting means with a preset reference power amount. 2. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to a heating unit via a drive circuit including a relay, and the integrated power detection unit includes a timer for measuring a time during which the relay is turned on during a capacity determination period. 2. The cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the means compares the measured value of the time keeping means with a reference value corresponding to a preset reference power amount to determine the amount of cooked rice. 3. A container for storing an object to be cooked, heating means for heating the container, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the object to be cooked or the temperature of the container, and a temperature detected by the temperature detecting means. A cooker provided with a control device for controlling power supplied to the heating means, wherein the control device sets a reference integrated power amount to be supplied to the heating means after the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the reference temperature. And an integrated power amount detecting means for integrating and detecting the amount of electric power supplied to the heating means, and detecting the temperature detecting means when the detection value of the integrated power amount detecting means reaches the reference integrated power amount. Calculating means for calculating the temperature rise rate from the temperature and the reference temperature; and capacity determining means for determining the amount of cooked rice by comparing the calculated value of the calculating means with a preset temperature rise rate. Cooker characterized by.