JP2929327B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker used for the purpose of stably providing delicious rice in any situation by utilizing neuro control for controlling the amount of heating during cooking.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the heating amount of a rice cooker has generally been determined by taking the output of a rice cooker sensor during heating by a rice cooker, making a determination using a microcomputer, and determining the heating amount. As this method, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-53
No. 048, JP-A-59-57616, JP-A-59-155222, etc., use the principle that when the amount of cooked rice is small, the temperature rise of the rice cook sensor rises sharply as the amount of cooked rice is reduced. The first technique described above and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-1923 were invented in order to solve these problems.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 17, the rice cooker sensor detects the temperature at the bottom of the inner pot, so that the rice cooker outputs a considerably higher temperature than the actual rice temperature during heating by the rice cooker. Although the temperature of the rice cooker drops until the temperature of the rice cooker falls, the second technical concept is based on the fact that the greater the amount of rice, the greater the difference between the temperature of the rice cooker being heated and the actual temperature of the rice. The present invention is a further development of the second technique.

[0003]

Generally, when the contact between the rice cooker and the rice cooker is poor, heat is not easily transmitted from the rice cooker to the rice cooker, and the temperature of the rice cooker rises accordingly. Since the rice cooking sensor is near the rice cooking heater, it is affected by radiant heat. In the first technique for determining the amount of rice only by the degree of rise during energization, this effect is large, and there is a problem that the amount of rice is determined to be small even though the amount is large. On the other hand, even if the voltage is low, the calorific value of the rice cooker is constant, and there is an advantage that delicious rice can always be provided. That is, when the voltage decreases, the calorific value of the rice cooker decreases, and even if the amount of rice is not small, the temperature rise degree is slow, so it is determined that the amount of rice is large, and even if the energization ratio thereafter increases, the cooker heater The amount of heat generation is the same as when the voltage is appropriate and the small amount is determined (the energization ratio is small).

On the other hand, the second technique of judging the amount of cooked rice based on the degree of descent during the stop of energization has the advantage that the determination is made during the stop of energization, so that the influence of the abutment condition is small. On the other hand, even if the voltage decreases, the degree of decrease does not change, so that the energization ratio does not change, and the amount of heat generated by the rice cooker decreases due to the decrease in voltage.

[0005] It is conceivable to combine the first technique and the second technique to obtain the advantages of both techniques. However, it is necessary to determine the degree of ascent and determine the criteria for the judgment of descent for each of the divided groups. , The combinations are enormous. Also,
In order to smoothly change the energization ratio after it is determined according to the situation, it is difficult to determine the energization ratio for each grouping result.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and comprises a control section provided with a rising degree measuring section, a descending degree measuring section, and a neural network, and the control section controls the temperature of the rice cooking sensor. The degree of rise and the degree of decrease in temperature of the rice cooker were input to the neural network, and the energization ratio to the rice cooker heater by the energization control means was determined.

Further, at the start of rice cooking, the control section starts energizing the rice cooker by the power supply control means. When the detected temperature of the rice cooker reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the control section starts the rise degree measuring section and sets the temperature T2 higher than the temperature T1. Is measured until the temperature rises to the temperature of the rice cooker sensor. When the temperature reaches the temperature T2, the power supply control means stops the energization of the rice cooker until the temperature falls to the temperature T1. At the same time, the lowering degree measuring unit is activated to start the temperature T1 lower than the temperature T2. It is also possible to measure the time until the temperature falls to the temperature decrease degree of the rice cooker sensor and obtain the energization ratio to the rice cooker heater by the energization control means after the temperature T1.

At the start of rice cooking, the control section starts energization of the rice cooker by the power supply control means. When the temperature detected by the rice cooker reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the control section activates the rise degree measuring section to increase the temperature T2 higher than the temperature T1. The time until the temperature rises is measured and the temperature rise degree of the rice cook sensor is measured. When the temperature reaches T2, the power supply control means stops the power supply to the rice cooker and when the detected temperature of the rice cooker sensor reaches a predetermined constant temperature T3, the falling degree measuring unit is activated. Start-up temperature T lower than temperature T3
The time until the temperature falls to 4 may be measured and used as the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker sensor, and the energization ratio to the rice cooker heater in the energization control means after the temperature T4 may be obtained.

Further, at the start of rice cooking, the control section starts energizing the rice cooking heater by the power supply control means, and when the temperature detected by the rice cooking sensor reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, activates the rise degree measuring section and during a predetermined time t1. The difference between the raised temperature T2 and the temperature T1 is defined as the temperature rise degree of the rice cooker sensor. After a certain time t1, the power supply control means stops the energization of the rice cooker heater, and at the same time, starts the descent degree measurement unit and falls during the certain time t2. The difference between the temperature T3 and the temperature T2 may be used as the temperature decrease degree of the rice cooking sensor, and the energization ratio to the rice cooking heater by the energization control unit after the temperature T3 may be obtained.

Further, at the start of rice cooking, the control section starts energizing the rice cooker by the power supply control means. When the temperature detected by the rice cooker reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the control section activates the rise degree measuring section and for a predetermined time t1. Temperature T2
The difference between the temperature and the temperature T1 is defined as the temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor,
When the temperature reaches T3, the energization control means stops energization of the rice cooker and at the same time activates the descent degree measuring section to activate the rice cooker for a fixed time t2.
The difference between the temperature T4 and the temperature T3 that has fallen during the period may be taken as the temperature decrease degree of the rice cooker sensor, and the energization ratio to the rice cooker by the energization control means after the temperature T4 may be obtained.

[0011]

According to the configuration of the present invention, the degree of temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor and the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker sensor are determined by the amount of rice
Measure the voltage, water temperature, room temperature, water level, etc. in various situations, and let the neural network learn the optimal energization ratio in that situation. When the detection temperature of the rice cooker reaches a predetermined constant temperature, the rise degree measuring unit is started to output the temperature rise degree, and the energization control means stops the energization of the rice cooker, and the detection temperature of the rice cooker sensor is predetermined. When the temperature reaches a certain level, it activates the degree-of-fall measurement unit, outputs the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker sensor, inputs it to the neural network, and controls the energization control after the temperature T1 at the optimal energization ratio even if the input pattern is not learned. It operates to control the energization of the rice cooker by means.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a sectional view of a rice cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a heating control system of the rice cooker, and FIG.
7A and 7B are diagrams showing an example of a temporal change in heating control by the rice cooker, wherein FIG. 7A shows a case where the amount of cooked rice is large, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a neural network.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing neuron elements constituting a neural network, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a change over time in heating control of a rice cooker according to a second embodiment, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the same according to a third embodiment, FIG. Is the same figure according to the fourth embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a rice cooker 2 is attached to the bottom inside the main body 1, and an inner pot 3 is detachably inserted into the main body 1, and the inner pot 3 rides on the rice cooker 2 to determine its position. . The rice cooking sensor 4 attached to the main body 1 comes into contact with the inner pot 3 and comes into close contact with the force of the spring 5. Inside the main body 1, a control unit 6 and a power supply control means 7 are provided, and the rice cooker 4 and the power supply control means 7 are connected to the control unit 6, and the rice cooker 2 is connected to the power supply control means 7. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 6 includes an ascending degree measuring unit 8, a descending degree measuring unit 9, and a neural network 1.
0 is provided.

Before describing the operation along the procedure, the neuro control will be described a little. Fig. 4 Neuro control
By inputting a numerical value from the input layer (left side) of the neural network 10 having the structure shown in FIG. 1, the numerical value is transmitted between the networks, and a result is output to the output layer (right side). The network is composed of a plurality of neuron elements and signal lines connecting these, and one neuron element has a configuration shown in FIG.

The operation of the neuron element will be described with reference to FIG. The neuron element has a plurality of input terminals and one output terminal, and the signal line connected to the output terminal is connected to the output terminal of each neuron element in the upper layer. Each signal line has a transfer coefficient (weight: W). This means that the signal is amplified and attenuated and transmitted, and the signal I is transmitted W times. The value obtained by adding the threshold value Ws to the sum of the values transmitted to the respective input terminals and processing with the sigmoid function is the output of the neuron element.

When the above processing is represented by an arithmetic expression,

[0018]

(Equation 1)

Now, the values of the inputs I1 to In are arbitrarily determined.
It can be seen from the equation that when the weighting: W and the threshold value: Ws are changed, the output Z also changes. Z that should be for input
Is the process of operating W and Ws so that In practice, a network as shown in FIG. 4 is used, and various input patterns (I1 to I1) are set by changing the weight of signal lines of the entire network and the threshold value of each neuron.
(Correlation of In)) so as to always output the correct answer at that time. Therefore, the number of input patterns to be learned is large, and the number of neuron elements constituting the network is required to be large as the relationship with the correct output is non-linear and there is no rule. Once W and Ws are determined, a solution can be obtained from the equation even for an input pattern that has not been learned. As described above, the neural network expresses the learning result by manipulating the values of W and Ws. Since each of the values of W and Ws has no meaning, the neural network is hereinafter treated as a black box.

A generally-known neurocomputer has a function of operating the values of W and Ws by learning, but a computer used for controlling a rice cooker as in the present invention is equipped with a neural network of a learning result. Since the values of W and Ws are invariable, it cannot be said that "the smarter the more they are used," however, if the network is a sufficiently learned result, it is possible to perform control utilizing the effect of neuro control.

The operation will be described below. When the user puts rice and water into the inner pot 3 and inserts it into the main body 1 and operates a rice cooker switch (not shown), rice cooker starts. At the start of rice cooking, first, the power supply control means 7 operates according to a signal from the control unit 6, and power is supplied to the rice cooking heater 2. The control unit 6 is a rice cooking sensor 4
The output temperature is monitored and a predetermined constant temperature T1 is determined.
When the temperature reaches (85 ° C. in this example), the rise degree measuring unit 8 is started. The rise degree measuring unit 8 measures the rise degree by measuring the time required for the rise from the temperature T1 to the temperature T2 (95 ° C. in this example).

Subsequently, when the temperature drops to the temperature T1, the rise time measured by the rise degree measuring section 8 and the fall time measured by the fall degree measuring section 9 are transmitted to the neural network 10 previously learned in various situations. Input and output the energization ratio thereafter. For example, if the output energization ratio is 40, the operation of energizing the rice cooker 2 by the energization control means 7 for 40 seconds out of 60 seconds, and stopping the energization for the remaining 20 seconds is repeated until the rice cooking is completed thereafter. The control unit 6 controls the power supply control means 7 as described above.

According to the above method, the energization ratio during 60 seconds can be changed in units of 1 second or in units of 0.5 second. Then, the energization ratio changes smoothly.

The degree of temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor 4 up to the temperature T2 and the degree of temperature fall of the rice cooker sensor 4 up to the temperature T1 are measured for various situations such as the quantity and voltage of rice and the water temperature, room temperature, and the degree of water addition. If the neural network 10 is made to learn the optimal energizing ratio in that situation, the energizing control means 7 at the start of rice cooking starts energizing the rice cooker 2, and the temperature detected by the rice cooker sensor 4 becomes a predetermined temperature T1.
When the temperature rises, the rise degree measuring unit 8 is started, the time until the temperature rises to the temperature T2 higher than the temperature T1 is measured, and when the temperature reaches the temperature T2, the power supply control means 7 stops the power supply to the rice cooker 2 until the temperature falls to the temperature T1. Activate the descent degree measuring unit 9 and
Measure the time until the temperature drops to the temperature T1 lower than the temperature T2,
Temperature rise degree and temperature T1 of rice sensor 4 up to temperature T2
The degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooking sensor 4 up to this point is input to the neural network 10, and even in an input pattern that has not been learned, the neural network 10 supplies the rice heating heater 2 with the optimal energizing ratio to the energizing control means 7 after the temperature T1. The energization control can be performed.

In this embodiment, the reference temperatures T1 and T2 for the measurement of the rising degree measuring section 8 and the reference temperatures T2 and T1 for the measurement of the descending degree measuring section 9 are the same.
May be set separately as shown in FIG. (FIG. 6)
Further, in this embodiment, both the rise degree measuring unit 8 and the descending degree measuring unit 9 measure the passing time of the determined temperature section to determine the degree, but the temperature is determined as described in claim 4 and claim 5. Alternatively, the temperature may be measured based on the degree of change in temperature within a certain period of time. For example, the rise degree measuring unit 8 calculates the temperature from T1 to 1
The output from the rice cooker sensor 4 after one minute is examined, and the difference from T1 is taken as the degree of rise, and the descending degree measuring unit 9 examines the output from the rice cooker sensor 4 two minutes after the temperature T2 (FIG. 7) or the temperature T3 (FIG. 8). If the difference from T2 or T3 is defined as the degree of decrease, and the neural network 10 learns the optimum energization ratio according to this degree, the same effect as in the present embodiment can be obtained.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the degree of temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor and the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker sensor are input to the neural network, and the energization control means determines the energization ratio to the rice cooker. By measuring the degree of temperature rise and the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker in various situations, and learning the optimal energization ratio in that situation using the neural network, learning is possible even for input patterns that have not been learned. Outputs the optimal energization ratio that is complemented appropriately according to the pattern that was made,
It is possible to prevent a sudden change in the cooked state of rice even near the boundary of change, and it is also possible to reduce the program capacity compared to the method of determining the criteria for determining the degree of descent for each degree of rise,
An easy-to-use and inexpensive rice cooker can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a rice cooker showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a heating control system of the rice cooker.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing changes over time in heating control of the rice cooker.
(A) When the amount of cooked rice is large. (B) When the amount of cooked rice is small.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a neural network.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing neuron elements constituting a neural network.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a change over time in heating control of the rice cooker according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a change over time in heating control of the rice cooker according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a change over time in heating control of the rice cooker according to the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Rice cooker 4 Rice cooker sensor 6 Control unit 7 Electricity control means 8 Ascent degree measuring unit 9 Ascent degree measuring unit 10 Neural network

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A main body, an inner pot stored in the main body, a rice cooker sensor provided in the main body and in close contact with the inner pot to detect a temperature of the inner pot, and a rice cooker provided in the main body and heating the inner pot. In a rice cooker having an energization control unit for controlling energization of the rice cooker and a control unit for controlling the energization control unit by obtaining temperature information from the rice cooker sensor, the control unit (6) includes a rise degree measurement unit (8). ), A falling degree measuring unit (9) and a neural network (10) are provided, and the control unit (6) controls the temperature rising degree detected by the rice cooking sensor (4) and the temperature falling degree similarly detected by the rice cooking sensor (4). Is input to the neural network (10) and the rice cooker is controlled by the power supply control means (7).
(2) A rice cooker characterized by determining an energization ratio to the rice cooker. 2. The control unit (6) is an energization control unit when rice cooking is started.
(7) The rice cooker (2) is energized and the rice cooker sensor
When the detected temperature of (4) reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the rise degree measuring unit (8) is started and the temperature T higher than the temperature T1 is started.
The time until the temperature rises to 2 is measured and the degree of temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor (4) is measured. When the temperature reaches T2, the power supply control means (7) stops energizing the rice cooker (2) until the temperature falls to the temperature T1, and simultaneously measures the degree of decrease. Activate the section (9) and measure the time until the temperature falls to the temperature T1 lower than the temperature T2, and determine the degree of temperature decrease of the rice cooker sensor (4), and to the rice cooker (2) in the power supply control means (7) after the temperature T1 2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the energization ratio is determined. 3. The control section (6) is a power supply control means when rice cooking is started.
(7) The rice cooker (2) is energized and the rice cooker sensor
When the detected temperature of (4) reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the rise degree measuring unit (8) is started and the temperature T higher than the temperature T1 is started.
The time until the temperature rises to 2 is measured and the temperature rise of the rice cooker sensor (4) is measured. When the temperature reaches T2, the power supply control means (7) stops the power supply to the rice cooker (2) and the detected temperature of the rice cooker sensor (4) becomes lower. When the temperature reaches a predetermined constant temperature T3, the temperature measuring unit (9) is activated, and the time until the temperature falls to a temperature T4 lower than the temperature T3 is measured to determine the temperature decreasing degree of the rice cooking sensor (4),
Rice cooker (2) in energization control means (7) after temperature T4
2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein a power supply ratio to the rice cooker is determined. 4. The control unit (6) is an energization control unit when rice cooking is started.
(7) The rice cooker (2) is energized and the rice cooker sensor
When the detected temperature of (4) reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the rise degree measuring unit (8) is started, and the difference between the temperature T2 and the temperature T1 that have risen during the fixed time t1 is raised by the temperature of the rice cooker sensor (4). After a certain period of time t1, the energization control means (7) stops energizing the rice cooker (2), and at the same time, activates the descent degree measuring unit (9) to lower the temperature T3 and the temperature during the predetermined period of time t2. Rice sensor (4)
And the power supply control means (7) after the temperature T3.
2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein an energization ratio to the rice cooker (2) is determined in the step (c). 5. A controller (6) for controlling energization at the start of rice cooking.
(7) The rice cooker (2) is energized and the rice cooker sensor
When the detected temperature of (4) reaches a predetermined constant temperature T1, the rise degree measuring unit (8) is started, and the difference between the temperature T2 and the temperature T1 that have risen during the fixed time t1 is raised by the temperature of the rice cooker sensor (4). When the temperature reaches T3, the energization control means (7) stops energization of the rice cooker (2), and simultaneously activates the descent degree measuring unit (9) to lower the temperature T4 and the temperature during the predetermined time t2. Rice sensor (4)
And the power supply control means (7) after the temperature T4.
2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein an energization ratio to the rice cooker (2) is determined in the step (c).