JPH0740983B2 - Automatic rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic rice cooker which is used in ordinary households and automatically rinses rice stored in rice bins and cooks it.

2. Description of the Related Art This type of known automatic rice cooker has a structure as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, 1 is a body of an automatic rice cooker, 2 is a rice stock case, 3 is a rice weighing device, 4 is an electromagnet for operating the rice weighing device 3, and weighing can be performed by the number of actuations.
Reference numeral 5 denotes a water reservoir provided at the bottom of the rice weighing device 3, which communicates with an adjacent water tank 6 through a large number of holes 7 through which rice grains do not pass. Reference numeral 8 is a water supply pipe for sending water to the water tank 6, 9 is a valve, and 10 is a float, which maintains a constant water level in the water tank 6. 11 is a water surface, 12 is a screw for washing and feeding rice, 13 is a motor, 14 is a transportation pipe, 15 is an outlet of the transportation pipe 14, and this outlet 15 is a pot 17 which is detachable from the body 1 It is arranged on the upper part of the storage part of the above, and is fixed to a lid body 18 that seals the kettle 17 when the kettle 17 is housed in the body 1, and is exposed to the inside of the lid body 18. 16 is a backflow prevention lid that seals the outlet 15 of the transport pipe 14, and this backflow prevention lid 16 is a pot closed with a lid body 18.
The transport pipe 14 is exposed inside 17
Even when cooking rice in the
It is designed to prevent backflow to the side.

Reference numeral 19 is a hole formed in the peripheral wall of the pot 17, and the hole 19 is made small so that rice grains do not flow out. 20 is a packing attached to the peripheral edge of the lid 18, 21 is a sealing body for sealing the hole 19 drilled in the pot 17, and when the rice is cooked in the pot 17,
By sealing the hole 19 in the hook 17 where the hole 19 exists, the hole 19
You can cook rice without water leaking out. 22 is a spring that presses the closed body 21 against the hook 17, 23 is an electromagnet that separates the closed body 21 from the hook 17, 24 is a drainage channel, and a packing 25 is attached to the opening of the drainage channel 24. 25 in 17
Out of the water stored in the kettle 17 by coming into close contact with the outer wall around the hole 19 of the water, excess water flows out as an overflow. You may make it enclose the whole circumference of.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a drainage / water adjustment pipe, which is attached to the drainage passage 24 so as to be able to move up and down without leakage. Reference numeral 27 is a water passage hole formed in the drainage / water adjustment pipe 26. By adjusting the lower end 28 of the water passage to the height of the water for cooking rice in the pot 17, the rice can be adjusted in water. 29 is a rack provided on the drainage / water control pipe 26, 30 is a pinion that meshes with the rack 29, and this pinion 30 is linked to the operation switch of the electromagnet 4 of the rice weighing device 3 to determine the amount of water at the same time as the weighing of rice. To be done. 32 is a drain pipe, 33 is a switch for preventing idle cooking and a malfunction prevention switch for preventing water flow from entering the pot installation location when there is no pot, 34 is an insulating board, and the bottom of pot 17 of this insulating board 34 is in contact. A heater such as an electric heater is installed in the contact portion. 35 is a lid of the rice stock case 2.

Next, the operation of the automatic rice cooker having the above configuration will be described.
First, the rice in the rice stock case 2 is actuated by the electromagnet 4 to be weighed and dropped into the water reservoir 5 which stores water at a constant water level. When the motor 13 is further driven and the screw 12 is rotated, the rice is washed, and the transportation pipe 14 is raised to be sent to the kettle 17. After that, after the water is adjusted, the sealing body 21 seals the hole 19 of the pot 17 to cook rice.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above-mentioned conventional automatic rice cooker has the following problems.

First, since water is used for washing rice and the rice is transported together with the rice, rice bran or the like adheres to the inner wall of the transportation pipe 14 and decomposes to generate an offensive odor during long-term use. Second,
Since rice and water are measured by volume and are not very accurate, as a result, rice with different hardness can be prepared each time.

The present invention solves such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic rice cooker that does not generate an offensive odor even when used for a long time, and measures rice and water accurately and with high accuracy.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores a rice, a rice cooker for cooking rice, a weight detector for measuring the amount of rice and water transferred to the rice cooker, and rice. Rice grains, a measuring unit for measuring the amount of rice in the rice grains, a polishing unit for polishing the rice supplied through this measuring unit, and the rice after polishing is pneumatically fed to the rice cooking unit. And a control device for controlling each of the above parts.

Action With the above configuration, rice can be washed without using water, only rice can be transferred to the rice cooking unit, and rice can be cooked with an appropriate amount of water according to the amount of rice supplied to the rice cooking unit by the detection of the weight detection unit. It is possible.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. In the figure, reference numeral 40 is a rice bowl that is provided at the bottom of the rice cooker body 56 so that it can be freely taken in and out. Reference numeral 41 denotes a weighing unit provided in the lower stage of the rice bowl 40. The weighing unit 41 has an electromagnet like the conventional rice weighing device 3 shown in FIG. 7, and has a constant volume each time it is operated. It may measure rice. Reference numeral 42 denotes a rice polishing section provided at the bottom of the rice cooker main body 56 below the weighing section 41, and includes a brush 42a, a polishing body 42b such as lath net, a motor 42c for driving the brush 42a, and an intake hole 4
2d, a supply hole 42e, an exhaust hole 42f, etc., and a brush 42a
The rice bran or the like on the surface of the rice is removed between the polishing body 42b and the polishing body 42b. Reference numeral 43 is a pipe for transferring the bran and the like removed in the rice polishing section 42. 44 is a bran container for storing this bran, etc.
It has a and is connected by a suction pipe 45 to a transfer device 46 composed of a fan motor or the like. The transfer device 46 sucks air from the intake hole 42d of the polishing part 42 and exhausts the air to the exhaust pipe 47, and transports the rice polished in the polishing part 2 from the ejector 48 to the transport pipe.
It is to be transferred via 49. Reference numeral 50 denotes a rice cooking pot that forms a rice cooking portion together with a pot 51 having a heater, and rice is supplied from a transport pipe 49. 54 is a water tank for storing water to be supplied to the rice cooking pot 50, and this water tank 54 is arranged in the upper part of the rice cooker main body 56 together with the rice cooking section. 53 is a pump for supplying water from the water tank 54 to the rice cooking pot 50, which is provided in the middle of the water supply pipe 52. 55 is a weight detection unit provided at the bottom of the rice cooker, which measures the weight of the rice transferred into the rice cooker 50 and the amount of water supplied from the water tank 54, and is provided in front of the rice cooker body 56. This signal is sent to the control device 58 incorporated in the operating unit 57 provided. The operation unit 57 has an operation button 59 for the user to set the rice cooking amount, rice cooking time, and the like.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a rice cooking program that the control device 58 has, and cites two types A and B. A is the rice cooker 50
The figure shows the case where a proper amount of water is supplied to the inside, then the rice that has been subjected to the polishing of rice is added, and the amount of water that is insufficient from the amount of water that is input is additionally supplied later.
In B, the rice after polishing is put into the rice cooking pot 50, and then an appropriate amount of water is supplied, and thereafter, an amount of water which is insufficient from the amount of water corresponding to the amount of rice is supplied.

Next, the operation of the automatic rice cooker of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

With a proper amount of rice stored in the rice bin 40, the operation unit 57 is operated to set the amount of rice cooked, the time of rice cooked, etc., and the switch is turned on. The following description will be made assuming that the control device 58 has the control program shown in FIG. 6A. First, the weight detection unit 55 operates to detect the weight of the rice cooking pot 50 in the empty pan state, and the rice cooking pot 50 is placed on the rice cooking unit and the rice cooking pot.
Make sure there is no rice left in 50. At this time, if there is an abnormality such that the rice cooking pot 50 is not placed or there is remaining rice in the rice cooking pot 50, the abnormality notification means provided in the operation unit 57 is driven, and the abnormality is detected by the user. Notify that it is in a state. If there is no abnormality, the pump 53 is driven to supply an appropriate amount of water from the water tank 54 into the rice cooking pot 50, and the weight detection unit 55 is operated to measure the water supply amount. Next, the weighing unit 41 is operated by the operation unit 57 for the number of times the rice is cooked, and the rice is weighed, and this rice is supplied to the rice polishing unit 42. Next, the motor 42c of the polishing unit 42 is driven to rotate the brush 42a, and the bran and the like adhering to the surface of the rice with the polishing body 42b are removed. At the same time, the transfer device 46 is driven and the intake hole 42d
Air is sucked from the air, and the air is exhausted from the supply port 42e and the exhaust hole 42f. The bran removed from the rice passes through the exhaust hole 42f and is stored in the bran container 44 through the transfer pipe 43. After the rice polishing, the rice is sent from the supply port 42e to the ejector 48, and is blown from the transfer device 46 through the exhaust pipe 47 into the rice cooker pot 50 through the transport pipe 49. Weighing department
If all of the rice weighed in 40 is transferred to the rice cooker 50,
The weight detection device 55 is driven again to measure the weight of the rice after the rice is put into the rice cooking pot 50.

Next, the control device 58 calculates and obtains the amount of water commensurate with the amount of rice put in the rice cooking pot 50, first calculates the shortfall from the amount of water supplied to the rice cooking pot 50, and pumps this shortfall again. 53
Is driven to supply the rice in the rice cooker 50 to adjust the amount of water. Then, after a proper immersion time, the heater is energized to cook rice.

It should be noted that the detection of the completion of rice cooking should be performed by the conventional method. When the rice cooking is completed, as shown in FIG. 4, pull out the upper stage in which the rice cooking section is stored from the rice cooker main body 56 and eat. can do.

In the description of the above embodiment, the program held by the control device 58 is assumed to be that shown in FIG. 6A, but FIG.
It goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained even with the program shown in.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is clear from the description of the above embodiments, according to the present invention, the weight of rice after polishing is carried out without using water, and the weight of the rice after polishing sent to a rice cooker is detected by a weight detection unit. Since the amount of water corresponding to this amount of rice is adjusted, only the milled rice will pass through the rice transfer route, and as a result, bran etc. will not adhere to this transfer route.
There is no offensive odor even after long-term use, and since rice can be cooked with an appropriate amount of water according to the amount of rice supplied to the rice cooking section,
It is possible to provide an easy-to-use automatic rice cooker, which can cook rice of the same hardness every time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of the automatic rice cooker of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram for explaining the principle of the automatic rice cooker, and FIG.
Fig. 4 is an external perspective view of the same automatic rice cooker, Fig. 4 is an external perspective view showing the rice cooker of the automatic rice cooker, and Fig. 5 is an external perspective view showing the rice cooker of the same automatic rice cooker. FIGS. 6A and 6B are flow charts of programs which the control device of the same automatic rice cooker has, and FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional automatic rice cooker. 40 …… rice box, 41 …… weighing section, 42 …… polishing section, 46 …… transfer device, 49 …… transport pipe, 50 …… rice cooker, 51 …… pot, 55…
… Weight detection unit, 56 …… Rice cooker body, 57 …… Operating unit, 58…
…Control device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yukio Hayashida 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Seiichi Taniguchi, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rice cooker for cooking rice, a weight detector for measuring the amount of rice and water transferred to the rice cooker, a rice bin for storing rice, and an amount of rice in the rice bin. A weighing unit, a polishing unit for polishing the rice supplied through the measuring unit, a transfer device for transferring the polished rice to the rice cooking unit by air pressure feeding, and a control device for controlling each unit. Automatic rice cooker equipped with.