JPH10113286A - Rice washing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a small and inexpensive rice washing apparatus with a simple configuration. SOLUTION: A hollow drum 1 having a substantially columnar shape and having a circular center axis arranged in a horizontal direction is provided, and a hole 2 communicating with the hollow inside the drum 1 is provided at one place of an outer peripheral portion of the drum 1. Driving means 5 for rotating the drum 1 is provided. Further, around the drum 1, a rice inputting unit 6, a water supply unit 7, a drainage water receiving unit 8 are provided at positions substantially coincident with the holes 2 in accordance with a change in the rotation angle.
A rice washing apparatus provided with a rice discharging section 9 and moving the hole 2 by rotating the drum 1 in accordance with a rice washing process to perform rice input, water supply, rice washing, drainage, and rice discharging.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice washing apparatus for washing (sharpening) rice for cooking rice, and a rice washing machine for performing only rice washing and a fully automatic rice cooker (cooker with rice washing function) for automatically performing rice washing to rice cooking. This is the technology used in the department.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There have been many inventions relating to a rice washing apparatus for a rice washer and a fully automatic rice cooker. The following is a summary of the conventional invention.

In the first case, a rice washing container is provided separately from a rice cooking pot, and the rice is washed by stirring using a water flow. 58-67216, JP-A-58-10
No. 5726 and the like.

In the second case, a rice washing container is provided separately from a rice cooking pot, and the rice is washed by stirring using a stirrer. JP-A-61-272017, JP-A-57-272017
No. 112821 and the like.

[0005] In the third case, rice is washed by rotating a cooking pot.
There is No. 3 publication.

A fourth case involves washing rice with a stream of water inside a cooking pot, such as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 63-143011 and 63-209616.

A fifth example is to wash rice with a stirrer provided in the lower part or lid of the rice cooker inside the rice cooker, or to wash the rice by stirring the rice cooker itself by rotating the rice cooker itself.
88112 and JP-A-2-21312.

[0008] In the sixth case, the surface is polished without using water by a dry rice washing machine provided separately from a rice cooking pot, and there is Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-230117.

[0009]

In the first and fourth cases, the rice is washed by a water flow. Therefore, a difference in the stirring ability at the time of washing is likely to occur depending on the water pressure of the tap water and the amount of the rice to be washed. There is a problem that stable rice washing performance cannot be obtained. Also, there is an economical problem because a large amount of water is required.

In the second case, a complicated mechanism such as a valve and a shutter is required for the drainage path of the rice washing water and the moving path of the rice after the rice washing, and when the rice washed in the rice washing container is transferred to the rice cooking pot, the rice is washed. There is a problem with the treatment of rice attached around the special container,
There was a problem that water would enter the rice cooking pot above the appropriate water level for cooking when trying to flush with water.

[0011] In the third case, the lid is required to be airtight when the rice is put into the airtight container and when the cooked rice is taken out, so that the structure of the pot is complicated and difficult to handle easily. There is a problem in that the water supply / drainage valve cannot be closed if a minute rice grain broken during drainage is caught.
In addition, the rice and water in the closed container have inertia, so even if the spherical closed container is rotated, only the container rotates, and the rice and water in the closed container are not stirred while maintaining the position before rotation. . In addition, there is a problem that a means for releasing the pressure of steam generated during cooking rice cannot be found due to the closed container.

In the fifth case, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-288112
In the publication, rice adheres to the stirring blade at the time of cooking rice, and there is a problem in hygiene and cleanability. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-213312, cleaning performance is good because stirring blades are not required, but it is difficult to provide a drain valve directly in a rice cooking pot. The valve does not close) and the rice is dehydrated by high-speed rotation, causing a large amount of rice grains to adhere to the side wall and lid of the rice cooking pot. There is a problem that rice cannot be cooked without moving.

In the sixth case, the structure is simple in that water is not used. However, it is difficult to say that it is rice washing, and it is an operation of wiping and polishing the surface of rice grains, which is problematic in terms of hygiene. There is a feeling that it is unacceptable to consumers.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a hollow drum, puts rice and water into the drum, rotates the drum, and controls the rotation angle. By doing so, the rice is washed, drained, and discharged.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention provides a hollow drum having a substantially cylindrical shape and a central axis of the hollow drum arranged in a horizontal direction. A plurality of rice washing resistors are provided inside the drum, and a driving means for rotating the drum forward and reverse is connected to the center axis of the drum. In addition, around the rotation angle of the drum, a rice feeding section is provided above, a water supply section is provided above the rotation angle of the rice feeding section and a drainage water receiving section is provided below the drum,
The rice discharge section is provided below the rotation angle.

Further, a control unit is provided for controlling the driving means to rotate the drum and aligning the holes of the drum with various parts such as the rice charging section. After discharging the washed rice, the driving means is provided. The drum is repeatedly rotated forward and backward in small increments, and a shaking-off process for shaking off the rice adhered in the drum is provided in the control unit of the driving means.

In the above arrangement, the rice washing procedure is as follows.

[0018] The driving means rotates the hole of the drum to the rice feeding section, and feeds the rice into the drum from the hole.

[0019] The drum is rotated until the hole is aligned with the position of the water supply unit, and an appropriate amount of water is supplied from the hole into the drum at the water supply unit.

[0020] The drum is repeatedly rotated forward and backward by the driving means, and the rice and water are stirred by a plurality of rice washing resistors provided in the drum to wash the rice.

[0021] The drum is rotated by the driving means so that the positions of the drainage water receiving portion and the hole are substantially matched, and only the water turbid due to the washing of rice is drained from the hole into the drainage water receiving portion.

[0022] The drum is inverted, and the rice is discharged from the hole by aligning the opposite end of the hole with the rice discharging portion.

[0023] At each position, the drum rotates and flips in small increments, shakes off the rice grains adhering to the inside of the drum and the rice-washing resistor, and discharges the rice from the hole into the rice discharge section.

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the rice input section, the water supply section, the drain water receiving section, and the rice discharge section are provided around the rotation angle of the drum by changing the rotation angle. By changing the position of the hole and enabling rice input, water supply, washing, drainage, and rice discharge, complicated mechanisms such as shutters and valves as in the second and third conventional cases are not required, and rice grains are sandwiched. There is no reliability problem such as a ball. In addition, since the mechanism is simple, it can be configured in a small size, and the storage location is not restricted. In addition to the simplicity of not requiring a valve mechanism, the driving means for performing the above-described series of operations and the driving means for washing rice are common and simple, and can be provided to consumers at low cost.

Further, since the plurality of resistors for rice washing are surely stirred, the method using the water pressure in the first and fourth cases, the instability of the rice washing performance as in the third case, uncertainty, etc. Stable rice washing performance can be obtained.

After the rice washing is completed, the rice adhered to the inside of the drum is shaken off by the vibration caused by the repetition of the normal rotation and reversal of the minute rotation angle in the shaking-off process. Absent. No water is used for this swing-off, so there is no more water than is appropriate for cooking rice in the pot for cooking rice, and the shake-off is composed of driving means that rotates the drum, a special structure for vibration Since it is not necessary, it can be configured small.

[0027]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a rice washing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a first half of a rice washing operation of the rice washing apparatus of the same embodiment, and FIG. FIG.

In the drawing, 1 is a drum, 2 is a hole, 3 is a mesh member,
4 is a resistor for washing rice, 5 is a driving means, 6 is a rice input section, 7 is a water supply section, 8 is a drain water receiving section, 9 is a rice discharge section, 10 is a rotation angle detecting section, 11 is a control section, and 12 is a control section. A chassis 13 is a main body, and 14 is an operation / display unit.

The structure is such that a hollow drum 1 having a substantially columnar shape and arranged so that the center axis of the circle is horizontal is provided.
A hole 2 communicating with the hollow inside at one location on the outer periphery of the drum 1
And a mesh member 3 is provided in a substantially radial direction inside the drum 1 on one end side of both ends of the hole 2, and a plurality of rice washing resistors 4 are provided inside the drum 1. Connected drive means 5 for rotating the drum 1 forward and reverse. Around the rotation angle of the drum 1, a rice feeding section 6 and a rice feeding section 6
A water supply unit 7 is provided above the rotating angle, a drainage water receiving unit 8 is provided below, and a rice discharging unit 9 is provided below the rotating angle.

The driving means 5 is provided with a rotation angle detecting section 10 which can control the rotation angle. In this embodiment, a stepping motor which rotates by a fixed angle with a pulse is used for the driving means 5, so that the rotation control section and the driving means are provided. 5 are integrally formed. (Another embodiment may be adopted in which the rotation control unit is constituted by a position detection sensor and the driving unit is operated in accordance with the position detection result.) The control unit 11 is further provided to operate the driving unit 5 and the rotation angle detection unit 10. Controlled. Further, a chassis 12 holding the above configuration and a main body 13 for protecting the chassis from an outer shell are provided.
Connected with.

Next, the operation according to the rice washing procedure will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the user puts an arbitrary amount of rice into the rice feeding section 6, the rice is put into the rice feeding section 6 in a standby state before use because the hole 2 of the drum 1 is stopped at the position of the rice feeding section 6. Part 6
From inside the drum 1 ().

Next, when the user performs an operation for starting the rice washing operation using the operation / display unit 14, the driving means 5 is operated by the instruction from the control unit 11 to rotate the drum 1. When the rotation angle detection unit 10 detects that the hole of the drum 1 has moved to the water supply unit 7, the operation of the driving unit 5 is stopped by a command from the control unit 11, and the rotation of the drum 1 is stopped. In this embodiment, a stepping motor that rotates by a predetermined angle with one pulse is used. Therefore, when the control unit 11 outputs a predetermined number of pulses, the hole 2 rotates to a position angle matching the water supply unit 7. Stop.

Next, the water supply unit 7 is controlled by a command from the control unit 11.
Is operated (the water supply valve is opened), and water is supplied from the water supply unit 7 into the drum 1 (). When a predetermined amount of water is supplied, water supply is stopped by a command from the control unit 11.

Next, the driving means 5 operates according to a command from the control unit 11, and when the driving means 5 rotates to a certain angle in the forward direction, it immediately reverses and rotates in the reverse direction to a certain angle. The normal rotation / reversal in this fixed angle range is repeated for a fixed time or a fixed number of times. During this time,
The rice and water inside the drum 1 are pressed by the rice washing resistor 4 provided inside the drum 1, and are stirred up, stirred and washed.

When the normal rotation / reversal operation is completed for a predetermined time or a predetermined number of times, the driving means 5 rotates the hole 2 of the drum 1 until the hole 2 of the drum 1 coincides with the position of the drainage water receiving part 8 according to a command from the control unit 11. At this time, the rice after washing, which has entered the inside of the drum 1, is blocked by the net member 3, and only the turbid water after washing, which has passed through the mesh of the net member 3, is discharged from the hole 2 through the drain water receiving portion 8.
It falls and is drained ().

When a predetermined time required for draining and draining has elapsed, the drum 1 rotates in the opposite direction according to a command from the control unit 11 (). The hole 2 rotates to the rice discharge 9. Even after the drum 1 rotates, the rice inside the drum 1 is below the drum 1 due to its weight even if the drum 1 rotates.
It is further discharged to the rice discharge section 9 ().

At this time, most of the rice is discharged to the rice discharge section 9, but a small amount of rice adheres and remains inside the drum 1. In response to a command from the control unit 11, the driving unit 5 repeats the rotation and reversal of the hole 2 at small angles within the range of the rice discharging unit 9 in small increments, shakes off the rice grains attached by the vibration, and removes the rice grains inside the drum 1. A swinging-down step of discharging the whole from the hole 2 to the rice discharging section 9 is executed ().

Thus, a series of rice washing steps is completed. In the description of the operation of the present embodiment, the rice washing water is drained to the drainage water receiving portion 8 and then immediately inverted to discharge the rice to the rice discharging portion 9. The operation of rotating, supplying water, washing and draining rice may be repeated several times to sufficiently wash the rice, and then rotated to the rice discharge section 9 to discharge the rice. The number of times of the rice washing step may be changed depending on the amount of rice to be washed. In this case, the user may input the amount of rice to be washed from the operation / display unit 14, or a weight sensor for detecting the weight of the drum 1 may be provided, and the measured weight may be input to the control unit 11 and automatically. The amount of rice may be measured and the number of times of washing may be varied.

In this embodiment, the mesh member 3 is provided on one side of the end of the hole 2 of the drum 1. However, even if the mesh member 3 is not provided, the amount of rice to be charged into the drum 1 and the rotation angle of the drainage will cause the rice to be washed. The cloudy water can be drained, and is not particularly limited by the presence or absence of the net member 3. In this embodiment, the drum 1 has a substantially cylindrical shape.
Also, the shape may be a shape in which cones are superimposed or a spherical shape. A rice feeding unit 6, a water supply unit 7, and a drainage water are provided around the drum 1 so that the holes 2 coincide with each other according to the rotation angle of the drum 1. If the receiving portion 8 and the rice discharging portion 9 are arranged, this is consistent with the gist of the present invention.

Further, in this embodiment, since the hole 2 of the drum 1 can be moved between the water supply portion 7, the drainage water receiving portion 8 and the rice discharge portion 9 by rotating the hole portion 2 by the driving means 5 many times, for example,
Before the rice is introduced, water is supplied from the water supply unit 7 into the drum 1, and the water is drained by rotating to the drainage water receiving unit 8, so that the water accumulated in the water supply unit 7 and the drum 1 can be washed. Easy to do.

After the washed rice is discharged from the rice discharge section 9, water is supplied from the water supply section 7, the normal rotation / reversal is repeated by the driving means 5, and the rice is drained from the drain water receiving section 8, whereby the drum 1 is discharged.
It is also easy to clean the inside of the washing water adhered to the inside.

Also, after washing the rice, an appropriate amount of water necessary for cooking rice is supplied from the water supply unit 7 into the drum 1 and rotated to the rice discharge unit 9 to the container from which the rice is discharged or the pot of the rice cooker provided at the bottom. By draining the water, it is possible to realize the water level for cooking rice.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, a substantially cylindrical shape is used.
A hollow drum arranged so that its circular center axis is horizontal is provided, a hole communicating with the hollow inside is provided at one place on the outer periphery of the drum, and a substantially radial direction is provided inside the drum at one end on both ends of the hole. A mesh member is further provided, and a plurality of rice washing resistors are provided inside the drum, and a driving means for rotating the drum forward and reverse is provided on the center axis of the drum. A rice feed section, a water supply section above the rice feed section with a different rotation angle, a drainage water receiving section below, and a rice discharge section below the rotation angle with a different rotation angle. Further, the driving means is provided with a rotation angle detecting section capable of controlling or detecting the rotation angle, and a control section for controlling the operation of the driving means and the rotation angle detecting section is provided. The control unit has a shake-down process that repeats the inversion and shakes off the rice stuck in the drum, so it is possible to change the position of the hole according to the rice washing process, and put in rice, supply water, wash rice, drain, and discharge rice. No complicated mechanism such as a shutter or a valve is required, and there is no reliability problem such as pinching of rice grains. In addition, since the mechanism is simple, it can be configured in a small size, and the storage location is not restricted. In addition to the simplicity of eliminating the need for a valve mechanism, the drive means for performing a series of operations and the drive means for washing rice are common and simple, and can be provided to consumers at low cost. In addition, since the plurality of rice washing resistors are surely stirred, stable rice washing performance can be obtained.

Further, a rice-washing container does not leave rice grains on the drum after washing, and water is not used for shaking off the water. Further, the swing-down is constituted by a driving means for rotating the drum, and a special structure for vibration is not required, so that the swing-down can be made small.

In addition, since the present invention has a configuration in which only a rice washing device is provided independently of a rice cooker pot, in the case of a rice washing machine which performs only rice washing, a saucer such as an inner pot of a rice cooker may be prepared below the rice discharge section. When incorporated as a rice washing device in a dish, it is also excellent in that it is a technology that can be freely combined, such as installing a rice cooker that operates in conjunction with a control unit below the rice discharge unit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a first half of a rice washing operation of the rice washing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a latter half of a rice washing operation of the rice washing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drum 2 Hole part 3 Net member 4 Rice washing resistor 5 Driving means 6 Rice input part 7 Water supply part 8 Drain water receiving part 9 Rice discharge part 10 Rotation angle detection part 11 Control part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A hollow drum (1) having a substantially cylindrical shape and a center axis of the circle arranged in a horizontal direction, a rice washing resistor (4) provided inside the drum, and a drum outer peripheral portion. At two places, a hole (2) communicating with the hollow inside the drum is provided, and further, a driving means (5) for rotating the drum (1) is provided, and a hole (2) is provided around the drum according to the change of the rotation angle. A rice washing device provided with a rice input section (6), a water supply section (7), a drainage water receiving section (8), and a rice discharge section (9) at positions substantially coincident with (1). 2. A hollow cylinder (1) having a substantially cylindrical shape and a center axis of which is arranged horizontally in a horizontal direction, and a hole (2) communicating with the hollow inside the drum at one portion of an outer peripheral portion of the drum. , A driving means (5) for rotating the drum in the forward and reverse directions, a rice discharging portion (9) is provided so as to substantially coincide with the hole depending on the rotation angle of the drum, and further, inside the drum (1). After washing the rice, the drum is rotated until the hole (2) substantially coincides with the rice discharging portion (9), and after the rice in the drum has been washed, the drum is rotated in small increments by the driving means (5). A control section (11) of a driving means having a swinging-down step of shaking off the rice adhered in the drum by repeating reversal;
Rice washing equipment.