An electric rice cooker capable of automatic water discharge

Abstract

The application discloses an electric rice cooker capable of automatic drainage, which comprises a cooker body, an inner container arranged in the cooker body and a first heating element for heating the inner container, the inner container is used for carrying rice, a bottom of the inner container is provided with a drainage assembly, the drainage assembly is used for at least partially draining liquid in the inner container, the drainage assembly comprises a valve cavity, a sealing body arranged in the valve cavity and a filter cover arranged above the valve cavity, a volume of the inner container is 2-5L, and a liquid storage volume of the valve cavity is less than 10ml. The above scheme can improve the situation that the rice above the drainage assembly in the inner container is too soft and rotten due to a high water content rate, and the overall taste is affected due to a high difference between the water content rate of the rice at other positions and the water content rate of the rice above the drainage assembly, and the clogging of mesh holes of the filter cover is also reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the technical field of kitchen appliances, and more specifically, to a rice cooker with automatic drainage. Background Technology

[0002] A rice cooker with a drainage function is available, which can activate the drainage function to drain at least part of the water in the inner pot when drainage is needed. This drainage function is achieved by installing a drain valve assembly at the bottom of the inner pot. The drain outlet of the drain valve assembly connects the inside of the inner pot to the external environment. When drainage is required, the drain valve assembly is opened by a drive mechanism. To prevent accidental leakage of food from the inner pot when the drain valve assembly is opened, a filter screen cover is usually installed above the drain valve assembly. The drain valve assembly also has a valve cavity to house the valve body structure. The filter screen cover is placed on top of the valve cavity to achieve effective filtration. During some cooking stages, when the drain valve assembly is not open, but the inner pot still contains a certain amount of liquid, this liquid will flow through the filter screen cover into the valve cavity, where a certain amount of liquid will remain. Because the drain valve assembly occupies the bottom of the inner pot, the heating element for heating the inner pot needs to be arranged to avoid the drain valve assembly. As a result, the location of the drain valve assembly cannot be heated by the heating element immediately. The liquid in the inner pot will evaporate before the liquid in the valve cavity due to the heating element and act on the food or flow to the top of the inner pot.

[0003] Chinese patent CN201921351400.1 discloses a sugar-reducing cooking appliance, which has a pot inner chamber with a drainage channel at the bottom. During operation, the user adds washed rice to the pot inner chamber and adds appropriate amount of water to the storage area until the rice is submerged. As cooking progresses, the rice starch dissolves into the water in the storage area, forming rice water. Opening the drainage channel drains the rice water, and finally, the remaining water is used to steam the rice, resulting in low-sugar rice. This solution automatically drains the water, actively reducing the amount of water used for cooking. The rice is submerged in water, allowing free starch to be fully transferred to the rice water, thus improving the sugar-reducing effect. In other words, this draining cooking appliance uses a method of first boiling and then steaming to fully cook the rice. It can also be understood as primarily cooking the rice through steaming. Compared to the more traditional method of first boiling and then simmering, the physicochemical properties and texture (such as elasticity and aroma) of steamed rice cannot match those of rice obtained through boiling.

[0004] Chinese patent CN201820384854.8 discloses an electric cooking device that also features a drainage channel at the bottom of an internal container. The difference lies in the absence of a steamer inside the internal container; the rice is cooked directly within it. This allows for both the traditional method of boiling followed by simmering, while also removing excess water, resulting in rice with a better texture and lower sugar content. However, during the simmering stage, liquid remains in the channel. Because the heating device for the internal container cannot quickly heat the channel, the liquid evaporates slowly and rises into the rice inside the container. The amount of liquid in the channel at this point affects the rice in the internal container.

[0005] The aforementioned channel is the valve chamber of the drain valve assembly. Specifically, if the valve chamber volume is too large, when cooking foods with a certain viscosity in a rice cooker, such as rice or porridge, taking rice as an example, as heating progresses, too much liquid remains in the valve chamber. During the cooking or steaming stages, when the rice in the inner pot has already formed, the steam generated by the liquid in the valve chamber flows to the rice above the filter cover. Excessive steam makes the humidity environment of the rice in this area too high, causing the rice to absorb too much water and become overly soft and mushy, resulting in poor overall texture. Simultaneously, the soft rice in this area easily clogs the mesh of the filter cover with rice grains, rice paste, or starch, leading to poor drainage or difficulty in cleaning the filter cover, resulting in a poor user experience. Similar problems exist when cooking other foods, and solutions are urgently needed to address these issues. Utility Model Content

[0006] The purpose of this application is to provide an electric rice cooker with automatic drainage. It was found that existing electric rice cookers with drainage have problems when cooking rice by boiling first and then simmering. The liquid in the valve cavity causes the rice at the bottom of the inner pot corresponding to the filter cover to have a significantly different taste from the rice in other parts of the pot. In addition, the mesh of the filter cover is easily blocked by the wet rice. After studying commonly used 2-5L inner pots, the application improves the problems of poor taste consistency of rice at the bottom and easy blockage of the mesh of the filter cover by controlling the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity to within 10ml.

[0007] The embodiments of this application are implemented as follows:

[0008] This utility model provides an electric rice cooker with automatic drainage, including a cooker body, an inner pot disposed within the cooker body, and a first heating element for heating the inner pot. The inner pot is used to hold rice, and a drainage component is protruding from the bottom of the inner pot. The drainage component is used to drain at least part of the liquid in the inner pot. The drainage component includes a valve cavity, a sealing body disposed in the valve cavity, and a filter screen cover disposed above the valve cavity. The volume of the inner pot is 2-5L, and the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity is less than 10ml.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the cross-sectional area of ​​the valve cavity in the horizontal direction is no greater than 500 mm2, and the vertical height of the valve cavity is no greater than 30 mm.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the liquid storage volume ranges from 3 to 6 ml, the drainage assembly further includes a valve assembly and a downwardly extending metal channel, the bottom of the valve chamber is provided with a drain port, and the sealing body blocks the drain port to form a seal at the drain port, wherein the volume of the sealing body is 0.269-3.054 cm³. 3 .

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the drain outlet is provided with a first sealing ring, and the sealing body blocks the through hole of the first sealing ring, wherein the diameter of the through hole is 8-15mm.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, when the drain assembly is in the closed state, the sealing body blocks the drain outlet. In the horizontal direction, the distance between the center of the sealing body and the inner wall of the valve cavity is 6-15mm, the thickness of the inner wall is 1-8mm, and the distance between the sealing body and the first heating element is 30-50mm.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the sealing body is a spherical valve core, and the valve assembly is detachably fixed inside the metal channel from the inner liner. A limiting frame for limiting the sealing body is also provided below the filter screen cover. A first bottom hole is provided at the lower end of the limiting frame, and the lateral dimension of the first bottom hole is smaller than the diameter of the sealing body. A second bottom hole is provided at the lower end of the metal channel. The first bottom hole and the second bottom hole are connected. The drain outlet is formed in the first bottom hole, and the valve cavity is formed inside the limiting frame; or, the drain outlet is formed in the second bottom hole, and the valve cavity is formed inside the metal channel.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the pot body is provided with a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor, the first temperature sensor being attached to the bottom of the inner pot and the second temperature sensor being attached to the outer periphery of the metal channel.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment, the pot body is further provided with a second heating element for heating the drainage assembly.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment, the filter cover is flush with or lower than the bottom of the inner liner in the vertical direction.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the rice cooker can cook a maximum amount of rice of 280-700g, and the heating power of the first heating element is 1000-2300W.

[0018] The advantages of this application compared to the prior art are:

[0019] This application addresses the issues of inconsistent texture and easy clogging of the filter cover mesh when cooking rice in existing drain-type rice cookers. For rice cookers with a drain assembly at the bottom of the inner pot, this application controls the liquid storage volume of the valve chamber of the drain assembly (for 2-5L inner pots) to within 10ml. This improves the situation where the rice above the drain assembly has a higher moisture content, resulting in overly soft and mushy rice, and the significant difference in moisture content between this area and the rice in other areas affects the overall texture. Furthermore, it reduces clogging of the filter cover 401 mesh. This solution has wide applicability. Attached Figure Description

[0020] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of this application and should not be regarded as a limitation of the scope. For those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0021] Figure 1 This is a cross-sectional view of a rice cooker according to one embodiment of this application;

[0022] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of the inner liner and drainage assembly in one embodiment of this application (with the valve closed);

[0023] Figure 3 for Figure 2 A magnified view of a section at point A in the middle;

[0024] Reference numerals: 1-Boiler body; 2-Inner pot; 3-First heating element; 4-Drainage assembly; 401-Valve cavity; 4011-Drain outlet; 402-Filter screen cover; 403-Valve assembly; 4031-Sealing body; 404-Metal channel; 4041-Second bottom hole; 405-First sealing ring; 406-Limiting bracket; 4061-First bottom hole; 5-Water tank; 501-Water inlet channel; 6-Boiler lid; Detailed Implementation

[0025] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] Many specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a full understanding of this application. However, this application may also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0027] Furthermore, it should be understood in the description of this application that the terms "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this application.

[0028] In this application, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or a communication connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this application according to the specific circumstances.

[0029] Currently, existing drain rice cookers utilize a drain assembly at the bottom of the inner pot to drain liquid, thus achieving their drainage function. This type of rice cooker can fulfill functions requiring drainage, such as washing rice and cooking low-sugar rice. However, when cooking, the food often covers the drain assembly after being placed in the inner pot. The drain assembly typically includes a valve chamber and a valve body structure within the valve chamber. The valve body structure seals the drain outlet of the valve chamber. To facilitate opening and closing the valve, the drain outlet is located at the bottom of the valve chamber. When the valve is closed, the valve body structure's own weight effectively seals the drain outlet. Thus, the cavity formed inside the valve chamber is normally open to the cooking chamber within the inner pot. During some cooking stages, liquid from the cooking chamber may flow into the valve... Inside the cooking chamber, when the drain valve is not open, a certain amount of liquid remains in the valve chamber. As cooking progresses, the liquid in the cooking chamber evaporates or merges into the food before the liquid in the valve chamber. As cooking continues, the liquid in the cooking chamber evaporates completely first, and then, as heat from the heating device is transferred to the valve chamber, steam begins to be generated. If the amount of liquid in the valve chamber is too large, the amount of steam generated will be excessive. Excessive steam will be absorbed by food located directly above or near the drain valve, causing differences in texture, moisture content, and appearance between these areas and other areas, resulting in poor cooking outcomes. Since the most important function of a rice cooker is cooking rice, this application focuses on rice and comprehensively considers the impact of the valve chamber volume of the drain valve at the bottom of the inner pot on rice cooking. The following details the specific solution.

[0030] like Figure 1As shown, an automatic drainage rice cooker includes a cooker body 1, an inner pot 2 disposed within the cooker body 1, and a first heating element 3 for heating the inner pot 2. The inner pot 2 is used to hold rice. This application focuses on researching a solution for draining or draining rice during cooking using an automatic drainage rice cooker. A drainage component 4 is provided at the bottom of the inner pot 2. The drainage component 4 is used to drain at least a portion of the liquid in the inner pot 2. That is, when it is necessary to drain the liquid from the inner pot 2, the control board of the rice cooker controls the drive device to open the valve, and the drainage component 4 is opened. The amount of liquid drained from the inner pot 2 is determined based on the opening time and degree of the drainage component 4, and whether the lowest surface of the bottom of the inner pot 2 can communicate with the drainage channel of the drainage component 4. In this way, the amount of liquid in the inner pot 2 can be controlled to achieve cooking of low-sugar rice or low-purine ingredients, or to achieve more cooking functions such as automatic cleaning and cooking of ingredients. Furthermore, the required amount of water can be added to the inner pot 2 before cooking by adding more water than required for regular rice-water ratio, or by using an automatic water adding system. The drainage assembly 4 includes a valve chamber 401, a sealing body 4031 disposed in the valve chamber 401, and a filter screen cover 402 covering the valve chamber 401. The filter screen cover 402 can ensure that liquid can enter the valve chamber 401 through the filter screen cover 402, while most solid substances cannot pass through the mesh of the filter screen cover 402 to enter the valve chamber 401, thereby ensuring that the drainage assembly 4 can smoothly drain the liquid in the inner tank 2 instead of draining the required solid substances. The inner pot 2 has a volume of 2-5L, which can meet the volume requirements of most rice cookers on the market, making it highly adaptable. The liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 is less than 10ml. It can be understood that the liquid storage volume refers to the amount of liquid that the valve cavity can hold, that is, the effective liquid storage space of the valve cavity. The remaining volume space is the volume of the valve cavity minus the volume occupied by the valve body structure and other physical structures. The liquid storage volume will not be elaborated further. It should be noted that when the filter cover 402 is flush with or lower than the bottom of the inner pot 2, the liquid evaporation rate of the valve cavity 401 is slower than the liquid evaporation rate of the cooking cavity. When the filter cover 402 is higher than the bottom of the inner pot 2, when the liquid level in the inner pot 2 drops to a certain level, the cavity wall of the valve cavity 401 acts as an isolation between the liquid in the cooking cavity and the liquid in the cooking cavity, which will also cause the liquid in the valve cavity 401 to evaporate slower than the liquid in the cooking cavity. Furthermore, the drainage component 4 can be protruding upwards from the bottom of the inner liner 2, protruding downwards from the bottom of the inner liner 2, or simultaneously passing through the bottom of the inner liner 2 to achieve both upward and downward protrusion. Regardless of the method, the main point is that the drainage component 4 is located at the bottom of the inner liner 2. When food such as rice is placed inside the inner liner 2, it will cover the drainage component 4. Therefore, the liquid storage volume study of the valve chamber 401 of the drainage component 4 in this application is fully applicable to all the above-mentioned arrangement of the drainage component 4 and other existing ways of setting the drainage component 4 at the bottom of the inner liner 2, and is not limited here.

[0031] This application provides a set of experimental data, as shown in Table 1, which tests the moisture content of rice at the bottom of the inner pot 2 above the drainage assembly 4 and the moisture content of rice at the outer periphery of that position when cooking rice in a 3L inner pot with different sizes of liquid storage volume in the valve cavity 401.

[0032]

[0033]

[0034] Table 1

[0035] This experiment was conducted with a 3L inner pot, 280g of rice, and a first heating element 3 with a heating power of 1300W. In the main rice cooking process of an electric rice cooker, there are usually several stages such as water absorption, heating, boiling, and simmering. The electric rice cooker with automatic drainage involved in this application can add a drainage stage in or between each stage. Specifically, the drainage function of the drainage component 4 can be activated according to actual needs. It can be understood that, usually during the water absorption, heating, and boiling stages, the liquid level in the inner pot 2 is usually higher than that of the drainage component 4. At this time, the amount of remaining liquid in the valve chamber 401 of the drainage component 4 has no additional impact on the food in the inner pot 2. During the rice cooking or ripening stages, when the rice is in a formed or nearly formed state, the rice cooker usually stops heating at a high intensity. However, it still maintains a relatively high temperature (80-95℃) and a sealed environment in the inner pot 2 through the heating device. The rice grains continue to slowly absorb the water vapor remaining in the inner pot 2, allowing the incompletely gelatinized starch inside to fully absorb water and soften. It also allows the aromatic substances that volatilized in the inner pot 2 before the cooking stage to be absorbed by the rice grains, making the rice more fragrant and with a better taste. During this stage, although the heating device does not continuously heat at high heat, it maintains the temperature in the inner pot 2 through intermittent heating. If there is a certain amount of liquid in the valve chamber 401 of the drain assembly 4 at the bottom of the inner pot 2, this liquid will eventually evaporate completely as cooking progresses. Therefore, regardless of the heating power of the first heating element 3, as long as it is sufficient to cook rice, the liquid in the valve chamber 401 will eventually evaporate completely, and the excess steam will act on the rice at the bottom. Therefore, the heating power of the first heating element 3 is not a key parameter of this experiment, and the heating power is not limited here. Similarly, since this application focuses on the rice at the bottom of the inner pot 2, the bottom of the inner pot 2 is usually covered with rice during normal rice cooking. Therefore, the amount of rice is not a key parameter of this experiment. The steam generated by the remaining liquid in valve chamber 401 will enter the rice in inner pot 2 or diffuse in the effective liquid storage space of valve chamber 401. When the generated steam is within a certain amount, since the heating device usually heats more the bottom of inner pot 2, the steam will have a good steam supplement cooking effect on the rice at the bottom, which will alleviate the dryness of the bottom area, making the rice at the bottom and the rice at the top taste closer to each other, and making the moisture content of the whole pot of rice more uniform. However, if too much steam is generated, the rice at the bottom near the drain component 4 will absorb too much water vapor, resulting in the rice at that location becoming too soft and mushy. The moisture content of the rice in different areas at the bottom will vary greatly, resulting in a poor taste. In addition, the soft and mushy rice is easy to stick to the mesh of the filter cover 402, leading to difficulties in cleaning and subsequent poor drainage of the drain component 4, among other negative effects.This application aims to study the ability of an electric rice cooker with automatic drainage to achieve a cooking method of first boiling and then simmering rice, resulting in lower-sugar rice and other foods with better taste. In the research on using this type of electric rice cooker to achieve the cooking method of first boiling and then simmering rice, this application carefully discovered the influence of the residual water in the valve chamber 401 of the drainage component 4 on the rice during the simmering stage.

[0036] Further analysis of the experimental data in Table 1 reveals that when the liquid storage volume of valve chamber 401 is 10ml, the moisture content difference between the rice above the drain assembly 4 and the rice around the outer perimeter of the drain assembly 4 reaches 1.17%, which is greater than 1%. This exacerbates the difference in texture between the rice at the bottom, affecting the user's eating experience. Furthermore, a large moisture content difference results in inconsistent textures across different areas of the bottom rice, creating more pronounced boundaries. In multiple experiments conducted in this application, when scooping rice near the bottom of the inner pot 2 or emptying the rice from the inner pot 2 by inverting it, the rice at the location corresponding to the drain assembly 4 appears whiter, softer, and stickier than other areas. This is even more pronounced when the aforementioned moisture content difference exceeds 1%, affecting not only the user's appetite but also failing to meet the ideal state of rice being "separate grains without being loose, sticky and soft without clumping." When this application conducted experiments using this type of automatically draining rice cooker, it was found that... Now, when the moisture content difference is less than 1%, the above-mentioned problems are significantly improved. In particular, it is difficult to feel the difference in taste between the rice at the bottom when eating. Therefore, this application has made an innovative discovery that when the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 is less than 10ml, when cooking rice in the inner pot 2 with a drain component 4 at the bottom and a valve cavity 401 containing liquid inside the drain component 4, controlling the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 to be less than 10ml improves the situation where the rice above the drain component 4 in the inner pot 2 has a high moisture content, which causes the rice in this position to be too soft and mushy, and the moisture content difference between the rice in this position and the rice in other positions is too high, affecting the overall taste. Research has shown that when the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 is less than 10ml, and the inner pot 2 has a volume of 2-5L, the aforementioned improvement effect can be achieved when the rice cooker with automatic drainage is cooking foods such as low-sugar rice. The clogging of the mesh of the filter cover 401 is also reduced. This solution has a wide range of applications and is suitable for most rice cookers that use the bottom of the inner pot 2 for drainage and have a liquid-containing valve cavity 401 in the drainage component 4. It improves the situation of cooking low-sugar rice, drained rice and other foods in these rice cookers by boiling first and then simmering. This makes the food near the bottom of the inner pot 2 taste similar and the difference in moisture content of food in different areas is smaller.

[0037] Furthermore, when the liquid volume in the valve cavity 401 is large, for rice cookers that can automatically add and drain water, some functions may involve automatically adding water to the inner pot 2. For example, when the volume is greater than 10ml, for rice cooking methods that involve boiling first and then simmering, the added water will flow into the bottom of the inner pot 2 and mix with the food. However, when the liquid volume in the valve cavity 401 is too large, some of the water that should be added to the inner pot 2 will flow into the valve cavity 401, thus affecting the amount of water in the inner pot 2 that needs to be mixed with the food, resulting in… The automatic water-adding system of a rice cooker requires additional water to reach the required amount to mix with the food; otherwise, it will affect the cooking effect. Therefore, the automatic water-adding system needs to know the liquid storage volume of the valve chamber 401 to determine the amount of water to add, which makes the process complicated or requires a larger automatic water-adding system, leading to increased costs. However, by controlling the liquid storage volume of the valve chamber 401 to be less than 10ml, the water added to the inner pot 2 will not flow excessively into the valve chamber 401, thus improving the above-mentioned impact on the cooking effect and the automatic water-adding system.

[0038] It should be understood that, as a rice cooker is a household appliance with many components, it is affected by many factors such as different types of rice, rice quantity, water quantity, and different cooking functions. Therefore, using the automatically draining rice cooker specified in this application to cook rice may not necessarily yield the same moisture content data as shown in Table 1. However, under certain conditions, controlling the liquid storage volume of the valve chamber 401 to within 10ml can significantly reduce the localized impact of the remaining liquid in the valve chamber 401 on the rice at the bottom of the inner pot 2 during the pre-cooking and then simmering cooking method, and can also improve the performance of the filter cover 402. The application addresses the issue of mesh blockage and features a well-designed drainage component 4. Currently, there are no commercially available drainable rice cookers that achieve low-sugar or drained rice through a pre-cooking and then simmering method. This application, through research on such drainable rice cookers, discovered the impact of excessively large liquid storage volume in the valve chamber 401 on the rice at the bottom. Further research revealed the balance point of the liquid storage volume in the valve chamber 401 and optimized parameters. This represents an unexpected breakthrough and optimization for using drainable rice cookers to pre-cook and then simmer low-sugar rice.

[0039] In some embodiments, the cross-sectional area of ​​the valve cavity 401 in the horizontal direction is no greater than 500 mm². This cross-sectional area is relatively small compared to existing rice cooker inner pots of different specifications, and will not occupy too much space at the bottom of the inner pot 2. This ensures the heating area of ​​the first heating element 3 at the bottom of the inner pot 2, guaranteeing heating and cooking efficiency, and also ensuring a certain drainage efficiency. Simultaneously, it reduces the area of ​​liquid in the valve cavity 401 covering the rice at the bottom of the inner pot 2, mitigating the aforementioned adverse effects. The vertical height of the valve cavity 401 is no greater than 30 mm to avoid excessive vertical height, which could affect the evaporation efficiency of the liquid within the valve cavity 401 or the drainage efficiency after opening the drainage component 4. The cross-sectional area of ​​the valve cavity 401 is no greater than 500 mm². 2 When the vertical height is no more than 30mm, the maximum volume of its valve cavity can reach 15cm³. 3 At this point, it is only necessary to design the volume of the valve body structure of the drainage component 4 to be above 5cm3. For example, the volume of the sealing body 4031 can be designed to be above 5cm3 to ensure that the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 is less than 10ml. The above size parameter limitation can ensure that the valve cavity 401 is easy to design and has a reasonable layout.

[0040] In some embodiments, the liquid storage volume of valve cavity 401 is 3-6 ml. As shown in Table 1, when the liquid storage volume is 2.5 ml, the resulting moisture content difference is 0.4, while when the liquid storage volume is 6.2 ml, the resulting moisture content difference is 0.69. Both moisture content differences are relatively low. Considering the installation of the valve body structure of the drain assembly 4, a certain space margin is taken for installing the valve body structure, and the liquid storage volume is controlled within the range of 3-6 ml. While ensuring a small liquid storage volume, other structures of the drain assembly 4 can be installed smoothly and miniaturized. It is understandable that although a smaller liquid storage volume of valve cavity 401 can reduce the impact of the stored liquid on the bottom rice during the rice cooking stage, since the valve body structure needs to be placed inside the drain assembly 4, considering the existing process, a certain liquid storage volume is reserved in valve cavity 401 so that the drain assembly 4 itself has a certain space size, making it easier to implement the drain assembly 4 designed for an automatic draining rice cooker as described in this application. Furthermore, regarding the valve body structure of the drainage component 4, such as Figure 2As shown, the drainage assembly 4 also includes a valve assembly 403 and a downwardly extending metal channel 404. The valve assembly 403 includes a sealing body 4031, and a drain outlet 4011 is provided at the bottom of the valve cavity 401. The sealing body 4031 blocks the drain outlet 4011 to form a seal at the drain outlet 4011. The downwardly extending metal channel 404 provides installation space for the valve assembly 403, allowing the valve assembly 403 to be installed more effectively. The metal channel 404 also serves to protect the valve assembly 403. The volume of the sealing body 4031 is 269-3054 mm³, or 0.269-3.054 cm³. 3 In this way, the volume of the sealing body 4031 is appropriate, occupying a certain volume space of the valve cavity 401, reasonably reducing the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401, but not making it difficult for the rice cooker's drive device to move the sealing body 4031, ensuring smooth valve opening of the valve assembly 403. Furthermore, the sealing body 4031 is a spherical valve core with a diameter of 8-18mm. This size is easy to manufacture, avoiding being too small to result in insufficient sealing area, and not being too large to increase the cross-sectional area of ​​the valve cavity 401. Due to the spherical structure, the spherical valve core easily rolls back under its own weight, which further helps the sealing body 4031 to seal the drain 4011 by its own weight when the valve assembly 403 is closed, ensuring reliable sealing.

[0041] The metal channel 404 can be formed on a separately manufactured mounting component, which can be a metal part or a metal assembly. A metal assembly can refer to a component with other mating parts. The mounting component is fixedly connected to a mating hole opened at the bottom of the inner liner 2. It can be understood that as long as the main body of the mounting component or the metal channel 404 on it is located on the outer periphery or inside the mating hole, it is considered that the mounting component is connected to the position of the mating hole. The advantage of the mounting component is that the formation of the metal channel 404 does not depend on the size parameters of the inner liner 2 itself. The size parameters and shape of the mounting component can be controlled according to the actual design needs, making the structure of the drainage component 4 more reasonable and the performance more stable.

[0042] In some embodiments, a first sealing ring 405 is provided on the drain outlet 4011, and a sealing body 4031 blocks the through hole of the first sealing ring 405. The diameter of the through hole is 8mm-15mm, and the size range of the hole can match the sealing body 4031 to prevent the sealing body 4031 from detaching from the drain assembly 4. The through hole size can also ensure that the first sealing ring 405 conforms to the existing manufacturing process for small sealing rings, thereby facilitating production and providing high stability and good sealing effect.

[0043] In some embodiments, the sealing body 4031 can be moved from a blocked state to an unblocked state by a contact-type drive device or a non-contact drive device. For example, a contact-type push rod drive structure can be used, where a push rod extends into the drain outlet 4011 to open the sealing body 4031 when it is necessary to open the drain outlet 4011; or a non-contact electromagnetic drive structure can be used, such as using a ferromagnetic material or other material that can be attracted by a magnet to make the main structure of the sealing body 4031, and then using an electromagnet or movable magnet structure on the outer periphery of the drain assembly 4. When the electric state or the moving magnet structure moves the adsorption magnet to the set position, the magnetic force attracts or repels the sealing body 4031 to the state of the unsealed drain outlet 4011. At this time, when the drive device releases the state of opening or attracting (repelling) the sealing body 3012, the sealing body 4031 will return to the sealed state of the drain outlet 4011 due to its own weight, that is, it switches from the open valve state of the valve assembly 403 to the closed valve state. The setting of the drive device can be selected according to actual needs, and there are no restrictions here, as long as it can meet the needs of moving the sealing body 4031.

[0044] In some embodiments, when the drain assembly 4 is in the closed state, the sealing body 4031 blocks the drain port 4011. In the horizontal direction, the distance between the center of the sealing body 4031 and the inner wall of the valve cavity 401 is 6-15mm, the thickness of the inner wall is 1-8mm, and the distance between the sealing body 4031 and the first heating element is 30-50mm. First, the sealing body 4031 needs to be moved from the state of blocking the drain port 4011 to the state of not blocking the drain port 4011. The movement of the sealing body 4031 may include axial movement in the vertical direction and / or radial movement in the horizontal direction. When the sealing body 4031 switches between the state of blocking the drain port and the state of not blocking the drain port, if there is radial movement of the sealing body 4031, the sealing body 4031 will be closer to the inner wall of the valve cavity 401 in the state of not blocking the drain port than in the state of blocking the drain port. Therefore, controlling the distance between the sealing body 4031 and the inner wall of the valve cavity 401 can ensure that the sealing body 4031 can move into place when moving, so as not to move out of place and cause the drain assembly 4 to fail to open the valve. The liquid that needs to be discharged from the inner pot 2 will affect the expected cooking effect, and the excess liquid will also be stored in the valve cavity 401, which will have a further adverse effect on the food. The thickness of the inner wall of the valve cavity 401 is limited to 1-8mm. The valve cavity 401 is a metal cavity. When the sealing body 4031 is moved by the non-contact drive device, the thickness of the valve cavity 401 will not be too thick. This ensures that the drive device can drive the sealing body 4031 smoothly and that the heat generated by the first heating element 3 can be transferred to the valve cavity 401 more and faster, reducing the amount of residual liquid in the valve cavity 401. This prevents the liquid from excessively steaming the rice at the bottom of the inner pot 2 during the rice cooking stage, which would result in a large difference in the taste of the rice at the bottom and affect the user's eating experience. Meanwhile, this application found that the distance between the sealing body 4031 and the first heating element 3 is maintained at 30-50mm, so as not to be too large or too small. Since the sealing body 4031 blocks the drain outlet 4011, that is, the sealing body 4031 is usually located in the center of the drain assembly 4, limiting this distance can ensure that the drain assembly 4 does not occupy too much space at the bottom of the inner pot 2. The first heating element 3 can cover more of the bottom of the inner pot 2, ensuring that the cooking cavity inside the inner pot 2 is heated, and that the residual liquid inside the valve cavity 401 can be evaporated better, improving the evaporation efficiency of the residual liquid. After the rice above the filter cover 402 absorbs excess steam, the first heating element 3 also has enough time to transfer heat to the rice above the filter cover 402, making it drier and reducing stickiness, while reducing the possibility of clogging of the mesh of the filter cover 402.As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, the range from the center of the sealing body 4031 to the outer wall of the valve cavity 401 in the horizontal direction is 7-25mm. Therefore, the distance from the outer wall of the valve cavity 401 to the first heating element 3 is limited to 5-43mm. The overall size of the gap between the valve cavity 401 and the first heating element 3 is included to avoid the gap being too large and affecting the effective heating area of ​​the first heating element 3 on the bottom of the inner pot 2, thus ensuring cooking efficiency.

[0045] In some embodiments, the valve assembly 403 is detachably fixed in the metal channel 404 from the inner liner 2. The valve assembly 403 needs to be removed from the inside of the inner liner 2, that is, the valve assembly 403 needs to be placed from top to bottom at the bottom of the inner liner 2 and supported at the bottom of the inner liner 2 by the inner liner 2 and / or the metal channel 404. The valve assembly 403 cannot be removed from the outer bottom of the inner liner 2, thereby ensuring that the valve assembly 403 cannot fall out from the outer bottom of the inner liner 2 and is not easily lost. Below the filter cover 402, there is a limiting bracket 406 for limiting the sealing body 4031. The lower end of the limiting bracket 406 has a first bottom hole 4061, and the lower end of the metal channel 404 has a second bottom hole 4041. Since the valve assembly 403 is detachably fixed in the metal channel 404, the first bottom hole 4061 and the second bottom hole 4041 are connected. The drain outlet 4011 can be formed in the first bottom hole 4061 or the second bottom hole 4041. It can be understood that since the limiting bracket 406 is used to limit the sealing body 4031, the sealing body 4031 can be driven when the limiting bracket 406 is removed. Therefore, when the lateral dimension of the first bottom hole 4061 is smaller than the lateral dimension of the sealing body 4031, the sealing body 4031 can be supported on the first bottom hole 4061, but will not detach downward from the limiting bracket 406 through the first bottom hole 4061. When the sealing body 4031 has a portion that passes through the first bottom hole 4061 and blocks the second bottom hole 4041, the second bottom hole 4041 serves as the drain outlet 4011 of the drainage assembly 4, and the valve chamber 401 is formed within the metal channel 404. When the sealing body 4031 only blocks the first bottom hole 4061, the first bottom hole 4061 serves as the drain outlet 4011, and the valve chamber 401 is formed within the limiting frame 406. This invention controls the drainage process by controlling whether the sealing body 4031 blocks the drain outlet 4011. Therefore, when the sealing body 4031 blocks both the first bottom hole 4061 and the second bottom hole 4041, the bottom hole structure at the lowest end serves as the drain outlet 4011. Thus, the drain outlet 4011 of this application has been clearly defined. Controlling whether the drainage assembly 4 drains by whether the sealing body 4031 blocks openings at other locations should also be within the scope of this application. Therefore, the valve cavity 401 of this application has a simple structure and is easy to control, which can ensure that the valve cavity 401 is stably formed in the drainage assembly 4. The way the valve assembly 403 is placed in the metal channel 404 is also relatively simple. It is easy to control the size of the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 according to the internal structure of the drainage assembly 4. The liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 is controlled to be within 10ml, so as to avoid the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 being too large, which would affect the taste or appearance of cooked rice or other foods. It can also improve the clogging of the mesh of the filter cover 402.

[0046] In some embodiments, a first temperature sensor (not shown) is provided inside the cooker body 1, attached to the bottom of the inner pot 2, for detecting the temperature of the cooking cavity inside the inner pot 2. The measured temperature value is used to control the cooking process or safety protection of the rice cooker. In other examples, a second temperature sensor (not shown) is also provided inside the cooker body 1, attached to the outer periphery of the metal channel 404. In this way, the temperature inside the metal channel 404 can be detected by the second temperature sensor, thereby directly or indirectly determining whether there is still water in the valve cavity 401, enabling the rice cooker's control module to more intelligently control the cooking process of the rice cooker with automatic drainage.

[0047] In some embodiments, the pot body 1 is also provided with a second heating element (not shown) for heating the drainage component 4. The second heating element can heat the drainage component 4, so that the liquid in the valve cavity 401 can evaporate synchronously or nearly synchronously with the liquid in the inner pot 2. This improves the problem of high local humidity caused to the food when there is liquid in the valve cavity 401 but no liquid in the inner pot 2. Since the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 studied in this application is small, the requirements for the second heating element are also relatively low. It only needs to be able to heat a small volume of liquid to boiling. The manufacturing cost is low and it is easy to implement. At the same time, it can also directly solve the adverse effects on the food caused by the liquid in the valve cavity 401.

[0048] In some embodiments, a water tank 5 is also included. The water tank 5 supplies cooking water to the inner pot 2 through a water inlet channel 501, realizing the water inlet function of the rice cooker. Specifically, the water inlet channel 501 is located in the lid 6 covering the pot body 1, thereby enabling water to be added into the inner pot 2 from the top opening. For the internal structure of the rice cooker, this method of adding water is simpler. In other examples, water can also be added to the inner pot 2 from other places, such as by opening a water inlet hole on the inner wall of the inner pot 2 or by pumping cooking water into the inner pot 2 from the bottom drain assembly 4. The specific design can be based on the actual component layout needs of the rice cooker and is not limited here.

[0049] In some implementations, such as Figure 2 and Figure 3As shown, in the vertical direction, the filter cover 402 is flush with or lower than the bottom of the inner pot 2. This makes the inner bottom surface of the inner pot 2 flatter, making it less likely for the user to touch the filter cover 402 when handling food inside the inner pot 2. For example, when the inner pot 2 contains rice, the user will not disturb the filter cover 402 or the valve assembly 403 when scooping rice with a rice scoop. Similarly, when the user puts ingredients into the inner pot 2, it will not affect the position of the valve assembly 403, further ensuring the position of the sealing body 4031 and guaranteeing the sealing effect. In other embodiments, the filter cover 402 is higher than the bottom of the inner pot 2, so that at least part of the valve cavity 401 is located inside the cooking cavity of the inner pot 2. This allows the first heating element 3 to quickly transfer heat to the valve cavity 401 located inside the cooking cavity when heating the cooking cavity of the inner pot 2. As a result, the corresponding liquid can decrease along with the liquid in the cooking cavity, thereby reducing the impact of the liquid stored in the liquid storage volume inside the valve cavity 401 on food such as rice above the filter cover 402. Furthermore, this application limits the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 located below the bottom of the inner pot 2 to less than 10 ml. It is understood that in other embodiments of this application, the corresponding liquid storage volume can also be the liquid storage volume of the valve cavity 401 located below the bottom of the inner pot 2. This allows for a more targeted limitation on the size of the liquid space that affects the rice above the filter cover 402.

[0050] In some embodiments, the maximum amount of rice that the automatically water-adding rice cooker provided in this application can cook is 280-700g, where g represents weight in grams. The heating power of the first heating element 3 is 1000-2300W. In this way, it is ensured that such an automatically draining rice cooker can reasonably cook low-sugar rice, normal rice, and other foods in a conventional inner pot 2 with a volume of 2-5L. This avoids the problem of the filter cover 402 being clogged due to excessive rice or the liquid in the valve chamber 401 being difficult to evaporate and drain. Within the above-mentioned heating power range and rice capacity range, reasonable selection can ensure that the rice cooker of this application can cook low-sugar rice that is not undercooked and has a good taste.

[0051] For any parts not mentioned in this application, existing technologies may be used or referenced.

[0052] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments.

[0053] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Various modifications and variations can be made to this application by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. An electric rice cooker with automatic drainage, comprising a cooker body, an inner pot disposed within the cooker body, and a first heating element for heating the inner pot, wherein the inner pot is used to hold rice, characterized in that, The bottom of the inner liner is provided with a drainage assembly, which is used to drain at least part of the liquid in the inner liner. The drainage assembly includes a valve chamber, a sealing body disposed in the valve chamber, and a filter screen cover disposed above the valve chamber. The volume of the inner liner is 2-5L, and the liquid storage volume of the valve chamber is less than 10ml.

2. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cross-sectional area of ​​the valve cavity in the horizontal direction is no greater than 500 mm². 2 The vertical height of the valve cavity is no more than 30mm.

3. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 1, characterized in that, The liquid storage volume ranges from 3 to 6 ml. The drainage assembly further includes a valve assembly and a downwardly extending metal channel. The bottom of the valve chamber is provided with a drain port. The sealing body blocks the drain port to form a seal at the drain port. The volume of the sealing body is 0.269-3.054 cm³. 3 .

4. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 3, characterized in that, The drain outlet is provided with a first sealing ring, and the sealing body blocks the through hole of the first sealing ring. The diameter of the through hole is 8-15mm.

5. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 3, characterized in that, When the drain assembly is in the closed state, the sealing body blocks the drain outlet. In the horizontal direction, the distance between the center of the sealing body and the inner wall of the valve cavity is 6-15mm, the thickness of the inner wall is 1-8mm, and the distance between the sealing body and the first heating element is 30-50mm.

6. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 3, characterized in that, The sealing body is a spherical valve core. The valve assembly is detachably fixed inside the metal channel from the inner liner. A limiting frame for limiting the sealing body is provided below the filter screen cover. A first bottom hole is opened at the lower end of the limiting frame. The lateral dimension of the first bottom hole is smaller than the diameter of the sealing body. A second bottom hole is opened at the lower end of the metal channel. The first bottom hole and the second bottom hole are connected. The drain outlet is formed in the first bottom hole and the valve cavity is formed inside the limiting frame, or the drain outlet is formed in the second bottom hole and the valve cavity is formed inside the metal channel.

7. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 3, characterized in that, The pot body is equipped with a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor. The first temperature sensor is attached to the bottom of the inner pot, and the second temperature sensor is attached to the outer periphery of the metal channel.

8. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pot body is also provided with a second heating element for heating the drainage component.

9. The rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the vertical direction, the filter cover is flush with or lower than the bottom of the inner liner.

10. A rice cooker with automatic drainage according to claim 1, characterized in that, The rice cooker can cook a maximum amount of rice of 280-700g, and the heating power of the first heating element is 1000-2300W.

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