Rice Cooker

Overview

A rice cooker automates boiling and steaming rice to a fixed doneness, then holds it warm for hours, by sensing the temperature of the cooking pot rather than timing. This induction model heats the pot directly with an electromagnetic field and uses a fuzzy-logic controller to vary power through the cook. The appliance is built on the Outer Housing, which holds the heater, controls and the hinged Lid Assembly.

How it works

The removable Inner Cooking Pot is a multi-clad vessel with a ferromagnetic outer layer. It sits inside the Induction Work Coil, which generates an alternating magnetic field that induces eddy currents in the pot wall, so the pot itself becomes the heating element and warms quickly and evenly. Simpler cookers instead use a Heating Assembly plate element beneath the pot.

Doneness is detected by the Magnetic Spring Thermostat, the trick that makes the appliance self-terminating. A spring-loaded magnet sits under the pot; while water remains, evaporation pins the pot temperature near 100 °C, but once the water has boiled away the temperature climbs and the magnet's Curie point is passed, releasing the spring and tripping the cooker out of the cook stage. Alongside it the Sensor Assembly feeds precise temperatures to the electronics.

The Fuzzy-Logic Control Board runs the fuzzy-logic program, adjusting induction power through soaking, boiling and steaming phases for white rice, brown rice, porridge and steam modes, then dropping to a regulated keep-warm hold of up to a day. The lid's detachable inner cover seals in steam and lifts out for cleaning, and accessories such as a measuring cup and rice paddle ship in the Accessory Kit.