Rice cookers

How Rice Cookers Work

      Induction Heating and Rice Cookers

Some rice cookers take precision a step further with the help of a technology called induction heating. While other rice cookers apply heat directly from an electrical plate underneath the inner cooking pan, induction-heating rice cookers get their heat from an alternating electric current from the wall outlet.

Induction heating, used for many applications beyond rice cookers, is achieved when this current passes through metal coils, typically made of copper. The movement of the current through these coils creates a magnetic field. It is into this magnetic field that the rice cooker's pan is inserted. The magnetic field produces an electrical current inside the cooking pan, and this generates heat. Heat can also be produced from this process if the rice cooker's pan is made out of a magnetic material. This is due to a phenomenon called hysteresis, in which magnetic materials show a resistance to any fast-paced changes of their magnetic level. This resistance creates friction, which contributes to the cooking heat.

Induction heating improves rice cookers in three main ways:

1. The temperature-sensing methods can be more accurate, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments in temperature.
2. The heat distribution area can encompass the inner cooking pan, not just radiate upwards from below, to produce more evenly cooked food.
3. The level of heat being created in the cooking pan can be changed in an instant by strengthening or weakening the magnetic field that is generating it.

These elements create the biggest bonus of the induction heating rice cooker. In the event of a human measuring error, an induction heating rice cooker can make minute adjustments to both the time and the temperature of the selected program because of its sensitivity to temperature, and its precise ability to control it.

Induction Heating and Rice Cookers

Some rice cookers take precision a step further with the help of a technology called induction heating. While other rice cookers apply heat directly from an electrical plate underneath the inner cooking pan, induction-heating rice cookers get their heat from an alternating electric current from the wall outlet.

Induction heating, used for many applications beyond rice cookers, is achieved when this current passes through metal coils, typically made of copper. The movement of the current through these coils creates a magnetic field. It is into this magnetic field that the rice cooker's pan is inserted. The magnetic field produces an electrical current inside the cooking pan, and this generates heat. Heat can also be produced from this process if the rice cooker's pan is made out of a magnetic material. This is due to a phenomenon called hysteresis, in which magnetic materials show a resistance to any fast-paced changes of their magnetic level. This resistance creates friction, which contributes to the cooking heat.

Induction heating improves rice cookers in three main ways:

1. The temperature-sensing methods can be more accurate, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments in temperature.
2. The heat distribution area can encompass the inner cooking pan, not just radiate upwards from below, to produce more evenly cooked food.
3. The level of heat being created in the cooking pan can be changed in an instant by strengthening or weakening the magnetic field that is generating it.

These elements create the biggest bonus of the induction heating rice cooker. In the event of a human measuring error, an induction heating rice cooker can make minute adjustments to both the time and the temperature of the selected program because of its sensitivity to temperature, and its precise ability to control it.

Fuzzy Logic and Rice Cookers

Fuzzy-logic rice cookers have computer chips that direct their ability to make proper adjustments to cooking time and temperature. Unlike basic rice cookers, which complete tasks in a single-minded, mechanical manner, the process behind the fuzzy-logic rice cookers needs a bit more explanation. The fuzzy sets theory, first proposed by UC Berkeley professor Lotfi Zadeh in 1965, laid the groundwork for fuzzy logic, which he also put forward in 1973. Fuzzy sets theory has to do with mathematical sets, or groups of items known as elements. In most mathematical sets, an element either belongs to the set or it doesn't. For example, a sparrow would belong to a set of birds, but a bat wouldn't. In fuzzy logic, though, elements can belong to sets in varying degrees. So since a bat has wings, it might belong to a set of birds -- but only to a certain extent. Fuzzy logic is basically a way to program machines so they look at the world in a more human way, with degrees of truth. Instead of cold, hard parameters and strict data sets, fuzzy logic assumes a more practical approach. Using numbers, it incorporates non-definitive words like "slightly" or "almost" into its decision-making processes. As a result, the use of fuzzy logic in rice cookers helps to ensure properly cooked rice because it gives the appliances the ability to make judgment calls similar to those a person might make, albeit typically better than those a hungry, impatient person might make.

An example of when fuzzy logic might be called into action is when the rice is cooking too fast on a hot day. In a typical scenario, the fuzzy logic algorithm will take the form of an if/then statement such as, "If the rice is too hot, and it is continuing to heat up fairly quickly, then the heating element needs to be turned down."

While fuzzy-logic rice cookers function under the same premise as basic models, their mathematical programming can deliver a slew of customized cooking options. The trick to these capabilities is the rice cookers' ability to react, making precise fluctuations in cooking time and temperature depending on the program selected. These may include different keep-warm and quick-cook cycles for the optimum cooking of rice varieties like sushi rice, porridge rice, mixed rice, white rice, sweet rice and brown rice. Some models also offer texture settings, allowing people to select hard or soft and sticky or wet rice.­ ­

But even with all these features, fuzzy-logic rice cookers are not the most advanced rice cookers available. That prize goes to the models that also use induction heating.

Induction Heating and Rice Cookers

Some rice cookers take precision a step further with the help of a technology called induction heating. While other rice cookers apply heat directly from an electrical plate underneath the inner cooking pan, induction-heating rice cookers get their heat from an alternating electric current from the wall outlet.

Induction heating, used for many applications beyond rice cookers, is achieved when this current passes through metal coils, typically made of copper. The movement of the current through these coils creates a magnetic field. It is into this magnetic field that the rice cooker's pan is inserted. The magnetic field produces an electrical current inside the cooking pan, and this generates heat. Heat can also be produced from this process if the rice cooker's pan is made out of a magnetic material. This is due to a phenomenon called hysteresis, in which magnetic materials show a resistance to any fast-paced changes of their magnetic level. This resistance creates friction, which contributes to the cooking heat.

Induction heating improves rice cookers in three main ways:

1. The temperature-sensing methods can be more accurate, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments in temperature.
2. The heat distribution area can encompass the inner cooking pan, not just radiate upwards from below, to produce more evenly cooked food.
3. The level of heat being created in the cooking pan can be changed in an instant by strengthening or weakening the magnetic field that is generating it.

These elements create the biggest bonus of the induction heating rice cooker. In the event of a human measuring error, an induction heating rice cooker can make minute adjustments to both the time and the temperature of the selected program because of its sensitivity to temperature, and its precise ability to control it.

Poster's comments:

If you own a slow cooker, stick with it.

An induction rice cooker works like a slow cooker, only better to me. Mostly the better is in keeping cooked foods warm. Said another way, one is not limited to just making rice.

During hard times, just boiling water and putting food in some container with the boiling water should work pretty well, too.