Mitsubishi Develops Steamless Rice Cooker

Dec 11, 2008 16:49 Chiho Matsuda, Nikkei Monozukuri

The "Steamless IH" equipped with a steam collecting system. It comes in two colors, "ruby red" and "diamond silver." It is mounted with a water tank, but the size of the main body is about the same as that of existing products. There is no suggested retail price, but the expected price is ¥80,000 (approx US$866) or higher.

The water tank is installed in the front side of the main body. A water level sensor mounted near the tank activates an alarm when a water level is out of a specified range.

The location of the cartridge. The shape of the radiator plate was redesigned to increase efficiency because the upper heater was downsized to incorporate the cartridge. A temperature sensor is seen on the right side of the inner lid.

The structure of the cartridge, which connects the kettle and the tank

The dam seen in the middle of the cartridge separates the savory components from the steam. To take out and wash the cartridge, the inner lid has to be removed first. And the upper part of the cartridge is separated from the lower part.

The heating after the boiling process. Intermittent heating was adopted to prevent the boiling-over common in existing products (left), while continuous heating is possible for the new product (right).

Mitsubishi Electric Corp will release Feb 1, 2009, the "Steamless IH" (Model name: NJ-XS10J), an induction heating (IH) jar rice cooker that does not let out steam.

The product was realized by developing and installing a "water-cooled steam collection system," which collects the steam generated in the process of rice cooking inside the main body. The cooker can be used in a wider variety of locations because it does not generate moisture, heat or odor. In addition, it can maintain high heat and improve the umami (savoriness) and sweetness of rice, according to the company.

The new product is equipped with a water tank in the front side of the main body and a cartridge inside the lid for collecting the steam. The steam passes through the cartridge and a pipe and reaches the water tank, where it is condensed to water.

This system eliminated the need for a stream outlet found on the top of traditional rice cookers. Because the steam remains inside the cooker, it does not mess up, heat up or moisten its surroundings.

Existing rice cookers have some shortcomings such as making shelves and walls dirty, decreasing walking space by a sliding shelf pulled out for rice cooking and posing a risk of being burned by the steam. With the new product, these problems were solved by keeping the steam inside the cooker.

Furthermore, the heating power is maintained at high level after the boiling process because the steam does not escape. Existing rice cookers are intermittently heated up at 850W to prevent the steam from boiling out of the steam outlet. In contrast, uninterrupted heating at 900W is possible for the new product, resulting in a 16% increase in the heat quantity during the main cooking process.

The convection generated in this heating process increases the amount of reducing sugar by about 40% and the swelling of rice by about 11%. Therefore, the rice cooked by the new product is sweeter and more delicious.

The steam is separated from the umami components (sugars, amino acid) while passing through the cartridge, and only the umami components are kept inside. Specifically, the umami components are condensed and the steam is stored in the tank when passing through a dam. The collected umami components are returned to rice in the steaming process, increasing its umami by twofold compared with that of rice cooked by existing products.

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Mitsubishi Develops Steamless Rice Cooker

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