Simple Thermodynamics: The Mechanism of a Rice Cooker

Electric Rice Cooker

• Rice is staple in the diet of many people around the world

especially in Asian countries like the Philippines. It is the backbone
of every feast and without it, most Filipinos would not be satisfied.
• Cooking rice traditionally by using a ceramic/metal pot requires
undivided attention to make sure that the rice is cooked properly
and not burnt. Burnt rice can be very disappointing to eat and is
usually just being left off uneconomically in a pot. Which is why,
rice cookers are invented to clear us from tiresome task of
constantly monitoring pots of rice.
 Electric Rice Cooker

• A rice cooker or rice steamer is an automated kitchen

appliance designed to boil or steam rice.
• Rice cookers automatically guide rice through four stages
(Sitting in water, Boiling, Absorbing water (steaming), Resting).
 Electric Rice Cooker

It is consists primarily of a main body, an inner cooking pan, an electric heating plate, a
thermal-sensing device and buttons for the program menu.
 Electric Rice Cooker

• How does a rice cooker works?

Water and rice sit inside the cooking pan while it's inserted into
the rice cooker's shell. The weight of the cooking pan pushes
down the thermal-sensing device while the heating plate brings
the water to a boil. The sensing device is a small, spring-loaded
thermometer that gauges the temperature of the pan's contents.
It is set into the bottom of the main body of a rice cooker.
 Electric Rice Cooker

• Simple Thermodynamics and Heat transfer

Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns
the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy
(heat) between physical systems. Rice cookers works by
transferring heat in the means of thermal conduction. The
substance itself does not flow, rather the heat is transferred
internally, by vibrations of atoms and molecules.
 Electric Rice Cooker

• The equation governing heat conduction along something of

length (or thickness) L and cross-sectional area A, in a time t is:
 Electric Rice Cooker

• where, k is the thermal conductivity, a constant depending only

on the material, and having units of J / (s m °C).
• The type of metal used can improve the transfer. Some metals
-- copper and aluminum for example -- are good thermal
conductors. In other words, they transfer their heat easily.
Electrons can carry heat and metals have many free electrons,
which move around randomly that can transfer heat efficiently
from one part of the metal to another.
Basic Principle of Electric Rice
Cooker Operation
 Working principle
The process for cooking rice is simple. The water boils at 212 °F
(100 °C), and once it reaches a steady boil, it cannot get hotter
than its boiling point. As long as there is water in the pan, the
temperature should be stable. Once the rice absorbs all the
water in the pan, the temperature will start to rise. The rice
cooker thermal device senses this change and will either switch
off or to a low-power warming mode keeping the rice at a safe
temperature of approximately 65 °C (150 °F). At this point, the
rice has finished cooking and entered the resting stage.