Smart Rice Cooker with PID Method to Warm Food using Android Application

Abstract

Microwave, a typical electronic household device, requires an electrical power of 1000 watts 1450 watts to work optimally. However, because the electricity used is considerable, not all homes afford to use it. One other household appliance that has the same function as a microwave for warming food is a rice cooker. In the process of warming, we can replace the role of the microwave because it use less electrical power. Temperature adjustment is only available in the high-end rice cooker model so that the food that is warmed does not dry out or is damaged. Therefore, a rice cooker is designed that can control the temperature needed when heating different types of food depending on food conditions. The food that will be used has three types of conditions, namely frozen food, cold food, and normal food. Frozen food stored at temperatures at -15 degree Celcius, Cold food at 5 degree Celcius, and 27 degree Celcius for normal food. An android application was made on the smartphone to facilitate the control of the system and notify the user. This application will have a feature to choose the condition of the food to be warmed. This research aims to produce a system that can regulate and control the warming temperature according to the type of food. The Android application will regulate the temperature and time required. So that this system is useful to reduce electricity waste in replacing the microwave function. Experimental results show that the average amount of time to reach the setpoint by using the PID controller of each food is, ± 10 minutes for normal food, ± 15 minutes for cold food and ± 30 minutes for frozen food.