rice cookers depend on the curie temperature of magnets rather than bimetallic strips because the way you want them to work is to pump full power into the pot until all water has boiled off, at which point they should instantly switch off to stop the rice from burning. a bimetallic strip bends over a range of temperatures, but the magnetic switch in the rice cooker snaps open the instant the target temperature is exceeded and doesn’t automatically reset. that’s the big one.
See I thought the curie temperature was a ‘one and done’ sort of deal where you have to go through the process of remagnetizing the magnet after it had gone beyond that point.
it is, for permanent magnets. but for things attracted to permanent magnets, it’s not. so the permanent magnet is shielded from the heat while the metal alloy piece in contact with the bowl is allowed to heat up.
yeah we went over that in another sub-thread.
regarding the actual info, fittingly alec of technology connections has also made a video on rice cookers! it’s a short one by his standards, but in case you’re not able to watch:
rice cookers depend on the curie temperature of magnets rather than bimetallic strips because the way you want them to work is to pump full power into the pot until all water has boiled off, at which point they should instantly switch off to stop the rice from burning. a bimetallic strip bends over a range of temperatures, but the magnetic switch in the rice cooker snaps open the instant the target temperature is exceeded and doesn’t automatically reset. that’s the big one.
Oh nice one, that’s kinda cool
See I thought the curie temperature was a ‘one and done’ sort of deal where you have to go through the process of remagnetizing the magnet after it had gone beyond that point.
it is, for permanent magnets. but for things attracted to permanent magnets, it’s not. so the permanent magnet is shielded from the heat while the metal alloy piece in contact with the bowl is allowed to heat up.
Ahh that makes a lot more sense
Cheers for the clarification