CN109477681B

CN109477681B - Refrigerator with a door

Info

Publication number: CN109477681B
Application number: CN201780042655.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 松本真理子; 内田毅; 柴田舞子; 伊藤敬
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date: 2016-07-22
Filing date: 2017-01-06
Publication date: 2021-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 2037-01-06
Also published as: SG11201811094QA; WO2018016099A1; TWI622535B; JP2018013302A; TW201803784A; AU2017300291B2; CN109477681A; JP6208298B1; AU2017300291A1

Abstract

The refrigerator (1) is provided with a vegetable chamber (15), a vegetable storage box (4) arranged in the vegetable chamber (15), and a light-emitting device (5) arranged in the vegetable chamber (15). The light-emitting device (5) is provided with LEDs (51 a-53 b) as light-emitting parts, wherein the LEDs (51 a-53 b) have optical axes (Ax) inclined downward relative to a horizontal plane, and light is emitted from the LEDs (51 a-53 b) towards the interior of the vegetable storage box (4).

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator such as a household refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator including a light emitting device for emitting light to a storage in a vegetable compartment.

Background

In the related art, a refrigerator has been developed in which an LED (light emitting diode) is disposed on a rear surface of a vegetable compartment to irradiate light to vegetables stored in the vegetable compartment (for example, patent document 1). By irradiating the vegetables with light, for example, chlorophyll of green leaf vegetables is activated to produce vitamin C, and an increase in polyphenol can be promoted.

Prior art documents

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 4433958 (see paragraph 0027 and FIG. 2)

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

Here, since the back surface of the vegetable room is generally vertical, the optical axis direction of the light emitted from the LED is horizontal. Therefore, if the LEDs are disposed on the upper portion of the rear surface of the vegetable compartment, sufficient light may not be irradiated to the vegetables having a height, such as spinach and cabbage (uncut vegetables) stored upright in the vegetable compartment.

In addition, when the LED is disposed at the lower portion of the rear surface of the vegetable room, light may be irradiated to a portion where light irradiation is not necessary, such as roots or stems of vegetables, or to a vegetable where light irradiation is not desired, such as potatoes.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of efficiently irradiating light to vegetables stored in a vegetable room.

Means for solving the problems

The refrigerator of the invention comprises a vegetable chamber, a vegetable storage box arranged in the vegetable chamber and a light-emitting device arranged in the vegetable chamber. The light emitting device includes a light emitting portion having an optical axis inclined downward with respect to a horizontal plane, and emits light from the light emitting portion toward the inside of the vegetable storage box.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, since light is emitted from the light emitting portion having the inclined optical axis toward the inside of the vegetable storage box, sufficient light can be emitted to the vegetables having a low height.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator of embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator of embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing a structure of a vegetable compartment and its surroundings in the refrigerator according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a vegetable storage box according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of a light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of LEDs in the light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing another configuration example of the light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing another configuration example of the light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a driving circuit of a light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a timing chart showing the operation of the light-emitting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view showing the structure of the vegetable compartment and its surroundings in the refrigerator according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a control system of a refrigerator according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is schematic diagrams (a) and (B) for explaining an example of the operation of the light-emitting device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Embodiment 1.

Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 11. Fig. 1 and 2 are a side sectional view and a front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 1. Fig. 1 corresponds to a sectional view in the viewing direction at line I-I shown in fig. 2. The refrigerator 1 is, for example, a household refrigerator. As shown in fig. 1, the refrigerator 1 includes a plurality of storage compartments, i.e., a refrigerating compartment 11, a switching compartment 12, an ice making compartment 13 (fig. 2), a freezing compartment 14, and a vegetable compartment 15.

Here, the refrigerating room 11 is disposed at the uppermost layer, the switching room 12 and the ice making room 13 are disposed in parallel on the left and right sides below the same, the freezing room 14 is disposed below the same, and the vegetable room 15 is disposed at the lowermost layer. However, such a configuration is not limited.

The refrigerating compartment 11 has a swing door 11a that is opened in the left-right direction (or opened only) on the front surface. The inside of the refrigerating chamber 11 is partitioned into a plurality of spaces by the food shelves 11 b. A cooling chamber is provided below the lowermost food shelf 11b, and a cooling box 11c that can be pulled out forward is disposed.

The switching chamber 12 is a storage chamber capable of switching the temperature to two temperatures, i.e., a freezing temperature zone (e.g., -18 ℃) and a soft-freezing temperature zone (e.g., -7 ℃). The switching chamber 12 includes a pull-out door 12a on the front surface and a food storage box 12b inside. The ice making chamber 13 is arranged in parallel at the same height as the switching chamber 12, and includes a drawer door 13a on the front surface and an ice storage box (not shown) inside.

Freezer compartment 14 includes a drawer door 14a on the front surface and a food storage box 14b inside. The vegetable compartment 15 includes a drawer door 15a on a front surface and a vegetable storage box 4 inside. The storage compartments of the refrigerator 1 are not limited to the above examples.

The refrigerator 1 has a refrigeration cycle device for cooling each storage room. The refrigeration cycle device is provided with: a compressor 17 provided at a lower portion of a rear surface side (rear side) of the refrigerator 1; a condenser (not shown) for condensing the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 17; and an expansion device (not shown) for expanding the refrigerant flowing out of the condenser. The refrigeration cycle device further includes: a cooler 18 that cools air by heat exchange with a refrigerant expanded by the throttle device; a blower (air blowing fan) 19 for sending the cooled air to each storage chamber; and an air blowing passage 22 as an air passage. A defroster 23 is disposed below the blower 19.

The air cooled by the cooler 18 is sent to the storage compartments (the refrigerating compartment 11, the switching compartment 12, the ice-making compartment 13, the freezing compartment 14, and the vegetable compartment 15) by the blower 19, and cools the interiors of the storage compartments. The air that has cooled and heated the contents in each storage chamber is returned from the intake port provided in each storage chamber to the periphery of the cooler 18 through the return passage. The air cooled by the cooler 18 is again blown to each storage room.

An operation panel 21 as an operation input portion is disposed on the front surface of the refrigerator 1. The operation panel 21 is a portion for the user to input settings such as the temperature of each storage room. The operation panel 21 is disposed on the swing door 11a of the refrigerating compartment 11, but may be in a position that is easily operated by a user.

The refrigerator 1 is provided with a control unit 20 (control board) for controlling the entire refrigerator 1. The control unit 20 controls the operation of the compressor 17, the blower 19, and a damper (not shown) connected to each storage compartment based on an output signal of a temperature detection sensor (for example, a thermistor) provided in each storage compartment and setting information of the operation panel 21. The control unit 20 also performs communication with an external device. For example, an instruction to change the set temperature or an instruction to confirm the state in the refrigerator is received from a smartphone, and a response to the instruction is transmitted.

The temperature inside each storage chamber is detected by a temperature detection sensor (e.g., a thermistor) not shown. The control unit 20 adjusts the opening degree of a damper, not shown, the capacity of the compressor 17, the air blowing amount of the blower 19, and the like so that the temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor becomes a preset temperature.

The refrigerator 1 is covered with a frame 16 having a heat insulating member such as foamed urethane or a vacuum heat insulating material. Further, partitions having heat insulating members such as foamed urethane and vacuum heat insulating materials are provided between the storage compartments of the refrigerator 1.

The refrigerator 1 according to embodiment 1 includes a light emitting device 5 in the vegetable compartment 15 for emitting light to vegetables stored in the vegetable storage box 4. The structures of the vegetable compartment 15 and the light-emitting device 5 will be described below.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of vegetable room 15 and its surroundings. The vegetable room 15 is provided with a vegetable storage box 4 for storing vegetables and large (e.g., 2 liters) pet bottles 201. The vegetable storage box 4 is movable in the front-rear direction (the direction indicated by the arrow B in fig. 1) integrally with the above-described drawer door 15 a. A door opening/closing sensor 25 for detecting opening/closing of the drawer door 15a is provided at an upper front portion of the vegetable compartment 15.

The door opening/closing sensor 25 outputs an ON signal when detecting the open state of the pullout door 15a, and outputs an OFF signal when detecting the closed state. The ON signal and the OFF signal of the door opening/closing sensor 25 are collectively referred to as a door opening/closing signal. The control unit 20 measures the time during which the pullout door 15a is opened (door open time), and uses the measured time as various control parameters or sounds a buzzer when the door open time exceeds a set time to urge the user to pay more attention. The same door opening/closing sensor is provided in the storage room other than vegetable room 15.

The vegetable storage box 4 has a structure divided into upper and lower stages. More specifically, the vegetable storage box 4 includes a lower box 41 and an upper box 42. The lower case 41 is formed in the following structure: a part of the rear surface, that is, a part located in front of the light emitting device 5 is opened, and light of the light emitting device 5 is irradiated into the lower case 41 when the door is closed. In both the lower case 41 and the upper case 42, a part or the whole may be formed of a transparent plastic or the like, and light of the light emitting device 5 may be transmitted therethrough.

In the lower box 41 (large vegetable box), relatively large vegetables, for example, leaf vegetables (leafy vegetables) 202 such as spinach, rape, cabbage and cabbage, and heavy root vegetables 203 such as potato and radish are stored. In the upper box 42 (small vegetable box), relatively small vegetables, for example, vegetables, cucumbers, tomatoes, and the like, which have not been used up, are stored.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the shape of the vegetable storage box 4. The lower case 41 has a front surface portion 41a, a back surface portion 41b, a left side surface portion 41c, a right side surface portion 41d, and a bottom surface portion 41e, and is open upward. The upper case 42 has a front surface portion 42a, a back surface portion 42b, a left side surface portion 42c, a right side surface portion 42d, and a bottom surface portion 42e, and is open upward.

The upper case 42 is held by the left and right

side surface portions

41c, 41d of the lower case 41. The front portions (portions close to the front surface portion 41 a) of the

side surface portions

41c and 41d of the lower case 41 are formed higher than the other regions, and the front end position of the upper case 42 is regulated. Therefore, a region not covered with the upper tank 42 is formed in the front of the lower tank 41. In this area, for example, a large pet bottle 201 (fig. 3) is housed.

Returning to fig. 3, vegetable room 15 includes: a bottom portion 31 facing the bottom surface of the vegetable storage box 4; a ceiling portion 32 facing the upper surface of the vegetable storage box 4; a back wall 33 facing the back of the vegetable storage box 4; side walls 34 and 35 (fig. 2) facing the left and right side surfaces of the vegetable storage box 4.

The light emitting device 5 is disposed on the back wall 33 of the vegetable compartment 15 so as to face the back surface of the vegetable storage box 4. The light emitting device 5 is disposed above the vertical center of the vegetable storage box 4. Here, the light emitting device 5 is disposed at a position facing the rear surface portion 41b of the lower case 41 of the vegetable storage case 4. That is, the light emitting device 5 is disposed at a position lower than the upper case 42. The light emitting device 5 is disposed in the center of the refrigerator 1 in the left-right direction as shown by reference character a1 in fig. 2, for example.

The back wall 33 of the vegetable compartment 15 is made of the heat insulating member described above, and has high strength. Therefore, by disposing the light emitting device 5 on the back wall 33, vibration applied to an LED (described later) of the light emitting device 5 can be suppressed, and reliability can be improved. Further, since the driving members such as the blower 19 and the damper are disposed also on the rear surface side of the refrigerator 1, there is an advantage that wiring to the light emitting device 5 becomes easy.

The arrangement of the light emitting device 5 is not limited to the above example. For example, as shown by reference character a2 in fig. 3, the light emitting device 5 may be disposed at the upper corner of the rear surface side of the vegetable compartment 15, or as shown by reference character A3 in fig. 2, the light emitting device 5 may be disposed at the upper right corner or the upper left corner of the rear surface side of the vegetable compartment 15. Among the vegetables, there are few vegetables having angular shapes such as rectangular solids, and there are many vegetables that are not present above the rear surface side of the vegetable storage box 4 (there are few vegetables that block light). Therefore, even if the light emitting device 5 is disposed at the above-described position, light can be irradiated to a relatively large range within the vegetable storage box 4.

As shown by symbol a4 in fig. 2, the light-emitting device 5 may be disposed on the side wall 34 or the side wall 35 of the vegetable compartment 15. In this case, there is an advantage that the user can easily confirm the lighting state of the LED of the light emitting device 5.

As indicated by reference sign a5 in fig. 2, the light emitting device 5 may be provided in the ceiling portion 32 of the vegetable compartment 15. Ceiling portion 32 serves as a partition between vegetable compartment 15 and freezing compartment 14, and is detachable from frame 16 of refrigerator 1. Therefore, when the light emitting device 5 is mounted on the ceiling portion 32, there is an advantage that attachment and detachment at the time of failure becomes easy.

The light emitting device 5 is disposed above the vertical center of the vegetable storage box 4, and is disposed such that the emission optical axis Ax is inclined downward with respect to the horizontal plane H. With this arrangement, the vegetables stored in the lower box 41 of the vegetable storage box 4 can be efficiently irradiated with light. The following describes a specific structure of the light emitting device 5.

Fig. 5 and 6 are a sectional view and a front view showing a configuration example of the light emitting device 5. The light emitting device 5 includes a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements having different wavelengths. Specifically, the light-emitting device 5 includes:

LEDs

51a and 51b as first light-emitting units that emit red light (light having a wavelength of 600 to 780 nm);

LEDs

52a and 52b as a second light emitting part emitting green light (light having a wavelength of 500 to 550 nm);

LEDs

53a, 53b as the third light emitting part emitting blue light (light having a wavelength of 430 to 500 nm).

As shown in fig. 6, the

red LEDs

51a, 51b are arranged in parallel on the left and right sides to form an LED group 51. Below the

red LEDs

51a, 51b, the

blue LEDs

53a, 53b are arranged in parallel on the left and right sides, thereby forming an LED group 53. The

green LEDs

52a and 52b are arranged in parallel on the left and right sides below the

blue LEDs

53a and 53b, thereby forming an LED group 52. Here, the LEDs of each color are arranged 2 by 2, but may be arranged 1 by 1, or may be arranged 3 or more.

Returning to fig. 5, the light-emitting device 5 includes: a mounting substrate 55 to which

LEDs

51a, 51b, 52a, 52b, 53a, and 53b (hereinafter referred to as LEDs 51a to 53b) are fixed by solder; and a cover member 54 for covering the emission sides of the LEDs 51 a-53 b. The cover member 54 is configured by a member that transmits light emitted from the LEDs 51a to 53 b.

The cover member 54 includes an emission surface portion 54a disposed on the emission side of the LEDs 51a to 53b, a peripheral wall portion 54b surrounding the LEDs 51a to 53b and the mounting board 55, and a base portion 54c formed at an end portion of the peripheral wall portion 54 b. The base portion 54c of the cover member 54 is fixed to the back surface wall 33.

The mounting board 55 to which the LEDs 51a to 53b are fixed is fixed to the emission surface portion 54a of the cover member 54 by screws 56 in order to avoid variation in the irradiation angle due to vibration of the refrigerator 1. The back surface side of the cover member 54 is covered with a sealing material 57 in order to prevent short-circuiting of the circuit of the mounting substrate 55.

The light emitting device 5 is mounted on an upper portion (a portion above the center in the vertical direction of the vegetable storage box 4) of the back wall 33 of the vegetable compartment 15 at an angle θ that is an emission optical axis Ax that is an optical axis of the LEDs 51a to 53b and faces downward with respect to the horizontal plane H. The angle θ is 5 to 85 °, preferably 10 to 45 °, as described later.

In the configuration example shown in fig. 5, an inclined mounting surface 33a is formed on the back surface wall 33 so that the emission optical axes Ax of the LEDs 51a to 53b are inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H, and the light emitting device 5 is mounted on the mounting surface 33 a.

However, the configuration is not limited to that shown in fig. 5, and the emission optical axes Ax of the LEDs 51a to 53b may be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane H. For example, as shown in fig. 7, the LEDs 51a to 53b may be configured by shell-shaped LEDs having long leads (pins) 58, and the leads 58 may be inclined at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal plane H.

As shown in fig. 8, the mounting board 55a to which the

LEDs

51a, 51b are fixed, the mounting board 55b to which the

LEDs

52a, 52b are fixed, and the mounting board 55c to which the

LEDs

53a, 53b are fixed may be formed of different members and attached to the inclined surface of the support board 59.

In the configuration of fig. 7 and 8, it is not necessary to tilt the entire light emitting device 5. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to thin the wall of the rear wall 33 of the vegetable compartment 15 (to lower the heat insulation performance), and it is not necessary to reduce the space for storing the vegetable storage box 4.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of the light-emitting device 5. As shown in fig. 9, the LEDs 51 a-53 b are connected in parallel to a DC (direct current) voltage source of 2V-15V. Further,

microcomputers

101, 102, 103 are connected to the

LED groups

51, 52, 53, respectively. That is, the

LEDs

51a, 51b emit light by applying a current of 10 to 50mA to the microcomputer 101. The

LEDs

52a, 52b emit light when a current of 10 to 50mA is applied by the microcomputer 102. The

LEDs

53a, 53b emit light by applying a current of 10 to 50mA to the microcomputer 103.

The control unit 20 stores in advance a combination of the light quantity and the irradiation time effective for activating the function of the vegetable for each color of the LED (i.e., for each of red, blue, and green). The control unit 20 drives the

microcomputers

101, 102 and 103 based on the stored combination of the light quantity and the irradiation time.

The current flowing to each LED is small, 10-50 mA, so that the safety is high. Further, since the LEDs 51a to 53b are controlled for each group (each

LED group

51, 52, 53), the number of ports of the microcomputer can be reduced, and the control unit 20 can be simplified.

Next, the operation of light irradiation by the light emitting device 5 will be described. First, the photosynthetic reaction is explained. When the photosynthetic reaction is represented by a chemical formula, it is represented by the following formula (1).

6CO₂+12H₂O+688kcal→C₆H₁₂O₆+6H₂O+6O₂…(1)

In the formula (1), CO₂Is carbon dioxide, H₂O is water, O₂Is oxygen. 688kcal is luminous energy, C₆H₁₂O₆Is glucose. The reaction is classified into a photoreaction using light energy and a dark reaction not using light energy.

The photoreaction is a reaction of converting light energy into chemical energy, and at this stage, carbon dioxide is not used, and a pigment such as chlorophyll decomposes water into hydrogen and oxygen using light energy, and chemical energy is accumulated by the action of an enzyme protein. On the other hand, in the dark reaction, hydrogen generated by the photoreaction and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are used to synthesize glucose. The vegetable with increased glucose has improved storage property and vitamin C is produced.

In embodiment 1, red light, green light, and blue light are used, and these have respective effects. Red light is a wavelength having a high absorption rate of chlorophyll of vegetables, and is absorbed by the surface of leaves and used for photosynthesis. Green light has a low absorption rate of chlorophyll, and therefore penetrates into the interior of leaves, repeats reflection, is absorbed, and is used for photosynthesis. The blue light is used as a signal for transmitting the light to the vegetables, and is used to open the pores and introduce carbon dioxide. The above-described effects can efficiently promote the photosynthesis reaction represented by formula (1).

Among the vegetables stored in the lower box 41, leaf vegetables such as spinach, rape and cabbage are preferable as the vegetables to be irradiated with light. On the other hand, a vegetable for which light irradiation is not desired is, for example, a potato. The leaf vegetables and the potatoes are placed on the bottom surface portion 41e of the lower box 41, but the potatoes are lower than the leaf vegetables.

Therefore, by setting the angle θ of the emission optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 to 85 ° (more preferably 10 to 45 °), it is possible to irradiate light to vegetables (leafy vegetables) to which light irradiation is desired, and to avoid light irradiation to vegetables (potatoes) to which light irradiation is not desired.

Although a region for storing large pet bottles 201 is provided in front of the lower box 41, the stored items in the region are not affected by light irradiation, and thus the setting of the angle θ is not affected.

The light emitting device 5 is preferably disposed above the center of the height from the bottom surface 41e of the lower case 41 to the bottom surface 42e of the upper case 42. If the light emitting device 5 is disposed in this manner, for example, light can be irradiated to a vertically long leaf vegetable such as spinach when the leaf vegetable is placed upright on the back surface portion 41b of the lower case 41 and when the leaf vegetable is placed horizontally at the center of the bottom surface portion 41e of the lower case 41.

Here, the upper tank 42 as the small vegetable tank is provided above the lower tank 41 as the large vegetable tank, but the large vegetable tank may be provided upside down above the small vegetable tank. In this way, the situation that the small vegetables stored in the small vegetable box roll into the large vegetable box and are not detected to be rotten can not occur. Further, the large vegetable box functions as a lid of the small vegetable box, so that drying of vegetables that have not run out can be suppressed. In this way, the quality of the vegetables stored in the vegetable compartment 15 can be improved as a whole.

Next, light irradiation control of the light emitting device 5 in the refrigerator 1 configured as described above is explained. First, a concept of activation of the function of vegetables will be described. Organisms mostly have a circadian rhythm, i.e., they grow in the presence of day and night as a normal state, and plants are no exception. Since vegetables grow during storage, it is desirable to provide an environment around the clock, in which the time zone during which light is applied and the time zone during which light is not applied alternate, as before harvesting.

Therefore, the light emitting device 5 repeats the turning on and off of the LED at a constant rhythm. The turn-on time and turn-off time of the LED are 5 hours or more, preferably 5 to 15 hours, respectively. This is because if lighting and lighting are repeated in an excessively short cycle, the light becomes dark before activation of the biosynthesis function by light occurs, and does not change compared with the case where light is not irradiated.

When the plants are irradiated with blue light, the plants (here, vegetables) open stomata and take in carbon dioxide necessary for biosynthesis from the air because the plants are informed of the start of irradiation with light. The blue light is irradiated with red light and green light which promote chlorophyll activation of vegetables, glucose production by biosynthesis, and vitamin C synthesis.

The blue light is more effective than the red light and the green light. Therefore, the light amount of the blue light is preferably 1/4 or less, and more preferably 1/5 to 1/10, of the light amounts of the red light and the green light. After the stomata of the vegetables are opened, it is desirable to turn off the blue light. After the light irradiation is continued for a certain time, the LED of the light emitting device 5 is turned off.

In view of the above, the operation (light irradiation control) of the light emitting device 5 will be described. Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of the operation of the light emitting device 5. After the power of the refrigerator 1 is turned on, the control section 20 starts light irradiation control suitable for the circadian rhythm of vegetables in accordance with the user' S operation of the operation panel 21 (step S1). First, it is determined whether or not the current time zone (time zone of day) is a time zone in which light irradiation should be performed (step S2).

The determination of whether the day zone or the night zone is performed using a 24-hour timer provided in the control unit 20. For example, 6 to 18 points are set in advance as the day zone, and other than this, the night zone is set in advance. The timing of the day and night zones may vary depending on the season. For example, the daytime zone may be set to be longest during the summer solstice period, and the daytime zone may be set to be shortest during the winter solstice period. Also, here, the daytime zone and the nighttime zone are set together for 24 hours, but the length thereof may be changed as appropriate.

In step S2, if it is determined that the current time zone is the daytime zone, the control unit 20 starts light irradiation in the daytime mode. That is, the irradiation of red light by the

LEDs

51a, 51b, the irradiation of green light by the

LEDs

52a, 52b, and the irradiation of blue light by the

LEDs

53a, 53b are started at the same time (step S3). As described above, the red light and the green light are lights suitable for activating the functions of the vegetables, and the blue light is a light that triggers the opening of the stomata of the vegetables. Then, the control unit 20 starts time measurement in the daytime mode by, for example, a timer (step S4).

The time required for the stomata of the vegetables to open is, for example, 10 minutes or more, based on the irradiation of the blue light from the

LEDs

53a, 53b, and after the time elapses, the

LEDs

53a, 53b are turned off (step S5). Then, the elapsed time from the start of the daytime mode is acquired (step S6), and when the elapsed time reaches the preset daytime mode upper limit time (step S7), the mode is shifted to the nighttime mode, and the

LEDs

51a, 51b, 52a, and 52b are turned off (step S8). Thereby, all the LEDs 51a to 53b are turned off, and the night mode starts.

The control unit 20 starts time measurement in the night mode by, for example, a timer in accordance with the start of the night mode (step S9). Then, the elapsed time from the start of the night mode is acquired (step S10), and when the elapsed time reaches the preset night mode upper limit time (step S11), the process returns to step S3 to start light irradiation in the day mode.

Fig. 11 is a timing chart showing the operation of the light emitting device 5. As shown in fig. 11, the irradiation of red light by the

LEDs

51a, 51b, the irradiation of green light by the

LEDs

52a, 52b, and the irradiation of blue light by the

LEDs

53a, 53b are started simultaneously with the start of the daytime zone.

When the time required for opening the stomata of the vegetables has elapsed, only the irradiation of the blue light by the

LEDs

53a, 53b is stopped. This causes the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4 to be irradiated with red light and green light used for photosynthesis. Then, the irradiation of red light by the

LEDs

51a, 51b and the irradiation of green light by the

LEDs

52a, 52b are stopped as the daytime zone ends. This provides an environment in which light is not irradiated to the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4.

Here, the determination of the day zone and the night zone is performed by a 24-hour timer, but a method not using a timer may be used. For example, the time when the drawer door 15a is opened or closed is determined to be at midnight, that is, 0 o' clock, based on the output of the door opening/closing sensor 25 of the vegetable compartment 15.

According to the operation of the light emitting device 5 described herein, even if the pull-out door 15a is opened and closed during the daytime (for example, during the time period from 6 o 'clock to 18 o' clock) and external light enters the vegetable compartment 15, the light is already irradiated to the vegetables by the light emitting device 5, and thus the stress response to the vegetables is small.

In the nighttime zone (for example, the time zone from 18 o 'clock to 6 o' clock in the next morning), the light-emitting device 5 does not irradiate the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4 with light, but the opening/closing frequency of the pull-out door 15a is low at night, so that the vegetables are less likely to be subjected to stress.

Here, the light emitting device 5 includes the LEDs 51a to 53b that emit red light, green light, and blue light, but is not limited to these wavelength bands, and may be any light that is associated with activation of the function of the vegetable. Further, a light emitting element (LED or the like) for irradiating ultraviolet rays may be added for increasing the polyphenol content, for example, depending on the purpose.

Further, by combining the

blue LEDs

53a, 53b with a yellow phosphor, white light can be added to the blue light. This allows the vegetable to be irradiated with white light together with blue light, thereby improving visibility.

As described above, according to embodiment 1 of the present invention, the light emitting device 5 disposed in the vegetable room 15 includes the LEDs 51a to 53b, and the LEDs 51a to 53b have the emission optical axis Ax inclined downward with respect to the horizontal plane H, and emit light from the LEDs 51a to 53b toward the inside of the vegetable housing box 4. Therefore, sufficient light can be irradiated to the vegetables having a low height.

Further, since the light emitting device 5 is disposed above the center of the vegetable storage box 4 in the vertical direction and faces the back surface portion 41b of the vegetable storage box 4, the light can be irradiated to the leaf vegetables both when the vertically long leaf vegetables are placed upright on the back surface portion 41b of the vegetable storage box 4 and when the vertically long leaf vegetables are placed horizontally on the center of the bottom surface portion 41e of the vegetable storage box 4.

Further, since the vegetable storage box 4 includes the lower box 41 and the upper box 42 and the light emitted from the light emitting device 5 is directed toward the lower box 41, the vegetable and leaf mainly stored in the lower box 41 can be efficiently irradiated with the light.

Further, since the angle formed by the emission optical axis Ax and the horizontal plane H is in the range of 5 degrees to 85 degrees (more preferably 10 degrees to 45 degrees), it is possible to irradiate light to the leaf vegetables to which light is desirably irradiated, and to avoid light irradiation to the potatoes to which light is not desirably irradiated.

The light emitting device 5 includes the LED group 51 emitting red light, the LED group 52 emitting green light, and the LED group 53 emitting blue light, and after light is simultaneously emitted from the LED groups 51 to 53, the LED group 53 is first turned off, whereby only light (red light and green light) necessary for photosynthesis is irradiated after the stomata of the vegetables are opened by irradiation of blue light, and energy consumption can be reduced.

Embodiment 2.

Next, embodiment 2 of the present invention will be explained. Fig. 12 is a diagram showing the structure of vegetable room 15 and its surroundings in embodiment 2. In embodiment 2, the light emitting device 5 is swingable about a swing axis 62 in the horizontal direction (more specifically, the left-right direction), and the inclination of the emission optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 with respect to the horizontal plane H can be changed.

Specifically, the light emitting device 5 is supported by a swing frame 61 that is swingable about a swing shaft 62. The swing frame 61 is swung by the motor 6 as a driving device. The motor 6 is, for example, a stepping motor. The motor 6 and the swing frame 61 constitute a moving mechanism that moves the light emitting device 5 (i.e., swings the light emitting device about the swing shaft 62).

The structure of the light emitting device 5 is as described in embodiment 1. For example, when the light emitting device 5 has the structure shown in fig. 5, the cover member 54 (fig. 5) of the light emitting device 5 is attached to the swing frame 61 so as to be swingable.

In embodiment 2, a camera 7 as an imaging device is disposed on the rear surface side of the vegetable compartment 15. The camera 7 is disposed to photograph the inside of the vegetable storage box 4 (here, the inside of the lower box 41).

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a control system of the refrigerator according to embodiment 2. The operation input from the operation panel 21, the door opening/closing signal from the door opening/closing sensor 25, and the image data from the camera 7 are input to the control unit 20 of the refrigerator 1. Based on these inputs, the control unit 20 controls the compressor 17, the cooler 18, the blower 19, the motor 6, and the light emitting devices 5 (LEDs 51a to 53 b).

In embodiment 2, the control unit 20 processes image data captured by the camera 7, and extracts, for example, a green image to detect the position of a leaf vegetable. Then, the motor 6 is driven in accordance with the detected position of the leaf vegetable, and the inclination of the emission optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 is changed so that the light can be most efficiently irradiated to the leaf vegetable.

Fig. 14(a) and (B) are schematic diagrams showing an example of a change in the inclination of the emission optical axis Ax of the light-emitting device 5 according to embodiment 2. As shown in fig. 14(a), when the leafy vegetable 200 is at a high position in the vegetable storage box 4, the light is irradiated to a relatively high position in the vegetable storage box 4 by reducing the inclination angle θ 1 of the emission optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 with respect to the horizontal plane H.

On the other hand, as shown in fig. 14(B), when the leafy vegetable 200 is at a low position in the vegetable storage box 4, the light is irradiated to a relatively low position in the vegetable storage box 4 by increasing the inclination angle θ 2 of the emission optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 with respect to the horizontal plane H. With this configuration, the leaf vegetables 200 stored in the vegetable storage box 4 can be efficiently irradiated with light.

Here, the positions of the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4 are detected based on the images captured by the camera 7, but the positions of the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4 may be detected by another method. For example, the user may use the operation panel 21 (fig. 1) or other input terminal to input the location of the vegetables. In this case, the internal space of the vegetable storage box 4 may be divided into a plurality of regions and the user may select the region. In this case, the inner space of the vegetable storage box 4 may be divided into 3 (front, middle, and rear) spaces in the front-rear direction, 2 (right and left) spaces in the left-right direction, and 2 (up and down) spaces in the up-down direction, for example.

Here, the inclination of the entire light emitting device 5 is changed, but only the inclination of a specific LED group among the LED groups 51 to 53 described in embodiment 1 may be changed. Further, the light emitting devices 5 may be arranged at a plurality of positions, and the inclination of each light emitting device 5 may be changed according to the necessity of light irradiation (for example, the position of the leaf vegetables).

As described above, in embodiment 2 of the present invention, since the inclination angle of the output optical axis Ax of the light emitting device 5 with respect to the horizontal plane H is changed according to the position (height) of the vegetables in the vegetable housing box 4, the light can be efficiently irradiated according to the state of housing the vegetables in the vegetable housing box 4.

In addition, if the position of the vegetables in the vegetable storage box 4 can be determined based on the image captured by the camera 7, the convenience for the user is further improved.

In embodiments 1 and 2 described above, the light emitting device 5 has the

LED groups

51, 52, and 53 each composed of 2 LEDs, and controls light emission for each group (each

LED group

51, 52, and 53), but may be provided with one LED for each wavelength band, and control light emission for each LED (each light emitting element). The light emitting element is not limited to the LED, and other light emitting elements may be used.

In embodiments 1 and 2 described above, the vegetable storage box 4 is divided into the lower box 41 and the upper box 42, but the vegetable storage box 4 does not have to be divided.

In embodiments 1 and 2 described above, the entire vegetable storage box 4 (the lower box 41 and the upper box 42) may be transparent, only a portion through which light from the light emitting device 5 passes may be transparent, or a portion through which light from the light emitting device 5 passes may be an opening.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Description of the symbols

A refrigerator, a4 vegetable storage box, a5 light emitting device, a 6 motor (drive section), a 7 camera (photographing device), a 11 refrigerating compartment, a 12 switching compartment, a 13 ice making compartment, a 14 freezing compartment, a 15 vegetable compartment, a 16 frame, a 17 compressor, an 18 cooler, a 19 blower, a 20 control section, a 21 operation panel (operation input section), a 25 door opening and closing sensor, a 41 lower compartment, a 42 upper compartment, a 51LED group (first light emitting section), a 51a, 51b LED (light emitting element), a 52LED group (second light emitting section), a 52a, 52b LED (light emitting element), a 53LED group (third light emitting section), a 53a, 53b LED (light emitting element), a 54 cover member, a 55 mounting substrate, a 56 screw, a 57 seal, a 58 lead, a 59 support substrate, a 61 swing frame, a 62 swing shaft, and a 101, 102, 103 microcomputer.

Claims

1. A refrigerator is characterized in that a refrigerator body is provided with a refrigerator door,

the refrigerator is provided with:

a vegetable room;

a vegetable receiving box provided in the vegetable room; and

a light emitting device disposed in the vegetable compartment,

the light emitting device has a first light emitting part emitting red light, a second light emitting part emitting green light, and a third light emitting part emitting blue light,

the first light emitting unit, the second light emitting unit, and the third light emitting unit have optical axes inclined downward with respect to a horizontal plane, and emit light toward the inside of the vegetable storage box,

after light is simultaneously emitted from the first light-emitting portion, the second light-emitting portion, and the third light-emitting portion, the third light-emitting portion is first turned off.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the light emitting device is disposed above a center of the vegetable storage box in a vertical direction.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

the light emitting device is disposed to face a rear surface of the vegetable storage box.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

the vegetable storage box is provided with an upper box and a lower box,

the light emitting device is disposed so that light emitted from the first light emitting portion, the second light emitting portion, and the third light emitting portion is directed toward the inside of the lower case.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

the angle formed by the optical axis and the horizontal plane is in the range of 5-85 degrees.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 5,

the angle formed by the optical axis and the horizontal plane is in the range of 10-45 degrees.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

the first light emitting portion, the second light emitting portion, and the third light emitting portion are each a plurality of light emitting elements or a plurality of groups of light emitting elements.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

in the daytime zone, the light emitting device emits light, and in the nighttime zone, the light emitting device is turned off.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2,

the refrigerator further includes:

a moving mechanism that moves the light emitting device to change a slope of the optical axis with respect to a horizontal plane; and

a control unit that controls the moving mechanism according to a position of the vegetable in the vegetable storage box.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 9,

the refrigerator is also provided with a shooting device for shooting the image in the vegetable storage box,

the control unit detects a position of the vegetable in the vegetable storage box based on the image captured by the imaging device.