CN112781301A

CN112781301A - Refrigerator with a door

Info

Publication number: CN112781301A
Application number: CN202010882812.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 武下正宪
Original assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2019-11-08
Filing date: 2020-08-28
Publication date: 2021-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-28
Also published as: CN112781301B; JP2021076296A; JP7421309B2

Abstract

The invention provides a refrigerator capable of reducing the height of a drainage bucket. The refrigerator has: an evaporator (32); a tube heater (86) for heating the evaporator (32); a drain tank (80) disposed below the evaporator (32) and receiving the defrost water from the evaporator (32); a plurality of funnels (88) formed on the drain barrel (80); and a drain port (92) formed in the funnel (88).

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

Background

Conventionally, an evaporator for cooling a refrigerator is provided with: a drain tank for receiving defrost water generated when defrosting the evaporator. The defrost water stored in the drain tank flows to an evaporation tray in the machine room and is evaporated by heat of a compressor or the like.

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2007-93018

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 4-13077

Patent document 3: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 61-197979

Disclosure of Invention

The drain tub as described above is formed with an inclined surface so that the defrost water easily flows toward the drain opening. However, in the case where the width of the cooler is relatively wide, since the area of the drain tub as viewed from above is large, the inclined surface is lengthened to facilitate the flow of the defrost water, and the height of the drain tub is increased corresponding to the amount of the portion thereof which is lengthened, thereby generating: the volume for arranging the drainage barrel becomes larger and the volume of other parts becomes smaller.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of reducing the height of a drain tub.

The refrigerator of the present invention has: an evaporator; a drain tub disposed below the evaporator and receiving defrost water from the evaporator; a plurality of funnels formed at the drain tub; and a drain port formed in the funnel.

According to the structure, the height of the drainage bucket can be reduced, and the related parts are compact.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view showing a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a refrigerator.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the evaporator F, the drain tank, and the evaporation pan.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the drain tub.

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a drain tank according to modification 1.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an evaporator F, a drain tank, and an evaporation pan of modification 2.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an evaporator F, a drain tank, and an evaporation pan of modification 3.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an evaporator F, a drain tank, and an evaporation pan of modification 4.

Description of the reference numerals

10 … refrigerator; 22 … machine room; 24 … compressor; 28 … R evaporator; a 32 … F evaporator; 68 … evaporation pan; 74 … drainage bucket; 78 … heat insulating members; 80 … drain water; 82 … fins; 84 … refrigerant lines; 86 … tubular heaters; 88 … funnel; 90 … inclined plane; 92 … drain port; 94 … drain pipe; 96 … main drain pipe.

Detailed Description

Next, a refrigerator 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 4.

(1) Refrigerator 10

Referring to fig. 1 to 2, a refrigerator 10 is explained. The housing 12 of the refrigerator 10 is: and a heat insulation box body which combines the inner box and the outer box and is provided with a heat insulation member 78 inside. As shown in fig. 2, in the housing 12, in order from above: refrigerating compartment 14, vegetable compartment 16, small freezing compartment 18, and freezing compartment 20, and an ice-making compartment 21 is provided beside small freezing compartment 18. Horizontal insulating partitions 36 are provided between vegetable compartment 16 and small freezer compartment 18 and ice making compartment 21. The fresh food compartment 14 and the vegetable compartment 16 are separated by a horizontal separator 38.

As shown in fig. 2, in refrigerating compartment 14, 2 shelves 40 and 1 shelf 41 are horizontally provided, and a fresh air compartment 42 is provided at a lower portion. The fresh air container 70 is accommodated in the fresh air compartment 42 so as to be freely drawn out. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, a front opening of the refrigerating compartment 14 is provided with split left and

right doors

14a and 14 b. A multi-layered door box 44 is provided on the rear surfaces of the two

doors

14a, 14 b. An operation portion 56 is provided on the front surface of the left door 14 a.

As shown in fig. 1, an electrostatic door switch 62 is provided at a lower portion of the left door 14a, and when the door switch 62 is operated, a solenoid-type door pressing portion 64 located at a central portion of a front end portion of the ceiling portion of the housing 12 pushes the left door 14a from behind, so that the left door 14a is opened. An electrostatic door switch 62 is also provided on the lower portion of the right door 14b, and when the door switch 62 is operated, the door pressing portion 64 pushes the rear surface of the right door 14b, so that the right door 14b is opened.

As shown in fig. 1, the ice making chamber 21 is provided with: the ice making device 66 for making ice using an ice making tray supplies water for making ice from a water tank, not shown, disposed on the side of the fresh food compartment 42 inside the refrigerating compartment 14.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, vegetable compartment 16 is provided with a pull-out vegetable compartment door 16a, and small-sized freezer compartment 18, freezer compartment 20, and ice-making compartment 21 are provided with: and pull-out

doors

18a, 20a, 21 a. A pull-out vegetable container 46 is provided in the vegetable compartment 16.

As shown in fig. 2, a refrigerating evaporator (hereinafter, referred to as "R evaporator") 28 is provided on the rear surface of the vegetable compartment 16 from the lower portion of the rear surface of the refrigerating compartment 14, and a refrigerating blower (hereinafter, referred to as "R fan") 30 is provided above the refrigerating evaporator. The R evaporator 28 is provided with a tube heater as a defrosting heater. The R evaporator 28 and the R fan 30 are disposed: an R evaporator space 27 as a cooling chamber surrounded by the evaporator cover 48.

As shown in fig. 2, a damper 72 is provided in an upper portion of R evaporator space 27, duct 50 extends upward from damper 72 along rear surface 58 of refrigerating compartment 14, and duct 50 is provided with a plurality of outlets 52, and cool air is blown out from outlets 52 toward refrigerating compartment 14. The rear surface of the fresh air compartment 42 is also provided with an outlet 54, and the cold air flowing out of the damper 72 is blown out into the fresh air compartment 42. Further, on the rear surface of the refrigerating compartment 14, there are provided: and an R sensor 29 for detecting the temperature in the refrigerator of the refrigerating chamber 14. Further, a drain tub 74 is provided below the R evaporator 28.

As shown in fig. 2, a freezing evaporator (hereinafter, referred to as "F evaporator") 32 is provided in an F evaporator space 31 extending from the rear surfaces of the small freezing chamber 18 and the ice making chamber 21 to the rear surface of the freezing chamber 20, and a freezing blower (hereinafter, referred to as "F fan") 34 is provided above the F evaporator space. The F evaporator 32 is provided with a pipe heater (pipe heater)86 (see fig. 3) as a defrosting heater. Provided on the back of the freezer compartment 20 are: and an F sensor 35 for detecting the temperature inside the refrigerator of the freezing compartment 20. A drain tub 80 is provided below the F evaporator 32. The drain tub 80 will be described in detail later.

As shown in fig. 2, a machine chamber 22 is provided at the bottom of the rear surface of the housing 12, and: a compressor 24 constituting a refrigeration cycle, and the like. A control board 26 is provided on the upper rear surface of the machine chamber 22. Above the compressor 24, disposed are: an evaporation pan 68 for evaporating the defrosting water generated from the R evaporator 28 and the F evaporator 32.

(2) F evaporator 32 and drain bucket 80

The F evaporator 32 and the drain bucket 80 are explained. First, referring to fig. 3, the F evaporator 32 will be described. The F evaporator 32 has: the plurality of plate-like fins 82 arranged in parallel in the vertical direction are formed in a rectangular parallelepiped in outer shape. The refrigerant tubes 84 are arranged in the left-right direction and are S-shaped, and penetrate the fins 82 in multiple stages. The tube heater 86 is disposed in the left-right direction, is provided in a meandering manner, and penetrates the fins 82 in a plurality of stages. The refrigerant pipe 84 is connected to the compressor 24 or the condenser disposed in the machine room 22. The tube heater 86 is constituted by: a heater wire is embedded in a tube made of a long good thermal conductor, and the tube heater 86 is a defrosting heater for performing a defrosting operation. The defrosting operation is as follows: in a predetermined cycle during the stop of the cooling operation, when a user using the operation unit 56 instructs forced defrosting or the like, the control unit on the control board 26 energizes and heats the tube heater 86 to melt and remove frost deposited on the surface of the F evaporator 32.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the drain tub 80 includes: in the state of being arranged in the R evaporator space 27, 2 funnels 88 each having a square shape having the same shape in a plan view as viewed from above are arranged in the left-right direction, that is, in the longitudinal direction of the F evaporator 32, and each funnel 88 has 4 inclined surfaces 90. A drain port 92 is formed at the lowermost end of the funnel 88. Accordingly, 2 drain ports 92 are formed in the left and right direction of the drain tub 80. The inclination angle of the inclined surface 90 with respect to the horizontal direction is: 6 DEG or more and 15 DEG or less. This is because: if the angle of inclination is not more than 6 °, the defrost water is hard to flow to the drain port 92, and if it is more than 15 °, the height h of the drain tub 80 becomes too large. In the drawings, the inclination angle is depicted as 15 ° or more for easy understanding. The peak 76 where the inclined surfaces 90 of the 2 funnels 88 meet is not formed as a flat surface but formed as a corner. Here, the "plane" means: a flat portion to the extent that water is trapped.

As shown in fig. 3, a drain pipe 94 is connected to each drain port 92 in the vertical direction, and the 2 drain pipes 94 are joined to a main drain pipe 96 so as to be 1. The main drain pipe 96 is also disposed in the vertical direction, and an opening portion at a lower end thereof is opened above the evaporation pan 68 of the machine chamber 22. 2

drainage pipes

94, 94 and a main drainage pipe 96 run through: an inside of the heat insulating member 78 that separates the machine room 22 from the F evaporator space 31.

In the drain tub 80, the defrosting water dropped from the F evaporator 32 falls on the funnel 88 at each position, is discharged to the drain port 92 through the inclined surface 90, and is stored in the evaporation pan 68 through the drain pipe 94 and the main drain pipe 96.

The drain tub 74 provided below the R evaporator 28 also has 2 hoppers 88 and 2 drain ports 92, similarly to the drain tub 80. The drain pipes 94 connected to the 2 drain ports 92 are combined into 1, and a main drain pipe 96 is formed. As shown in fig. 2, the main drain pipe 96 vertically penetrates: heat insulating member 78 is provided at the rear of small-sized freezing chamber 18 and freezing chamber 20, and has its lower end opened above evaporation pan 68.

(3) Effect

According to the present embodiment, the drain tub 80 is composed of 2 funnels 88, and the inclined surface 90 of each funnel 88 is formed at an angle of 6 ° to 15 °, so that, as shown in fig. 3, the height h of the drain tub 80 is set to: can be lower than the drainage barrel with 1 drainage port and formed with inclined surface, thereby reducing the volume for accommodating the drainage barrel 80. This can enlarge the volume for disposing other members.

Further, since the peak portion 76 where the inclined surfaces 90 of the 2 funnels 88 meet is not formed as a flat surface but formed as a corner portion, the defrosted water dropped on the peak portion 76 flows to any one of the funnels 88 without remaining on the drain tub 80.

Further, since the height h of the drain tub 80 can be reduced, the distance between the pipe heater 86 and the drain port 92 provided in the F evaporator 32 becomes short, and there is no need to provide: a tub heater provided on the drain tub 80 for preventing cooling of the defrosting water.

In addition, since the height h of the drain tub 80 can be reduced, the material for forming the drain tub 80 can be reduced, so that the cost can be reduced.

Modification example

A modification of the above embodiment will be described.

(1) Modification example 1

In the above embodiment, 2 funnels 88 are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the F evaporator 32, but instead of this, the number of funnels 88 provided in the short side direction of the drain tub may be the same as or smaller than the number of funnels 88 provided in the longitudinal direction. For example, as shown in fig. 5, a total of 4 drain openings 92 may be formed in the drain tub 80 by arranging 2 funnels 88 in the front-rear direction of the short side direction and 2 funnels 88 in the left-right direction of the long side direction.

Further, the funnel 88 may be arranged in 3 or more in the left-right direction, and 3 or more drain ports 92 may be formed.

(2) Modification 2

In the above embodiment, 2 water discharge pipes 94 are joined to 1 water discharge pipe 96, but instead, as shown in fig. 6, the

water discharge pipes

94, 94 may be inserted through the heat insulating member 78 in the vertical direction, and the lower ends of the openings may be disposed above the evaporation pan 68.

(3) Modification 3

In the above embodiment, the funnels 88 having the same shape in plan view are arranged in the left-right direction, and the drain port 92 is provided at the center of each funnel 88. Instead of this, one of the drain ports 92 of the 2 hoppers 88 arranged side by side may be provided at a position closer to either side in the left-right direction. For example, as shown in fig. 7, a cold air passage 98 may be formed on the front side (right side) of the F evaporator 32, and when the right side of the F evaporator 32 is more likely to freeze than the left side, the right side is more defrosted water than the left side, and therefore the right funnel 88 may be disposed at a position closer to the right side so as to intensively receive defrosted water from the right side.

(4) Modification 4

In the above embodiment, the tube heater 86 is provided in the F evaporator 32, but instead, as shown in fig. 8, a glass tube heater 100 may be provided between the F evaporator 32 and the drain tank 80 and housed in the drain tank 80. According to this modification, the defrosting water dropped from the F evaporator 32 can be received by the 2 hoppers 88 of the drain tub 80. In addition, since the height h of the drain tub 80 is low, the distance between the glass tube heater 100 and the drain port 92 becomes short, so that it is not necessary to provide: the conventional tub heater is used for preventing the cooling of the installed drain tub 80. Further, the glass tube heater 100 may be disposed between the F evaporator 32 and the drain tub 80 instead of being housed in the drain tub 80.

(5) Modification 5

In the above embodiment, the funnel 88 having a square shape in plan view is provided with 4 inclined surfaces 90, but the funnel is not limited to this, and may have a polygonal shape (including a square shape) in plan view and be provided with 2, 3, or 5 or more inclined surfaces.

(6) Modification 6

In the above embodiment, the vertical cross section of the peak portion 76 where the inclined surfaces 99 of the adjacent funnels 88 meet is formed as a corner portion, but instead of this, the vertical cross section may be formed into a shape having a smoothness in plan view. Even if the mountain portion 76 has a smooth shape, the defrosting water can be caused to flow to any one of the funnels 88.

(7) Modification 7

In the above embodiment, the refrigerator 10 having 2 evaporators of the R evaporator 28 and the F evaporator 32 has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be applied to: a drain tub of a refrigerator 10 cooled by 1 evaporator.

(8) Others

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments are only presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments may be implemented in other various forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications are included in the scope and gist of the present invention, and are also included in the invention described in the scope of claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Claims

1. A refrigerator, wherein a refrigerator door is provided,

the refrigerator has:

an evaporator;

a drain tub disposed below the evaporator and receiving defrost water from the evaporator;

a plurality of funnels formed at the drain tub; and

a drain opening formed in the funnel.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

no plane exists at the mountain part where the adjacent funnels meet.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

a plurality of the funnels are formed in a long side direction of the drain tub.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the number of the funnels arranged in the short side direction of the drainage bucket is the same as or less than that of the funnels arranged in the long side direction.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

each drain pipe extending from a plurality of the drain ports is connected to 1 main drain pipe,

an evaporation pan is disposed below the opening at the lower position of the main drain pipe.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

an evaporation pan is disposed below the opening at the lower position of each of the drain pipes extending from the plurality of drain ports.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the top view shape of the funnel is a polygon,

the funnel is formed with a plurality of inclined surfaces.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 7,

the overlooking shape of the funnel is a rectangle.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

a heater is provided to heat the evaporator,

the heater is a tube heater disposed at the evaporator, or a glass tube heater disposed between the evaporator and the drain tub.

10. The refrigerator of claim 9, wherein,

the glass tube heater is accommodated in the drain tank.