EP2940413A1

EP2940413A1 - Refrigerator, heat insulating box for refrigerator, and method for manufacturing heat insulating box for refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP2940413A1
Application number: EP13867597.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ikuo Ishibashi; Tomoyasu Saeki; You RYUU; Takaaki Yoshida
Original assignee: Toshiba Corp; Toshiba Consumer Electronics Holdings Corp; Toshiba Home Appliances Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2012-12-25
Filing date: 2013-12-16
Publication date: 2015-11-04
Also published as: TWI570373B; WO2014103773A1; CN104884884A; TW201439485A; EP2940413A4; CN104884884B

Abstract

Abstract: A refrigerator comprises an outer box, an inner box which is provided within the outer box, a vacuum heat insulating material which is provided between the outer box and the inner box, and seal materials or heat insulating members which are provided at some of the corners of the outer box. The seal materials or the heat insulating members exhibit fluidity or elasticity when forming the some of the corners by bending a continuous plate.

Description

Technical Field

Embodiments described herein relate to a refrigerator, a heat insulating box for the refrigerator and a method of manufacturing the heat insulating box for the refrigerator.

Background Art

There has conventionally been provided a heat insulating box for a refrigerator, including vacuum insulation panels as heat insulators, instead of a conventional urethane foam and the like.

Prior Art Document

Patent Document

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-H04-260780
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-H06-147744
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2006-90649

Summary of the Invention

Problem to be overcome by the Invention

The vacuum insulation panel is generally formed into a plate shape. Accordingly, the following construction is considered as a heat insulating box provided with vacuum insulation panels. Firstly, a plurality of divided heat insulating walls constructing the heat insulating box are manufactured, and the divided heat insulating walls are thereafter combined into a box shape.
However, the heat insulating box constructed as described above has the following problems. Firstly, an enclosure of the heat insulating box is composed of outer plates which further form outer surfaces of the heat insulating walls. Accordingly, gaps are likely to occur in joints of the outer plates. External moisture flows through the gaps into the heat insulating box, with the result of possibility of adverse effects on the interior of the heat insulating box.
Secondly, a clearance space where no vacuum insulation panel is located is likely to occur in joints of the heat insulating walls, namely, corners of the heat insulating box the heat insulating box constructed as described above. Consequently, it is difficult to ensure a heat insulation performance at the corners of the heat insulating box.
Therefore, an object is to provide a method of manufacturing a heat insulating box for a refrigerator and the refrigerator both of which can firstly reduce the joints of the outer plates and secondly ensure the heat insulation performance at the corners of the heat insulating box.

Means for Overcoming the Problem

According to one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a heat insulating box for a refrigerator is provided wherein the heat insulating box includes a right heat insulating wall, a left heat insulating wall, an upper heat insulating wall, a lower heat insulating wall and a rear heat insulating wall and is formed into a rectangular box shape with an open front; wherein the heat insulating box has vacuum insulation panels between outer plates and inner plates respectively; and wherein a heat insulating wall main body is manufactured by the method, the heat insulating wall main body including one of the heat insulating walls and two of the remaining heat insulating walls, continuous with opposite ends of the one heat insulating wall respectively, the other remaining heat insulating walls being joined to the heat insulating wall main body.
The method includes:

a first step of bonding one sides of the vacuum insulation panels to an inner surface of a plate member formed into a flat shape and having regions corresponding to the outer plates of the one heat insulating wall and the two remaining heat insulating walls respectively, the inner surface of the plate member belonging to the corresponding regions,
wherein one of the vacuum insulation panels adjacent to each other at a boundary of the corresponding regions has an end caused to correspond to the boundary, and the other vacuum insulation panel has an end spaced away from the boundary by a minimum distance which allows the plate member to be folded at the boundary;
a second step of bonding the inner plates to sides of the vacuum insulation panels opposed to the one sides of the vacuum insulation panels bonded at the first step before or after execution of the first step;
a third step of disposing two folding jigs on an inner surface of the one outer plate corresponding region of the plate member while ends of the folding jigs are set on the boundaries respectively and inwardly folding the two outer plate corresponding regions with respect to the one outer plate corresponding region by the folding jigs, after execution of the first and second steps;
a fourth step of bonding one side of the vacuum insulation panel differing from the vacuum insulation panels bonded at the first to third steps, to the inner surface of the one outer plate corresponding region after the folding jigs have been removed; and
a fifth step of bonding the inner plates to a side of the vacuum insulation panel opposed to the side thereof bonded at the fourth step, before or after execution of the fourth step.

According to one embodiment, a refrigerator includes an outer box, an inner box provided in the outer box, a vacuum heat insulator provided between the outer box and the inner box and a sealing member or a heat insulating member provided at a corner which is a part of the outer box. The sealing member or the heat insulating member is configured to exert fluidity or elasticity when a plate is folded so that the corner is formed.
According to one embodiment, a heat insulating box for a refrigerator includes an outer box, an inner box provided in the outer box and a vacuum insulation panel provided between the outer box and the inner box. The vacuum insulation panel is bonded to at least one of the outer or inner plates by a reactive hot melt adhesive, and the vacuum insulation panel has a passage through which a gas produced from the reactive hot melt adhesive is allowed to escape from a heat insulating wall.
According to another embodiment, a heat insulating box for a refrigerator includes an outer box, an inner box provided in the outer box and a vacuum insulation panel provided between the outer box and the inner box. The vacuum insulation panel includes a core, an inner bag evacuated while enclosing the core and an outer bag evacuated while enclosing one piece of the core and the inner bag.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to a first embodiment as viewed obliquely from above;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat insulating box as viewed obliquely from above;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box as viewed obliquely from below;
FIG. 4 is a transversely sectional plan view of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a left heat insulating wall;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an upper inner plate as viewed obliquely from below;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a lower inner plate as viewed obliquely from above;
FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of part K as shown in FIG. 4;
FIG. 9 is a transversely sectional plan view of a corner formed by the left heat insulating wall and an inner insulating wall;
FIG. 10 is a longitudinally sectional front view of a corner formed by the left heat insulating wall and an upper heat insulating wall;
FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a fixture and a left inner plate;
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the fixture mounted on the left inner plate;
FIG. 13 is a longitudinal section of the fixture mounted on the left inner plate;
FIG. 14 is a longitudinal section of the fixture on which a connecting plate is mounted;
FIG. 15 is a transversely sectional plan view of a joint of a transverse beam and the left heat insulating wall;
FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a shelf plate support as viewed from the back;
FIG. 17 is an exploded longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support, the left inner plate and a screw;
FIG. 18 is a longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support, showing the mounted state thereof;
FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box of the refrigerator according to a second embodiment, as viewed obliquely from below;
FIG. 20 is a is a perspective view of the heat insulating box as viewed obliquely from above;
FIG. 21 is an exploded perspective view of the left heat insulating wall;
FIG. 22 is a transversely sectional plan view of the corner formed by the left heat insulating wall and the inner insulating wall;
FIG. 23 is a longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support;
FIG. 24 is a longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support, as viewed at a different position from Fig. 23;
FIG. 25 is an exploded perspective view of the shelf plate support and a reinforcing plate, as viewed from the back;
FIG. 26 is a longitudinally sectional side view of a partition wall support;
FIG. 27 is a perspective view of the partition wall support;
FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box of the refrigerator according to a third embodiment, as viewed obliquely from above;
FIG. 29 is an exploded perspective view of the left heat insulating wall;
FIG. 30 is a longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support, showing a fourth embodiment;
FIG. 31 is an exploded longitudinally sectional side view of the shelf plate support;
FIGS. 32A and 32B are sectional views of a folding structure of a lug of the vacuum insulation panel, showing a modified form (No. 1) of the first embodiment;
FIGS. 33A, 33B and 33C are perspective views of the folding structure of the lug of the vacuum insulation panel;
FIG. 34 is an exploded perspective view of the heat insulating box and the fixtures of the refrigerator according to a fifth embodiment;
FIG. 35 is a perspective view of the refrigerator;
FIG. 36 is a perspective view of the refrigerator as viewed from the right direction, showing the interior thereof;
FIG. 37 is a perspective view of the refrigerator as viewed from the left direction, showing the interior thereof;
FIG. 38 is a longitudinally sectional side view of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 39 is a schematic transversely sectional plan view of a refrigerating compartment located inside the heat insulating box;
FIG. 40 is an exploded perspective view of the divided heat insulating walls;
FIG. 41 is a schematic transversely sectional plan view of a right part of the front side of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 42 is a schematic transversely sectional plan view of a left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 43 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box on which the fixture is mounted on the left inner corner thereof;
FIG. 44 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box, showing the state thereof before the fixture is mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 45 is a perspective view of the fixture to be mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 46 is a front view of the fixture to be mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 47 is an exploded perspective view of the fixture to be mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 48 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 46;
FIG. 49 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 46;
FIG. 50 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG. 46;
FIG. 51 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 46;
FIG. 52 is a sectional view taken along line E-E in FIG. 46;
FIG. 53 is a transversely sectional plan view of the fixture mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box (No. 1);
FIG. 54 is a transversely sectional plan view of the fixture mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box (No. 2) ;
FIG. 55 is a schematic transversely sectional plan view of the right inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 56 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box with the fixture being mounted on the right inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 57 is a perspective view of the heat insulating box, showing the state thereof before the fixture is mounted on the left inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 58 is a perspective view of the fixture to be mounted on the right inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 59 is a front view of the fixture to be mounted on the right inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 60 is an exploded perspective view of the fixture to be mounted on the right inner corner of the heat insulating box;
FIG. 61 is a sectional view taken along line F-F in FIG. 59;
FIG. 62 is a sectional view taken along line G-G in FIG. 59;
FIG. 63 is a sectional view taken along line H-H in FIG. 59;
FIG. 64 is a sectional view taken along line I-I in FIG. 59;
FIG. 65 is a longitudinally sectional front view of a part of a second partitioning member including a right end thereof;
FIG. 66 is a perspective view of a left divided heat insulating wall with the fixture being mounted thereon;
FIG. 67 is a longitudinally sectional front view of the heat insulating box according to a sixth embodiment;
FIG. 68 is a transversely sectional plan view taken along line R-R in FIG. 67;
FIG. 69 is a longitudinally sectional side view of a combination of a right outer plate and a right unit panel in the manufacturing process;
FIG. 70 is a view explaining application of adhesive by a roll coating method;
FIG. 71 illustrates a manufacturing process (No. 1);
FIG. 72 illustrates a manufacturing process (No. 2);
FIG. 73 illustrates a manufacturing process (No. 3);
FIG. 74 illustrates a manufacturing process (No. 4);
FIG. 75 illustrates a manufacturing process (No. 5);
FIG. 76 is a view similar to FIG. 67, showing a seventh embodiment;
FIG. 77 is a view similar to FIG. 71;
FIG. 78 is a view similar to FIG. 72;
FIG. 79 is a view similar to FIG. 73;
FIG. 80 is a view similar to FIG. 74;
FIG. 81 shows a reference example of reaction formulae of the hot melt coating;
FIG. 82 is an exploded sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, the outer plate, the inner plate and hot-melt, showing a reference example;
FIG. 83 is a sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, the outer plate and the inner plate in a bonded state, showing a reference example;
FIG. 84 is a sectional view for explaining a carbon dioxide gas accumulating part, showing a reference example;
FIG. 85 is an exploded perspective view of the vacuum insulation panel, the outer plate and the inner plate in a modified form (No. 2) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 86 is a longitudinally sectional plan view after the bonding;
FIG. 87 is a perspective view of the vacuum insulation panel in another modified form (No. 3) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 88 is a perspective view of the vacuum insulation panel in further another modified form (No. 4) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 89 is a perspective view of the roll coater in further another modified form (No. 5) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 90 is a perspective view of a scraping member; FIG. 91 is a side view of the roll coater in further another modified form (No. 6) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 92 is a plan view of a transfer roller;
FIG. 93 is a sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, showing the modified form (No.1) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 94 is an exploded perspective view of the vacuum insulation panel;
FIGS. 95A, 95B and 95C are schematic diagrams for explaining the layer structure of each film;
FIG. 96 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 1);
FIG. 97 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 2);
FIG. 98 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 3);
FIG. 99 is a view similar to FIG. 9;
FIG. 100 is a sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, showing a modified form (No. 2) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 101 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 1);
FIG. 102 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 2);
FIG. 103 shows a procedure of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel (No. 3);
FIG. 104 is a view similar to FIG. 9;
FIG. 105 is a sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, showing a modified form (No. 3) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 106 is a sectional view of the vacuum insulation panel, showing a modified form (No. 4) of the first embodiment;
FIG. 107 is a longitudinally sectional front view of the refrigerator according to an eighth embodiment;
FIGS. 108A and 108B are a development view showing an outer surface and a side of the metal plate forming the outer box and the outer box formed by folding the metal plate as shown in FIG. 108A, respectively;
FIG. 109 is a sectional view of a part of the refrigerator according to a ninth embodiment;
FIGS. 110A, 110B and 110C show an example of the structure of the vacuum insulation panel;
FIGS. 111A and 111B illustrate a tenth embodiment; FIGS. 112A, 112B and 112C illustrate an eleventh embodiment; and
FIGS. 113A, 113B and 113C illustrate a modified form.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

A plurality of embodiments will be described in the following. Identical or similar parts through the embodiments are labelled by the same reference symbols throughout the embodiments and duplicate description will be eliminated.

(First Embodiment)

A refrigerator 1 according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 18. Referring to FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 includes a heat insulating box 2. The heat insulating box 2 has a front formed with an opening. Double doors, that is, a left pivot door 3 and a right pivot door 4, and a plurality of pullout doors 5 to 8 are mounted at the front side of the heat insulating box 2. Each one of the doors 3 to 8 has a heat insulator (not shown) therein. More specifically, the doors 3 to 8 are heat insulating doors. The left pivot door 3 is pivotally mounted on a pair of upper and lower hinges 3a and 3b further mounted on a left part of the heat insulating box 2. The right pivot door 4 is pivotally mounted on a pair of upper and lower hinges 4a and 4b further mounted on a right part of the heat insulating box 2.
The heat insulating box 2 is constructed by connecting a left heat insulating wall 9, a right heat insulating wall 10, an upper heat insulating wall 11, a lower heat insulating wall 12 and a rear heat insulating wall 13 to one another. The heat insulating walls 9 to 13 serve as unit heat insulating walls.
The heat insulating box 2 has transverse beam members 51, 52 and 53, a longitudinal beam member 54, a first partition wall 55 and a second partition wall 56, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The transverse beam members 51 to 53 extend transversely between right and left edges of the front opening of the heat insulating box 2. The longitudinal beam member 54 vertically connect midway parts of the transverse beam members 52 and 53 to each other. The first partition wall 55 is provided for defining storage compartments and is located in the rear of the transverse beam member 51. The second partition wall 56 is provided for defining storage compartments and is located in the rear of the transverse beam member 52.
The refrigerator 1 includes, inside the heat insulating box 2, a refrigerating compartment 57, a vegetable compartment 58, a small freezing compartment 59, an ice-making compartment 60 and a freezing compartment 61, all of which serve as the storage compartments. The refrigerating compartment 57 is defined above the first partition wall 55. The vegetable compartment 58 is located between the first and second partition walls 55 and 56. The small freezing compartment 59 is a space defined between the transverse beam members 52 and 53 and is located on the right of the longitudinal beam member 54 as viewed at the front. The ice-making compartment 60 is another space defined between the transverse beam members 52 and 53 and is located on the left of the longitudinal beam member 54 as viewed at the front. The freezing compartment 61 is located below the small freezing compartment 59 and the ice-making compartment 60.
The pivot doors 3 and 4 open and close the refrigerating compartment 57. The pullout door 5 opens and closes the vegetable compartment 58. A vegetable container (not shown) is mounted on the back of the pullout door 5. The pullout door 6 opens and closes the small freezing compartment 59. A frozen food container (not shown) is mounted on the back of the pullout door 6. The pullout door 7 opens and closes the ice-making compartment 7. An ice-receiving vessel (not shown) is mounted on the back of the pullout door 7. The pullout door 8 opens and closes the freezing compartment 61. A frozen food container (not shown) is mounted on the back of the pullout door 8.
The second partition wall 56 separates the vegetable compartment 58 from the small freezing compartment 59 and the ice-making compartment 60 in a heat-insulation manner. There is a large temperature difference between the vegetable compartment 58, and the small freezing compartment 59 and the ice-making compartment 60. Accordingly, the second partition wall 56 comprises a heat insulating material such as polystyrene foam or urethane foam. On the other hand, the first partition wall 55 divides the refrigerating compartment 57 from the vegetable compartment 58. The temperature difference between the refrigerating compartment 57 and the vegetable compartment 58 is relatively smaller. Accordingly, the first partition wall 55 is constructed of a plate made of synthetic resin, for example.
The heat insulating box 2 has an outer box 14 and an inner box 15 as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. The outer box 14 forms an entire framework of the heat insulating box 2 and has a left outer plate 14A, a right outer plate 14B, an upper outer plate 14C, a lower outer plate 14D and a rear outer plate 14E, all of which are formed separately from one another. Each one of the outer plates 14A to 14E is made of a steel plate. The left outer plate 14A forms a left outer surface of the heat insulating box 2. The right outer plate 14B forms a right outer surface of the heat insulating box 2. The upper outer plate 14C forms an upper outer surface of the heat insulating box 2. The lower outer plate 14D forms a lower outer surface of the heat insulating box 2. The rear outer plate 14E forms a rear outer surface of the heat insulating box 2. The left and right outer plates 14A and 14B are configured to be bilaterally symmetric.
The inner box 15 has a plurality of, for example, five separately formed inner plates, that is, a left inner plate 15A, a right inner plate 15B, an upper inner plate 15C, a lower inner plate 15D and a rear inner plate 15E. The left inner plate 15A forms a left inner surface of the heat insulating box 2. The right inner plate 15B forms a right inner surface of the heat insulating box 2. The upper inner plate 15C forms an upper inner surface of the heat insulating box 2. The lower inner plate 15D forms a lower inner surface of the heat insulating box 2. The rear inner plate 15E forms an inner rear surface of the heat insulating box 2.
The right and left inner plates 15B and 15A are configured to be bilaterally symmetric. Each one of the inner plates 15A and 15B is constructed of a flat plate-shaped sheet member Sa made of a synthetic resin such as ABS resin, for example. FIG. 5 shows the sheet member Sa to which are attached fixtures 26, a shelf plate support 30, guide rail mountings 33 and 34 and partition wall support fixtures 35 and 36.
The upper inner plate 15C has an L-shaped part 17 which is formed integrally therewith and bulges inside the refrigerator as a folded part, as shown in FIG. 6. The upper inner plate 15C is, for example, an integral molded article Ia made of a synthetic resin such as olefin resin, for example. The lower inner plate 15D has a discharged water receiver 18 which is formed integrally therewith and serves as a folded part, as shown in FIG. 7. The lower inner plate 15D is, for example, an integral molded article Ib made of a synthetic resin such as olefin resin. The integral molded articles Ia and Ib are formed by the injection molding or vacuum molding.
The rear inner plate 15E is constructed of a flat plate-shaped sheet member Sb made of a synthetic resin. The sheet members Sa and Sb can be manufactured by extrusion molding or vacuum molding without use of a molding die having a special configuration. The sheet members Sa and Sb may be commercially available flat plate-shaped sheet members.
The heat insulating box 2 has a vacuum insulation panel 16 as shown in FIG. 4. The vacuum insulation panel 16 is located between the outer and inner boxes 14 and 15. The vacuum insulation panel 16 is constructed of a left unit panel 16A, a right unit panel 16B, an upper unit panel 16C as shown in FIG. 10, a lower unit panel (not shown) and a rear unit panel 16E, all of which are formed separately from one another. These left, right, upper, lower and rear unit panels 16A to 16E serve as unit panels. The left, right, upper, lower and rear unit panels 16A to 16E are common in a basic construction. Accordingly, the basic construction of the left unit panel 16A will be described.
The left unit panel 16A is formed by putting a base material 19 into an envelope 20 and decompressing and closely sealing the envelope 20 by vacuum evacuation, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The base material 19 is formed into a plate shape by compressing and thereby hardening a laminated material of inorganic fiber such as glass wool. The envelope 20 contains a metal layer such as vapor deposited aluminum layer or aluminum foil layer. Each unit panel is generally referred to as "vacuum insulation panel."
The left heat insulating wall 9 is a unit heat insulating wall and has the left outer plate 14A, the left inner plate 15A and the left unit panel 16A as shown in FIG. 5. The left unit panel 16A is located between the left outer and inner plates 14A and 15A. The left unit panel 16A and the left outer plate 14A are bonded together by an adhesive, and the left unit panel 16A and the left inner plate 15A are bonded together by an adhesive.
The heat insulating box 2 has a front end connecting member 21 as shown in FIG. 8. The front end connecting member 21 has heat insulating properties and connects front ends of the outer and inner boxes 14 and 15 together. More specifically, the front end connecting member 21 is mounted on front ends of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9. The front end connecting members 21 connect the front ends of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9. The front ends of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 are bilaterally symmetric. The left heat insulating wall 9 will be described regarding the construction of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9.
The left outer plate 14A has a folded part 14Aa. The left outer plate 14A has a front end including a part extending in front of the left unit panel 16A. The folded part 14Aa is formed by folding the extending part of the outer plate 14A to the left inner plate 15A side. The folded part 14Aa extends midway in a thickness direction of the left heat insulating wall 9 but does not enter the inside of the heat insulating box 2, namely, the storage compartment side. This suppresses transfer of heat of the left outer plate 14A, namely, the outer box 14 or outside air heat to the interior of the storage compartment.
The heat insulating box 2 has a soft tape serving as a heat insulator, for example. The soft tape 22 is disposed in a space defined by a front end of the left unit panel 16A, a front end inner surface of the left outer plate 14A and an inner surface of the front end connecting member 21. Polystyrene foam may be used instead of the soft tape 22. The right heat insulating wall 10 is constructed in the same manner as the left heat insulating wall 9 except for bilateral symmetry.
The upper heat insulating wall 11 is constructed as follows, for example. The upper unit panel 16C is disposed between the upper inner plate 15C and the upper outer plate 14C, and the upper inner plate 15C and the upper unit panel 16C are bonded together by an adhesive, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 10. A space defined between the upper unit panel 16C and the upper outer plate 14C is filled with urethane foam 24F, which is then solidified. The upper inner plate 15C is constructed of the integral molded article Ia made of a synthetic resin and has the L-shaped part 17 which is formed integrally therewith and bulges inside the refrigerator as the folded part, as shown in FIG. 6. The upper outer plate 14C also has an L-shaped part 17a as shown in FIG. 2. Accordingly, the upper heat insulating wall 11 has an overall rear part protruding downward. More specifically, the upper heat insulating wall 11 includes a rear part formed with a recess 11a. A space in the rear of the recess 11a is formed into a component chamber 11b. A compressor, a condenser and the like constituting a refrigerating cycle are disposed in the component chamber 11b.
A space defined between the upper unit panel 16C and the upper outer plate 14C as shown in FIG. 10, namely, the space defined between the upper unit panel 16C and the upper outer plate 14C and filled with urethane foam 24F has a vertical dimension that is smaller than a thickness of the upper unit panel 16C and an outer diameter of the piping of the refrigerating cycle, such as a suction pipe. This reduces an amount of the urethane foam 24F used. When a pipe of the refrigerating cycle is drawn, the pipe may pass in a front-back direction through a space surrounded by a left end surface of the upper unit panel 16C, an upper end surface of the left unit panel 16A and a corner of the upper outer plate 14C. The component chamber 11b is closed by a component chamber cover 11c as shown in FIG. 1.
The upper outer plate 14C has a left end connected to the left outer plate 14A of the left heat insulating wall 9 while the left end is spaced away from an upper surface of the upper unit panel 16C. The upper outer plate 14C also has a right end connected to the right outer plate 14B of the right heat insulating wall 10 while the right end is spaced away from an upper surface of the upper unit panel 16C, in the same manner as the left end thereof. The upper inner plate 15C has connecting parts 15C1 formed on right and left side edges thereof respectively. The left connecting part 15C1 has a distal end connected to the left inner plate 15A by a connector (not shown) . The right connecting part 15C1 also has a distal end connected to the right inner plate 15B by a connector (not shown) in the same manner as the left connecting part 15C1.
The left connecting part 15C1 will be described here. However, the right connecting part 15C1 is constructed in the same manner as the left connecting part 15C1 except for bilateral symmetry. A rib 15C2 is formed on an inside of the distal end of the connecting part 15C1 so as to protrude upward, as shown in FIG. 10. A soft tape 23 is interposed between the rib 15C2 and the left inner plate 15A to serve as an insulator leak preventing member, for example. The corner including the space above the upper unit panel 16C, that is, a space surrounded by the left unit panel 16A, the upper unit panel 16C and the connecting part 15C1 is filled with urethane foam 24F serving as a heat insulator, for example, and the urethane foam is solidified. In this case, the soft tape 23 prevents leak of the urethane foam 24F when the urethane foam 24F is supplied into the space.
The lower heat insulating wall 12 is a unit heat insulating wall and includes the lower outer plate 14D, the lower inner plate 15D and a lower unit panel (not shown) disposed between the lower outer plate 14D and the lower inner plate 15D. The lower unit panel is bonded to the lower outer plate 14D and further to the lower inner plate 15D by the adhesive. The lower heat insulating wall 12 may be constructed by bonding the lower inner plate 15D to the lower unit panel and filling the space between the lower unit panel and the lower outer plate 14D with the urethane foam, which is then solidified. A lowest part of the discharged water receiver 18 communicates with the outside of the heat insulating box 2.
Regarding the rear heat insulating wall 13, too, the rear unit panel 16E is disposed between the rear outer plate 14E and the rear inner plate 15E. The rear unit panel 16E is bonded to the rear outer plate 14E and further to the rear inner plate 15E by the adhesive. In this case, too, the construction in which the urethane foam is supplied and solidified may be added appropriately.
A surface treatment for roughening a surface is applied to the integral molded articles Ia and Ib each made of olefin resin, that is, surfaces of the upper and lower inner plates 15C and 15D bonded to the unit panel. This can improve a bonding performance between the bonding surfaces of the upper and lower inner plates 15C and 15D and the unit panel. The sheet members Sa and Sb made of the ABS resin, that is, the left, right and rear inner plates 15A, 15B and 15C each have a good adhesion to the unit panel.
The construction for connecting the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 11 to 14. The left and rear heat insulating walls 19 and 13 are connected to each other using a sheet member connecting plate 25, fixtures 26 and the like. The sheet member connecting plate 25 serves as a sheet member connecting member. Each fixture 26 serves as a protruding part which is a component discrete from the sheet member. Further, the construction for connecting the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 is the same as that of the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 except for bilateral symmetry. The construction for connecting the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 will be described in the following.
Firstly, the fixture 26 will be described. The fixture 26 is made of a synthetic resin such as an ABS resin, for example. The fixtures 26 are mounted on the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 respectively. The fixtures 26 have the same structure and the left and rear heat insulating walls 9 and 13 have the same structure for mounting the respective fixtures 26. Accordingly, the fixture 26 mounted on the left heat insulating wall 9 will be described. The fixture 26 is made of a synthetic resin and is formed into a slightly vertically long rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 11 and the like. The fixture 26 has flanges 26a and a screw hole 26c. The flanges 26a are located at one end of the fixture 26 and protrude in the up-down direction. The screw hole 26c has an internal thread and is formed to extend from the other end surface toward the one end side of the fixture 26.
The sheet member Sa serving as the left inner plate 15A has a hole 15u formed therethrough. The hole 15u is formed into a vertically long rectangular shape and is slightly larger than a profile of the fixture 26. The fixture 26 is bonded to the left unit panel 16A, for example, by an adhesive at a stage of fabrication process before assembly of the left heat insulating wall 9. The fixture 26 is inserted into the hole 15u. The left unit panel 16A is then bonded to a back side of the left inner plate 15A including an end surface of the fixture 26 at the left unit panel 16A side by an adhesive. In this case, the upper and lower flanges 26a are held between the left inner plate 15A which is the sheet member Sa and the left unit panel 16A which is the vacuum insulation panel. The fixture 26 is mounted on the left heat insulating wall 9, protruding into the inner box 15. A plurality of the upper and lower fixtures 26 is mounted on adjacent ends of the left heat insulating wall 9 and the rear heat insulating wall 13.
The sheet member connecting plate 25 has a vertical dimension or length that is substantially equal to that of the left inner plate 15A, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The sheet member connecting plate 25 has recesses 25a and screw holes 25b. The recesses 25a are formed in both transverse ends of the sheet member connecting plate 25 so as to correspond to the fixtures 26 respectively. The screw holes 25b are formed through central parts of the recesses 25a so as to be circular in shape, respectively. The screws 27 are passed through the screw holes 25b from the refrigerator interior side to be screwed into the screw holes 26c of the fixtures 26 respectively. As a result, the sheet member connecting plate 25 connects the left inner plate 15A of the left heat insulating wall 9 and the rear inner plate 15E of the rear heat insulating wall 13. The sheet member connecting plates 25 are located at both corners of the refrigerating compartment 57, the vegetable compartment 58, the small freezing compartment 59, the ice-making compartment 60 and the freezing compartment 61 respectively.
Polystyrene foam 28 serving as a heat insulator and a soft tape 29 are inserted in a rear space of the sheet member connecting plate 25. The piping of the refrigerating cycle may pass through the polystyrene foam 28 as viewed in FIG. 9.
The right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 have shelf supports 30 respectively as shown in FIG. 5. Each shelf support 30 is made of a synthetic resin and serves as a protrusion configured to be discrete from the sheet material. Since the shelf supports 30 have the same mounting structure in the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9, the following will describe the construction and mounting structure of only the shelf support 30 of the left heat insulating wall 9 with reference to FIGS. 16 to 18.
The shelf support 30 includes a body 30a and three shelf support portions 30b both formed integrally therewith. The body 30a is formed into a vertically long plate shape. The shelf support portions 30b are mounted to protrude from the surface of the body 30a toward the refrigerator interior. The shelf support portions 30b are vertically aligned. The shelf support portion 30b has three female screw holes 30c and three counterbores 30d. The screw holes 30c extend from the surface of the body 30a opposed to the refrigerator interior to the respective middle insides of the shelf support portions 30b. The screw holes 30c serve as clamping member engaging portions. The counterbores 30d each have a dish shape and are formed on peripheral edges of the openings of the screw holes 30c so as to correspond to the screw holes 30c respectively.
The left inner plate 15A of the left heat insulating wall 9 has three screw holes 31 serving as clamping member insertion holes. The screw holes 31 are formed to correspond to the refrigerating compartment 57 and to be vertically aligned. FIG. 17 shows one of the screw holes 31. In assembly of the left heat insulating wall 9, countersunk head screws 32 serving as clamping members are firstly passed through the screw holes 31 from the back side of the left inner plate 15A to be screwed into the screw holes 30c of the shelf supports 30, respectively. As a result, the shelf support 30 is fixed to the left inner plate 15A so as to protrude to the interior of the inner box 15.
In this case, the left inner plate 15A is slightly deformable since it is a sheet member. Accordingly, when the countersunk head screw 32 is screwed into the shelf plate support 30, a countersunk head 32a of the screw 32 deforms the peripheral edge of the screw hole 31 of the left inner plate 15A into a countersunk shape (or is caused to bulge to the interior side) till the peripheral edge abuts against the counterbore 30d. As a result, the peripheral edge 31a of the screw hole 31 is spaced away from the left unit panel 16A. The countersunk head screw 32 does not protrude toward the left unit panel 16A from the back of the left inner plate 15A.
Each one of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 has two guide rail mountings 33 and 34 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, all of which show only the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 of the left heat insulating wall 9. The guide rail mounting 33 is mounted on an interior side surface of the inner box 15 defining the vegetable compartment 58. The guide rail mounting 34 is mounted on an interior side surface of the inner box 15 defining the freezing compartment 61. The guide rail mountings 33 and 34 are made of synthetic resin and serve as protrusions configured to be discrete from the sheet material.
The guide rail mountings 33 and 34 are mounted on the left inner plate 15A of the left heat insulating wall 9 and the right inner plate 15B of the right heat insulating wall 10 in a mounting structure similar to that of the shelf plate supports 30. The guide rail mountings 33 are provided for mounting a guide rail drawably supporting a vegetable container formed integrally with the pullout door 5. The guide rail mountings 34 are provided for mounting a guide rail drawably supporting a frozen food container formed integrally with the pullout door 8.
Each one of the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 has two partition wall supports 35 and two partition wall supports 36. The partition wall supports 35 are mounted on the inner surface of the inner box 15 to support the first partition wall 55. The partition wall supports 36 are also mounted on the inner surface of the inner box 15 to support the second partition wall 56. The partition wall supports 35 and 36 are made of synthetic resin and serve as protrusions configured to be discrete from the sheet material. The partition wall supports 35 and 36 are mounted on the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 in a mounting structure similar to that of the fixtures 26.
The rear heat insulating wall 13 has rear cover mountings 37 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The rear cover mountings 37 are mounted on the inner surface of the inner box 15, that is, the inner plate 15E configured of the sheet member Sb. The rear cover mountings 37 are made of synthetic resin and serve as protrusions configured to be discrete from the sheet material. The rear cover mountings 37 are provided for mounting a rear cover to hide ducts disposed in front of the rear heat insulating wall 13, and the like. The rear cover mountings 37 are mounted in a mounting structure similar to that of the fixtures 26. No urethane foam fills the spaces between the inner plates and the unit panels forming the heat insulating walls 9 to 13.
An evaporator 64 forming the refrigerating cycle is disposed in an inner interior of the freezing compartment 61 as shown in FIG. 2. A drain receiver 18 is disposed below the evaporator 64 to receive defrost water resulting from frost removal from the evaporator 64, and the like. The defrosted water received by the drain receiver 18 is then discharged downward outside the rear heat insulating wall 13.
The following will describe connecting portions between the transverse beam member 52 and the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 with reference to FIG. 15. Although FIG. 15 shows the connecting portion between the transverse beam member 52 and the left heat insulating wall 9, the connecting portion between the transverse beam member 52 and the right heat insulating wall 10 is basically similar to that between the transverse beam member 52 and the left heat insulating wall 9. The transverse beam member 52 includes a front partition plate 52a forming a front, a reinforcing plate 52b, a rear partition cover 52c and heat insulator 52d. The left outer plate 14A of the left heat insulating wall 9 has a front 14A3 having a distal end folded.
The front partition plate 52a is held between the reinforcing plate 52b and a folded portion 14A2 of the left outer plate 14A. More specifically, the front partition plate 52a has an end which is placed on the back of the front 14A3 of the left outer plate 14A. A screw 62 is inserted through holes (not shown) of the front partition plate 52a and the folded portion 14A2 to be screwed into a screw hole of the reinforcing plate 52b. The front partition plate 52a and the reinforcing plate 52b are unified together by screws 63.
The back partition cover 52c is disposed on the rear of the front partition plate 52a. The heat insulator 52d is placed inside the rear partition cover 52c. The right and left edges of the front opening of the heat insulating box 2 are connected together by the front partition plate 52a. More specifically, the right and left heat insulating walls 9 and 10 are fixed with the front partition plate 52a being interposed therebetween. This can suppress extension and/or shrinkage of the front opening of the heat insulating box 2 and can maintain the heat insulating box 2 in a rectangular parallelepiped shape.
The reinforcing plate 52b may not be provided when the front partition plate 52a has a sufficiently high strength. Further, the back partition cover 52c has a downwardly protruding mounting portion although the mounting portion is not shown. The mounting portion is screwed by a fixture similar to the fixture 26.
According to the first embodiment, the right and left inner plates 15B and 15A are constructed of the flat sheet members Sa. The rear inner plate 15E is constructed of the flat sheet member Sb. Accordingly, when the right, left and rear inner plates 15B, 15A and 15E are manufactured, no forming dies are required with the result that the manufacturing of the inner box can be rendered easier and the manufacturing costs can be reduced. Although the upper and lower inner plates 15C and 15D which are other portions of the inner box 15 are formed integrally with each other by the use of a forming die, the manufacturing of the inner box can be rendered easier and the manufacturing costs can be reduced as compared with the case where the overall inner box 15 is formed into an integrally molded article by the use of a large-sized forming die. This can generally reduce the manufacturing costs of the refrigerator. In this case, a part of the inner plates 15A to 15E may be constructed of the sheet member.
The inner box has the right, left, upper lower and rear inner plates 15A to 15E. In this case, the rear inner plate 15E and the left inner plate 15A are adjacent to each other and are separately constructed of different sheet members. The rear inner plate 15E and the right inner plate 15B are adjacent to each other and are separately constructed of different sheet members. The sheet connecting members 25 are disposed between the adjacent inner plates, that is, between the rear inner plate 15E and the left inner plate 15A and between the rear inner plate 15E and the right inner plate 15B respectively. The sheet member connecting plates 25 serve as sheet member connecting members connecting the adjacent inner plates.
According to the above-described construction, the rear inner plate 15E and the left inner plate 15A are constructed of the sheet members respectively, and the rear inner plate 15E and the right inner plate 15B are constructed of the sheet members respectively. However, the rear inner plate 15E and the left inner plate 15A can easily be connected to each other by the sheet member connecting plate 25, and the rear inner plate 15E and the right inner plate 15B can easily be connected to each other by the sheet member connecting plate 25. This can render the assembly of the heat insulating box 2 easier.
The outer box 14 is constructed of a plurality of divided outer plates, that is, the left outer plate 14A, the right outer plate 14B, the upper outer plate 14C, the lower outer plate 14D and the rear outer plate 14E. The inner box 15 is constructed of a plurality of divided inner plates, that is, the left inner plate 15A, the right inner plate 15B, the upper inner plate 15C, the lower inner plate 15D and the rear inner plate 15E. Of a plurality of the inner plates, the left inner plate 15A, the right inner plate 15B and the rear inner plate 15E are constructed of the sheet members Sa and Sb.
The vacuum insulation panel 16 is constructed of a plurality of divided unit panels, that is, the left unit panel 16A, the right unit panel 16B, the upper unit panel 16C, the lower unit panel (not shown) and the rear unit panel 16E. The left, right, upper, lower and rear heat insulating walls 9 to 13 serving as a plurality of unit heat insulating walls are constructed of the divided unit panels disposed between the divided outer and inner plates. The heat insulating box 2 is constructed by connecting the unit heat insulating walls 9 to 13 to one another.
According to this construction, the heat insulating box 2 having the unit panels serving as the vacuum insulation panels can be assembled by assembling the heat insulating walls 9 to 13. Accordingly, the assembly of the heat insulating box 2 can be rendered easier. In the conventional construction, the heat insulating box is constructed by assembling an outer box and an inner box both of which are undivided. Accordingly, the heat insulating box of the conventional construction is larger in size and necessitates an extensive assembling work. In the embodiment, however, the assembling work can be rendered easier than in the convention construction.
In the inner box 15, the part thereof constructed of the sheet member has the front end connected to the front end of the outer box 14 by the front end connecting member 21. Accordingly, even the part of the inner box 15 constructed of the sheet member can easily be connected to the outer box 14 by the front end connecting member 21 as the discrete component with the result that the inner box 15 can easily be assembled with the outer box 14.
The inner box 15 has the L-shaped portion 17 serving as the folded portion and the discharged water receiver 18. The L-shaped portion 17 is formed integrally with the upper inner plate 15C. The discharged water receiver 18 is formed integrally with the lower inner plate 15D. According to this construction, the L-shaped portion 17 and the discharged water receiver 18 can easily be formed by integral molding with the use of a die even though each of the L-shaped portion 17 and the discharged water receiver 18 has a complicate shape.
The inner box 15 has the fixtures 26, which are discrete from the sheet members Sa and Sb and serve as the protrusions protruding into the refrigerator interior. The fixtures 26 are directly bonded to the left unit panel 16A, for example, by the adhesive at a stage before assembly of the left heat insulating wall 9. The sheet members Sa and Sb are formed with the respective holes 15u. The fixtures 26 are inserted into the holes 15u respectively.
According to this construction, the fixtures 26 can be positioned in the inner box 15 by inserting the fixtures 26 into the respective holes 15u. Further, the wall supports 35 and 36 and the rear cover 37 have the similar mounting structure to that of the fixtures 26. Accordingly, the wall supports 35 and 36 and the rear cover 37 can be positioned in the same manner as the fixtures 26.
The fixtures 26 may be inserted into the holes 15u of the sheet member from the backside and bonded at the stage before assembly of the left heat insulating wall 9. According to this construction, the fixtures 26 and the sheet member can be handled in an integrated state. Accordingly, the unit panel and the integral piece of the fixture 26 and the sheet member can be bonded together when the unit heat insulating walls are assembled, with the result that the assembling work efficiency can be improved.
The unit panel 16A has a mounting surface for the fixture 26, which mounting surface is recessed, as shown in FIG. 13. Accordingly, the fixture 26 can be mounted on the unit panel 16A without the sheet member Sa curving. Even if the unit panel 16A bulges, the inner plate 15A is slightly deformed without breakage of the inner plate 15A since the inner plate 15A is constructed of the sheet member Sa. The fixtures 26, the shelf plate supports 30, the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 and the partition wall supports 35 and 36 can be used in common with heat insulating boxes of different types of refrigerators.
The fixtures 26 are directly bonded and fixed to the left, right and rear unit panels 16A, 16B and 16E respectively. Accordingly, with insertion of the fixtures 26 into the respective holes 15u of the inner plates 15A, 15B and 15E, the inner plates 15A, 15B and 15E and the unit panels 16A, 16B and 16E can be positioned. In this case, the fixtures 26 are made of an ABS resin having a good adherence. This can improve the bonding strength between the fixtures 26 and the unit panels.
The partition wall supports 35 and 36 and the rear cover mountings 37 have the same mounting structure as the fixtures 26. Accordingly, the partition wall supports 35 and 36 and the rear cover mountings 37 can contribute to the positioning of the inner plates and the unit panels. The fixtures 26 may be bonded via discrete members to the left, right and rear unit panels 16A, 16B and 16E.
The fixtures 26 have the respective flanges 26a, which are larger than the holes 15u. The flanges 26 are held between the right and left inner plates 15B and 15A constructed of the sheet members Sa and the rear inner plate 15E constructed of the sheet member Sb, and the unit panels corresponding to the inner plates 15A, 15B and 15E.
According to this construction, the flanges 26a are locked around the holes 15u respectively. Accordingly, the flanges 26a can be prevented from dropping out of the holes 15u. Further, the flanges 26a can be bonded to the inner plates. Accordingly, the flanges 26a can contribute to an improvement in the strength of peripheral parts of the inner plates to which the flanges 26a are bonded. Further, since the flanges 26a are thin, the flanges 26a can be flexed and inserted into the holes 15u from the refrigerator interior side in the flexed state thereby to be caused to enter between the inner plates and the unit panels.
The shelf plate supports 30 are discrete from the sheet members Sa and serve as the protrusions protruding in the refrigerator interior. The sheet members Sa, namely, the right and left inner plates 15B and 15A have screw insertion holes 31 respectively. The countersunk head screws 32 serving as the fastening members are inserted through the screw insertion holes 31 from the backside of the sheet member Sa to be screwed into the shelf plate supports 30. As a result, the shelf plate supports 30 are fixed to the surface side of the sheet member Sa.
According to this construction, the shelf plate supports 30 discrete from the sheet members Sa can be attached to the sheet members Sa by the countersunk head screws 32 serving as the fastening members. In this case, rivets may be used as the fastening members to fasten both the sheet members Sa and the shelf plate supports 30.
The peripheral edge 31a of the screw hole 31 is spaced away from the left unit panel 16A or the right unit panel 16b. The head 32a of the countersunk head screw 32 does not protrude from the peripheral edge 31a toward the left unit panel 16A side or the right unit panel 16B side. According to this construction, the screw heads 32a are prevented from protruding from the inner plates 15A and 15B respectively. Accordingly, the screw heads 32a are prevented from coming into contact with the unit panels 16A and 16B respectively. This can prevent damage to the envelope 20 due to contact of the screw heads 32a with the respective unit panels 16A and 16B. Further, since the screw heads 32a do not come into contact with the respective unit panels 16A and 16b, the left unit panel 16A and the left inner plate 15A are allowed to be bonded together, and the right unit panel 16B and the right inner plate 15B are allowed to be bonded together.
Further, the screw holes 30c have the opening peripheral edges formed with the respective dish-shaped counterbores 30d. As a result, when the countersunk head screw 32 is fastened, the peripheral edge 31a of the screw hole 31 of the sheet member Sa is deformed toward the counterbore 30d thereby to depart from the right and left unit panels 16B and 16A. Accordingly, the sheet member Sa need not be formed with a recess in which the screw head 32a is to be placed.
The guide rail mountings 33 and 34 also have the mounting structure similar to that of the shelf plate supports 30. Accordingly, the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 achieve the same effect as the shelf plate supports 30. Further, the shelf plate supports 30 and the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 (none of them being shown) mounted on the right heat insulating wall 10 achieve the same effects as the shelf plate supports 30.
The vacuum insulation panel 16 may be constructed as described in the following as another example. The construction of the vacuum insulation panel 16 of the example will briefly be described with reference to FIGS. 32A, 32B and 33A to 33C. The vacuum insulation panel 16 of the example is constructed of a mat-shaped core 109 enclosed in a foil bag 110. An interior of the bag 110 is closely sealed while being maintained in a vacuum state, as shown in FIGS. 32A and 32B. The core 109 is made of a material having a high heat insulating performance, for example, glass wool that is a cotton-like material made from fine glass fibers. The glass wool is solidified into a mat shape, namely, a rectangular plate shape. The foil bag 110 is made of a laminate film of aluminum foil and synthetic resin film or a high gas barrier film such as aluminum-deposited film. Two rectangular high gas barrier films are overlapped, and three sides are heated to be sealed, namely, heat-sealed except for one shorter side, so that the films are formed into the shape of a bag in which the core 109 is substantially closely enclosed.
The vacuum insulation panel 16 is manufactured in the following manner. More specifically, firstly, the core 109 is inserted into the foil bag 110 from the opening of the bag 110, namely, the shorter side which is not welded. Next, a decompressing pump is connected to the opening of the bag 110 to evacuate the interior of the foil bag 110, thereby decompressing the bag 110. The opening of the foil bag 110 is heat-sealed closely while the interior of the foil bag 110 is maintained in the decompressed state. In this condition, however, a lug 110a spreads peripherally from the foil bag 110 as a heat-seal margin, as shown in FIGS. 32A and 32B.
The lug 110a is treated as follows. A longer side part of the lug 110a is firstly folded toward an upper surface as shown in FIG. 33B. A shorter side part of the lug 110a is then folded toward the upper surface as shown in FIGS. 32B and 33C. A folded part F is fixed by an adhesive tape. As a result, the vacuum insulation panel 16 is obtained. The folded part F has a larger thickness than the other part of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Accordingly, when the folded part F is bonded to the inner plates 15A and 15B in the case where the vacuum insulation panel 16 is used as, for example, heat insulating walls 9 and 13 as shown in FIG. 9, the inner plates 15A and 15B include respective portions to which the folded part F is bonded. These portions are swollen thereby to degrade the appearance. In view of this, the folded part F is disposed at a position such that it is covered with the sheet member connecting plate 25 or the polystyrene foam 28 located in the rear of the connecting plate 25 thereby to be concealed.
According to this construction, the swelling caused by the folded part F can be concealed by covering the folded part F with a covering means such as the sheet member connecting plate 25.
Further, the covering means such as the sheet member connecting plate 25 or the polystyrene foam 28 is discrete from the heat insulating walls 9 and 13 and detachably attachable. Accordingly, even when the folded part F swells the portions of the inner plates 15A and 15B to which the folded part F is bonded, the inner plates 15A and 15B can be mounted so as to be better-looking by adjusting the covering means.
Further, the foil bag 110 of the vacuum insulation panel 16 may be doubled. More specifically, the vacuum insulation panel 16 is further enclosed in a bag made of the same material as the foil bag 110. An interior of the second bag is evacuated, and the lug 110a of the second bag is welded, so that the second bag is closely sealed. In this case, when the lug 110a of the second bag is further folded, the folded part F is further thickened. Although this renders the portions of the inner plates 15A and 15B easier to swell, the swelling of the folded part F can effectively be concealed by covering the folded part F with the covering means as described above.
Further, another advantageous effect can be achieved when the foil bag of the vacuum insulation panel 16 is doubled. When the heat insulating walls 9 and 13 are connected together, a small gap would be defined between the left and rear outer plates 14A and 14E, for example, at a connection R, as shown in FIG. 9. In this case, there is a possibility that outside air may flow through the gap into the heat insulating walls 9 and 13. In case that a vacuum leak or the like occurs in the foil bag 110, the heat insulation of the heat insulating walls 9 and 13 is reduced with inflow of outside air through the gap between the outer plates 14A and 14E. However, when one of the foil bags 110 is broken or cracked with the result of occurrence of leak, the other foil bag 110 can maintain the decompressed state.
In particular, when a heat insulator differing from the vacuum insulation panel 16, such as polystyrene foam, is not used as the heat insulating wall, the heat insulating wall has no means for ensuring the insulation other than the vacuum insulation panel 16. Accordingly, occurrence of vacuum leak in the vacuum insulation panel 16 directly results in reduction in the heat insulating performance. In view of this, a risk of vacuum leak from the vacuum insulation panel 16 can be reduced by doubling the foil bag of the vacuum insulation panel 16. A film made by depositing a metal such as aluminum is easy to cause a vacuum leak since it is thin. However, occurrence of vacuum leaks can be suppressed by doubling the foil bag.
Another embodiment of the double bag type vacuum insulation panel (another embodiment (No. 1) in the first embodiment) will be described with reference to FIGS. 93 to 99.
In this embodiment, the bag 110 of the vacuum insulation panel 16 has an inner bag 110A and an outer bag 110B. The inner bag 110A is formed by overlapping first and second rectangular films 501 and 502 and bonding three sides of the films 501 and 502. In this case, one of four sides of the inner bag 110A is not bonded thereby to be open. The outer bag 110B is also formed by overlapping third and fourth rectangular films 503 and 504 and bonding three sides of the films 503 and 504 in the similar manner. In this case, too, one of four sides of the outer bag 110B is not bonded thereby to be open.
The first film 501 of the inner bag 110A is formed into a five-layer structure having a polyethylene (PE) layer 501a, an aluminum-deposited layer (a metal-deposited layer) 501j, an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin (EVOH; and trade name: EVAL, by Kuraray Co. , Ltd., Tokyo) layer 501c, a nylon layer 501d and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) layer 501e. The polyethylene layer 501a is located at an innermost of the inner bag 110A and serves as a weld layer. The aluminum-deposited layer 501j is formed by depositing aluminum on the EVOH layer 501c. The PET layer 501e is located at an outermost of the inner bag 110A and serves as a surface layer. The second film 502 is formed into a four-layer structure including a PE layer 502d, an aluminum foil layer (a metal foil layer) 502h, a nylon layer 502c and a PET layer 502d. The PE layer 502a is located at an innermost of the inner bag 110A and serves as a weld layer. The PET layer 502d is located at an outermost of the inner bag 110A and serves as a surface layer.
The PE layers 501a and 502a have a high chemical resistance and a low water absorption. Since the PE layers 501a and 502a are superior in heat weldability, the PE layers 501a and 502a are suitable for forming the lug further formed into the closed connection by heat welding. Both the aluminum-deposited layer 501j and the aluminum foil layer 502h are superior in gas barrier performance. In this case, the aluminum foil layer 502h has a higher gas barrier performance than the aluminum-deposited layer 501j. On the other hand, the aluminum-deposited layer 501j has a lower heat-conductivity and a smaller heat leak than the aluminum foil layer 502h. Further, the nylon layers 501d and 502c are flexible and hard for a protrusion or the like to externally stick therein. Each of the PET layers 501e and 502d of the surface layer has a high strength and a high stiffness and moreover, a high chemical resistance.
In the outer bag 110B, the third film 503 is formed into a three-layer structure including a polyethylene (PE) layer 503a, an aluminum-deposited layer 503j and an EVOH layer 503c, as shown in FIG. 95. The PE layer 503a is located at an outermost of the outer bag 110B and serves as a weld layer. The aluminum-deposited layer 503j is formed by depositing aluminum on the EVOH layer 503c. The fourth film 504 is formed into a three-layer structure including a PE layer 504a, an aluminum foil layer (a metal foil layer) 504h and a nylon layer 504c. The PE layer 504a is located at an innermost of the outer bag 110B and serves as a weld layer.
In manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel 16, the core 109 shown in FIG. 94 is firstly inserted into the inner bag 110A to be enclosed therein. In this case, the first film 501 is located at one side 109a of the core 109, and the second film 502 is located at the other side 109b of the core 109. Next, an opening of the inner bag 110A is connected to the decompressing pump so that an interior of the inner bag 110A is evacuated thereby to be decompressed. The opening of the inner bag 110A is heat-sealed while the interior of the inner bag 110A is maintained in a decompressed state. In this state, lugs 110Am have large widths at four sides of the inner bag 110A so as to protrude over the periphery of the core 109, respectively, as shown in FIG. 96. The lugs 110Am serve as heat-seal margins. FIG. 96 shows only one of sides of the inner bag 110A.
The lugs 110Am are folded in a direction of accordion folding of the second film 502 from the state as shown in FIG. 96, namely, in the direction of arrow Q1 in FIG. 96. Subsequently, the lugs 110Am are applied to the second film 502 of the core 109 as shown by an alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG. 96 and fixed to the second film 502 by an adhesive tape (not shown) . Thus, the core 109 and the inner bag 110A are formed into an integral body 16i.
The integral body 16i is then inserted into the outer bag 110B to be enclosed therein. In this case, the third film 503 overlaps the first film 501 from outside. The fourth film 504 overlaps the second film 502 from outside. An opening of the outer bag 110B is connected to the decompressing pump so that an interior of the outer bag 110B is evacuated thereby to be decompressed. The opening of the outer bag 110B is heat-sealed while the interior of the outer bag 110B is maintained in a decompressed state. In this state, lugs 110Bm have large widths at four sides of the outer bag 110B so as to protrude over the periphery of the integral body 16i, respectively, as shown in FIG. 97. The lugs 110Bm serve as heat-seal margins. FIG. 97 shows only one of sides of the outer bag 110B.
The lugs 110Bm are folded in a direction of accordion folding of the fourth film 504 from the state as shown in FIG. 97, namely, in the direction of arrow Q1 in FIG. 97. Subsequently, the lugs 110Bm are applied to the fourth film 504 of the integral body 16i as shown by an alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG. 97 and fixed to the fourth film 504 by an adhesive tape (not shown). Thus, the vacuum insulation panel 16 of the double evacuation structure is constructed by putting the core 109 into the inner bag 110A and evacuating the interior of the inner bag 110A and further by putting the integral body 16i into the outer bag 110B and evacuating the interior of the outer bag 110B.
FIG. 99 shows an example in which the above-described vacuum insulation panel 16 is used as the left unit panel 16A of the left insulating wall 9 and the rear unit panel 16E of the rear insulating wall 13, corresponding to FIG. 9. Here, assume that the folded parts of the outer bag 110B are final folded parts 16m of the vacuum insulation panel 16. The final folded parts 16m are formed by folding the lugs toward the inner plates 15A and 15E respectively. More specifically, the final folded parts 16m of the vacuum insulation panel 16 are configured not to be folded toward the outer plates 14A and 14B respectively. Each of the films 501 to 504 is substantially 0.1 mm thick although the thicknesses of the final folded parts 16m are shown as being larger than the actual ones for the purpose of illustration in FIGS. 98, 99 and the like. Accordingly, the actual final folded parts 16m are thinner than those shown in these figures.
In the foregoing embodiment, the vacuum insulation panel 16 used as the insulating walls of the heat insulation box is formed by enclosing the integral body 16i in the outer bag 110B and decompressing the interior of the outer bag 110B. The integral body 16i is formed by enclosing the core 109 in the inner bag 110A and decompressing the interior of the inner bag 110A.
Further, the method of manufacturing the vacuum insulation panel 16 in the foregoing embodiment includes first and second steps. In the first step, the core 109 is inserted into the inner bag 110A and the interior of the inner bag 110A is evacuated, whereby the integral body 16i is manufactured. In the second step, the integral body 16i manufactured in the first step is inserted into the outer bag 110B, and the interior of the outer bag 110B is evacuated.
According to the manufacturing method, the vacuum insulation panel 16 is constructed by the double evacuation with the result that the heat insulating performance can be improved. Further, even if the outer bag 110B is damaged with the result of occurrence of vacuum leak, the inner bag 110A is maintained in the decompressed state. Accordingly, the vacuum insulation panel 16 has a construction superior for the prevention of vacuum leak, so that the heat insulating walls can be improved in the sustainability of insulation performance.
Further, in the inner bag 110A, the first film 501 is formed into the five-layer structure, and the second film 502 is formed into the four-layer structure. On the other hand, each of the third and fourth films 503 and 504 is formed into the three-layer structure in the outer bag 110B. More specifically, the inner and outer bags 110A and 110B are made of different materials. In this case, the outer bag 110B has a smaller number of layers than the inner bag 110A.
According to the above-described configuration, the vacuum insulation panel 16 can be rendered superior in the prevention of vacuum leak and the above-described configuration can contribute to cost reduction. More specifically, the interior of the inner bag 110A is maintained in the decompressed state as long as the inner bag 110A is undamaged. Accordingly, the maintenance of the decompressed state by the outer bag 110B may be complementary to the maintenance of the decompressed state by the inner bag 110A. According to this, retention of vacuum can sufficiently be achieved even when the number of layers of each of the films 503 and 504 of the outer bag 110B is reduced, and the reduction in the number of layers can contribute to cost reduction.
The joints of the inner bag 110A, that is, the lugs 110Am are formed so as to bulge from the core 109 when the core 109 is inserted into the inner bag 110A and the interior of the inner bag 110A is evacuated. In the foregoing embodiment, the lugs 110Am are folded along the core 109. Further, the joints of the outer bag 110B, that is, the lugs 110Bm are formed so as to bulge from the integral body 16i when the integral body 16i is inserted into the outer bag 110B and the interior of the outer bag 110B is evacuated. In the foregoing embodiment, the lugs 110Bm are folded in the same direction as the lugs 110Am are folded. More specifically, the lugs 110Am which are the joints of the inner bag 110Am are folded in the same direction as the lugs 110Bm which are the joints of the outer bag 110Bm are folded.
According to the above-described construction, a protrusion T1 formed by folding the lugs 110Am and 110Bm can be located at one side α of the vacuum insulation panel 16. More specifically, the other side β of the vacuum insulation panel 16 can be rendered flat. Since the side β which is flat is located at the outer plate 14 side, the outer plate 14 for which a good appearance is required does not bulge with the result that the outer plate 14 can be prevented from being disfigured.
Further, the inner bag 110A includes the first film 501 having the aluminum-deposited layer 501j and the second film 502 having the aluminum foil layer 502h. The aluminum foil layer 502h has a higher heat conductivity than the aluminum-deposited layer 501j and is accordingly easy to cause heat leak. In view of this, the lug 110Am of the inner bag 110A is folded in a manner such that the first film 501 having the aluminum-deposited layer 501j becomes a surface side in a folded part. More specifically, the aluminum foil layer 502h of the second film 502 is covered in the folded part by the aluminum-deposited layer 501j which has a lower heat conductivity than the aluminum foil layer 502h and is harder to cause heat leak. Accordingly, heat leak can be reduced in the folded part.
The outer bag 110B includes the third film 503 having the aluminum-deposited layer 503j and the fourth film 504 having the aluminum foil layer 504h. The lug 110Bm of the outer bag 110B is folded in a manner such that the third film 503 having the aluminum-deposited layer 503j becomes a surface side in a folded part. More specifically, the aluminum foil layer 504h of the fourth film 504 is covered in the folded part by the aluminum-deposited layer 504j which has a lower heat conductivity than the aluminum foil layer 504h and is harder to cause heat leak. Accordingly, heat leak can be reduced in the folded part, too. In this case, a surface side of the final folded part 16m is configured of a film having the aluminum-deposited layer in the vacuum insulation panel 16. Accordingly, heat leak can effectively be reduced in the final folded part 16m.
Another embodiment (No. 2) of the vacuum insulation panel 16 constructed by double evacuation will be described with reference to FIGS. 100 to 104. In this embodiment, the lugs 110Am of the inner bag 110A and the lugs 110Bm of the outer bag 110B are folded in the opposite directions. Firstly, the core 109 is inserted into the inner bag 110A as shown in FIG. 101. The interior of the inner bag 110A is then evacuated and the opening of the inner bag 110A is sealed. In this case, the lug 110Am of the inner bag 110A is folded in the direction of arrow Q2 in FIG. 101. In this case, too, the first film 501 having the aluminum-deposited layer 501j becomes a surface side in a folded part. The folded lug 110Am is bonded to the second film 502 of the core 109 by an adhesive tape (not shown).
The integral body 16i is inserted into the outer bag 110B to be enclosed therein. In this state, the third film 503 overlaps the second film 502 from outside, and the fourth film 504 overlaps the second film 502 from outside. Subsequently, the decompressing pump is connected to the opening of the outer bag 110B to evacuate the interior of the outer bag 110B thereby to decompress the outer bag 110B. The opening of the outer bag 110B is then heat-sealed while the interior thereof is maintained in the decompressed state. In this state, the lugs 110Bm have large widths at four sides of the inner bag 110A so as to protrude over the periphery of the integral body 16i, respectively, as shown in FIG. 102. The lugs 110Bm serve as heat-seal margins. FIG. 102 shows only one of sides of the inner bag 110B.
The lugs 110Bm are folded in a direction of accordion folding of the fourth film 504 from the state as shown in FIG. 102, namely, in the direction of arrow Q1 in FIG. 102. The arrow Q1 direction is opposed to the arrow Q2 direction in FIG. 101. Subsequently, the lugs 110Bm are applied to the fourth film 504 of the integral body 16i as shown by an alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG. 102 and bonded to the fourth film 504 by an adhesive tape (not shown) as shown in FIG. 103. Thus, the double-evacuated vacuum insulation panel 16 is constructed by enclosing the core 109 in the inner bag 110A, evacuating the interior of the inner bag 110A, enclosing the integral body 16i in the outer bag 110B and evacuating the interior of the outer bag 110B. In this case, the lug 110Bm of the outer bag 110B is folded in a manner such that the third film 503 having the aluminum-deposited layer 503j becomes the surface side in a folded part.
The inner and outer bags 110A and 110B are shown as being thicker than the actual ones for the purpose of illustration in FIG. 103 and the like. However, the inner and outer bags 110A and 110B are exceedingly thin actually. Further, the outer bag 110B includes the lug 110Bm which serves as a final folded part 16m and is bonded by the tape in the atmosphere. Accordingly, the lug 110Bm is thicker than the lug 110Am of the evacuated outer bag 110B. However, the lug 110Bm shown in FIG. 103 is thinner than the lug 110Bm shown in FIG. 98. In consideration of this point, each heat insulating wall is constructed so that the final folded part 16m of the vacuum insulation panel 16 is located at the inner plate 15 side as shown in FIG. 104.
In the above-described embodiment, the lug 110Am serving as the junction of the inner bag 110A and the lug 110Bm serving as the junction of the outer bag 110B are folded in the opposite directions. According to this, a projection thickness due to the folding of the lugs 110Am and 110Bm can be dispersed to both sides of the vacuum insulation panel 16. This can prevent only either one of the sides from largely projecting. Consequently, an influence on the appearance can be reduced and a countermeasure against the projection can be reduced in the design and assembly.
In the foregoing embodiment, the outer bag 110B includes the folded part serving as the final folded part 16m of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Each insulating wall is constructed so that the folded part serving as the final folded part is located at the inner plate 15 side. In this case, the inner lug 110Am is located at the outer plate 14 side. However, since the lug 110Am becomes exceedingly thin as the result of evacuation of the outer bag 110B, the bulging of the outer plate 14 can be suppressed. Further, since the surface side of the final folded part 16m is configured of the film having the aluminum-deposited layer in the vacuum insulation panel 16, heat leak in the folded part can be reduced.
The second film 502 having the aluminum foil layer 503b overlaps the third film 503 having the aluminum-deposited layer 503j on one side surface of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Further, the first film 501 having the aluminum-deposited layer 501b overlaps the fourth film 504 having the aluminum foil layer 504b on the other side surface of the vacuum insulation panel 16. According to this, the vacuum insulation panel 16 is provided with the aluminum-deposited layer and the aluminum foil layer on both sides thereof respectively. Accordingly, the vacuum insulation panel 16 can achieve a uniform heat leak preventing effect and a uniform gas barrier performance on both sides thereof.
Further another embodiment (No. 3) of the vacuum insulation panel 16 constructed by double evacuation will be described with reference to FIG. 105. The vacuum insulation panel 16 shown in FIG. 105 includes a reinforcing member 601. The reinforcing member 601 is made of a steel plate and disposed on an outer surface at the inner bag 110A side of the integral body 601. Subsequently, the integral body 16i is enclosed in the outer bag 110B together with the reinforcing member 601, and the interior of the outer bag 110B is then evacuated, whereby the vacuum insulation panel 16 having the reinforcing member 601 is constructed.
According to this, since the vacuum insulation panel 16 has the reinforcing member 601, the strength thereof can be improved. Further, the reinforcing member 601 is disposed between the inner bag 110A and the outer bag 110B. Since the reinforcing member 601 adheres closely to both of the inner and outer bags 110A and 110b as the result of evacuation, the reinforcing member 601 need not be bonded to the inner bag 110A with the result that a step of bonding the reinforcing member 601 can be eliminated. The construction of this embodiment may be applied to the construction as shown in FIG. 100.
Further another embodiment (No. 4) of the vacuum insulation panel 16 constructed by double evacuation will be described with reference to FIG. 106. The vacuum insulation panel 16 as shown in FIG. 106 has pressed portions 16S, which are each formed into a recessed shape. The pressed portions 16S are used for provision of dew-proofing pipes, for example. The pressed portions 16S are formed by pressing a pressing jig against the vacuum insulation panel 16 for which double evacuation has been completed as shown in FIG. 93 or 100. The vacuum insulation panel 16 shown in FIG. 106 corresponds to the vacuum insulation panel 16 shown in FIG. 93.
The core 109 is inserted into the inner bag 110A and the interior of the inner bag 110A is evacuated. The interior of the outer bag 110B is evacuated after the pressed portions 16S have been formed using a forming die. The pressed portions 16S are returned to a shape approximate to the flat shape as the result of shrinkage of the outer bag 110B when the interior of the outer bag 110B is evacuated, with a result that there is a possibility that an originally scheduled shape of the pressed portions 16S would be impaired. In the foregoing embodiment, however, the pressed portions 16S are formed when the double evacuation has already been completed, namely, after execution of the first and second steps. Accordingly, the pressed portions 16S can be prevented from becoming misshapen.
Although the first and third films 501 and 503 have the respective aluminum-deposited layers in the foregoing embodiments, at least one of the first to fourth films 501 to 504 may have an aluminum-deposited layer. Since at least one of the first to fourth films 501 to 504 has the aluminum-deposited layer, heat leak is suppressed with the result that the vacuum insulation panel 16 is rendered superior in the heat insulation.
Further, the outer bag 110B may be made of the same material as the inner bag 110A. In this case, the third film 503 of the outer bag 110B may be configured in a manner similar to the first film 501 of the inner bag 110A. The fourth film 504 of the outer bag 110B may be configured in a manner similar to the second film 502 of the inner bag 110A. As a result, the vacuum insulation panel 16 can be rendered superior in the effect of vacuum retention and accordingly, the durability of the vacuum insulation panel 16 can be improved.
The film configuration and the combination of films are suitably settable. For example, the first and second films 501 and 502 in the inner bag 110A can be configured into one of the following configurations:

(A1) Both of the first and second films 501 and 502 include respective aluminum foil layers;
(A2) Either one of the first and second films 501 and 502 includes an aluminum foil layer and the other includes an aluminum-deposited layer; and
(A3) Both of the first and second films 501 and 502 include respective aluminum-deposited layers.

Furthermore, the third and fourth films 503 and 504 in the outer bag 110B can be configured into one of the following configurations:

(B1) Both of the third and fourth films 503 and 504 include respective aluminum foil layers;
(B2) Either one of the third and fourth films 503 and 504 includes an aluminum foil layer and the other includes an aluminum-deposited layer;
(B3) Both of the third and fourth films 503 and 504 include respective aluminum-deposited layers; and
(B4) Both the third film 503 and the fourth film 504 include respective simple films which do not include the aluminum foil layer nor the aluminum-deposited layer.

All the combinations of (A1) to (A3) and (B1) to (B3) are available. Furthermore, the number of layers of each film is suitably settable.
When the vacuum insulation panel 16 is bonded to the inner or outer plate by an adhesive layer, a gas such as carbon dioxide is sometimes produced depending upon components of the adhesive layer. When the gas gathers into gas bubbles, there is a possibility that a bonding strength and/or bonding accuracy may be reduced in a part where the gas bubbles have been formed. In view of this, each heat insulating wall may be provided with a passage through which each heat insulating wall is degassed. In this case, the passage through which each heat insulating wall is degassed can be formed by applying no adhesive to an overall surface of the vacuum insulation panel 16, the inner plate or the outer plate.
For example, the heat insulating walls 9 and 13 have respective holes 15u as shown in FIG. 9. The holes 15u are located between the inner plate 15A and the unit panel 16A and the inner plate 15E and the unit panel 16E respectively. A gas produced by the adhesive flows through the holes 15u out of the heat insulating walls 9 and 13. Further, the vacuum insulation panel 16 may be formed with a recessed groove 16 or provided with a spacer, so that the passage through which the gas flows outside may be formed by connecting the recessed groove or the spacer to a hole formed in an end of the vacuum insulation panel 16 or the inner plate. Still further, narrow linear parts to which no adhesive is applied may be formed between the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the inner plates 15A and 15E thereby to serve as passages, which are connected to the holes formed in the end of the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the inner plate, whereby passages through which the gas flows outside may be formed.
Further, a gas produced by the adhesive, particularly carbon dioxide tends to be produced when a reactive holt-melt adhesive is used as the adhesive layer. More specifically, the reactive hot-melt adhesive is applied in a heat-melted state to the vacuum insulation panel 16, the inner plates 15A and 15E or the like and is then cooled to be solidified while the vacuum insulation panel 16, the inner plates 15A and 15E or the like are bonded together. A reactive group in the reactive hot-melt adhesive reacts against moisture in air with lapse of time thereby to cause a cross-linking reaction, with the result that a high bonding strength and a high heat resistance can be achieved. In this case, a gas, particularly carbon dioxide is produced with the cross-linking reaction.
The reactive hot-melt adhesive includes a polyurethane adhesive having carbon, a polyolefin adhesive and a polyurethane hot-melt adhesive, for example. The polyurethane hot-melt adhesive comprises as a primary element urethane polymer having an isocyanate group. The polyurethane hot-melt adhesive is hardened with the isocyanate group remaining when melted, applied and cooled in the same manner as an ordinary hot-melt adhesive. Subsequently, the isocyanate group reacts against moisture contained in the air or an adherend, causing chain-extending reaction and bridging reaction. As a result, the polyurethane hot-melt adhesive has both adhesiveness and heat resistance.
The polyurethane hot-melt adhesive is a reactive hot-melt adhesive which reacts against water, that is, moisture in the air thereby to exhibit adhesion. The reactive hot-melt adhesive produces oxide gas, that is, carbon dioxide gas in a process that an isocyanate (NCO) group reacts against moisture, namely, water, as shown as a reference example of the first embodiment in FIG. 81. Subsequently, a cyanate (OCN) group causes chain-extending reaction and bridging reaction thereby to present urea bond, allophanate bond and biuret bond. This renders the bondage of the reactive hot-melt adhesive strong.
In the following description, the outer plates 14A to 14E will be referred to as "outer plate 14" and the inner plates 15A to 15E will be referred to "inner plate 15." The outer plate 14 is pressed against one side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 after the hot-melt adhesive M has been applied to the side of the vacuum insulation panel 16, as shown in FIG. 82. As a result, the outer plate 14 is bonded to the side of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Further, the inner plate 15 is pressed against the other side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 after the hot-melt adhesive M has been applied to the other side of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Thus, the heat insulating wall is formed as shown in FIG. 83.
The carbon dioxide gas is produced from the hot-melt adhesive M with lapse of time after the bonding. When there is no escape of carbon dioxide gas, the carbon dioxide gas accumulates between the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the outer plate 14 and between the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the inner plate 15, thereby forming a gas accumulation Bh. The vacuum insulation panel 16 is deformed to recess by a pressure of the gas accumulation Bh. Further, the outer and inner plates 14 and 15 are also deformed to bulge by the pressure of the gas insulation Bh.
In order that the above-described problem may be coped with, the heat insulating wall has the passage through which the gas produced in the heat insulating wall, namely, carbon dioxide is caused to escape out of the heat insulating wall, as described above. More specifically, the vacuum insulation panel 16 has recessed grooves 301 and degassing portions 302, as shown in FIGS. 85 and 86. The recessed groves 301 extend continuously between both ends of the vacuum insulation panel 16 on one or the other side thereof. In this case, the degassing portions 302 are holes formed in the inner plate 15. The degassing portions 302 are formed in the inner or outer plate 15 or 14 at predetermined intervals.
The outer plate 14 is bonded by the hot-melt adhesive M to the one side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 formed with the recessed grooves 301. The inner plate 15 is bonded by the hot-melt adhesive M to the side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 formed with no recessed groove 301. As a result, the heat insulating wall as shown in FIG. 86 is constructed. FIG. 86 shows a transverse section of the heat insulating wall.
In the embodiment, the vacuum insulation panel 16 has the recessed grooves 301 formed on the one side thereof serving as the side to which the outer plate 14 is bonded. Accordingly, the carbon dioxide gas produced from the hot-melt adhesive M applied to the side is discharged through the recessed grooves 301 out of the heat insulating wall. As a result, carbon dioxide gas accumulation is prevented from being formed in the heat insulating wall. In this case, the recessed grooves 301 may be formed on the side to which the inner plate 15 is bonded, instead.
The heat insulating wall of the heat insulation box is formed by bonding the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the plates (the outer plate 14 and the inner plate 15) by the reactive hot-melt adhesive M. The heat insulating wall has the recessed grooves on the side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 to which the plates are bonded. According to this, the carbon dioxide gas produced from the reactive hot-melt can be prevented from the production of the carbon dioxide gas accumulation.
Further, the inner plate 15 has the degassing portions 302. According to this, the carbon dioxide gas produced from the hot-melt adhesive M is discharged through the degassing portions 302 out of the heat insulating wall. As a result, the carbon dioxide gas accumulation is prevented from being formed in the heat insulating wall. In this case, since the degassing portions 302 are configured of the holes formed through the inner plate 15, the degassing portion 302 can easily be provided.
When the inner plate 15 is a door inner plate, the inner plate is usually provided with a bulging part for a pocket protruding to the interior side. The degassing portion 302 can be provided at a less conspicuous location of the bulging portion. The degassing portion 302 may be provided on the outer plate 14. Thus, the heat insulating wall of the heat insulation box is formed by bonding the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the plate portion (the outer plate 14 and/or the inner plate 15) by the reactive hot-melt adhesive M. The heat insulating wall has the degassing portions 302 in the plate portion. According to this, the carbon dioxide gas produced from the reactive hot-melt adhesive M can be prevented from the production of the carbon dioxide gas accumulation.
Further, as shown in FIG. 87, the vacuum insulation panel 16 may have gas flow members 303. In this case, the gas flow members 303 are provided on the bonded side of the panel 16. The gas flow members 303 may be either one or both of the sides of the vacuum insulation panel 16. Further, the gas flow members 303 may be provided on the outer plate 14 or the inner plate 15. Each gas flow member 303 may be formed of soft urethane which is thin and through which a gas can flow, a sponge of open-cell foam, a lump of paper, a corrugated board or the like.
Thus, The heat insulating wall of the heat insulation box is formed by bonding the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the plates (the outer plate 14 and the inner plate 15) by the reactive hot-melt adhesive M. The heat insulating wall has the thin gas flow members 303 formed on at least one of the bonded side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the bonded side of the plate portion. More specifically, the heat insulating wall has the gas flow members located between the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the plate portion. According to this, the carbon dioxide gas produced from the reactive hot-melt adhesive M can be prevented from the production of the carbon dioxide gas accumulation.
Further, the hot-melt adhesive M may be applied to either one or both of the sides of the vacuum insulation panel 16 in a stripe shape, as shown in FIG. 88. Thus, the reactive hot-melt adhesive M is applied to the vacuum insulation panel 16 into the stripe shape and the plates 14F and 15F are bonded to the vacuum insulation panel 16, whereby a small gap is defined between the vacuum insulation panel 16 and the plates 14F and 15F and is to serve as a bonded part. A carbon dioxide gas produced by the reactive hot-melt adhesive M is discharged through the gap out of the heat insulating wall. This can prevent the production of carbon dioxide gas accumulation.
The following is a considered manner of applying the hot-melt adhesive M into the stripe shape (No. 1). For example, masking tape is affixed into the stripe shape to the side of the panel 16 to which the hot-melt adhesive M is to be applied. The hot-melt adhesive M is then applied to the vacuum insulation panel 16 to which the masking tape is affixed.
The following is also a considered manner of applying the hot-melt adhesive M into the stripe shape (No. 2). For example, FIGS. 89 and 90 illustrate a coating manner by the use of a roll coater 304. The roller coater is also referred to as "roll coat." The roll coater 304 includes an under roll 305, a main roll 306, a touch roll 307 and a scratching member 308. The scratching member 308 is located under the main roll 306 and the touch roll 307 and formed into a comb shape. The scratching member 308 is configured to intermittently scratch the hot-melt adhesive M from the main roll 306.
The hot-melt adhesive M is supplied between the main roll 306 and the touch roll 307. Each of the rolls 305 to 307 are rotated as shown in FIG. 89. Although adhering to the surface of the main roll 306, the hot-melt adhesive M is intermittently scratched by comb teeth 308a of the comb 308 with the result that the vacuum insulation panel 16 is coated with the hot-melt adhesive M having passed between the comb teeth 308a. Consequently, the hot-melt adhesive M is applied to the vacuum insulation panel 16 into a stripe shape.
The following is further a considered manner of applying the hot-melt adhesive M into the stripe shape (No. 3). For example, FIGS. 91 and 92 illustrate a coating manner by the use of a roll coater 309. The roll coater 309 includes the under roll 305, the main roll 306, the touch roll 307 and a transfer roll 310. The main roll 306 is located away from a side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 supplied, namely, a coating surface of the vacuum insulation panel 16. The transfer roll 310 is brought into contact with the main roll 306 and a side of the vacuum insulation panel 16.
The transfer roll 310 includes larger diameter portions 310a and smaller diameter portions 310b having smaller diameters than the larger diameter portions 310a. The larger diameter portions 310a and the smaller diameter portions 310b are axially arranged alternately. The larger diameter portions 310a are brought into contact with the main roll 306 and the vacuum insulation panel 16. The roll coater 309 has no scratching member 308. The rolls 305 to 307 and 310 are rotated as shown in FIG. 91.
According to this construction, the hot-melt adhesive M adheres to the surface of the main roll 306 and is thereafter transferred to the larger diameter portions 310a of the transfer roll 310. The hot-melt adhesive M transferred to the larger diameter portions 310a is applied to a side of the vacuum insulation panel 16 into the strip shape. A ratio of a width of an adhesive applied part and an adhesive non-applied part of the vacuum insulation panel 16 may appropriately be changed.
The heat insulating box 2 is constructed by connecting the heat insulating walls 9 to 13 to one another by screws or the like. Accordingly, gaps are formed in connections of the outer panels of the heat insulating walls 9 to 13. In this case, when a temperature is lower inside the heat insulating box 2 than outside the heat insulating box 2, warm outside air flows through the gaps of the connections of the outer panels inside the heat insulating box 2, that is, into the storage compartments. In this regard, outside air flows inside the heat insulating wall through the gaps resulting from joints of the outer panels, further flowing toward a corner between the outer and inner boxes 14 and 15. There is a possibility that dew condensation may occur at the corner between the outer and inner boxes 14 and 15. Temperature difference is increased between air near the storage compartments 59, 60 and 61 and the outside air, so that an amount of outside air flowing inside the heat insulating wall is also increased.
In this case, the freezing compartment 61 belonging to the freezing temperature zone may be disposed between the refrigerating compartment and the vegetable compartment both of which belong to the refrigerating temperature zone. The freezing compartment is thus provided between the refrigerating compartment and the vegetable compartment thereby to be located so as not to be adjacent to the upper and lower heat insulating walls 11 and 12. As a result, no corners resulting in gaps are formed between the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9, between the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the upper or lower heat insulating wall 11 or 12, and between the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 and the upper or lower heat insulating wall 11 or 12. Corners are formed between the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9. This can reduce an area of gaps leading to the freezing compartment 61 and an amount of outside air flowing inside the heat insulating wall through the gaps accordingly.
In this case, the heat insulating wall forming the component chamber housing the compressor and the like has the L-shaped part serving as the folded part. The L-shaped part renders the gap serving as the joint longer, thereby increasing inflow of outside air. Accordingly, it is desirable to locate the freezing compartment 61 so that it is not adjacent to the component chamber.
Further, the foregoing problem of dew condensation tends to occur when the heat insulating box 2 is constructed so that the insides of the upper and lower heat insulating walls 11 and 12 are not filled with the urethane foam 24F. On the other hand, occurrence of dew condensation can effectively be suppressed when the freezing compartment 61 is provided between the refrigerating compartment and the vegetable compartment, that is, in a vertically central part of the heat insulating box 2. In this case, heat insulators of molded articles may be disposed at corners between the inner and outer boxes 15 and 14, instead of the urethane foam 24F, respectively. This can also realize heat insulation at the corners between the inner and outer boxes 15 and 14.
The following will describe modified forms of the configurations of the sheet member connecting plate 25, the polystyrene foam 28 both serving as the covering means, and the like. The covering means need not be discrete but may be integral. The discrete covering means render assembly of the heat insulating box 2 complicate. On the other hand, the integral covering means renders assembly of the heat insulating box 2 easy. For example, fixtures 51V may be provided as the covering means as will be described later as a fifth embodiment.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 27. The structure of the right and left heat insulating walls 10A and 9A in the second embodiment differs from the structure of the right and left heat insulating walls 10A and 9A in the first embodiment. Since the right and left heat insulating walls 10A and 9A are bilaterally symmetrical, only the left heat insulating wall 9A will be described. A left inner plate 15A2 which is a part of the inner box 15 in the left heat insulating wall 9A has shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and partition wall supports 42a and 42b, all of which serve as protrusions. The left inner plate 15A2 is constructed of an integral molding Ic of the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 42b all of which are integrally molded. The integral molding Ic is formed by molding by the use of die, for example, injection molding or vacuum molding.
A sheet member connecting part 25A2 is formed integrally with the left inner plate 15A2. The sheet member connecting part 25A2 is provided on a rear end of the left inner plate 15A2. The sheet member connecting part 25A2 serves as a sheet member connecting member for connecting the left inner plate 15A2 and the rear inner plate 15E constructed of the sheet member Sb. The sheet member connecting part 25A2 is connected to the rear heat insulating wall 13 by fixtures 26 mounted on the rear inner plate 15E.
The shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c differ from the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b in the front-back dimension. More specifically, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b have a longer front-back dimension than the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c. On the other hand, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c have the same cross-sectional shape and the same reinforcement structure. Accordingly, only the shelf support plate 40a will be described in the following.
The shelf plate support 40a is provided on the left inner plate 15A2 as the integral molding Ic and protrudes toward the interior of the refrigerator, as shown in FIGS. 22 to 25. The shelf support plate 40a has a screw boss 43 and a screw hole 43a as shown in FIGS. 23 and 25. The screw boss 43 is provided on a part of an inner surface of the shelf plate support 40a. The screw hole 43a is provided in the screw boss 43.
A metal reinforcing plate 44 serving as a reinforcing member is provided between the shelf support plate 40a and the unit panel 16A. The reinforcing plate 44 is shaped to correspond to an inner surface of the shelf plate support 40a. The reinforcing plate 44 is applied to the inner surface of the shelf plate support 40a, and a screw 45 is inserted through a screw insertion hole 44b. The screw 45 is then screwed into the screw hole 43a of the shelf plate support 40a, so that the reinforcing plate 44 is mounted to the inner surface of the shelf plate support 40a. Thus, the shelf plate support 40a is reinforced by the reinforcing plate 44.
The partition wall supports 42a and 42b correspond to the partition wall support fixtures 35 and 36 in the first embodiment respectively. The partition wall supports 42a and 42b have inner surfaces on which metal reinforcing plates 46 serving as reinforcing members are provided, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 26 and 27.
The reinforcing plates 44 and 46 may be screwed as necessary. For example, the reinforcing plates 44 and 46 may be bonded, instead of being screwed. The point is that the reinforcing plates 44 and 46 are provided between the left unit panel 16A and the left inner plate 15A2 so that the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 43b are reinforced by the reinforcing plates 44 and 46.
In the second embodiment, the inner box 15 has the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 42b, all of which serve as the protrusions protruding toward the interior of the refrigerator. The left inner plate 15A2 is constructed of the integral molding Ic of the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 42b all of which are integrally molded. The shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 42b are all reinforced by the reinforcing plates 44 and 46 serving as the reinforcing members provided between the unit panels 16A as the vacuum insulation panels and the integral molding Ic.
According to this construction, the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c, the guide rail mounts 41a and 41b and the partition wall supports 42a and 42b are provided on the integral molding Ic. Accordingly, these protrusions need not be constructed of separate components. When the protrusions are formed into the integral molding, an olefin resin such as a polypropylene material having a slightly lower strength than an ABS resin in consideration of low material cost. The insufficient strength can be compensated by the reinforcing plates 44 and 46.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 28 and 29. The construction of the right and left heat insulating walls 10B and 9B in the third embodiment differs from those in the first and second embodiments. Only the difference will be described in the following. In this case, since the right and left heat insulating walls 10B and 9B are bilaterally symmetrical, only the left heat insulating wall 9B will be described.
The left inner plate 15A is divided into an upper plate 15Aa and a lower plate 15Ab in the third embodiment as shown in FIG. 29. The upper and lower plates 15Aa and 15Ab are vertically adjacent to each other. The upper plate 15Aa is formed into an integral molding Id by injection molding or vacuum molding. The upper plate 15Aa has shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c formed integrally therewith in the same manner as in the second embodiment. The left heat insulating wall 9B is connected via sheet member connecting parts 25A and 25B to the rear heat insulating wall 13. The sheet member connecting part 25A is located in the refrigerating compartment 57 and is provided integrally with the upper plate 15Aa as shown in FIG. 29. The sheet member connecting part 25B is located in the vegetable compartment 58, the small freezing compartment 59, the ice-making compartment 60 and the freezing compartment 61 and formed to be discrete from the upper and lower plates 15Aa and 15Ab.
The lower plate 15Ab is formed of a flat plate-shaped sheet member Sc. The lower plate 15Ab has fixtures 26, guide rail mountings 33 and 34 and partition wall supports 35 and 36. The fixtures 26, the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 and the partition wall supports 35 and 36 are formed to be discrete from the sheet member Sc and serve as protrusions. The mounting structures of the fixtures 26, the guide rail mountings 33 and 34 and the partition wall supports 35 and 36 are similar to those in the first embodiment.
The upper plate 15Aa is located in the refrigerating compartment 57, forming an inner surface of the refrigerating compartment 57. The lower plate 15Ab is located in the vegetable compartment 58, the small freezing compartment 59, the ice-making compartment 60 and the freezing compartment 61, forming inner surfaces of these compartments. The first partition wall 55 is provided in a boundary of the upper and lower plates 15Aa and 15Ab.
According to the third embodiment, the right and left inner surfaces of the refrigerating compartment 57 are constructed of the upper plates 15Aa as the integral moldings Id respectively. Accordingly, the inner surface of the refrigerating compartment 57 looks good. More specifically, the user can easily view the inner surface of the refrigerating compartment 57 when pivot doors 3 and 4 are open. The user can also easily view the protrusions provided on the inner surface of the refrigerating compartment 57, that is, the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c when the pivot doors 3 and 4 are open.
In this case, since the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c as the protrusions are formed integrally with the integral molding Id by die forming, the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c protrude gently from the upper plate 15Aa. As a result, the overall integral molding Id inclusive of the shelf plate supports 40a, 40b and 40c looks good and renders the impression of hygiene better.

Fourth Embodiment

A fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 30 and 31. The fourth embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the shelf plate support 30 has a fin 30e. The fin 30e is provided on a peripheral edge of the body 30a. The fin 30e is inclined to the inner surface side of the inner box 15, that is, to the left inner plate 15A side in FIGS. 30 and 31 and is formed to be elastically deformable.
The fin 30e closely adheres to the inner surface of the inner box 15 in the mounted state of the shelf plate support 30. Accordingly, a gap between the inner surface of the inner box 15 and the shelf plate support 30 is concealed by the fin 30e. More specifically, the countersunk head screw 32 deforms the peripheral edge 31a of the screw hole 31 of the left inner plate 15 when screwed into the screw hole 30c of the shelf plate support 30. This sometimes results in occurrence of creases on the screw hole 31, and the creases sometimes cause a gap between the left inner plate 15A and the shelf plate support 30. According to the fourth embodiment, the gap can be concealed by the fin 30e.

Fifth Embodiment

A fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 34 to 66. A refrigerator 11V shown in FIG. 35 includes a heat insulating box 12V shown in FIGS. 34 to 39 and a refrigerating cycle (not shown) to cool the atmosphere in the heat insulating box 12V. The heat insulating box 12V includes an outer box 13V, an inner box 14V and a heat insulator 15V as shown in FIGS. 38 and 39. The heat insulator 15V is provided between the outer box 13V and the inner box 14V. The heat insulating box 12V is formed into the shape of a box having an open front. The inner box 14V defines therein a housing space such a storage compartment and a space in which a duct is provided, if necessary.
The outer box 13V is formed of a metal such as steel plate and is formed into the shape of a box having an open front. The outer box 13V is constructed by combining walls including an outer plate divided into a plurality of pieces, as shown in FIGS. 34 and 36 to 39. More specifically, the outer box 13V includes a plate-shaped upper wall 16V, a flat plate-shaped bottom wall 17V, a flat plate-shaped right wall 18V, a flat plate-shaped left wall 19V and a flat plate-shaped rear wall 20V. The upper wall 16V has a front and a rear each of which is formed into the shape of a flat plate parallel to the bottom wall 17V. The rear is located lower than the front, so that the upper wall 16V is formed to be stepped in the front-back direction. The right and left walls 18V and 19V are bilaterally symmetrical.
A component chamber 21V is provided on a rear part of the upper wall 16V as shown in FIGS. 36 to 38. The component chamber 21V encloses a compressor (not shown) constituting the refrigeration cycle, and the like. The component chamber 21V has a floor surface formed with a space 211V as shown in FIG. 38. The space 211V is an opening formed by providing a gap between the heat insulating members 15V adjacent to each other. In the embodiment, the space 211V is formed by separately disposing the heat insulator 15V located on the upper surface of the heat insulating box 12V and the heat insulator 15V located on the rear of the heat insulating box 12V.
The heat insulating box 12V has a component housing chamber 212V and a space 213V. The component housing chamber 212V is formed in a lower rear part of the heat insulating box 12V. The component housing chamber 212V houses components used for control of refrigeration and freezing and the like, a condenser and the like. The space 213V is formed by separately disposing the heat insulator 15V located on the bottom of the heat insulating box 12V and the heat insulator 15V located on the rear of the heat insulating box 12V.
The inner box 14V is made of resin and formed into the shape of a box having an open front. The inner box 14V is provided in the outer box 13V. The inner box 14V is constructed by combining walls comprising an inner plate divided into a plurality of pieces, as shown in FIGS. 34 and 36 to 39. More specifically, the inner box 14V includes a plate-shaped upper wall 22V, a flat plate-shaped bottom wall 23V, a flat plate-shaped right wall 24V, a flat plate-shaped left wall 25V and a flat plate-shaped rear wall 26V. The upper wall 22V also has a front and a rear each of which is formed into the shape of a flat plate parallel to the bottom wall 23V in the same manner as the upper wall 16V of the outer box 13V. The rear is located lower than the front, so that the upper wall 22V is formed to be stepped in the front-back direction. The right and left walls 24V and 25V are bilaterally symmetrical.
Each of the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V has a plurality of support members 27V as shown in FIGS. 34 and 44. The support members 27V protrude from the outer surface side of the inner box 14V to the inner surface side, namely, to the storage compartment side. Further, the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V is also provided with the similar support members 27V as shown in FIG. 57.
Each support member 27V is a resin block, for example and has one end or a proximal end fixed to the heat insulator 15V by an adhesive. Further, the walls of the inner box 14V, for example, the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V as shown in FIGS. 53 and 54 are formed with openings 28V extending through the walls 25V and 26V, respectively. Each support member 27V has the other end or a distal end extending through the opening 28V.
The support members 27V are vertically aligned on each of the rear wall 26, the right wall 24V and the left wall 25V. The support members 27V have distal ends formed with screw holes 271V respectively. The support members 27V may have proximal ends formed with flanges 272V which are held between the heat insulator 15V and an outer surface of the inner box 14, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 53 and 54. As a result, the flanges 272V are locked by the support members 27V around the opening 28V, so that the support members 27V can be prevented from dropping out of the opening 28V onto the storage compartment side. Further, the support members 27V may be formed integrally with the inner box 14V, instead of the member other than the walls of the inner box 14v.
The upper wall 16V of the outer box 13V is located opposite the upper wall 22V of the inner box 14V with the heat insulator 15V therebetween as shown in FIGS. 38 and 39. The bottom wall 17V of the outer box 13V is located opposite the bottom wall 23V of the inner box 14V with the heat insulator 15V therebetween. The right wall 18V of the outer box 13V is located opposite the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V with the heat insulator 15V therebetween. The left wall 19V of the outer box 13V is located opposite the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V with the heat insulator 15V therebetween. The rear wall 20V of the outer box 13V is located opposite the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V with the heat insulator 15V therebetween. FIG. 39 schematically illustrates the right wall 18V of the outer box 13V opposed to the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V, the left wall 19V of the outer box 13V opposed to the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V and the rear wall 20V of the outer box 13V opposed to the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V.
The heat insulator 15V has a lower heat conductivity than and is superior in the heat insulation to a foam insulation such as urethane or a soft tape. More specifically, the heat insulator 15V is a commonly-used flat plate-shaped vacuum insulation panel and includes a core and an outer bag for housing the core. The core is formed by enclosing a material having high heat insulation, for example, a laminate of inorganic fiber such as glass wool in an inner bag (not shown) formed of a synthetic resin film such as polyethylene in an inner bag (not shown) and thereafter, by compression-hardening the inner bag into a rectangular plate shape. The core may further be formed by a paper making method, a heat-compression method or the like. The outer bag is a high gas-barrier bag and is formed, for example, by suitably combining and laminating a polyethylene terephthalate film, a high density polyethylene film, an aluminum-deposited film, an aluminum foil sheet and the like into a bag shape. The heat insulator 15V is formed by decompressing the interior of the outer bag with the core being enclosed in the outer bag and sealing the opening of the outer bag by thermal welding or the like while the outer bag is maintained in the decompressed state.
The heat insulator 15V has one thickness-wise side which is bonded to an outer surface of the inner box 14V and the other side which is opposed to the one side and bonded to the inner surface of the outer box 13V. More specifically, the wall inside of the heat insulating box 12V is composed by disposing the heat insulator 15V in abutment with the outer and inner plates. For example, the heat insulator 15V is interposed between the left wall 19V of the outer box 13V and the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIG. 40. The left wall 25V of the inner box 14V is disposed opposite the left wall 19V of the outer box 13V.
In this construction, an adhesive 29V is applied between the heat insulator 15V and the inner surface of the outer box 13V or the left wall 19V thereof in this case. The adhesive 29V bonds the outer box 13V and the left wall 19V. An adhesive 30V is also applied between the heat insulator 15V and the outer surface of the inner box 14V or the left wall 25V in this case. The adhesive 30V bonds the heat insulator 15V and the left wall 25V. The adhesives 29V and 20V are, for example, a liquid adhesive, double-side adhesive tape or the like. The adhesive 30V also bonds the above-mentioned support member 27V and the heat insulator 15V. Further, the support member 27V may be engaged with the fixture 51V thereby to abut against the outer and inner boxes 13V and 14V.
Thus, the walls 22V to 26V of the inner box 14V are disposed opposite the outer box 13V. The heat insulator 15V is interposed between the walls 16V to 20V of the outer box 13V and the walls 22V to 26V of the inner box 14V and bonded by the adhesives 29V and 30V. As a result, one of the walls of the outer box 13V, one of the walls of the inner box 14V corresponding to the one wall of the outer box 13V and the heat insulator 15V provided between these two walls are formed into an integral body. The integral body of the walls 22V to 26V of the inner box14V, the walls 16V to 20V of the outer box 13V and the heat insulator 15V is referred to as a heat insulating wall, a divided heat insulating wall 31V in the embodiment.
The heat insulating wall and the divided heat insulating wall 31V may be referred to as a divided heat insulation panel. In other words, the heat insulating box 12V is constructed into a box shape by combining a plurality of divided heat insulating walls 31V. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 34, the heat insulating box 12V is constructed by combining five heat insulating walls, that is, an upper divided heat insulating wall 311V, a bottom divided heat insulating wall 312V, a right divided heat insulating wall 313V, a left divided heat insulating wall 314V and a rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. The upper divided heat insulating wall 311V constitutes an upper wall of the heat insulating box 12V. The bottom divided heat insulating wall 312V constitutes a bottom wall of the heat insulating box 12V. The right divided heat insulating wall 313V constitutes a right side wall of the heat insulating box 12V. The left divided heat insulating wall 314V constitutes a left side wall of the heat insulating box 12V. The rear divided heat insulating wall 315V constitutes a rear wall of the heat insulating box 12V. The right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V are bilaterally symmetrical and are disposed opposite each other.
The right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V form right and left walls of the heat insulating box 12V respectively. Front ends of the right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V will be described with reference to FIGS. 36, 37 and 41. Since the right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V are bilaterally symmetrical as mentioned above, only the front end of the right divided heat insulating wall 313V will be described.
The right divided heating insulating wall 313V has two folded portions 32V as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. The folded portions 32V are formed by folding parts of the front end of the right wall 18V of the outer box 13V located near vertically middle and lower parts respectively. Since the folded portions 32V has the same construction, the following will describe only the folded portion 32V provided at the vertically middle parts of the front end of the right divided heat insulating wall 313V.
The folded portion 32V is folded leftward from a front end of the right wall 18V, that is, to the right wall 24V side of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIG. 41. Subsequently, the folded portion 32V is folded back in front of the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V. More specifically, the folded portion 32V includes two flat portions 321V extending in the right-left direction and a curved portion 322V folded substantially 360° and is formed into a U-shape as viewed from above. The flat portions 321V are substantially opposed to each other and are located in front of the heat insulator 15V. Further, the curved portion 322V is located in front of the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V and folded so that distal ends of the flat portions 321V of the folded portion 32V are not located on the outer surface of the heat insulating box 12V and so that the end of the folded portion 32V is located in the rear.
An opening 33V is formed between the curved portion 322V of the folded portion 32V and a front end of the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V. An end insertion chamber 34V is formed between the folded portion 32V and a front end of the heat insulator 15V. More specifically, the opening 33V functions as an entrance of the end insertion chamber 34V and is formed by the front end of the right wall 24V and the folded portion 32V of the right wall 18V of the outer box 13V, both of which are separated from each other. A partition plate 441V and a partition reinforcing plate 442V are enclosed in the end insertion chamber 34V. Through holes 35V are formed so as to extend through the flat portions 321V in the thickness direction.
The storage compartment which is an interior of the inner box 14V of the heat insulating box 12V is partitioned by a first partition member 37V and a second partition member 38V as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. More specifically, the first partition member 37V is provided in the middle of the storage compartment. The second partition member 38V is provided below the first partition member 37V. As a result, the storage compartment is divided into a plurality of compartments. More specifically, a refrigerating compartment 39V is surrounded by the inner box 14V and the first partition member 37V. A vegetable compartment 40V is surrounded by the inner box 14V, the first partition member 37V and the second partition member 38V.
An ice-making compartment 41, a first freezing compartment 42V and a second freezing compartment 43V are provided below the vegetable compartment 40V. A space where the ice-making compartment 41, the first freezing compartment 42V and the second freezing compartment 43V are provided is located in a lower part of the inner box 14V and surrounded by the inner box 14V and the second partition member 38V. A refrigerating compartment door 391 is of a biparting type and is provided in a front opening of the refrigerating compartment 39V. A drawer type ice-making compartment door 411V is provided in a front opening of the ice-making compartment 41V. A drawer type first freezing compartment door 421V is provided in a front opening of the first freezing compartment 42V. A drawer type second freezing compartment door 431V is provided in a front opening of the second freezing compartment 43V.
Since the first and second partition members 37V and 38V have the same construction, only the first partition member 37V will be described with reference to FIG. 41. Further, since right and left parts of the first partition member 37V are bilaterally symmetrical, only the construction of the right part of the first partition member 37V will be described. The first partition member 37V includes a front partition part 44V and a plane partition part 45V. The front partition part 44V is provided in the front opening of the storage compartment and constructed into the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped extending in the right-left direction of the storage compartment. The front partition part 44V includes a partition plate 441V, a partition reinforcing plate 442V, a partition cover 443V and a partition heat insulator 444V.
The partition plate 441V is made of a metal and is a plate member constructing the front wall of the front partition part 44V. The partition plate 441V has right and left ends bent slightly rearward. The right end of the partition plate 441V disposed in the end insertion chamber 34V through the opening 33V. The front partition part 44V has a right end formed with three through holes 445V. The partition reinforcing plate 442V is constructed of a metal plate member. The partition reinforcing plate 442V is provided when the partition plate 441V has a low tensile strength. The partition reinforcing plate 442V has a vertical dimension that is equal to or shorter than a vertical dimension of the partition plate 441V. The partition reinforcing plate 442V has a horizontal dimension that is longer than a horizontal dimension of the partition plate 441V. The partition reinforcing plate 442V has a thickness that is equal to or larger than a thickness of the partition plate 441V. The partition reinforcing plate 442V has right and left ends bent slightly rearward.
The partition reinforcing plate 442V is provided in contact with a rear surface of the partition plate 441V. The right end of the partition plate 441V is disposed in the end insertion chamber 34V through the opening 33V. As a result, the right end of the partition plate 441V is held between a right end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V and a right wall 18V of the outer box 13V, that is, the folded portion 32V of the right plane divided heat insulating wall 313V. Further, the partition plate 441V and the partition reinforcing plate 442V have respective right and left ends folded rearward to be inserted into the end insertion chamber 34V. Accordingly, a front surface of the folded portion 32V can be rendered co-planar with a front surface of the partition plate 441V.
The right end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V is formed to have an L-shaped cross-section and located on the right of the partition plate 441V and is folded rearward so as to correspond to the shape of a right front corner of the right wall 18V of the outer box 13V. The right end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V is formed with three screw holes 446V corresponding to the through holes 445 V of the partition plate 441V respectively. The screw hole 446V located at the rightmost end side overlaps the through hole 35V formed in the folded portion 32V of the right wall 18V of the outer box 13V. A screw 46V has a shaft is passed through the through hole 35V of the right wall 18V and then screwed into the screw hole 446V located at the rightmost end.
The other two screw holes 446V of the partition reinforcing plate 442V are disposed to overlap the through holes 445V of the partition plate 441V respectively. Two screws 47V have shafts which are passed through the through holes 445V of the partition plate 441V to be screwed into the other screw holes 446V of the partition reinforcing plate 442V, respectively. As a result, the right end of the partition plate 441V and the right end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V are fixed to the folded portion 32V of the right divided heat insulating wall 313V.
A left end of the partition plate 441V and a left end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V are also constructed in the same manner as the right end although not shown. More specifically, the left end of the partition plate 441V and the left end of the partition reinforcing plate 442V are fixed to the left wall 19V of the outer box 13V, that is, a folded portion (not sown) of the left divided heat insulating wall 314. In this case, the partition plate 441V functions as a connecting member which connects the left divided heat insulating wall 313V and the left divided heat insulating wall 314V at the front opening of the storage compartment. The folded portion 32V functions as a connected member.
The partition cover 443V is made of a metal and formed into the shape of a box having an open front. The partition cover 443V constitutes an outer peripheral wall of the rectangular parallelepiped of the front partition portion 44V together with the partition plate 441V. The partition heat insulator 444V is provided in a rectangular parallelepiped space formed by the partition cover 443V and the partition plate 441V. The partition cover 443V is supported by a supporting member 27V. More specifically, the partition cover 443V has a mount (not shown) on a lower part thereof. The mount is fixed to the supporting member 27V by a screw.
The partition heat insulator 444V is a heat insulating member such as polystyrene foam or urethane foam and is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped shape. The plane partition part 45V is a rectangular plate member made of a heat-insulating resin and is formed by covering a plate-shaped heat-insulating member such as a vacuum insulation panel with a resin plate, as shown in FIGS. 36 and 37. The plane partition part 45V is placed on the support member 27V of the inner box 14V to be held thereon. The plane partition 45V has a front end brought into contact with a rear surface of the front partition portion 44V and right and left ends brought into contact with the right and left walls 24V and 25V of the inner box 14V.
In the first partition member 37V, the plane partition portion 45V has a rear end provided with a gap with respect to the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V. As a result, the refrigerating compartment 39 communicates with the vegetable compartment 40V. On the other hand, in the second partition member 38V, the rear end of the plane partition portion 45V is brought into contact with the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V. As a result, the second partition member 38V insulates the vegetable compartment 40V and the ice-making chamber 41V from heat and also insulates the vegetable compartment 40V and the second freezing compartment 43V from heat.
The divided heat insulating wall 31V is fixed to the other divided heat insulating walls 31V adjacent thereto by fixtures 51V as shown in FIGS. 34 and 36 to 39. More specifically, the inner box 14V is constructed by disposing a plurality of divided walls 22V to 26V into a box shape and by fixing two adjacent walls by the fixtures 51V.
The fixtures 51V are provided at a corner formed by the upper wall 22V and the right wall 24V, a corner formed by the upper wall 22V and the left wall 25V, a corner formed by the upper wall 22V and the rear wall 26V, a corner formed by the bottom wall 23V and the right wall 24V, a corner formed by the bottom wall 23V and the left wall 25V and a corner formed by the bottom wall 23V and the rear wall 26V in the inner box 14V. More specifically, each fixture 51V is fixed at a position opposed to two heat insulators 15V adjacent to each other with a gap therebetween.
An electrical cable 52V is provided at a corner in the rear of the inner box 14V, for example, a left rear corner formed by the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V, as shown in FIGS. 39 and 42. The electrical cable 52V connects between a control device (not shown) serving as a control unit and a component such as a blowing fan (not shown) receiving a signal from the control device thereby to be driven or connects between the control device and various sensors, extending along the corner, for example. The electrical cable 52V is formed by bundling a plurality of electrical wires. The drawings show the electrical cable 52 which is formed by bundling a plurality of electrical wires into a circular cross-section.
Pipings 53V are provided at a corner differing from the corner which is located in the rear of the inner box 14V and is provided with the electrical wire 52V, for example, a right rear corner formed by the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V. The pipings 53V are, for example, a suction pipe connecting between a refrigerating evaporator and a compressor and a suction pipe connecting between a freezing evaporator and the compressor. The pipings 53 extend along the corner. Refrigerant used for refrigeration flows through one of the pipings 53, and refrigerant used for freezing flows through the other piping.
Since the fixtures 51V provided in the corners of the inner box 14V have a similar construction, the following will describe the fixture 511V provided at the corner formed by the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V and the fixture 511V provided at the corner formed by the right wall 24V and the rear wall 26V. In the following description of the fixture 512V, part of the description common to the fixtures 511V and 512V will be eliminated. Further, the aforementioned electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V will also be described
Firstly, the fixture 511V will be described with reference to FIGS. 34 and 42 to 54. The fixture 511V is formed into a columnar shape having a right triangle cross-section and extends in the up-down direction along the corner formed by the left wall 25V and the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIGS. 34, 42 and 43. FIG. 42 schematically shows the corner where the electrical cable 52V is provided and vicinity thereof. FIG. 43 shows the corner after the fixture 511V has been provided therein. FIG. 44 shows the corner before the fixture 511V is provided therein.
The fixture 511V has a fixing cover 54V, a reinforcing member 55V and a corner heat insulator 56V as shown in FIGS. 45 to 47. The fixture 511V is formed into a cylindrical shape having a right triangle cross-section by the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V. The corner heat insulator 56V constructs the cylindrical interior.
The fixing cover 54V is a vertically long rectangular plate member made of resin. The fixing cover 54V is disposed to cover a front of the electrical cable 52V provided at the corner. The fixing cover 54V is provided so as to conceal the electrical cable 52V from the side of the user of the refrigerator 11V in order that the electrical cable 52V may be prevented from being viewed at the side of the user of the refrigerator 11V. The fixing cover 54V has through holes 58V as shown in FIGS. 47 to 54. The through holes 58V are located at the front of the fixing cover 54V and the shafts of the screws 57V are passed through the through holes 58V.
The through holes 58V are formed at a plurality of portions of widthwise both ends perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the fixing covers 54V. In order that the through holed 58V at one end side may be separated from the through holes 58V at the other side as far as possible, the fixing covers 54V at the one end side and the fixing covers at the other side are disposed so as to be vertically displaced. More specifically, the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V are disposed in a zig-zag manner in the lengthwise direction of the fixing cover 54V as shown in FIG. 46, for example.
One of the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V located in the left as viewed from the front has an axial direction perpendicular to the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V in the case where the fixing cover 54V is provided at the corner of the inner box 14V. Further, the through hole 58V of the fixing cover 54V located in the right as viewed from the front has an axial direction perpendicular to the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V in the case where the fixing cover 54V is provided at the corner of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIGS. 48, 49, 51 and 54.
The fixing cover 54V is divided into two parts in the extending direction of the fixing cover 54V, as shown in FIGS. 34, 45 and 46. More specifically, the fixing cover 54V includes an upper fixing cover 541V and a lower fixing cover 542V. The upper fixing cover 541V forms an upper part of the fixing cover 54V. The lower fixing cover 542V forms a lower part of the fixing cover 54V. As a result, the fixing cover 54V can be rendered more easy to handle and harder to deform, for example, to twist.
The upper fixing cover 541V is provided at the corner of the refrigerating compartment 39V and the vegetable compartment 40V in the inner box 14V. The lower fixing cover 542V is provided at the corner of the ice-making compartment 41V and the first freezing compartment 42V. A connection of the upper and lower fixing covers 541V and 542V, that is, a division of the upper and lower fixing covers 541V and 542V protrude to the left rear corner side to be in contact with the reinforcing member 55V as shown in FIG. 48. Further, as shown in FIGS. 43 and 45 to 47, the fixing cover 54V has openings 59V and 60V. The opening 59V is located at the lengthwise middle of the upper fixing cover 541V and is provided to be open in the widthwise end side of the upper fixing cover 541V. The opening 60V is located at the lengthwise middle of the lower fixing cover 542V and is provided to be open in the widthwise end side of the lower fixing cover 542V.
The reinforcing member 55V is provided to reinforce the fixing cover 54V of the fixture 51V and is made of resin. The reinforcing member 55V is formed into a shape obtained by bending a rectangular elongated plate at a widthwise middle substantially at right angle, as shown in FIGS. 42, 45 and 47. More specifically, the reinforcing member 55V is constructed of a cover forming two sides of an isosceles triangular section of the fixture 511V, more concretely, a plate member having an L-shaped section forming a substantially right-angled corner. The reinforcing member 55V has a lengthwise dimension that is substantially equal to the lengthwise dimension of the fixing cover 54V. One of two sides of the L-shaped section in the reinforcing member 55V is disposed opposite the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V, that is, the left division heat insulating wall 314V, and the other side is disposed opposite the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V, that is, a rear division heat insulating wall 315V.
A right-angled part of the reinforcing member 55V is disposed to correspond to the corner of the inner box 14V. More specifically, the fixture 511V is disposed at the corner so that the right-angled part of the L-shaped section is located nearest the corner of the inner box 14V. The fixing cover 54V covers an open side of the L-shaped section of the reinforcing member 55V. In other words, the reinforcing member 55V is provided over the ends of adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V, namely, the gap between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V. The reinforcing member 55V is provided at a part between the divided heat insulating walls 31V, in which part the heat insulating effect is lower.
The reinforcing member 55V has a plurality of screw holes 61V and a plurality of through holes 62V. The screw holes 61V and the through holes 62V are located at both widthwise ends of the reinforcing member 55V and disposed in a zig-zag manner in the lengthwise direction of the reinforcing member 55V so as to correspond to the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V. The through holes 62V are provided on bulged parts 63V bulged to the fixing cover 54V side. More specifically, the bulged parts 63V are also disposed in the zig-zag manner in the lengthwise direction of the reinforcing member 55V. The through holes 62V of the reinforcing member 55V have axial directions which correspond to axial directions of through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V when the fixing cover 54V is mounted to the reinforcing member 55V. The screws 57V have shafts extending through the through holes 62V of the reinforcing member 55V respectively.
The screw holes 61V are formed to protrude to the fixing cover 54V side into a cylindrical shape and provided with screw threads formed on inner sides respectively as shown in FIGS. 47, 48, 49 and 52. The screw holes 61V correspond to the axial direction of the through hole 58V of the fixing cover 54V when the fixing cover 54V is mounted to the reinforcing member 55V. The screws 57V are passed through the through holes 58V and then screwed into the screw holes 61V respectively.
The reinforcing member 55V is also divided into two parts in the extending direction of the fixture 511V as shown in FIG. 47. More specifically, the reinforcing member 55V includes an upper reinforcing member 551V and a lower reinforcing member 552V. The upper reinforcing member 551V forms an upper part of the reinforcing member 55V. The lower reinforcing member 552V forms a lower part of the reinforcing member 55V. In this case, the reinforcing member 55V is divided at the same dividing position as the fixing cover 54V. The upper reinforcing member 551V is provided at a corner between the refrigerating compartment 39V and the vegetable compartment 40V. The lower reinforcing member 552V is provided at a corner between the vegetable compartment 40V and the first freezing compartment 42V in the inner box 14V.
The corner heat insulator 56V is provided at the corner and covered with the fixing cover 54V as shown in FIG. 42, for example. That is to say, the corner heat insulator 56V is surrounded by the fixture 511V. More specifically, the corner heat insulator 56V are disposed to cover a gap between ends of the adjacent division heat insulating walls 31V. The corner heat insulator 56V is made of a heat insulator such as polystyrene foam and formed into the shape of a triangular prism as shown in FIG. 47. The corner heat insulator 56V has a plurality of cutouts 64V. The cutouts 64V are provided in both widthwise ends of the corner heat insulator 56V perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the corner heat insulator 56V. The cutouts 64V are disposed in a zig-zag manner in the lengthwise direction of the corner heat insulator 56V so as to be prevented from interference to the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54v, the screw holes 61V of the reinforcing member 55V and the screws 57V inserted through the respective through holes 62V.
The corner heat insulator 56V is divided into two parts in the extending direction thereof. More specifically, the corner heat insulator 56V includes an upper corner heat insulator 561V and a lower corner heat insulator 562V. The upper heat insulator 561V forms an upper part of the corner heat insulator 56V. The lower heat insulator 562V forms a lower part of the corner heat insulator 56V. In this case, the corner heat insulator 56V is divided at the same dividing position as the fixing cover 54V.
The upper heat insulator 561V is held between the upper fixing cover 541V and the upper reinforcing member 551V. The lower corner heat insulator 562V is held between the lower fixing cover 542V and the lower reinforcing member 552V. As the result of this construction, the upper corner heat insulator 561V is disposed at a corner between the refrigerating compartment 39V and the vegetable compartment 40V. The lower corner heat insulator 562V is provided at a corner between the ice-making compartment 41V and the first freezing compartment 42V in the inner box 14V.
As the result of the above-described construction, the fixture 511V is dividable into two parts in the extending direction thereof along the corner. The upper corner heat insulator 561V is spaced away from the lower corner heat insulator 562V. More specifically, a front surface of the dividing part of the fixture 511V is dented to the corner side at the dividing part of the fixed cover 54V, as shown in FIG. 48.
Further, the upper corner heat insulator 561V has an opening 65V which is formed by opening a widthwise end in a lengthwise middle of the upper corner heat insulator 561V. The opening 65V corresponds to the opening 59V of the upper fixing cover 541V. The lower corner heat insulator 562V has an opening 66V which is formed opening a widthwise end in a lengthwise middle of the lower corner heat insulator 562V. The opening 66V corresponds to the opening 60V of the upper fixing cover 541V.
A housing part 67V is provided at a right-angled part in the section perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the corner heat insulator 56V, more specifically, a part close to the corner of the inner box 14. The housing part 67V is formed into a convex shape and extends in the lengthwise direction. The electrical cable 52V is housed in the housing part 67V. More specifically, the fixture 511V houses the electrical cable 52V in the cylindrical interior. The electrical cable 52V housed in the housing part 67V is held by the inner periphery of the housing part 67V serving as a holding part so that the electrical cable 52V is prevented from being displaced from a predetermined position. The electrical cable 52V is also held by a holding part such as a hook (not shown). More specifically, the electrical cable 52V and the fixture 511V are integrated.
A part of the electrical cable 52V is drawn out of the opening 59V of the upper fixing cover 541V through the opening 65V of the corner heat insulator 56V to the storage compartment side. Another part of the electrical cable 52V is drawn out of the opening 60V of the lower fixing cover 542V through the opening 66V of the corner heat insulator 56V to the storage compartment side. Further another part of the electrical cable 52V is drawn out of the upper end of the fixture 511V to be introduced through the space 211V into the component chamber 21V. More specifically, the openings 59V and 60V of the fixture 511V are provided for introducing the part of the electrical cable 52V housed in the fixture 511V to the storage compartment side. Still further another part of the electrical cable 52V may be introduced from the lower end of the fixture 511V to the component housing chamber 212V through the space 213V.
The electrical cable 52V has three connecting portions 68V as shown in FIG. 46. The connecting portions 68V include those extending outward from the openings 59V and 60V of the fixing cover 54V and one extending outward from the upper end of the fixture 511V. The connecting portions 68V are made of resin and each formed into the shape of a plug connectable to connecting portions of other electrical cables. The other electrical cables are connected to components such as the control device and a blowing fan.
The fixture 511V has first seal members 71V as shown in FIGS. 47 and 49 to 52. The first seal members 71V are provided between the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V, more specifically, between a widthwise end of the fixing cover 54V and a widthwise end of the reinforcing member 55V. The first seal members 71V extend in the lengthwise directions the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing members 55V and are made of, for example, soft tape. The first seal members 71V seal a gap between the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V.
The fixture 511V has second seal members 72V as shown in FIGS. 47 to 52. The second seal members 72V are provided between the reinforcing member 55V and a wall of the inner box 14V close to the reinforcing member 55V, more specifically, between the reinforcing member 55V and the left wall 25V or the left divided heat insulating wall 314V, and between the reinforcing member 55V and the rear wall 26V or the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. The second seal members 72V extend long in the lengthwise directions of the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V and are a soft tape, for example. The second seal members 72V seal a gap between the reinforcing member 55V and the divided heat insulating wall 31V close to the reinforcing member 55V.
The fixture 511V has a third seal member 73V as shown in FIG. 42. The third seal member 73V is provided on an end of the divided heat insulating wall 31V, for example, a butting part of the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. The third seal member 73V extends in parallel to the lengthwise directions of the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V and is a soft tape, for example. The third seal member 73V seals a gap between the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. The third seal member is eliminated in FIGS. 53 and 54.
The corner heat insulating member 56V is held between the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V of the fixture 511V as shown in FIGS. 47 to 52. The electrical cable 52V is housed in the housing part 67V of the corner heat insulating member 56V. The widthwise ends of the fixing cover 54V and the widthwise ends of the reinforcing member 55V are joined to each other, whereby the fixture 511V is constructed. The shafts of the screws 57V are passed through the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V and then screwed into the screw holes 61V of the reinforcing member 56V while the fixing member 54V and the reinforcing member 55V are joined to each other. As a result, the fixing cover 54V is fixed to the reinforcing member 55V, whereby the corner heat insulator 56V is also fixed to the inside of the fixture 511V. Accordingly, the fixing cover 54V, the reinforcing member 55V, the corner heat insulator 56V and the electrical cable 52V are all assembled into an integral body.
The fixing cover 54V is fixed to the reinforcing member 55V by a pair of screws 57V in the dividing parts of the upper fixing cover 541V and the lower fixing cover 542V, as shown in FIG. 48. The second partition member 38V has a rear end including a left part which is provided in contact with the dividing portion of the fixture 511V. Further, as shown in FIGS. 53 and 54, the screws 57V are passed through the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V and the through holes 62V of the reinforcing member 55V and then screwed into screw holes of the support member 27V of the inner box 14V. As a result, the fixture 511V is fixed to the corner of the inner box 14V.
The first seal members 71V seal a gap between the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V. The second seal members 72V seal a gap between the fixture 51V and the divided heat insulating wall 31V close to the fixture 51V. The third sealing member 73V seals a gap between the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V.
Further, the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V are opposed to the reinforcing member 55V via the second seal member 72V. As a result, the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V adjacent to each other are fixed by the fixture 511V. Further, an angle made between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 314V and 315V is maintained substantially at 90° corresponding to the right-angled part of the reinforcing member 55V. More specifically, the reinforcing member 55V is disposed opposite the left and rear divided heat insulating walls 314V and 315V and functions as an angle maintaining part which maintains the angle of the wall adjacent thereto, that is, the divided heat insulating wall 31V at 90°.
The fixture 512V will be described with reference to FIGS. 55 to 64. The fixture 512V has a right triangular cross-section and formed into a columnar shape as a whole, as shown in FIGS. 55 and 56. The fixture 512V extends in the up-down direction along a corner formed by the right wall 24V and the rear wall 26V of the inner box 14V. FIG. 55 schematically shows the corner where the piping 53V is provided and the vicinity thereof. FIG. 56 shows the construction of the corner after provision of the fixture 512V. FIG. 57 shows the construction of the corner before provision of the fixture 512V.
The fixture 512V includes a fixing cover 81V, a reinforcing member 81V and a corner heat insulating member 83V as shown in FIGS. 58 to 60. The fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 81V form the shape of a cylinder with the right triangular cross-section. The corner heat insulating member 83V is provided in the cylindrical interior formed by the fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 82V.
The fixing cover 81V has substantially the same constructions as the fixing cover 54V. In other words, the fixing cover 81V is a vertically long rectangular plate member and covers the front of the piping 53V provided in the corner. More specifically, the fixing cover 81V covers the piping 53V so that the piping 53V is prevented from being viewed at the side of the user side of the refrigerator 11V. The fixing cover 81V has a plurality of through holes 84V. The through holes 84V are formed in the same manner as the through holes 58V of the fixing cover 54V.
The fixing cover 81V is divided in the extending direction thereof into two parts as shown in FIG. 60. More specifically, the fixing cover 81V includes an upper fixing cover 811V and a lower fixing cover 812V. The upper fixing cover 811V forms an upper part of the fixing cover 81V. The lower fixing cover 812V forms a lower part of the fixing cover 81V. A part where the upper fixing cover 811V and the lower fixing cover 812V are connected together, that is, a dividing part protrudes to the right rear corner side as shown in FIG. 61.
The upper fixing cover 811V has a first protrusion 85V as shown in FIG. 60. The first protrusion 85V is located in the lengthwise middle of the upper fixing cover 811V and extends outward. The first protrusion 85V has an opening 86V. The lower fixing cover 812V has a second protrusion 87V as shown in FIGS. 56 and 58 to 60. The second protrusion 87V is located in the lengthwise middle of the lower fixing cover 812V and extends outward. The second protrusion 87V has an opening 88V.
The reinforcing member 82V is constructed in the substantially same manner as the reinforcing member 55V. That is, the reinforcing member 82V is a plate member having an L-shaped cross-section and forms two sides of an isosceles triangular cross-section of the fixture 512V except for a slant face. The reinforcing member 82V includes a right-angled part disposed to correspond to a corner of the inner box 14V. The fixing cover 81V is provided to cover an opening of the reinforcing member 82V having the L-shaped cross-section.
The reinforcing member 55V has a plurality of screw holes 89V and a plurality of through holes 90V. The screw holes 89V and the through holes 90V are located at both widthwise ends of the reinforcing member 55V. The widthwise direction is perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the reinforcing member 55V. The screw holes 89V and the through holes 90V of the reinforcing member 82V are constructed in the same manners as the screw holes 61V and the through holes 62V of the reinforcing member 55V respectively. The reinforcing member 82V is also divided into two parts in the extending direction thereof. More specifically, the reinforcing member 82V includes an upper reinforcing member 821V and a lower reinforcing member 822V. The upper reinforcing member 821V forms an upper side of the reinforcing member 82V. The lower reinforcing member 822V forms a lower side of the reinforcing member 82V.
The upper reinforcing member 821V has a first reinforcing protrusion 91V which is located at a position corresponding to the lengthwise middle of the upper reinforcing member 821V, that is, the first protrusion 85V and protrudes outward. The first reinforcing protrusion 91V forms the cylindrical shape together with the first protrusion 85V. The second reinforcing protrusion 92V is located at a position corresponding to the lengthwise middle of the lower reinforcing member 822V, that is, the second protrusion 87V and protrudes outward. The second reinforcing protrusion 92V forms the cylindrical shape together with the second protrusion 87V.
The corner heat insulating member 83V is constructed in the substantially same manner as the corner heat insulating member 56V. That is, the corner heat insulating member 83V is disposed at the corner so as to be covered with the fixing cover 81V. More specifically, the corner heat insulating member 83V is disposed to cover a gap between separate ends of the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V. The corner heat insulating member 83V is constructed of a heat insulating member, such as polystyrene foam, which is formed into a triangular prism shape. The corner heat insulating member 83V has a plurality of cutouts 93V formed in both widthwise ends. The cutouts 93V are formed in the same manner as the cutouts 64V of the corner heat insulating member 56V.
The corner heat insulator 83V is divided into two parts in the extending direction thereof. More specifically, the corner heat insulator 83V includes an upper corner heat insulator 831V and a lower corner heat insulator 832V. The upper heat insulator 831V forms an upper part of the corner heat insulator 83V. The lower heat insulator 832V forms a lower part of the corner heat insulator 83V. The upper corner heat insulator 831V is held between the upper fixing cover 811V and the upper reinforcing cover 821V. The lower corner heat insulator 832V is held between the lower fixing cover 812V and the lower reinforcing cover 822V.
As the result of the above-described construction, the fixture 512V is dividable into two parts in the extending direction thereof along the corner. The upper corner heat insulator 831V is spaced away from the lower corner heat insulator 832V. More specifically, a corner side surface of the fixing cover 81V is in contact with the reinforcing member 82V in the dividing part of the fixing cover 81V, so that a front surface of the dividing part of the fixture 51V is dented to the corner side, as shown in FIG. 61.
The upper corner heat insulator 831V has a first heat insulating protrusion 94V as shown in FIG. 60. The first heat insulating protrusion 94V is located at a lengthwise middle of the upper corner heat insulator 831V, that is, a position corresponding to the first protrusion 85V and protruding outward. The first heat insulating protrusion 94V has an opening 95V and is housed in a cylindrical portion defined by the first reinforcing protrusion 91V and the first protrusion 85V.
A second heat insulating protrusion 96V is located at a lengthwise middle thereof, that is, a position corresponding to the second protrusion 87V and protruding outward. The second heat insulating protrusion 96V has an opening 97V and is housed in a cylindrical portion defined by the second reinforcing protrusion 92V and the second protrusion 87V.
The fixture 51V has a housing part 98V. The housing part 98V is a lengthwise extending recessed space which is located at a right-angled part in the section perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the corner heat insulator 83V, more specifically, a part close to the corner of the inner box 14. The piping 53V is housed in the housing part 98V. More specifically, the fixture 512V has a cylindrical interior housing the piping 53V. The housing part 98V has an inner periphery functioning as a holding part which holds the piping 53V. The piping 98V is held by the inner periphery of the housing part 98V serving as the holding part and also by a holding part such as a hook. More specifically, the piping 53V and the fixture 512V are formed integrally. A plurality of pipings 53V is housed in the housing part 98V depending upon a part of the corner.
A part of the piping 53V extends through the opening 95V of the corner heat insulator 83V, exciting from the opening 86V of the upper fixing cover 811V to the storage compartment side. Another part of the piping 52V extends through the opening 97V of the corner heat insulator 83V, exciting from the opening 88V of the lower fixing cover 812V to the storage compartment side. Further another part of the piping 83V exits from an upper end of the fixture 512V to be introduced through the space 211V into the component chamber 21V. More specifically, the openings 86v and 88V of the fixture 512V are provided for introducing the part of the piping 53V housed in the fixture 512V to the storage compartment side. Still further another part of the piping 53V may be introduced from a lower end of the fixture 512V through the space 213V to the component housing chamber 212V.
The piping 53V has weld portions 99V as shown in FIG. 59. The weld portions 99 are provided on portions of the piping 53V exiting from the openings 86V and 88V of the fixing cover 81V to the storage compartment side and on a distal end of the piping 53V extending outward from the upper end of the fixture 512V. The weld portions 99 are weldable to weld portions of other pipings, for example, the piping 53V has a larger diameter than the other pipings. The other pipings are connected to a refrigerating evaporator, a freezing evaporator and a compressor.
In the embodiment, the piping 53 extending from the opening 86V of the upper fixing cover 811V to the storage compartment side is connected to the refrigerating evaporator.. The piping extending from the opening 88V of the lower fixing cover 812V to the storage compartment side is connected to the freezing evaporator. The piping extending outward from the upper end of the fixture 512V is connected to the compressor provided in the component chamber 21V. Thus, the weld portions 99 of the piping 53V are welded to the weld portions of the other pipings.
First seal members 101V are formed in the same manner as the first seal members 71V provided on the fixture 511V and provided between the fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 82V. More specifically, the first seal members 101V are provided between widthwise ends of the fixing cover 81V and widthwise ends of the reinforcing member 82V. The second seal members 102V are configured in the same manner as the second seal members 72V and provided on the reinforcing member 82V and a wall of the inner box 14V close to the reinforcing member 82V. Concretely, the second seal members 102V are provided between the reinforcing member 82V and the right wall 24V, that is, the right divided heat insulating wall 313V and between the reinforcing member 82V and the rear wall 26V, that is, the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V, as shown in FIGS. 60 to 64. Third seal members 103V are configured in the same manner as the third seal members 72V and provided on a butting part of the right divided heat insulating wall 313V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V, as shown in FIG. 55.
The corner heat insulator 83V is held between the fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 82V, and the piping 53V is housed in the housing part 98V of the corner heat insulating member 83V, and widthwise ends of the fixing cover 81V are butted with widthwise ends of reinforcing member 82V respectively, whereby the fixture 512V is constructed, as shown in FIGS. 59 to 64. The screws 57V have shafts which are passed through the through holes 84V of the fixing cover 81V and then screwed into the screw holes 89V of the reinforcing member 82V respectively while the fixing cover 81V is butted with the reinforcing member 82V. As a result, the fixing cover 81V is fixed to the reinforcing member 82V.
The fixing cover 81V is thus fixed to the reinforcing member 82V, whereby the corner heat insulator 83V is also fixed in the interior of the fixture 51V and the piping 53V is also fixed in the interior of the fixture 512V. The second partition member 38V is provided so that a right rear end thereof is brought into contact with the dividing part of the upper and lower fixing covers 811V and 812V, thereby covering the dividing part.
The fixing cover 81V is fixed to the reinforcing member 82V by a pair of screws 57V in the dividing part of the upper and lower fixing covers 811V and 812V, as shown in FIG. 61. The second partition member 38V is provided so that a right rear end thereof is brought into contact with the dividing part of the fixture 512V. Shafts of screws (not shown) are passed through the through holes 84V of the fixing cover 81V and the through holes 90V of the reinforcing member 82V and then screwed into the screw holes of the support members (not shown) of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIG. 63. As a result, the fixture 512V is fixed to the corner of the inner box 14V. The fixture 512V is also fixed to support members of the rear wall 26V in the same manner as described above.
In this case, the first seal member 101V seals a gap between the fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 82V. The second seal member 102V seals a gap between the fixture 51V and the divided heat insulating wall 31V close to the fixture 51V. The third seal member 103V seals a gap between the right divided heat insulating wall 313V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V.
The reinforcing member 82V is provided to be opposed via the second seal member 102V to the right divided heat insulating wall 313V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. As a result, the right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 315V adjacent to each other are fixed by the fixture 512V. Further, an angle made between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 313V and 315V is maintained substantially at 90° corresponding to the right-angled part of the reinforcing member 82V. More specifically, the reinforcing member 82V also functions as the angle maintaining part which maintains the angle of the wall adjacent thereto at 90°.
Next, a part of the piping 53V introduced from the opening 88V of the fixing cover 81V to the storage compartment side in the fixture 512V will be described with reference to FIG. 65. The partition heat insulating member 105V is provided between the plane partition part 45V of the partition member 38V and the right wall 24V of the inner box 14V in the interior of the inner box 14V, as shown in FIG. 65. The partition heat insulating member 105V is a heat insulating member comprising polystyrene foam and is formed into the shape of block extending in the front-back direction. The partition heat insulating member 105V is formed with a recess 106V having an opening at the inner box 14V side.
A part of the piping 53V drawn from an opening 88V of the fixture 512V to the storage compartment side is provided in the recess 106V. More specifically, the part of the piping 53V drawn from an opening 88V of the fixture 512V to the storage compartment side is provided in the front-back direction of an edge of the second partition member 38V. The partition heat insulator 105V includes an upper surface, a front and a left surface all of which are covered by a member extending from the plane partition part 45V of the second partition member 38V.
The above-described partition heat insulator may also be provided between the plane partition part 45V of the second partition member 38V and the left wall 25V of the inner box 14V in the interior of the inner box 14V, and a part of the electrical cable 52V drawn from the opening 60V of the fixture 512V may be provided in the front-back direction of the edge of the second partition member 38V.
A procedure of assembling the heat insulating box 12V of the refrigerator according to the foregoing embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 34 and 66. Firstly, the divided heat insulating walls 31V and the fixtures 51V both shown in FIG. 34 are manufactured. Next, the fixture 511V is mounted by the screws 57V to one of two adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V, for example, the left divided heat insulating wall 314V. Next, the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V is mounted to an integral body of the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the fixture 511V. As a result, the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V are fixed together with the result that a right rear corner of the inner box 14V is formed.
In this case, an angle between adjacent walls formed by the left and rear divided heat insulating walls 314V and 315V is maintained substantially at 90° corresponding to the right-angled part of the reinforcing member 55v. The other corners of the inner box 14V are formed by fixing the divided heat insulating walls 31V and the fixtures 51V. As a result, angles of adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V become 90° in the inner box 14V, so that the heat insulating box 12V becomes a rectangular parallelepiped. Although the angles of adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V are set to 90°, the angles of adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V may be adjusted substantially to 90° so that the corners of the heat insulating box 12V may be substantially at 90°.
Further, the first partition member 37V and the second partition member 38V are provided at respective predetermined positions in assembling the heat insulating box 12V. This results in the forming of the refrigerating compartment 39V, the vegetable compartment 40V, the ice-making compartment 41V, the first freezing compartment 42V and the second freezing compartment 43V. Further, the right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V are fixed to each other by the first and second partition members 37V and 38V in the front opening side of the storage compartment.
The following advantageous effects can be achieved from the foregoing construction.
The heat insulating box 12V of the refrigerator 11V is constructed by connecting two adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V by the fixtures 51V. More specifically, the heat insulating box 12V is assembled by combining a plurality of divided heat insulating walls 31V and connecting the heat insulating walls 31V by the fixtures 51V. According to the embodiment, the assembling work of the refrigerator 11V can be rendered easier as compared with the conventional construction that heat insulating members are provided on a three-dimensional inner box.
Since the reinforcing members 55V and 82V of the fixtures 51V function as the angle maintaining parts, the angle between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V is maintained at 90°. As a result, the inner box 14V can be formed into a rectangular parallelepiped. Further, the corners of the inner ox 14V are maintained at 90°, the divided heat insulating walls 31V can easily be combined together.
The fixture 51V is fixed at the position corresponding to two adjacent heat insulating members 15V. Accordingly, the heat insulating members 15V can be fixed with reference to the fixture 51V. As a result, the angle of adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V can be rendered easier to maintain at 90°.
The right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V are connected to each other by the first and second partition members 37V and 38V at the front opening side of the storage compartment. Accordingly, the fronts of the right and left divided heat insulating walls 313V and 314V are reliably be fixed. This can reduce opening of the front opening of the inner box 14 in the right-left direction with the result that the inner box 14V and the heat insulating box 12V can be maintained in the rectangular parallelepiped shape.
The electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V provided at the corners of the inner box 14V are covered by the fixtures 51V respectively. As a result, food stored in the storage compartments can be prevented from contacting to the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V. Further, since the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53v are concealed from the user of the refrigerator 11V, the design of the interior of the storage compartment can be improved.
Since the corner heat insulating members 56V and 83V are provided at the corners of the inner box 14V, the heat insulation effect can be improved at the corners. Further, since the corner heat insulating members 56V and 83V are covered by the fixtures 51V, the design of the interior of the storage compartment can also be improved.
Since the corner heat insulating members 56V and 83V are disposed to cover the gap between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls 31V, the heat insulating effect at a part where the heat insulating effect by the divided heat insulating wall 31V is small can be compensated for. This can improve the heat insulating effect of the entire heat insulating box.
The fixture 51V is formed into the cylindrical shape. The cylindrical interior of the fixture 51V houses the electrical cable 52V, the pipings 53V and the corner heat insulators 56V and 83V. According to this construction, the electrical cable 52V, the pipings 53V and the corner heat insulators 56V and 83V can be rendered harder for the user of the refrigerator 11V to view, with the result that the design of the interior of the storage compartment can also be improved.
The fixture 51V has the reinforcing members 55V and 82V each of which is formed to have the L-shaped cross-section. As a result, the fixture 51V can be prevented from being deformed, twisted or bent as much as possible. Further, the fixing covers 54V and 81V are provided in the fronts of the reinforcing members 55V and 82V, that is, in the opening having the L-shaped cross-section. As a result, the fixture 511 can be rendered cylindrical in shape.
The electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53v are held by the housing parts 67A and 98V of the corner heat insulators 56V and 83V. According to this construction, the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V can be prevented from displacement from predetermined positions.
The fixture 51V has the openings 59V and 60V. The electrical cable 52V provided at the corner of the inner box 14V is introduced through the openings 59V and 60V into the storage compartment. As a result, the electrical cable 52V introduced from the openings 59V and 60V to the storage compartment side can be connected to the electrical cable located outside the fixture 51V, that is, at the storage compartment side. In this case, the electrical cable 52V includes parts which are drawn out of the openings 59V and 60V and have the connecting portions 68V for connection to other electrical cables. Accordingly, the electrical cable 52V can easily be connected to other electrical cables outside the fixture 51V.
Further, the fixture 51V has the openings 86V and 88V. The pipings 53V provided at the corner of the inner box 14V are introduced through the openings 86V and 88V to the storage compartment side. As a result, the pipings 53V introduced through the openings 86V and 88V to the storage compartment side can be connected to the pipings located at the storage compartment side. In this case, the pipings 53V include parts which are drawn out of the openings 86V and 88V of the fixture 51V and have the weld portions 99V can be welded to other pipings. Accordingly, the pipings 53V can easily be welded to other pipings outside the fixture 51V.
The fixture 51V and the electrical cable 52V are formed integrally, and the fixture 51V and the pipings 53 are formed integrally. Accordingly, the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V can be provided at the predetermined corners of the divided heat insulating walls 31V when the divided heat insulating walls 31V are connected together by the fixtures 51V. This can simplify the assembling work of the electrical cable 52 and the pipings 53V.
A part of the electrical cable 52V is provided at the left rear corner of the inner box 14V. Parts of the pipings 53V are provided at the right rear corner of the inner box 14V. The electrical cable 52V is covered by the fixture 511V, and the pipings 53V are covered by the fixture 512V. As a result, the electrical cable 52V can be prevented from being cooled by the pipings 53V.
Parts of the pipings 53V are disposed along the edge of the second partition member 38V. According to this construction, the pipings 53V can be rendered longer without increasing the size of the fixture 51V. As a result, when the pipings 53v are suction pipes, the efficiency of heat exchange of the pipings 53V can be improved while a sufficient storage space is ensured in the storage compartment.
The first seal members 71V and 101V are provided between the fixing cover 54V and the reinforcing member 55V and between the fixing cover 81V and the reinforcing member 82V. According to this construction, cold air can be prevented from flowing into the fixture 51V. As a result, dew condensation can be prevented from occurring on the component in the fixture 51V, for example, the electrical cable 52V.
The second seal members 72V and 102V are provided between the divided heat insulating wall 31V and the fixture 51V. According to this construction, cold air in the storage compartment can be prevented from leaking out of the heat insulating box 12V, and warm air outside the heat insulating box 12V can be prevented from flowing into the storage compartment.
The third seal members 73V and 103V are provided between the right divided heat insulating wall 313V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V and between the left divided heat insulating wall 314V and the rear divided heat insulating wall 315V. According to this construction, the inside and the outside of the heat insulating box 12V can sufficiently be insulated from heat with the result that the interior of the heat insulating box can effectively be cooled.
The fixture 51V is divided into a plurality of parts in the direction extending along the corner. According to this construction, the fixture 51V can be handledmore easily. Further, since the second partition member 38V is provided on the dividing part of the fixture 51V, cold air in the storage compartment can be prevented from flowing from the dividing part of the second partition member 38V into the fixture 51V.
The divided heat insulating wall 31V includes the walls 16V to 20V serving as outer plates and the walls 22V to 26V serving as the inner plates. In this case, one side of the vacuum heat insulation panel is bonded to the outer plates and the other side is bonded to the inner plates. According to this construction, the heat insulation effect can be achieved by the vacuum heat insulation panel, and the divided heat insulating walls 31V, namely, the walls of the heat insulating box 12V can be rendered thinner. Further, according to the construction, although conventionally provided between the outer and inner boxes, the electrical cable and the pipings can be provided at the corners which less likely to get in the way when food is put into the storage compartment.
The electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V are drawn out of the upper and lower parts of the fixture 51V. The space 211V is defined directly above the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V. The space 213V is defined beneath the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V. The component chamber 21V is provided directly above the space 211V. The component housing chamber 212V is provided beneath the space 213V. According to this construction, the electrical cable 52V and the pipings 53V can easily be disposed at respective predetermined positions and be connected to other electrical cables and pipings.
Further, regarding the electrical cable 52V as shown in FIG. 45, it is better to space an AC electrical cable for use with a heater, compressor and the like and a DC electrical cable for use with LEDs, various sensors and the like from each other. When the AC and DC electrical cables are disposed together, there is a possibility of production of noise. However, when the AC and DC electrical cables are spaced from each other as described above, the possibility of noise production can be reduced. For example, a plurality of housing parts 67V may be provided, and AC and DC electrical cables may be housed in the housing parts 67V with a heat insulator being interposed therebetween.
Further, noise can further be reduced when the fixtures 511V and 512V housing respective AC and DC electrical cables are disposed at different corners of the storage compartment. In this case, when an electric control board to which the compressor and wiring are connected is disposed in the component chamber or on the upper surface divided heat insulating wall 311V, the wiring extends vertically long with the result that noise tends to be easily produced. However, the above-described construction can effectively reduce noise.
A cold air duct through which cold air is circulated may be provided in the fixture 51V as well as the housing part. Further, a drain hose through which defrosted water of the evaporator is discharged may be provided in the housing part. When dew condensation occurs near the housing part or when a drain hose is disposed bear the housing part, the above-mentioned electrical cable with a middle-located U-shaped part may be disposed. The middle-located U-shaped part may function as a trap serving as water invasion preventing means for preventing water from invading electrical components.
Further, a freezing storage compartment, which is a space belonging to a freezing temperature zone, in this case, the ice-making compartment 41V, the first freezing compartment 42V and the second freezing compartment 43V are disposed lower in the vertical arrangement. This arrangement is not restrictive. For example, the refrigerating compartment and the vegetable compartment may be disposed up and down and the freezing storage compartment may be disposed therebetween.
In the embodiment as shown in FIG. 36, the freezing compartment 42V is spaced farthest from the component chamber 21V located above. A suction pipe is provided on the rear of the freezing compartment 42V, extending long in the up-down direction. The suction pipe connects between an evaporator capable of generating cold air in the freezing temperature zone and a compressor provided in the component chamber 21V. In this case, there is a possibility that outside air having flowed into the refrigerator interior side through a gap between connected heat insulating walls or the like may cause dew condensation. However, when the freezing compartment is disposed centrally in the up-down direction and the evaporator capable of generating cold air in the freezing temperature zone is disposed on the rear of the freezing compartment, the length of the suction pipe connecting between the evaporator and the compressor can be rendered shorter with the result that occurrence of dew condensation can be reduced.
In this case, the suction pipe is effectively disposed in a space between the freezing storage compartment and the compressor without extending in the direction differing from the locations of the evaporator and the compressor.
A plurality of evaporators, that is, the refrigerating evaporator and the freezing evaporator, may not be provided. An evaporator capable of generating cold air in the freezing temperature zone may be provided for cooling atmospheres of both of the refrigerating and freezing compartments.
Further, the component chamber 21V housing the compressor may be disposed below the heat insulating box instead of above the heat insulating box. For example, a case will be considered where the refrigerating compartment is disposed above the freezing compartment and the vegetable compartment is disposed below the freezing compartment, and the refrigerating compartment has a larger interior height than the vegetable compartment. In this case, the component chamber is formed by recessing the rear of the vegetable compartment. The suction pipe includes a passage from the evaporator provided on the rear of the freezing compartment to the compressor provided in the component chamber. The passage includes a part passing through the vegetable compartment. The part has a distance that is shorter than in the case where the compressor is disposed above the refrigerating compartment. According to this construction, the distance that the suction pipe passes through the vegetable compartment is rendered shorter with the result that dew condensation can be prevented more effectively.
Further, although the electrical cable and the pipings are provided at the corners of the inner box, this construction is not restrictive. For example, components other than the electrical cable and the pipings, for example, hoses and the like may be provided at the corners and covered by the fixtures.
The fixture may not be divided into a plurality of parts when the corner is not provided with the partition member or the corner has a short length.
In the fixture in the fifth embodiment, the extending portions in the second embodiment may be provided on both widthwise ends of the fixing cover, and a fourth seal member may be provided to seal a gap between the extending portions and the inner box, instead of the second seal member.
Parts of the pipings or part of the electrical cable may be disposed in the right-left direction of the edge of the second partition member. Further, parts of the pipings or part of the electrical cable may be disposed in the front-back direction or the right-left direction of the edge of the first partition member.
A vacuum heat insulation panel, urethane, polystyrene foam and the like may be used as the heat insulator further used as the plane partition part. These heat insulators may be held between resin or metal plates from above and from below. For example, when the partition plate has a sufficient strength, the partition reinforcing plate may be eliminated. Two adjacent divided heat insulating walls may be connected together by screws or the like in addition to the connecting manner in the foregoing embodiment.
The above-described assembling procedure of the heat insulating box is a mere example. For example, the right or left divided heat insulating wall may be mounted to the fixtures after the rear divided heat insulating wall has been mounted to the fixtures. A silicone sealer or the like may be used as the seal member, instead of the soft tape. A second corner heat insulator may be provided at the right rear corner of the inner box, and the pipings may be housed in the housing part of the second corner heat insulator.
Further, the refrigerator may include a mist discharge which discharges mist into the storage compartment. The mist is generated by electrostatic atomization and preferably has a diameter ranging from 1 to 1000 nm. In this case, when the fixture is provided at the corner formed by the two adjacent divided heat insulating walls, the mist discharged outside from between the adjacent divided heat insulating walls can be reduced. The fixture may be formed integrally with one wall of the inner box.
The divided heat insulating wall may be formed into an L-shape or a U-shape as viewed from a side or top surface. More specifically, the fixture may connect the divided heat insulating walls other than the plate-shaped divided heat insulating walls and between the plate-shaped divided heat insulating wall and the divided heat insulating walls other than the plate-shaped divided heat insulating walls as well as plate-shaped divided heat insulating walls.
The heat insulator of the divided heat insulating, that is, the vacuum heat insulation panel may not be provided integrally with the wall of the inner box. The vacuum heat insulation panel may be provided integrally with a wall of the outer box.
The heat insulator of the divided heat insulating wall may be provided in contact with one of the walls of the outer box or one of the walls of the inner box.
The inner box is formed by connecting a plurality of divided walls into a box shape. The heat insulation box is formed by integrating the inner box and the heat insulators. In this case, the divided walls should not be limited to the flat-plate shape. For example, the walls may be L-shaped as viewed from above.
As described above, the refrigerator of the embodiment is constructed into the box shape by combining a plurality of heat insulating walls. The refrigerator is provided with the fixtures. Each fixture is provided at the corner formed by two adjacent heat insulating walls and connects these heat insulating walls. Accordingly, the refrigerator can be assembled by combining the heat insulating walls and connecting the heat insulating walls by the fixtures. The assembling work of the refrigerator can be rendered easier as compared with the conventional construction that heat insulating members are assembled into a three-dimensional inner box.

Sixth Embodiment

A manufacturing method of the heat insulating box according to a sixth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 67 to 75. In the sixth embodiment, the heat insulating box 2 includes a left heat insulating wall 9, a right heat insulating wall 10, an upper heat insulating wall 11, a lower heat insulating wall 12 and a rear heat insulating wall 13 and is constructed into the shape of a rectangular box with an open front. The heat insulating walls 9 to 13 have vacuum heat insulation panels 16A to 16E serving as unit panels, between outer plates 14A to 14E and inner plates 15A to 15E, respectively. In this case, one heat insulating wall and two heat insulating walls continuous with both ends of the one heat insulating wall form a heat insulating wall entity with continuous outer plates. In the embodiment, the upper heat insulating wall 11 and the right and left heat insulating walls 10 and 9 continuous with both sides of the upper heat insulating wall 11 form a heat insulating wall main body 2S with continuous outer plates. In the heat insulation box 2, an upper interior serves as the refrigerating compartment 80, a middle interior serves as the freezing compartment 81 and a lower interior serves as a vegetable compartment 82.
A method of manufacturing the heat insulation box 2 will be described. Firstly, the heat insulating wall main body 2S is manufactured as will be described in the following.
An integral body 10U shown in FIG. 69 is constructed by joining the right unit panel 16B and the right inner plate 15B by an adhesive. A roll coater type is employed as a manner of applying an adhesive as shown in FIG. 70. The roll coater type uses a pair of feed rollers 71 and 72 and a supply roller 73. The supply roller 73 is provided to be capable of contacting with the feed roller 71, thereby supplying an adhesive to the feed roller 71.
When the adhesive is applied to an inner surface 16Bn of the right unit panel 16B, the rollers 71 to 73 are rotated in the directions of respective arrows while the right unit panel 16B is held between the paired rollers 71 and 72. The supply roller 73 then supplies the adhesive to the rolling side between the supply roller 73 and the feed roller 71. The feed roller 71 applies the adhesive supplied from the supply roller 73, to the inner surface 16Bn of the right unit panel 16B, and the paired rollers 71 and 72 feeds the right unit panel 16B in the direction of arrow in FIG. 70. In this case, the inner surface 16Bn corresponds to a surface opposed to an outer surface 16Bg, namely, one surface. A process of applying the adhesive to the inner surface 16Bn of the right unit panel 16B corresponds to a process (2).
A right inner plate 15B is bonded to the inner surface 16Bn of the right unit panel 16B as shown in FIG. 69 after the adhesive has been applied to the inner surface 16Bn of the right unit panel 16B, whereby the integral body 10U is manufactured. In this case, the right inner plate 15B has a bent part 15Bs. The bent part 15Bs is located at one end of the right inner plate 15B and formed by bending the end substantially at 45° in the direction opposed to the unit panel 16B. The bent part 15Bs has a reverse face on which a heat insulator 74B configured of polystyrene foam or the like and having a triangular cross-section. The heat insulator 74B is bonded to the bent part 15Bs by an adhesive, for example. A left inner plate 15A of the left heat insulating wall 9 and a left unit panel 16A are also bonded in the same manners as described above as shown in FIG. 71, so that the integral body 9U is formed. Further, the left heat insulating wall 9 has a folded portion 15As and a heat insulator 74A in the same manner as the right heat insulating wall 10.
Further, the upper inner plate 15C is also bonded to an inner surface of the upper unit panel 16C of the upper heat insulating wall 11 in the same manner as described above. A process of bonding the upper inner plate 15C to the inner surface of the upper unit panel 16C of the upper heat insulating wall 11 corresponds to a process (5). Further, the upper inner plate 15C has folded portions 15Cs1 and 15Cs2 and heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2 on both ends respectively, as shown in FIG. 74.
Further, the upper outer plate 14C of the upper heat insulating wall 11, the left outer plate 14A of the left heat insulating wall 9 and the right outer plate 14B of the right heat insulating wall 10 are formed of a single plate member 75, as shown in FIG. 74. When the upper, left and right heat insulating walls 11, 9 and 10 are manufactured, the flat plate member 75 is firstly placed on a work table Ws as shown in FIG. 71. The plate member 75 has a flat shape before processing. Symbol 14C1 is assigned to a region corresponding to the upper outer plate 14C of the upper heat insulating wall 11. Symbol 14A1 is assigned to a region corresponding to the left outer plate 14A of the left heat insulating wall 9. Symbol 14B1 is assigned to a region corresponding to the right outer plate 14B of the right heat insulating wall 10. Symbol K1 designates a boundary of the left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 and the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1. Symbol K2 designates a boundary of the right plate corresponding region 14B1 and the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1.
One side, that is, the outer side 16Bg of the right unit panel 16B is fixed by an adhesive to an inner surface of the right outer plate corresponding region 14C1 while being spaced away from the boundary K2 by a predetermined distance Sk. Further, one side, that is, the outer side 16Ag of the left unit panel 16A is fixed by an adhesive to an inner surface of the left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 while being spaced away from the boundary K1 by the predetermined distance Sk.
In this case, the predetermined distance Sk is set at a substantially minimum distance that can ensure occupancy spaces for the folding jigs 76 and 77. Further, the adhesive is applied, for example, by a spray, to one of the outer surface 16Bg of the right unit panel 16B and the inner surface of the right outer plate corresponding region 14B1. Further, a roll coating method may be carried out as a bonding method.
Next, as shown in FIG. 72, Folding jigs 76 and 77 are disposed while ends of the folding jigs 76 and 77 are joined to the boundaries K1 and K2 on the inner surface of the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1. The left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 and the right outer plate corresponding region 13B1 are folded 90° with respect to the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1 with the folding jigs 76 and 77 serving as fulcrums. This step corresponds to step (3).
In this case, the unit panels 16A and 16B are spaced from the boundaries K1 and K2 respectively. Accordingly, the occupancy spaces of the folding jigs 76 and 77 are ensured. Since the unit panels 16A and 16B are prevented from hitting against the folding jigs 76 and 77 respectively, the unit panels can be prevented from becoming an obstacle to the aforementioned folding process.
FIG. 73 illustrates a state immediately after the folding. The folding jigs 76 and 77 are moved from the state as shown in FIG. 73 in the direction of arrow in FIG. 73 thereby to be removed. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 74, the integral body 11U of the upper unit panel 16C and the upper inner plate 15C is fixed to the inner surface of the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1 by an adhesive. In this case, the outer surface 16Cg of the upper unit panel 16C is fixed by the adhesive to an inner surface of the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1. This step corresponds to step (4).
In this case, folded corners of the plate member 75, that is, spaces Sp inside the boundaries K1 and K2 are closed by the folded portions 15Cs1 and 15Cs2 of the upper inner plate 15C and the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2. Further, the spaces Sp and the interior side are heat-insulated by the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2. The heat insulating wall main body 2S is manufactured by the above-described procedure.
Subsequently, the lower heat insulating wall 12 is attached to the heat insulating wall main body 2S as shown in FIG. 75. In this case, the lower heat insulating wall 12 is attached so as to close the opening between the left heat insulating wall 9 and the right heat insulating wall 10 of the heat insulating wall main body 2S. Further, one end of the lower outer plate 14D is connected to an open end of the left outer plate 14A, and the other end of the lower outer plate 14D is connected to an open end of the right outer plate 14B. Further, one end of the lower inner plate 15D is adjacent to the folded portion 15As of the left inner plate 15A and the heat insulator 74A, and the other end of the lower inner plate 15D is adjacent to the folded portion 15Bs of the right inner plate 15B and the heat insulator 74B. The connection of the lower outer plate 14D and the right and left inner plates 15B and 15A, that is, spaces inside the corners and the refrigerator interior are heat-insulated by the heat insulators 74A and 74B.
Subsequently, the rear heat insulating wall 13 is attached to rear ends of the heat insulating walls 9, 10, 11 and 12 as shown in FIG. 68. Next, the sheet member connecting plate 25 and the polystyrene foam 28 serving as the heat insulator are attached to the corner inside of the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the right heat insulating wall 10. In this case, a cold air flow duct 78 is formed in the inside of the sheet member connecting plate 25, in this case, in the polystyrene foam 28. The cold air flow duct communicates between the refrigerating compartment 80 and the vegetable compartment 82.
The left inner plate 15A may be bonded to the left unit panel 16A after the left unit panel 16A has solely been bonded to the plate member 75. In this case, the spray type adhesive applying method may be employed. Further, the right inner plate 15B may be bonded to the right unit panel 16B in the same manner as described above, and the upper inner plate 15C may be bonded to the upper unit panel 16C in the same manner as described above. Further, a part of the plate member 75 corresponding to the folded portion 14Aa (see FIG. 68) includes further portions which correspond to the boundaries K1 and K2 and are each cut substantially at 90° into a V shape so as not to block the folding of the plate member 75.
According to the sixth embodiment, the outer plates 14A, 14B and 14C are formed of the single plate 75. Accordingly, since the outer plates 14A, 14B and 14C are continuous without joints, the number of joints of the outer plate can be reduced with the result that the heat insulating box 2 can reduce moisture absorption from the outside and leak of cold air into the outside while reducing an amount of urethane foam to be used.
Further, the following steps are carried out when the single plate member 75 is folded to be formed into the outer plates 14A, 14B and 14C. In the embodiment, one sides of the unit panels 16A and 16B are bonded to the inner surfaces of the left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 and the right outer plate corresponding region 14B1 in the plate member 75 while being spaced from the boundaries K1 and K2 with respect to the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1 by the predetermined distance Sk. In the embodiment, the ends of the folding jigs 76 and 77 are joined to the part of the boundary K1 with respect to the left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 in the inner surface of the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1 and the part of the boundary K2 with respect to the right outer plate corresponding region 14B1 in the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1. The left outer plate corresponding region 14A1 and the right outer plate corresponding region 14B1 are folded with respect to the upper outer plate corresponding region 14C1 with the folding jigs 76 and 77 serving as fulcrums.
According to this, the unit panels 16A and 16B and the inner plates 15A and 15B are prevented from hitting against the folding jigs 76 and 77 when the right and left outer plates 14B1 and 14A1 are folded. Accordingly, the folding process is not blocked. Since the predetermined distance Sk is set at the minimum occupancy spaces of the folding jigs 76 and 77, the spaces Sp produced in the folded portions can be rendered minimum.
Further, according to the sixth embodiment, the inner plates 15A, 15B and 16C are bonded to the outer surfaces 16Ag, 16Bg and 16Cg of the unit panels 16A, 16B and 16C before the unit panels 16A, 16B and 16C are bonded to the plate member 75, respectively. The adhesive is applied to the outer surfaces 16Ag, 16Bg and 16Cg by the roll coating. As a result, bonding is realized with uniform bonding layers.
Further, the heat insulators 74A and 74B which are made of polystyrene foam and have triangular cross-sections respectively are provided on the rear surfaces of the folded portions 15As and 15Bs. Heat insulators made in the same manner as the heat insulators 74A and 74B may be provided on both ends of lower heat insulating wall 12 which is shorted as compared with the right and left heat insulating walls. Further, when the heat insulator 74 is bonded to the right and left heat insulating walls and the outer plate is folded thereby to configure the heat insulating wall main body, there is a possibility of displacement of the positions of the right and left heat insulating walls 74, with the result that the lower heat insulating wall 12 is hard to connect. In the embodiment, the heat insulators are provided on both ends of the lower heat insulating wall 12, and the lower heat insulating wall 12 is connected after the heat insulating wall main body 2S has been formed. As a result, there is no possibility of displacement of positions of the right and left heat insulators 74, and the assembling can be rendered easier.
Further, the heat insulators 74 may be provided independent of the heat insulating walls. For example, the upper inner plate in the upper heat insulating wall 11 may not be provided with the folding portions 15Cs1 and 15Cs2 on both ends and the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2. The independent heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2 are disposed at the corners of the upper heat insulating wall 11 and the right and left heat insulating walls after the heat insulating wall main body 2S has been formed. According to this, when the spaces Sp inside the folded corners (the boundaries K1 and K2) of the plate member 75 are closed, the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2 can be disposed while the positions are adjusted with the mounting subsequent to the heat insulating wall.
Further, for example, when electrical components are assembled inside the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2 after the heat insulators 74C1 and 74C2 have been mounted on the upper heat insulating wall 11, electrical wiring extending from the electrical components and drawn outside the heat insulators sometimes block the assembly. In this case, the assembly efficiency can be improved when the heat insulating wall main body 2S is folded and the independent heat insulators mounted with the electrical components are then disposed at the corners.
Means for illuminating the refrigerator interior, such as LED, may be used as an example of the electrical components. As a result, the illuminating means can be disposed at the corners of the upper heat insulating wall 11 with the result that the refrigerator interior can be illuminated from above. Since the upper heat insulating wall 11 has no urethane foam inside, an installation location of the electrical components such as LED substrate can be ensured inside the upper heat insulating wall 11.
When a heat source such as the LED substrate is disposed near the spaces Sp, atmospheres in the spaces Sp are warmed by heat generated by the heat source. This reduces temperature difference between the spaces Sp and the outside of the refrigerator, so that warm outside air becomes hard to flow into the spaces Sp, with the result that occurrence of dew condensation can be prevented in the spaces Sp.
The refrigerating compartment 80, the freezing compartment 81 and the vegetable compartment 82 are disposed in the refrigerator storage compartment sequentially from the top. The freezing compartment 81 is disposed in a region not adjoining the lower heat insulating wall 12. More specifically, the freezing compartment 81 belonging to the lower temperature zone is provided at a location not adjoining the joints of the outer plates of the outer box.
When outside air warmer and containing more moisture than air inside the refrigerator flows inside the heat insulating walls through the joints of the outer plates, the outside air is cooled by the inner plates of the inner box, resulting in a possibility of occurrence of dew condensation. In this case, dew condensation easily tends to occur when the joints of the outer plate are located near the freezing compartment and the temperature difference between the outside air and the air inside the refrigerator is large. In view of the problem, the refrigerating compartment 80, the freezing compartment 81 and the vegetable compartment 82 are disposed in the refrigerator storage compartment sequentially from the top in the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 67. The freezing compartment 81 is disposed in the region not adjoining the lower heat insulating wall 12. More specifically, the freezing compartment 81 belonging to the lower temperature zone is located not to adjoin the joints of the outer plates of the outer box, that is, located away from the joints. This can reduce contact of outside air inflowing through the joints with the inner plates cooled by the atmosphere in the freezing compartment, thereby suppressing occurrence of dew condensation.
The region of the vegetable compartment 82 is adjacent to the lower heat insulating wall 12 as shown in FIG. 67. Connections of the outer plates 14A and 14B and the outer plate 14D are located at right and left ends of the underside of the vegetable compartment 82 respectively. Further, as shown in FIG. 68, connections of the outer plates 14A and 14B and the outer plate 14E are located at right and left ends of the rear of the vegetable compartment 82 respectively. Accordingly, a large number of connections of the outer plates are located around the vegetable compartment 82. On the other hand, the region of the freezing compartment 81 is located between the refrigerating compartment 80 and the vegetable compartment 82 and spaced away from the lower heat insulating wall 12 having the outer plate 14D. In this case, the joints of outer plates include only the connections of the outer plate 14E and the outer plates 14A and 14B provided on the right and left ends of the rear of the freezing compartment 81, as shown in FIG. 68. Accordingly, the number of joints around the freezing compartment 81 is smaller than that around the refrigerating compartment 80 or the vegetable compartment 82. As a result, an amount of outside air flowing into the freezing compartment 81 can be rendered smaller as compared with the case where the freezing compartment 81 is disposed in the region of the vegetable compartment 82.
In the first embodiment, the lower heat insulating wall 12 has the L-shaped part 17 serving as the folded part for forming the component chamber as shown in FIG. 6. The L-shaped part 17 increases the possibility that outside air flows inside the heat insulating wall by increasing an area of the joints of the lower heat insulating wall 12. In this case, when the freezing compartment is disposed so as not to adjacent to the component chamber, outside air flowing inside the heat insulating walls through the joints is reduced with the result that occurrence of dew condensation can effectively be prevented.
In the sixth embodiment, the plate member 785 is folded thereby to be formed into the left heat insulating wall 9, the right heat insulating wall 10 and the upper heat insulating wall 11 as shown in FIG. 68. In this case, since connections R are located at the rear corners of the freezing compartment, there remains a possibility that outside air flows into the freezing compartment 81 through the connections R. In this case, the plate member 75 may be folded thereby to be formed into the rear heat insulating wall, the right and left heat insulating walls. According to this construction, the right, left and rear outer plates forming the outer box are constructed of a continuous outer plate. Accordingly, since no passage or no joints connected to outside air are around the freezing compartment 81, the outside air can be prevented from flowing around the freezing compartment 81.
The cold air flow ducts 78 are located at the inner right and left corners of the rear heat insulating wall 13, straddling the freezing compartment 81 located in the vertically middle of the heat insulating box 2, as shown in FIG. 68. In this case, cold air flows from the refrigerating compartment 80 to the vegetable compartment 82 by rotation of a fan (not shown) . Further, the connections of the outer plates 14A and 14B and the outer plate 14E are located at right and left portions of the rear. Air normally flows from a warmer place to a colder place. Accordingly, outside warm air containing moisture flows through gaps of the connections of the outer plates 14A and 14B and the outer plate 14E into spaces in which soft tapes 29 are disposed at the lower temperature freezing compartment 81 side. The outside warm air containing moisture is brought into contact with the inner plate near the freezing compartment 81 thereby to be cooled, with the result that dew condensation may occur.
In the sixth embodiment, the cold air flow ducts 78 are disposed so as to be opposed to regions where the soft tapes 29 are disposed. Accordingly, cold air flowing along the cold air flow ducts 78 belongs to the refrigerating temperature zone equal to or higher than 0°C, for example, is at about 6°C and has a temperature higher than the temperature in the freezing temperature zone. As a result, the temperature difference between air flowing along the cold air flow ducts 78 and outside air becomes smaller, so that outside air flowing through the gaps of the connections of the outer plates 14A and 14B and the outer plate 14E into the refrigerator can be reduced. This can reduce occurrence of dew condensation inside the heat insulating wall.
A water transfer pipe needs to be provided in the heat insulating box 2. The water transfer pipe is provided for supplying water to be stored for ice making, discharging the stored water or discharging defrosted water of the evaporator. In a case where the water transfer pipe is provided near the freezing compartment 81, water in the water transfer pipe has a possibility of being frozen under the influence of the temperature of not more than 0°C, for example, the freezing temperature zone whose temperature is at -18°C. Accordingly, it is desirable that the water transfer pipe should be located away from the freezing compartment 81, for example, provided in a space X in FIG. 68. In this case, however, the area of the vacuum insulation panel is reduced with the result that there is a possibility of reducing the heat insulation in the entire heat insulating box 2.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable that the water transfer pipe should be provided near the cold air flow ducts 78 and at the side differing from the freezing compartment 81 side. In this case, since cold air belonging to a temperature zone higher than the freezing temperature zone, for example, cold air the temperature of which is at +6°C flows through the cold air flow ducts 78, water in the water transfer pipe can be prevented from being frozen with the result that water can effectively be transferred. Since the water transfer pipe is disposed at an inner side than the inner box, the vacuum insulation panel can be provided over a wider range. This can improve the heat insulating performance of the entire heat insulating box 2.
Further, the outer box of the heat insulating box 2 is constructed by connecting a plurality of outer plates as shown in FIG. 68. In order that outside air may be prevented from flowing through gaps of the connections of the outer plates into the refrigerator, it is desirable that a pressure in the refrigerator should be increased. This can balance inflow of outside air due to temperature difference between the outside and the inside with outflow of inside air due to pressure difference between the outside and the inside, thereby suppressing inflow of outside air.
For example, a duct is provided on the rear so that cold air is circulated in the freezing compartment. A fan for circulating cold air and an evaporator for generating cold air are provided in the duct. In this case, the evaporator is provided upstream of the fan. As a result, the pressure in the refrigerator can be increased. Further, the fan is provided near the cold air outlet into the duct. This can increase the pressure in the refrigerator.
In this case, it is desirable that the pressure in the refrigerator should be set to a value such that outside air does not flow into the refrigerator. However, the refrigerator 1 is sometimes provided with a drain pipe (not shown) . The drain pipe has a cross-sectional area that is sufficiently smaller than gap areas of the connections of the outer plates. The drain pipe is provided for discharging defrosted water of the evaporator outside the storage compartments and is introduced the component chamber or the like outside the storage compartments to be exposed to outside air. In this case, air suctioned from the drain pipe by the fan is cooled by the evaporator to be discharged into the interior of the refrigerator. Thus, the storage compartments may be structured to communicate with the outside through the drain pipe or the like, that is, to be non-closed.
Further, a sealing means is provided at connections between the outer plates, closing gaps of the connections, as shown in FIG. 68 and the like. Tis construction can reduce flow of outside air through the gaps of the connections into the refrigerator.
The sealing means may be a soft tape 29a as shown in FIG. 68. Alternatively, the sealing means may be a soft tape or silicone resin provided on an overlap of the outer plates 14E and 14A of the connection R. A partial gap is provided between the heat insulator 28 and the inner box 15, so that a passage Y is formed through which air flows from the space X of the corner into the refrigerator interior. According to this construction, outside air is caused to flow through the passage Y into the refrigerator interior, with the result that occurrence of dew condensation can be prevented in the space X.
It is desirable that another sealing means differing from the sealing means provided near the connection R may be provided at an inner side in the refrigerator interior as compared with the sealing means provided near the connection R. According to this construction, cold air in the refrigerator interior can be prevented from flowing outside through the connection R, and outside air containing moisture can be prevented from flowing into the refrigerator interior.
In FIG. 68, the connection R side sealing means is the soft tape 29a, and the interior side sealing means is a soft tape 29b. The interior side sealing means may be a soft tape provided between the heat insulator 28 disposed at a corner of the inner box 15 and the inner plate, or the like. It is desirable that in the connection, the interior side sealing means or the soft tape 29b in this case should have a lower moisture transmission resistance value (unit: m^2·h·mHg/g) than the exterior side sealing means or the soft tape 29a in this case.
The moisture transmission resistance value represents the material's reluctance to let moisture pass through. The connection R side sealing means can effectively suppress inflow of outside air through the connection R by increasing the moisture transmission resistance value of the connection R side sealing means or the soft tape 29a in this case. The interior side sealing means allows outside air inflowing through the connection R to flow to the refrigerator interior by decreasing the moisture transmission resistance value of the interior side sealing means, with the result that occurrence of dew condensation can be suppressed at the corner. In this case, the soft tape 29a may be made of a material having a higher moisture transmission resistance value than the soft tape 29b.

Seventh Embodiment

A seventh embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 76 to 80. In the seventh embodiment, the heat insulating box 2 has heat insulators 85 and 86. The heat insulators 85 and 86 are made of a flexible material such as silicon sponge or urethane sponge. The heat insulators 85 are provided in an inside of the corner of the left outer plate 14A and the upper outer plate 14C and an inside of the corner of the right outer plate 14B and the upper outer plate 14C respectively. The heat insulators 86 are provided in an inside of the corner of the lower outer plate 14D and the left outer plate 14A and an inside of the corner of the lower outer plate 14D and the right outer plate 14B.
The heat insulators 85 are bonded to one end of the left unit panel 16A, that is, an end located at the boundary K1 side and to one end of the right unit panel 16B, that is, an end located at the boundary K2 side, as shown in FIG. 77. In this case, the heat insulators 85 are not bonded to the plate member 75. The heat insulators 86 are bonded to any members located at the other end sides of the unit panels 16A and 16B, that is, at the inner surface sides of both ends of the plate member 75 respectively.
Subsequently, the heat insulators 85 are slightly raised upward as shown in FIG. 78. The folding jigs 76 and 77 are caused to scrawl under the heat insulators 85 so that ends of the folding jigs 76 and 77 correspond to the boundaries K1 and K2, respectively, as shown in FIG. 78. Thereafter, the plate member 75 is folded at a region 14A1 corresponding to the left outer plate 14A and a region 14B1 corresponding to the right outer plate 14B. In this case, the heat insulators 85 do not block the folding of the plate member 75 since the heat insulators 85 are flexible.
Next, an integral piece of the upper unit panel 16C and the upper inner plate 15C is bonded to an inner surface of a region 14C1 corresponding to the outer plate 14C, as shown in FIG. 80. Then, the heat insulators 85 are naturally disposed in the inside of the corner of the left outer plate 14A and the upper outer plate 14C and the inside of the corner of the right outer plate 14B and the upper outer plate 14C respectively. The heat insulators 86 may suitably be inserted to be disposed when the lower heat insulating wall 12 is assembled to the heat insulating wall main body 2S.
According to the seventh embodiment, the heat insulators 85 and 86 can prevent leak of cold air in the corner insides of the outer plates 14A to 14D. The heat insulators 85 are provided in the corner inside of the left outer plate 14A and the upper outer plate 14C and the corner inside of the right outer plate 14B and the upper outer plate 14C respectively. The heat insulators 85 are made of the flexible heat insulating material. Accordingly, the heat insulators 85 do not block the folding of the plate member 75 when the plate member 75 is folded by the folding jigs 76 and 77.
The combination of three heat insulating walls forming the heat insulating wall main body should not be limited to the combination of the left heat insulating wall 9, the upper heat insulating wall 11 and the right heat insulating wall 10. The combination of the heat insulating walls are changeable. For example, the heat insulating wall main body may be constructed of a combination of the left heat insulating wall 9, the lower heat insulating wall 12 and the right heat insulating wall 10, a combination of the left heat insulating wall 9, the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the right heat insulating wall 10 or a combination of the upper heat insulating wall 11, the rear heat insulating wall 13 and the lower heat insulating wall 12.
Although the folded portions 15As, 15Bs and 15Cs1 and 15Cs2 are formed integrally with the inner plates 15A, 15B, 15C respectively, the folded portions 15As, 15Bs and 15Cs1 and 15Cs2 may be formed independent of the inner plates 15A, 15B, 15C respectively. For example, the heat insulators 74A, 74B and 74C1 and 74C2 may be provided on reverse sides of flat plates respectively, and the flat plates and the heat insulators may finally be mounted at the corners respectively, as shown in FIG. 67.
According to the above-described method of manufacturing the heat insulating box of the refrigerator of the seventh embodiment, the outer plates of one of the heat insulating walls and two heat insulating walls continuous with both sides of the one heat insulating wall are constructed of a single plate member, the number of joints of the outer plate can be reduced, and absorption of moisture from outside can effectively prevented even when no or little urethane foam is used.

Eighth Embodiment

An eighth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 107 and 108. In the eighth embodiment, the refrigerator 1 includes a heat insulating box 200 as shown in FIG. 107. The heat insulating box 200 includes an outer box 111, an inner box 112, a plurality of vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133, and sealing members 140. The vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are provided between the outer box 111 and the inner box 112. The vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 1323 and 133 are independent of one another. The heat insulating box 102 has four corners C. The sealing members 140 are provided at the corners C respectively.
Ametal plate 113 as shown in FIG. 108A is formed by folding a band-shaped steel plate. The metal plate 113 includes a ceiling 114, a left side 115, a right side 116 and a bottom 117. The ceiling 114, the left side 115, the right side 116 and the bottom 117 function as outer plates. The metal plate 113 is folded at 90° at mountain fold parts 118, 119 and 120. The mountain fold part 118 is located between the ceiling 114 and the left side 115. The mountain fold part 119 is located between the ceiling 114 and the right side 116. The mountain fold part 120 is located between the right side 116 and the bottom 117.
The metal plate 113 is folded at the mountain fold parts 118, 119 and 120 and thereafter, an end 121 of the left side 115 is welded to an end 122 of the bottom 117. As a result, the metal plate 113 is formed into a vertically long outer box 111 as shown in FIG. 108B. The outer box 111 is formed into a parallelepiped box shape and has front and back openings 155 and 156. The bottom 117 can be assembled independent of the ceiling 114 and the right and left sides 116 and 115.
The heat insulating box 200 has the plate-shaped vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133. The vacuum insulation panel 130 is bonded to an inner surface 114A of the ceiling 114. The vacuum insulation panel 131 is bonded to an inner surface 115A of the left side 115. The vacuum insulation panel 132 is bonded to an inner surface 116A of the ceiling 116. The vacuum insulation panel 133 is bonded to an inner surface 117A of the ceiling 117.
The inner box 112 is also formed into a vertically long cubic box in the same manner as the outer box 111, as shown in FIG. 107. The inner box 112 is provided inside the outer box 111. The inner box 112 is molded from plastic, for example. The inner box 112 has dimensions smaller than those of the outer box 111 so that the inner box 112 is allowed to be put into the outer box 111. The inner box 112 has a ceiling 124, a left side 125, a right side 126 and a bottom 127. The ceiling 124, the left side 125, the right side 126 and the bottom 127 functions as inner plates. The ceiling 124, the right and left sides 126 and 125 and the bottom 127 need not be an integral piece but may be independent of one another.
The ceiling 124 of the inner box 112 is in parallel with the ceiling 114 of the outer box 111 and is opposed to the ceiling 114 with a dimension T therebetween, as shown in FIG. 107. The left side 125 of the inner box 112 is in parallel with the left side 115 of the outer box 111 and is opposed to the left side 115 with a dimension T therebetween. The right side 126 of the inner box 112 is in parallel with the right side 116 of the outer box 111 and is opposed to the right side 116 with a dimension T therebetween. The bottom 127 of the inner box 112 is in parallel with the bottom 117 of the outer box 111 and is opposed to the bottom 117 with a dimension T therebetween. The inner box 112 is thus disposed in the outer box 111 with a gap of dimension T being defined therebetween.
Assume now that arrow X indicates a lateral direction and arrow Y indicates a longitudinal direction in FIG. 107. The vacuum insulation panels 130 and 133 are provided so that sides of the panels 130 and 133 face in the lateral direction or the horizontal direction. The vacuum insulation panels 131 and 132 are provided so that sides of the panels 131 and 132 face in the longitudinal direction or the vertical direction.
Each of the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 is constructed of a core 170 and a laminate film 171 as shown in FIGS. 110A and 110B. The core 170 is a glass-wool plate, for example. The laminate film 171 has a metal foil layer or a metal deposited layer and is superior in moisture-proof property and gas-barrier property. The core 170 is wrapped in the laminate film 171, so that the inside is formed into a vacuum porous structure. As a result, each of the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 retains a high vacuum space factor exceeding 90%, for example. The laminate film 171 has two seal-off parts 172 and 173. The seal-off part 172 seals off the core 170. The seal-off parts 172 and 173 are formed by partially applying heat to the seal-off parts 172 and 173, for example.
Each of the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 has a considerably higher heat insulating performance than polyurethane foam. Accordingly, a necessary heat insulating performance can be ensured even when the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are rendered thinner as compared with the case where polyurethane foam is used as a heat insulating material. Thus, the space between the outer box 111 and the inner box 112 can be rendered smaller when the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are used as the heat insulators of the heat insulating box 200. Accordingly, when external dimensions of the outer box 111 are constant, internal dimensions of the inner box 112 can be rendered larger in the heat insulating box 200 as compared with the case where polyurethane foam is used as the heat insulators. As a result, a storage capacity of the heat insulating box 200 can be increased, so that the capacity of the refrigerator 1 can be increased. In this case, the vacuum insulation panel has a thickness ranging from 10 to 30 mm.
The vacuum insulation panel 130 is disposed in a space S between the ceiling 124 of the inner box 112 and the ceiling 114 of the outer box 111, as shown in FIG. 107. The vacuum insulation panel 131 is disposed in a space S between the left side 125 of the inner box 112 and the left side 115 of the outer box 111. The vacuum insulation panel 132 is disposed in a space S between the right side 126 of the inner box 112 and the right side 116 of the outer box 111. The vacuum insulation panel 133 is disposed in a space S between the bottom 127 of the inner box 112 and the bottom 117 of the outer box 111.
In the embodiment, the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are bonded to the inner surface 111A of the outer box 111 by an adhesive.
More specifically, the vacuum insulation panel 130 is bonded to an inner side 114A of the ceiling 114. The vacuum insulation panel 131 is bonded to the inner surface 115A of the left side 115. The vacuum insulation panel 132 is bonded to an inner side 116A of the right side 116. The vacuum insulation panel 133 is bonded to an inner side 117A of the bottom 117. However, the arrangement of the vacuum insulation panels should not be limited to the above-described. The vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 may be disposed on the inner surface of the outer box 111 without use of an adhesive. According to this construction, the vacuum insulation panels 130, 132, 132 are replaceable after installation.
The four corners C have the same construction, as shown in FIG. 107. The vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are disposed to avoid the corners C. More specifically, the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are not disposed at the corners C. Spaces 135 are formed at the corners C respectively. The spaces 135 are defined by the inner surface 111A of the outer box 111, the inner surface 112A of the inner box 112 and the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133. The spaces 135 extend in the direction perpendicular to the plane of paper of FIG. 107.
The sealing members 140 are provided to fill the spaces 135 at the corners C in the direction perpendicular to the plane of paper of FIG. 107, respectively. The sealing members 140 prevent air from leaking through gaps of the heat insulating box 200. More specifically, each sealing member 140 has a function of preventing air from leaking out of the outer box 111 through gaps at the corner C and a function as a heat insulating member. Each sealing member 140 exerts fluidity or elasticity when the corner C is folded. In the eighth embodiment, the sealing members 140 are provided at the four corners C respectively. The sealing members 140 increase the stiffness of the corners C when the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 are used.
The sealing members 140 are a thermoplastic adhesive such as hot-melt adhesive. The sealing members 140 can be made using a solventless environmentally friendly material which is mainly composed of synthetic resin or rubber and has a 100% solid content, that is, a low environmental load material. The hot-melt adhesive can thermally be melted to be applied to the corners C. The hot-melt adhesive is solidified in an exceedingly short period of time, for example, 10 seconds after the application due to rapid drop of temperature. The spaces 135 can easily be filled with the sealing members 140 respectively by using the hot-melt adhesive as the sealing members 140. Accordingly, the hot-melt adhesive can correspond to automation of the manufacturing line for manufacturing the body 200 of the refrigerator 1.
The spaces 135 of the corners C can be filled with the sealing members 140 in a short working time in the assembly process of the body 200 as shown in FIG. 107. Further, each sealing member 140 can bond end faces of each of the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131, 132 and 133 together. Each sealing member 140 can also bond the inner surface of the outer box 111 with the outer surface 112A of the inner box 112 together. Thus, when provided at the respective corners C, the sealing members 140 can firstly prevent vacuum leak between the end faces 134 of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. The sealing members 140 secondly compensate for heat insulation in the spaces 135 where the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are not provided. The sealing members 140 thirdly function as reinforcing means for reinforcing the respective corners C, thereby increasing the stiffness of the body 200. Further, the outer box 111, the inner box 112 and the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 can easily be assembled in an assembling site.
The sealing members 140 are in contact with the adjacent inner surfaces of the outer box 111 at the corners C. Accordingly, the angles of the corners C of the body 200 are maintained substantially at right angles by the respective sealing members 140. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 107, the sealing members 140 have a function of maintaining at a predetermined angle, in this case, substantially at right angles an angle made by the ceiling 114 and the left side 115 of the outer box 111 adjacent to each other, an angle made by the ceiling 114 and the right side 116, an angle made by the left side 115 and the bottom 117 and an angle made by the right side 116 and the bottom 117. As a result, the outer box 111 and the inner box 112 can be maintained in the parallelepiped shape by the sealing members 140 at the respective corners C.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 107, the sealing members 140 are provided at the respective corners C so as to cover the entire end faces of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. This can prevent occurrence of vacuum leak from the end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133.
In FIGS. 108A and 108B, the work of disposing the sealing members 140 at the respective corners C may be carried out first in assembling the body 200. Alternatively, the work of forming the outer box 111 by folding the metal plate 113 may be carried out first. More specifically, the metal plate 113 may be folded into the outer box 111 after the sealing members 140 have been provided at respective positions corresponding to the corners C. Alternatively, the sealing members 140 may be provided at the respective positions after the metal plate 113 has been folded into the outer box 111.
The body 200 in the eighth embodiment has a high heat insulating performance by the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. In the embodiment, vacuum leak can be prevented at the corners C of the body 200, the stiffness of the body 200 can be improved and the efficiency in the assembly of the body 200 can be improved.

Ninth Embodiment

A ninth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 109. FIG. 109 shows an enlarge structure two of the four corners C of the body 200. The other two corners also have the same structure as shown in FIG. 109.
In the ninth embodiment shown in FIG. 109, the body 200 further has heat insulating members 150. The heat insulating members 150 are provided at the corners C together with the sealing members 140 in the direction perpendicular to the plane of paper of FIG. 109 or so as to extend heightwise with respect to the refrigerator, respectively. The sealing members 140 have respective recesses 141.
The recesses 141 are formed by recessing the respective sealing members 140 in the direction perpendicular to the plane of paper of FIG. 109. The heat insulating members 150 are provided in the respective recesses 141. The heat insulating members 150 can be made of a material having heat insulating properties, for example, expandable polystyrene (EPS). A silicone material, soft tape capable of reducing volume or the like can be used as the sealing members 140 and the heat insulating members 150. As a result, since the heat insulating members 150 can fill the spaces 135 at the corners C together with the sealing members 140, respectively, the heat insulating performance can be improved at each corner C and vacuum leak can be prevented.
The seal-off parts 172 and 173 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are placed in the respective spaces S in a manner as shown in FIG. 110C. More specifically, the seal-off part 172 is folded to the inner surface 116A side of the right side 116 of the outer box 111 thereby to be held between the inner surface 116A and the laminate film 171. In other words, the seal-off part 172 is not folded to the inner surface 126A side of the side 126 of the inner bod 112. The seal-off part 173 is also placed in the same manner as described above.
The outer box 111 is made of a metal plate having a large stiffness. On the other hand, the inner box 112 is made of a plastic plate having a smaller stiffness than the metal. In this case, when the seal-off parts 172 and 173 are folded to the inner box 112 side, the inner box 112 has a possibility of bulging inward under the influence of the thickness of the folded seal-off parts 172 and 173. The inner box 112 would then lose flatness, degrading the appearance thereof. In view of the problem, the seal-off parts 172 and 173 are folded to the outer box 111 side.
According to the above-described construction, the inner box 112 can be prevented from being influenced by the thickness of the folded seal-off parts 172 and 173. Accordingly, the flatness of the outer and inner boxes 111 and 112 can be ensured. As a result, the inner box 112 can be disposed neatly with respect to the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. The above-described configuration of the seal-off parts 172 and 173 is applied to each of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133.

Tenth Embodiment

A tenth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 111A and 111B. In the tenth embodiment shown in FIGS. 111A and 111B, the seal-off parts 172 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 and 132 are buried in the sealing member 140, and the seal-off part 173 of the vacuum insulation panel 130 and the seal-off part 172 of the vacuum insulation panel 131 are buried in the sealing member 140. In this case, since the seal-off parts 172 and 173 need not be folded to the outer box 111 side, the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 can easily be arranged between the outer box 111 and the inner box 112. Moreover, the sealing members 140 and the seal-off parts 172 and 173 of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 can be integrated. This can prevent vacuum leak at the corners C further effectively.
In the above-described eighth to tenth embodiments, the sealing members 140 at the corners C are in contact with the entire end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. As a result, vacuum leak can be prevented at each of the corners C further effectively.
In the eighth to tenth embodiments, moreover, the sealing members 140 provided at the respective corners C are in contacts two inner faces 111A adjacent to each other, thereby maintaining the corners C at predetermined angles. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 107, the sealing members 140 have a function of maintaining substantially at right angles an angle made by the ceiling 114 and the left side 115 of the outer box 111 adjacent to each other, an angle made by the ceiling 114 and the right side 116, an angle made by the left side 115 and the bottom 117 and an angle made by the right side 116 and the bottom 117. As a result, the outer box 111 and the inner box 112 can be maintained in the parallelepiped shape by the sealing members 140 at the respective corners C.
When an amount of the sealing member 140 injected into each of the corners C is large in the structure of corners C as shown in FIGS. 111A and 111B, there is a possibility that a protruding part 149 of the sealing member 140 may protrude from between the end faces 134 of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. However, even when the protrusion 149 is formed, the inner box 112 can be mounted to adhere closely to the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 while the protrusion 149 is absorbed by devising shapes of four corner ends of the inner box 112.
For example, the inner box 112 has escape parts 157. The escape parts 157 are located at corner ends of the four corners of the inner box 112 respectively and formed to be inclined at 45° in a vertical direction Z and a horizontal direction X. Each escape part 157 is chamfered and is also referred to as escape shape part. According to this, even when the protrusion 149 is formed on the sealing member 140, the corner end of the inner box 112 is avoided from being brought into contact with the protrusion 149. As a result, since the inner box 112 is easily attached to the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133, the efficiency in the assembly of the inner box 112 can be improved.
The escape parts 157 of the inner box 112 serve as cover means for covering the spaces of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 respectively. In this case, the ceiling 114 and the sides 115 and 116 may be mounted separately, and the escape parts 157 may be mounted independently of the ceiling 124 and side 126. The escape parts 157 may be formed integrally with the ceiling 124 or the side 126.

Eleventh Embodiment

An eleventh embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 112A, 112B and 112C. The sealing members 140A are provided at the respective corners C as shown in FIG. 112A. Each sealing member 140A includes outer parts adherent closely to the inner surface 111A of the outer box 111. Each sealing member 140A has a recessed part 140P which forms an inner part thereof and is recessed curvilinearly outward or toward the outside DS. As a result, the sealing members 140A are not in contact with the entire end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 at the corners C, respectively. In other words, the sealing members 140A are in contact with parts 134A of the end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 but are not in contact with remaining parts 134B of the end faces 134, respectively.
Accordingly, in the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133, the remaining parts 134B of the end faces 134 are not covered with the sealing members 140A thereby to be exposed in the spaces 135 respectively. As a result, since an amount of the sealing member can be reduced while the sealing members reinforce the respective corners C, the weight of the body 200 can be reduced.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 112B, the inner box 112 has corner ends 112F each one of which is substantially right-angled and is continuously formed of a material without discontinuity at the corner C. The corner ends 112F are not brought into contact with the sealing members 140A although in contact with the inner surfaces of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133, respectively. More specifically, the sealing members 140A include inner parts which are recessed outward or toward the outside DS thereby serve as the recesses 140P, respectively. Accordingly, the inner box 112 can be disposed with the corner ends 112F being out of contact with the sealing members 140A even when the corner ends 112F of the inner box 112 protrude in the direction of arrow DS.
More specifically, connecting lines LS as shown in FIG. 112A connect between inner edges 139 of end faces 134 of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 and 131 and between inner edges 139 of end faces 134 of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels 130 and 132. In this case, the corner ends 112F of the inner box 112 can be positioned in the spaces 135 so as to be located nearer the sealing members 140A and the outer box 111 than to the connecting lines LS, as shown in FIG. 112B. This can ensure the capacity of the inner box 112 to the maximum extent, contributing to capacity enlargement of the refrigerator 1.
Further, as shown in FIG. 112C, each corner end 112G can be formed by connecting two members 112M and 112N. In this case, too, the corner ends 112F of the inner box 112 can be positioned in the spaces 135 so as to be located nearer the sealing members 140A and the outer box 111 than to the connecting lines LS. This can also ensure the capacity of the inner box 112 to the maximum extent, contributing to capacity enlargement of the refrigerator 1.
Other embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. 113A, 113B and 113C. The vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are provided on the metal plate 113M. Ceiling surfaces 124, 125 and 126 forming the inner box 112 are provided on the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131 and 132 respectively. The body 200 is provided with sealing members or heat insulating members 180. The sealing members or heat insulating members 180 are located between the vacuum insulation panels 130, 131 and 132 so as to correspond the corners C of the outer box 111.
The outer box 111 is formed by folding the metal plate 113M at the corners C as shown in FIGS. 113A and 113B. In this case, the sealing members or heat insulating members 180 are pressed against the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 132 thereby to be compressed. Consequently, the sealing members or heat insulating members 180 can fill the spaces between adjacent vacuum heat insulators 180 with the result that sealing properties and heat insulating properties can be ensured at each corner C. The sealing members or heat insulating members 180 are , for example, soft tape capable of reducing volume or the like.
The refrigerator 1 of the embodiment includes the outer box 111, the inner box 112 disposed in the outer box 111 and the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 provided between the outer and inner boxes 111 and 112. The sealing members 140 or 140A are provided in the spaces 135 at the corners C defined between the outer box 111 and the inner box 112. When heat is applied to the sealing members 140 or 140A while the sealing members 140 or 140A are fluid, the sealing members 140 or 140A are solidified so as to be brought into the adjacent contact with the vacuum heat insulators. As a result, leak of air from the interior of the inner box 112 out of the outer box 111, that is, vacuum leak can be prevented while the heat insulating performance is ensured using the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133.
The sealing members 140 can be disposed at the respective corners so as to be brought into contact with the adjacent vacuum heat insulators when heat is applied to the sealing members 140 while the sealing members 140 are fluid. According to this, the sealing members 140 can reinforce the respective corners C between the outer and inner boxes 111 and 112, and the efficiency in the assembly of the outer and inner boxes 111 and 112 can be improved.
The heat insulators 150 are provided at the respective corners C and maintain the heat insulating properties at the respective corners C. This can improve the heat insulating performance at the corners C of the outer box 111 and the inner box 112.
The sealing members 140 or 140A are in contact with the adjacent inner surfaces 111A of the outer box 111 at the respective corners C, thereby maintaining the angles made by the adjacent inner surfaces 111A of the outer box 111. As a result, the stiffness of the corners C are increased by the sealing members 140 or 140A thereby to be maintained at the predetermined angle.
The sealing members 140 are disposed at the respective corners C so as to cover the end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133. As a result, since the end faces 134 of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are completely covered by the sealing members 140 at the corners C, vacuum leak can be prevented at the corners C.
The inner box 112 has the escape parts 157 located at the corner ends respectively. The escape parts 157 house the protrusions 149 of the sealing members 140 protruding from between the end faces 134 of the adjacent vacuum heat insulators 130 to 133 at the corners C to the inner box 112 side. As a result, even when the sealing members 140 protrude to the inner box 112 side, the inner box 112 can easily be disposed while covering the protruding sealing members.
Each of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 includes the core and the films covering the vacuum heating panels. The films have the seal-off parts 172 and 173 sealing off the cores. The seal-off parts 172 and 173 are buried in the sealing members 140. Consequently, since the seal-off parts of the vacuum insulation panels can be integrated with the sealing members, sealability at the corners can be improved with the result that vacuum leak can be suppressed at the corners.
The sealing members 140A are disposed while the end faces of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are partially exposed. The inner box 112 is continuously constructed at each corner or by connecting the divided parts. Consequently, the inner box 112 can be disposed irrespective of provision of the sealing members 140A in the respective corners C. This can increase the capacity of the inner box 112 to the maximum extent and can contribute to the capacity enlargement of the refrigerator 1.
When the sealing members 140A are disposed while the end faces of the vacuum insulation panels 130 to 133 are partially exposed, the corner ends 112F of the inner box 112 can be disposed in the spaces 135 so as to be located nearer the sealing members 140A and the outer box 111 than to the connecting lines LS. Consequently, the inner box 112 can be disposed irrespective of provision of the sealing members 140A in the respective corners C. This can increase the capacity of the inner box 112 to the maximum extent and can contribute to the capacity enlargement of the refrigerator 1. The foregoing embodiments may be combined together. While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

A method of manufacturing a heat insulating box for a refrigerator,
wherein the heat insulating box includes a right heat insulating wall, a left heat insulating wall, an upper heat insulating wall, a lower heat insulating wall and a rear heat insulating wall and is formed into a rectangular box shape with an open front;
wherein the heat insulating box has vacuum insulation panels between outer plates and inner plates respectively;
wherein a heat insulating wall main body is manufactured by the method, the heat insulating wall main body including one of the heat insulating walls and two of the remaining heat insulating walls, continuous with opposite ends of the one heat insulating wall respectively, the other remaining heat insulating walls being joined to the heat insulating wall main body,
the method comprising:
a first step of bonding one sides of the vacuum insulation panels to an inner surface of a plate member formed into a flat shape and having regions corresponding to the outer plates of the one heat insulating wall and the two remaining heat insulating walls respectively, the inner surface of the plate member belonging to the corresponding regions,

wherein one of the vacuum insulation panels adjacent to each other at a boundary of the corresponding regions has an end caused to correspond to the boundary, and the other vacuum insulation panel has an end spaced away from the boundary by a minimum distance which allows the plate member to be folded at the boundary;

a second step of bonding the inner plates to sides of the vacuum insulation panels opposed to the one sides of the vacuum insulation panels bonded at the first step before or after execution of the first step;

a third step of disposing two folding jigs on an inner surface of the one outer plate corresponding region of the plate member while ends of the folding jigs are set on the boundaries respectively and inwardly folding the two outer plate corresponding regions with respect to the one outer plate corresponding region by the folding jigs, after execution of the first and second steps;

a fourth step of bonding one side of the vacuum insulation panel differing from the vacuum insulation panels bonded at the first to third steps, to the inner surface of the one outer plate corresponding region after the folding jigs have been removed; and

a fifth step of bonding the inner plates to a side of the vacuum insulation panel opposed to the side thereof bonded at the fourth step, before or after execution of the fourth step.
The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the first step is executed after an adhesive has been applied to the opposed sides of the vacuum insulation panels by a roll coater method and the inner plates have been bonded to the opposed sides of the vacuum insulation panels.
The manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vacuum insulation panels are bonded to at least one of the outer or inner plates by a reactive hot melt adhesive, the method further comprising a step of forming on each heat insulating wall a passage through which a gas produced from the reactive hot melt adhesive is allowed to escape from each heat insulating wall.
The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:
each vacuum insulation panel includes a core, an inner bag enclosing the core and an outer bag enclosing one piece of the core and the inner bag; and

the outer bag is evacuated with the one piece of the core and the inner bag being enclosed therein after the inner bag has been evacuated with the core being enclosed therein.
A refrigerator comprising:
an outer box;

an inner box provided in the outer box;

a vacuum insulation panel provided between the outer box and the inner box; and

a sealing member or a heat insulating member provided at a corner which is a part of the outer box,

wherein the sealing member or the heat insulating member is configured to exert fluidity or elasticity when a plate is folded so that the corner is formed.
The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the heat insulating member is configured to maintain heat insulating properties at the corner.
The refrigerator according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the sealing member is configured to be brought into contact with adjacent parts of an inner surface of the outer box at the corner thereby to maintain an angle made by the adjacent parts of the inner surface of the outer box.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the sealing member is configured to cover end faces of the vacuum insulation panels at the corner.
The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the sealing member has a protrusion protruding from between end faces of the adjacent vacuum insulation panels to the inner box side, and the inner box includes a corner end having an escape part housing the protrusion.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the vacuum insulation panel includes a core and a film covering the vacuum insulation panel, and the film includes a seal-off part which seals off the core and is buried in the sealing member.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the sealing member is disposed so that an end face of the vacuum insulation panel is partially exposed, and the inner box is formed to be continuous at the corner or by connecting divided parts.
The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the inner box includes a corner end disposed nearer to the outer box in the space at the corner than to an imaginary line connecting between end faces of the adjacent vacuum insulation panel.
The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein heat is applied to the sealing member or the heat insulating member in a fluid state, the sealing member or the heat insulating member is solidified while coming into contact with the vacuum insulation panel disposed to be adjacent thereto.
The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the sealing member or the heat insulator is a soft tape capable of reducing a capacity thereof.
A heat insulating box for a refrigerator, comprising:
an outer box;

an inner box provided in the outer box; and

a vacuum insulation panel provided between the outer box and the inner box,

wherein the vacuum insulation panel is bonded to at least one of the outer or inner plates by a reactive hot melt adhesive, and the vacuum insulation panel has a passage through which a gas produced from the reactive hot melt adhesive is allowed to escape from a heat insulating wall.
A heat insulating box for a refrigerator, comprising:
an outer box;

an inner box provided in the outer box; and

a vacuum insulation panel provided between the outer box and the inner box,

wherein the vacuum insulation panel includes a core, an inner bag evacuated while enclosing the core and an outer bag evacuated while enclosing one piece of the core and the inner bag.