ES2292052T3 - COMPENSATOR VALVE FOR FREEZERS. - Google Patents

Abstract

A freezer or refrigerator with a pressure compensating valve (5, 10), which connects the freezer storage compartment with the outside environment, said valve being formed from a valve element (12) similar to a blade subjected to one face at the pressure of the storage compartment (2) and on the other side at the pressure of the outside environment, said blade-like valve element controlling the intercom channel (5, 10) inside which it is interposed, in the sense of at least reducing the pressure difference, the channel comprising a tubular body (5) passing through a wall (3) or a freezer or refrigerator door and communicating with the storage compartment (2) through a rigid end wall (6) provided with at least one opening (7), characterized in that the blade-like valve element (12) is flexibly attached to an elastic element (8) coupled to the tubular body (5) in the end corresponding to the outside environment.

Description

Compensating valve for freezers.

The present invention relates to a valve compensator for freezers or refrigerators, to compensate for pressure difference between the outside environment and the compartment of conservation of the freezer or refrigerator.

The difference in pressure between the environment outside (at atmospheric pressure) and the storage compartment (at lower pressure) opposes the opening of the closing door said compartment, doing this operation relatively tiring

To reduce such fatigue, they have already been devised solutions to compensate (i.e. cancel) this difference. A known solution, described in Japanese Patent Application No. 04146344 filed on 05/12/92 and published on 11/22/93 includes a conduit that connects the conservation compartment with the outdoor environment The duct is placed inside the door and contains a valve attached to the handle (swivel), the which opens the valve first and then, at the end of its Tour, open the door.

This known solution has its main inconvenient in its relative complexity of construction and so both in cost, resulting in a considerable disadvantage economical under the mass of freezers or refrigerators produced.

EP 0 030 046 explains a refrigerator according to the preamble of claim 1 attached.

The main objective of the present invention is provide a compensating valve that can be considered automatic in the sense that it does not understand any connection and does not It depends on the opening of the door.

This and other additional objectives that will be more evident from the subsequent detailed description are reached by a compensating valve according to the technical teachings of the appended claims.

The invention will be more evident from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the same provided by way of non-limiting example and illustrated in the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view partially sectioned from the back wall of a freezer with the compensating valve of the invention incorporated;

Figure 2 shows the valve of the invention in axial section

In the figures reference number 1 indicates globally a freezer, which, in the illustrated example, is specifically the type of front opening. The freezer presents the conventional storage compartment 2 defined by walls with conventional thermal insulation, of which in figure 1 the rear wall 3 is shown enlarged, that being the wall in the which preferably the compensating valve 4 of the present invention

The valve 4 comprises a tubular body 5 made of preferably rigid engineering polymer, by ABS example, which passes from one side of the rear wall 3 to the other and It is incorporated inside this wall. One end said body comprises a final wall 6 provided with a series of 7 or so lowercase openings that connect the inside of the tubular body 5 with storage compartment 2. Above from its other end (the end protruding from the rear wall 3) an element 8 made of material is stretched elastically elastic, for example natural or synthetic rubber, elastomers thermoplastics or similar. For this purpose element 8 elastic has an annular groove 9 and a central part 10 cylindrical that penetrates inside the tubular body 5. For provide a necessary and appropriate seal, element 8 elastic has a conventional conical sealing edge 11, which, when in use, is supported and pressed against the face exterior of the rear wall 3.

According to the most important aspect of present invention, the elastic element 8 presents at the end or base of its cylindrical central part 10 a valve element thin similar to a circular tongue-shaped blade 12 joined along a small peripheral area, at 13 in the drawing, with said cylindrical central part 10, while the rest of its periphery is supported, when it is in the configuration before its assembly, on the inner contour 10A (end) of part 10 cylindrical At a certain small distance from the edge of the body 5 tubular on which the elastic element 8 is mounted, are placed two stops 14 in the form of two ribs shaped as a circular arc (less than a semicircle) emerging from the inner wall of the tubular body 5 and are contained in the inside a plane Z that forms a given angle α (by example, approximately 100º) with the axis of the tubular body 5. Tab 12 is supported, when in its operational state, against the two stops 14 in the form of circular arcs of the tubular body 5 to completely close the cross section of the channel of the 5 tubular body.

To reach the operating state, the tab 12 circular simply has to be pushed with a force F to cause it to happen, as a result of its ability to deformation, beyond the two stops 14, so that it stops Against them.

When in equilibrium conditions (of pressure), the tongue 12 intercepts the cross section of the channel of the cylindrical part 10, when leaned against the two ribs 14.

When the pressure in compartment 2 drops by below the external pressure, the tongue 12 deflects towards the right (with respect to figure 2) to separate, at its end free, of the stops 14 against which it was leaning, leaving thus between the compartment 2 and the outside environment a free channel which (at least in part) compensates for the two different pressures.

The scope of the invention includes any other position of the valve unit described and represented in detail in figure 2. For example, the unit can be placed inside the roof or side walls of compartment 2, or even in the corresponding door.

The freezer can also be of the type of bunker.

Claims (3)

1. A freezer or refrigerator with a pressure compensating valve (5, 10), which connects the freezer storage compartment with the outside environment, said valve being formed from a valve element (12) similar to a blade subjected on one side to the pressure of the storage compartment (2) and on the other side to the pressure of the outside environment, said blade-like valve element controlling the intercom channel (5, 10) inside which it is interposed, in the sense of at least reducing the pressure difference, the channel comprising a tubular body (5) that passes through a wall (3) or a freezer or refrigerator door and communicates with the storage compartment (2) through of a rigid end wall (6) provided with at least one opening (7), characterized in that the blade-like valve element (12) is flexibly attached to an attached elastic element (8) to the tubular body (5) at the end corresponding to the outside environment. 2. A freezer or refrigerator as claim in claim 1, wherein the valve element  similar to a blade is a flat tongue (12) that is part of the elastic element (8) and is positioned to intercept stops (14) in the form of ribs configured as circular arcs integral with the inner wall of the tubular body (5). 3. A freezer or refrigerator as claim in claim 2, wherein said stops (14) have a predetermined inclination towards a plane perpendicular to the tubular body (5).