FR2834555A3 - REFRIGERATION APPARATUS WITH IMPROVED AIR CLEANING DEVICE - Google Patents

Abstract

Refrigerating apparatus comprising at least one internal compartment (1, 2), a duct (6) for the ventilation thereof and a fan (8) arranged in the suction mouth (9) of the duct. According to the invention, a housing is arranged in said duct. This housing allows the passage of the air flow and contains a U. V lamp (11). Said housing is provided to prevent radiation from filtering and irradiating the conduit and / or parts of the compartment. The housing may comprise a metal box structure open on the sides and profiled so that the radiation from said lamp cannot leave said metal structure. The latter can be provided with a plurality of deflection fins, advantageously folded.

Description

measuring means (22).

  REFRIGERATION APPARATUS WITH IMPROVED DEVICE

AIR CLEANING

  The present invention relates to an improved type of refrigeration appliance comprising two superimposed refrigerated compartments and cooled by a single evaporator with ventilated battery and a device provided with a bactericidal action of the air contained in said compartments; in particular, the present invention refers to the communication conduit between the two compartments in a refrigeration appliance described in the Italian patent application for industrial invention n PN2001A000060 filed on September 12

2001 on behalf of the same applicant.

  It is known that, when the storage takes place at a temperature of approximately between 0 ° C. and 10 ° C., the development of molds, ferments and bacterial spores determined inside the storage compartment is reduced, but not completely eliminated. , thereby compromising

  the proper preservation of food or other products.

  As is known, an optimal way to eliminate molds, ferments and bacteria is to subject these and other organisms to the action of generated ultraviolet rays, for example,

  by lamps normally available commercially.

  In patent US-A-2906104 a refrigerating appliance is described comprising an ultraviolet ray lamp arranged in a housing inside which is installed a rotating disc which has an opening offset from the center of the disc, so that, with the rotation of the disc, we perform the scanning

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  of a beam of rays on the products kept in

the compartment.

  The housing further comprises openings arranged as part of an air flow generated in the compartment of the device in such a way that even bacteria entrained by the air are reached by

the Rays.

  On the other hand, the use of such U.V.

  to irradiate the refrigerator compartment is not possible directly, because ultraviolet rays have a devastating effect over time,

  aesthetic and structural, on materials -

  mainly plastics - of which the components of the compartment are normally made

conservation.

  Patent FR-A-1141573 describes a refrigeration appliance comprising means suitable for circulating the air coming from the refrigerating compartment in a closed circuit in which is installed a UV lamp intended to irradiate said circulating air In this document, structural particularities born

are not described.

  In patent DE 3708390A1 a cooling compartment is described traversed by a forced current of refrigerated air; in the air flow is placed a UV lamp for the treatment

  bactericide of germs contained in the air.

  However, this configuration presents the problem that the lamp can directly irradiate the wall of the duct, causing well known problems when the latter is made of plastic; moreover, the radiation power emitted is generally

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  absorbed in minimal quantities by the air, but largely by the walls of the duct in case these do not

  would not be treated appropriately.

  The refrigerating compartment of the Italian patent mentioned (application) is naturally concerned by the problem described, but the known solutions consisting in applying an appropriate device intended for the production and circulation of an air flow subjected in an appropriate manner to the radiation of 'an ultraviolet lamp with bactericidal action are expensive both for the accessory components to be provided, in particular a specific fan, and for the space required; in this regard, it is recalled that the main purpose of the mentioned Italian patent application

  is precisely to save usable space.

  It would therefore be desirable, and this is the aim of the present invention, to produce a refrigerating appliance preferably for domestic use, provided with one or more refrigerated compartments preferably superimposed and cooled by a single evaporator and connected by a duct. ventilation, in which the requirement also to install a device having a bactericidal action on the air

  circulating is satisfied effectively.

  This object is achieved with a refrigerating appliance, in particular for domestic use, comprising at least one internal compartment, a duct for ventilating the latter, a fan advantageously arranged in the suction mouth of said duct, characterized in that in said duct is disposed a housing intended to allow the passage of the air flow and containing radiant germicidal means,

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  said housing being prew to prevent that the radiation of said radiant germicidal means can filter and irradiate said conduit and / or parts

of said internal compartment.

  A refrigerating apparatus according to the invention is described, by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG. 1 represents a schematic front view of a refrigerator according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows a we in vertical vertical cross-section of the device of Figure 1; - Figure 3 shows a we in perspective of a main component of a refrigerator according to the invention; - Figure 4 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the component of Figure 3; - Figure 5 shows a perspective view of an improved form of the main component of the refrigerator according to the invention; - Figure 6 shows a we in section

  vertical tranevereale of the component of figure 5.

  A refrigerator intended to be provided with the invention comprises an upper internal compartment 1 for refrigeration, a lower internal compartment 2, at a lower temperature, a partition wall 5 between the compartments 1 and 2, at least one opening formed in the wall of separation, a vertical duct 6 arranged on the bottom wall 7 of the upper compartment 1 and which connects said two compartments, and a fan 8 arranged in correspondence with the suction mouth 9 of said duct, which mouth being

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  located in the upper zone of said compartment

higher 1.

  The outlet mouth 10 of said conduit is directed towards an evaporator 3, preferably of the finned coil type. Naturally, the invention can also be applied to simpler devices, for example with a single compartment, and provided with devices intended to circulate the air inside this single compartment, but it will be obvious from the

  description below that an optimized solution can

  be obtained with device configuration

refrigeration defined above.

  Furthermore, it is well known that ultraviolet radiation with bactericidal action is that between 200 and 280 nm (W-C) and, in particular, of

250 nm.

  Therefore, it is extremely preferable to use a lamp provided with a radiation spectrum which includes at least the range of

striking out indicated above.

  That said, the invention consists in applying an ultraviolet lamp 11, preferably at UV-C, inside the duct 6 appearing by the circulating air flow, and by making and inserting in the even leads a housing 12 which is specifically equipped to house said lamp, but which prevents the rays emitted by it from touching the walls of the compartment or, worse still, penetrating into the

  food storage compartment.

  The advantage of this solution is based on the fact that with this, we use the existing fan

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  to circulate the air between the two compartments and therefore, with this solution, a single fan, which is already advantageously used to fulfill two independent and different functions, that is to say: - perform an effective cold sampling of the evaporator, preferably with battery, - circulating the air between the two compartments, is subsequently used for a bactericidal action on the circulating air, without, with this action carried out by a UV lamp, neither the preserved food nor the plastic walls of the compartment in which the lamp is housed are not compromised

  and / or damaged by direct radiation.

  In part icul ier, the preferred form of real i sat ion consists in making said housing 12 in the form of a metal box structure 13, produced so as to completely shield the lamp and thus prevent the

  radiation from it cannot spread around.

  Said structure 13 must naturally allow the normal passage of the ventilation current and, for this purpose, it is provided with two upper openings 14 and lower 15, which naturally couple

  appropriately with said conduit 6.

  To allow correct flow of the ventilation flow and simultaneously effective shielding of UV radiation, even without excessively widening the horizontal section of the housing, it is advantageous that said structure is provided with a plurality of deflection fins 16 dimensioned and distributed in way

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  appropriate, as shown schematically on the

figure 4.

  However, this solution requires that the housing 12 and the corresponding metallic structure 13 are still relatively deep, as shown in FIG. 4, in which this same structure 13 must be provided with a zone 17 projecting outwards, even if it is provided with said fins 16 to suitably house the lamp 11. To subsequently reduce the horizontal section of said structure and of the corresponding housing, it is advantageous that said fins-16 are bent at a lower angle "s" (FIGS. 5 and 6) at the right angle, so as to obtain an adequate compromise which still allows the normal flow of the forced air flow, which effectively masks the UV radiation and which does not require an excessive dimension of said

  structure 13 and the corresponding housing 12.

  An advantageous fundamental improvement of the invention consists in making the internal surfaces of said structure with a material such that they are as specular or reflective as possible, so that the radiation emitted by the UV lamp is repeatedly reflected by said surfaces. and is essentially absorbed by the air and / or by

said deflection fins 16.

  Regarding these fins 16, they must oppose with the greatest possible efficiency the passage of radiation outside, even if the radiation which eventually escapes is the

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  result of the multiple reflection of the radiation between

the walls of these fins.

  It is therefore advantageous that said fins are able to capture as much radiation as possible (exactly the opposite of what is required for the walls of the structure 13) and, for this purpose, they must be treated in such a way, or produced with materials such that they present

  the maximum absorption efficiency of UV radiation

  For this purpose, the nature of the materials that can be used and of the treatments for these fins are data well known in the state of the art and they do not

will therefore not be repeated.

  Furthermore, by recalling that the effectiveness of the action of the UV lamp is closely linked and dependent on the ventilation current and therefore on the operation of the fan, a useful and easy improvement of the invention consists in connecting the fan and the lamp. in parallel, so that these devices operate simultaneously or in synchrony, or to provide a control unit (not shown) and an operating mode such that it allows the operation of the lamp only if the fan is running, even if 'Provisions may be made such that the lamp can remain off even when the fan is operating.

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Claims (9)

REVENDI CATI ONS   1. Refrigeration appliance, in particular for domestic use, comprising at least one internal compartment, a duct (6) for ventilating the latter, a fan (8) advantageously arranged in the suction mouth (9) of said duct, characterized in that in said conduit is disposed a housing (12) intended to allow the passage of the air flow and containing radiant germicidal means, said housing being provided to prevent the radiation of said radiant germicidal means from being able to filter and irradiate said conduit and / or parts of said internal compartment.   2. Refrigeration apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said radiant germicidal means comprise an ultraviolet lamp (11) operating in a wavelength range comprising radiation with a wavelength of 250 nm.   3. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 2, characterized in that said housing comprises a box structure (13), advantageously metallic, and that said ultraviolet lamp is arranged inside said metallic structure, which is profiled so that the radiation of iadite   lamp cannot come out of it.   4. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 3, characterized in that said box structure SR 22214 IT / GP   metal is provided with a plurality of deflection fins (16) intended to allow the air flow forced through said conduit.   5. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 4, characterized in that the internal surfaces of said box structure (13) are reflective for the UV radiation   6. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that said deflection fins (16) are made of material absorbing UV radiation or, in all cases, treated with   so as to substantially absorb said radiation.   7. Refrigerating appliance according to any one   claims 2 to 6, characterized in that said   ultraviolet lamp (6) is controlled in synchronism with said fan (8), so that the latter can be activated only if and when said fan (8) operates.   8. Two temperature refrigeration appliance, in particular for domestic use, comprising at least one upper internal compartment (1) for refrigeration, at least one lower internal compartment (2) at lower temperature, a partition wall (5) between said compartments , at least one opening in said partition wall, a vertical duct (6) arranged on the bottom wall (7) and connecting said compartments, a fan (8) advantageously disposed in the upper suction mouth SR 22214 IT / GP   (9) of said duct, an evaporator (3) positioned in the lower outlet outlet (10) of said duct, characterized in that in said duct is arranged a   housing (12) according to any one of claims 1 to 7 previous.