JP2000304344A - Louver structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a louver structure in which dust deposited on the louver can be wiped off surely and easily while enhancing strength and appearance. SOLUTION: A louver 36 is formed on a front panel 28 arranged in a housing 12. The louver 36 is constructed by arranging a plurality of straps 38 on the frame part 28c of the front panel 28 while spacing apart by a specified distance in the vertical direction and a vent 43 is defined between upper and lower struts 38, 38. The strut 38 comprises a rear vertical part 38b projecting upward and a front vertical part projecting downward which are formed integrally at the front and rear ends at the body section extending horizontally in the widthwise direction. An wall face 45 closing the vent 43 is formed continuously to the rear vertical part 38b in the vicinity of the opposite end parts in the widthwise direct between the upper and lower struts 38, 38. Front side of the wall face 45 is rounded forward from the rear toward the opposite end parts in the widthwise direct of the frame part 28c continuously to the outer surface thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a louver structure, and more particularly to a louver structure such as a refrigeration system of an automatic ice maker.
A louver installed in a device that performs heat exchange by blowing external air to a condenser with a fan, and reliably removes dust and the like adhering to and depositing on a slat that defines a ventilation opening for taking in external air. The present invention relates to a louver structure that can be wiped.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic ice maker provided with a freezing mechanism and an ice making mechanism inside a housing and configured to produce a large number of ice blocks in an ice making room cooled by the freezing mechanism is suitably used in a kitchen facility such as a restaurant. Have been. The refrigerating mechanism is basically composed of a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, an evaporator and the like, and is disposed in a machine room in a housing. The evaporator is disposed in an ice making mechanism to cool the ice making chamber. It has become. The condenser, which constitutes a part of the refrigeration mechanism, is forcibly air-cooled by a cooling fan provided in a machine room and exchanges heat with a refrigerant.

[0003] The structure related to the heat exchange of an air-cooled condenser in the ice making machine will be briefly described. As shown in FIG. A large opening 18a is opened at a position corresponding to the formed machine room 18, and a front panel 28 integrally formed with a louver 36 is removably provided in the opening 18a. As shown in FIG. 11, the front panel 28 in the illustrated example includes a suction louver portion 36a functioning as an air suction port.
And a discharge louver portion 36b functioning as an air discharge port are integrally formed. Then, with the rotation of a cooling fan (not shown) disposed in the machine room 18, the suction louver portion 36 is provided.
The external air sucked in through a is contacted with the condenser 22 and heat-exchanged, and then discharged outside through the discharge louver part 36b. Inside the suction louver portion 36a, a filter 46 set to a size capable of covering the entire surface of the louver portion 36a is arranged, and the filter 46 collects dust and the like mixed in the external air. ing. This prevents dust and the like from adhering and accumulating on the condenser 22, thereby preventing overheating or the like.

[0004]

In the front panel 28 according to the above-mentioned prior art, a plurality of slats 62 are arranged in parallel in a rectangular opening 60 so as to be vertically separated from each other. Since the suction louver portion 36a is formed, dust and the like adhere and accumulate on the upper surface of the slat 62 with time. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically clean the suction louver portion 36a to remove dust and the like. In this case, the opening 6 in the front panel 28
The inner side surface of 0 is formed so as to be orthogonal to the slat 62 as shown in FIG. In addition, the filter 46 is disposed inside the suction louver portion 36a in a substantially contact state. Therefore, dust or the like adhering and accumulating on the portion of the slat 62 close to the inner surface of the opening becomes difficult to be wiped off because the cloth or the like to be wiped interferes with the filter 46. Further, there is a concern that dust remaining in this portion cannot be sufficiently wiped even during cleaning at the time of maintenance and inspection, and accumulates over time, resulting in unsanitary condition.

Further, since the slats 62 have a small cross section, the dust adhering to the filter 46 can be seen from the outside between the upper and lower slats 62, 62, and the appearance is poor. Also, the slat 62
When the louver 36 is formed, the louver 36 is liable to be warped or twisted upward or downward, resulting in a poor quality and a large cost loss. Furthermore, the strength of the slat itself is low,
It is pointed out that it is easily damaged when external force is applied.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the prior art, and has been proposed in order to solve the problem in a favorable manner. It is an object of the present invention to provide a louver structure that can be wiped, improve strength, and improve appearance.

[0007]

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve the intended object, a louver structure according to the present invention is provided with a frame disposed at an opening of a machine room in which a condenser is disposed. A plurality of slats are formed in the main body in the vertical direction and are spaced apart in the vertical direction, and a louver that takes in external air into the machine room through a ventilation hole defined between the upper and lower slats, the width between the upper and lower slats In a position near both ends in the direction of the frame, a wall surface is formed which is rounded from the rear side toward the front on the machine room side toward the both ends in the width direction of the frame-shaped body and is continuous with the outer surface of the frame-shaped body. And

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a louver structure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of preferred embodiments. In the embodiment, a case where the louver structure is applied to an automatic ice maker will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an automatic ice maker 10 according to the embodiment has a housing 12 which is a main body thereof,
An ice storage room 14 for storing ice blocks produced by an ice making mechanism (not shown) and a machine room 18 for storing a freezing mechanism 16 are defined in a vertical relationship. A rectangular opening that opens forward is formed in a front portion corresponding to the storage chamber 14 of the housing 12, and the opening is formed by a door 20 that is rotatably disposed on the front surface of the housing 12. It is configured to be opened and closed freely.

The machine room 18 defined in the housing 12
Includes a condenser 22 and a cooling fan that constitute the refrigeration mechanism 16.
(Not shown) and a compressor 24 are arranged in order from left to right on a base plate 26 constituting the bottom of the machine room 24 (see FIG. 1). A rectangular opening 18a that opens forward is formed in a front portion corresponding to the machine room 18 of the housing 12, and the opening 18a is opened and closed by a front panel 28 in which a louver 36 is formed. It is configured to be. Also, left and right side panels 30, which constitute the housing 12,
A front portion 30a bent at right angles toward the inside (to the other side panel side) is formed in each of the front portions corresponding to the machine room 18 in 30, and the front portion 30a extends rearward from the open end of the front portion 30a. Bending part 3 bent at right angle toward (machine room)
0b is formed. The opening 18a is defined by the two bent portions 30b, 30b and the base plate 26.

A shroud 32 is provided between the condenser 22 disposed in the machine room 18 and the front panel 28 to separate an air suction side and an air discharge side. A front portion 32a bent toward the left side panel 30 is formed at a front portion of the shroud 32, and the front surfaces of the front portion 32a and the front portion 30a of the left side panel 30 are aligned on the same plane. Is set to When the opening 18a is closed by the front panel 28, the shroud 3
2, a partition plate 34 of the panel 28, which will be described later,
Abuts the air suction side and the air discharge side, thereby preventing a decrease in heat exchange efficiency due to a short cycle.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the front panel 28 is formed in a rectangular box shape opened to the rear side, and the outer diameter thereof is set to a size capable of covering the opening 18a. The front panel 28 has an upper panel portion 28a whose thickness in the front-rear direction is set to be large in a portion from the upper end to approximately 2/3 of the entire length of the front panel 28 from the upper end to the lower portion. A portion from the lower side to the lower end of 28a is a lower panel portion 28b whose thickness is set to approximately 1/3 of the front and rear thickness of the upper panel portion 28a. That is, the front panel 28 is formed in a staircase shape in which the lower front portion is recessed rearward. Also, inside the front panel 28,
As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of partition plates 34, 34 are located at positions spaced apart left and right across the approximate center in the width direction (left-right direction in the figure).
Are formed over the entire length in the vertical direction, and are configured to define left and right spaces SL and SR inside the front panel 28 in an isolated state. And both spaces SL, SR
A louver 36 is opened on the front side of the front panel 28 in common. The front part corresponding to the left space SL is
The suction louver portion 36a functions as an air suction port, and the front surface portion corresponding to the right space SR is a discharge louver portion 36b functioning as an air discharge port.

That is, the louver 36 is formed by arranging a plurality of slats 38 in parallel with a predetermined interval in the vertical direction on a frame portion (frame-shaped main body) 28c forming the front panel 28. And the upper and lower slats 38,3
Air flows in and out through the ventilation holes 43 defined between the eight spaces. As shown in FIG. 5, the slat 38 has a rear vertical portion 38b integrally formed with a main portion 38a extending horizontally in the width direction, and a rear vertical portion 38b protruding upward at a rear edge thereof. The front vertical portion 38c protruding from the main body is integrally formed to have a crank shape in cross section as a whole. The height of the rear vertical portion 38 b is set to approximately half the height of the ventilation hole 43.

A wall surface 45 for closing the ventilation hole 43 is connected to the rear vertical portion 38b at a position near both ends in the width direction between the upper and lower slats 38, 38, and the front surface of the wall surface 45 is As shown in FIG. 4, the frame 28c is formed so as to be rounded from the rear to the front as it goes to both ends in the width direction of the frame 28c so as to be continuous with the outer surface of the frame 28c. In other words, by rounding the front surface of the wall surface 45, dust and the like adhering and accumulating on the main body 38a of the slat 38 can be reliably and easily removed.

The left space SL in the upper panel portion 28a
On the front surface facing the above, an insertion / removal opening 41 having a width substantially equal to the width of the suction louver 36a is formed above the position where the suction louver 36a is formed, and will be described later through the insertion / removal 41. The filter 46 is configured to be detachably attached to the rear side of the front panel 28 from the front side. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a guide portion 42 is formed at the rear of the insertion / removal opening 41.
The lower end of the filter 46 inserted from the front side into the guide portion 4
2 is configured to guide the contact downward. The position of the lower end of the guide portion 42 is set at substantially the same level as the lower end of the insertion / removal opening 41, and the guide portion 42 functions to prevent a finger of a worker from entering the machine room via the insertion / removal opening 41. Is also used.

The lower surface of the front panel 28 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The upper portion of the front panel 28 is screwed to the housing 12 in a state where each engagement piece 44 is engaged with the engaged portion 26a provided at a position corresponding to the front surface of the base plate 26. Thus, the front panel 28 is positioned and fixed to the housing 12 with the opening 18a closed. When the opening 18 a is closed by the front panel 28, as shown in FIG. 1, the open end of the left partition plate 34 substantially abuts on the vicinity of the bent portion of the front surface 32 a of the shroud 32, As a result, a gap defined between the condenser 22 and the front panel 28 is shielded, and the suction louver portion 3 is closed.
The configuration is such that external air sucked from 6a is prevented from flowing toward the compressor without cooling the condenser 22 (short cycle prevention). The shroud 3
The front part 32 a of the second side extends a predetermined length to the left from a contact portion with the partition plate 34, and approaches the rear end of the front panel 28 substantially in parallel with the left side panel 30. The front surface 30a faces rearward of the left space SL of the front panel 28 so as to be substantially parallel to and close to the rear end of the panel 28. It functions as a guide that guides the department.

As shown in FIG. 6, the dust collecting filter 46 has a rectangular opening 48a formed in an elastically deformable synthetic resin main body 48 which is formed in a substantially rectangular shape. At 48, a mesh body 52 of a predetermined mesh is stretched so as to cover the entire surface of the opening 48a. Also body 4
8 is set to a size that can be inserted into and removed from the insertion opening 41 of the front panel 28, and the upper and lower dimensions are
When the filter 46 is inserted into the left space SL (rear side of the front panel 28) through the insertion / removal opening 41, the lower end of the main body 48 faces near the lower end of the lower panel portion 28b, and all of the suction louver portions The size is set such that dust contained in the air sucked from the air 36a can be removed.

As shown in FIG. 7, a base 54 projecting forward is formed above a portion of the main body 48 of the filter 46 where the opening 48a is formed. A concave portion 54a that is concave to the side is formed. A lock claw 5 having elasticity in the vertical direction is provided on the upper portion of the base 54 corresponding to the concave portion 54a at substantially the center in the width direction.
6 is formed, and the lock claw 56 is formed on the locking portion 28 formed on the front panel 28 behind the insertion opening 41.
and d functions to hold the filter 46 on the front panel 28. Further, the lock claw 56
Is integrally formed with an operation piece 58 extending forward, and the operation piece 58 unlocks the locking portion 28 d of the lock claw 56. The filter body 4
8, that is, a portion from the base 54 to a position below the required length, as shown in FIG. The removal can be easily performed.

[0019]

Next, the operation of the louver structure according to the embodiment will be described. By rotating a cooling fan (not shown) disposed in the machine room 18 during operation of the automatic ice making machine, external air is sucked into the machine room via the suction louver portion 36a. The suction louver part 3
6a, on the upper surface of the main body 38a of the slat 38,
Dust and the like mixed in the air adhere and accumulate over time. When wiping the dust or the like, the cloth body (not shown) is moved from the main body 38a at a location close to the partition plate 34 toward both widthwise sides of the frame 28c of the front panel 28. Let it. In this case, near the widthwise ends of the suction louver portion 36a and the discharge louver 36b, the wall surfaces 45 that round toward the side outer surface of the frame portion 28c are formed as described above. I have. Therefore, the dust collected toward the frame portion 28c is guided along the wall surface 45 to the outer surface of the frame portion 28c, and is reliably removed from the upper portion of the slat 38.

The slat 38 is formed in a so-called crank shape by a main body portion 38a and front and rear vertical portions 38b and 38c. For this reason, dust and the like sucked together with the external air are most deposited and deposited on the portion located on the rear side (the machine room side) from the front end surface of the front panel 28, that is, on the corner between the rear vertical portion 38b and the main body portion 38a. That is, dust and the like are hardly visually recognized from the outside of the front panel 28 (louver 36), and the cleanliness (appearance) can be favorably maintained for a long time.

As described above, according to the louver structure of the embodiment, dust and the like adhered and deposited on each slat 38 of the louver 36 can be reliably and easily removed via the wall surface 45.
Can be kept hygienic at all times. In addition, by making the cross-sectional shape of the slat 38 in the louver 36 into a crank shape, the strength of the slat 38 and the louver 36 itself can be improved, and breakage when an external force is applied can be prevented. Further, since the slats 38 can be prevented from warping or twisting up and down during louver molding, it contributes to reducing the occurrence rate of defective products and reducing the cost loss.

[0022]

[Modification] As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the louver 36 of the type in which the front and rear vertical portions 38b and 38c are not formed on the slat 38 but are fully opened in the front and rear direction is also used. Similar effects can be expected by forming the wall surface 45. Further, in the embodiment, the case where the louver is integrally formed on the front panel has been described. However, a type in which the front panel and the louver are independently formed and the louver is detachably provided on the front panel may be used. By forming wall surfaces that are rounded so as to be continuous with the outer surface of the frame-shaped main body at both ends in the width direction between the upper and lower slats constituting the louver, it is possible to reliably and easily wipe off dust and the like. .

In the illustrated embodiment, the louver structure for air-cooling the condenser of the refrigerating mechanism in the automatic ice maker has been described. However, the application range of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. A heat exchanger such as a condenser is provided in the machine room defined in the housing, and the opening of the machine room is closed with a panel having a louver portion, and external air sucked through the louver portion is supplied to the heat exchanger. The louver structure according to the present invention can be implemented in a device having a basic structure for performing heat exchange by contact, such as a refrigerator, a freezer, or an air conditioner.

[0024]

As described above, according to the louver structure according to the present invention, the wall surface rounded toward the outer surface of the frame-shaped main body is formed at the position near the both ends in the width direction between the upper and lower slats. Therefore, by wiping the slats with a cleaning tool such as a cloth body, dust and the like adhering and accumulating on the slats can be guided to the outer surface side of the frame-shaped main body and reliably removed, so that the slats are always kept in a sanitary manner I can do it. Further, by forming the cross-sectional shape of the slat in a crank shape, even when dust and the like are deposited on the slat, the dust and the like are hardly visible from the outside, and there is an advantage that dirt and the like on the louver are inconspicuous. is there. Further, there is an effect that the strength of the slat and the louver itself can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main part of an automatic ice making machine employing a louver structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the automatic ice maker according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a front panel of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view showing the front panel of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view of the front panel of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view showing a state where a filter is mounted on the front panel of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a front panel on which a filter is mounted.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a front panel of a modified example.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a front panel of a modified example.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing a front panel employing a louver structure according to a conventional technique.

11 is a cross-sectional plan view of the front panel shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

18 machine room, 18a opening, 22 condenser, 28c frame body (frame-shaped main body) 38 slat, 38a main body, 38b rear vertical part, 3
8c Front vertical part 43 Ventilation hole, 45 wall surface

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of slats (38) are vertically separated from a frame-shaped main body (28c) disposed in an opening (18a) of a machine room (18) in which a condenser (22) is disposed. Formed with upper and lower slats
A louver that takes in external air into the machine room through a ventilation port (43) defined between the upper and lower slats (38, 38). A wall surface (45) is formed by continuous rounding from the rear toward the front of the machine room toward the both ends in the width direction of the frame-shaped body (28c) so as to be continuous with the outer surface of the frame-shaped body (28c). A louver structure characterized by the following. 2. The slat (38) has a horizontal body (38).
a) a rear vertical portion (38b) projecting upward at the rear edge, and a front vertical portion (38c) projecting downward at the front edge thereof.
Is formed to have a crank shape in cross section.
The described louver structure.