JP2001153529A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a refrigerator comprising evaporators for refrigeration compartment and freezing compartment arranged to be cooled alternately in which the refrigeration compartment can be cooled during cooling operation of the freezing compartment. SOLUTION: A part of piping coupled with the outlet of an evaporator 22 for freezing compartment and an accumulator 24 coupled with that piping are disposed, as an auxiliary cooling means, in a containing section 21 on the back of a refrigeration compartment 9 communicating therewith. In a cooling mode for cooling first and second freezing compartments with the evaporator 22 for freezing compartment, the refrigeration compartment 9 and a vegetable compartment 10 are in the waiting state for cooling. When a vent 21a is opened by means of a damper 27 and a chill circulation fan 19 on the refrigeration compartment 9 side is driven, chill cooled through the piping 23 and the accumulator 24 in the containing section 21 is supplied to the refrigeration compartment 9 side thus cooling the refrigeration compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a refrigerator evaporator for cooling a refrigerator and a refrigerator evaporator for cooling a refrigerator.

[0002]

In a conventional household refrigerator, generally, a refrigeration cycle in which refrigerant discharged from a compressor passes through a condenser, a throttle valve (capillary), an evaporator, and returns to the compressor again. The refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment having different temperature zones are cooled by one evaporator. However, such a configuration has drawbacks such as difficulty in accurately controlling the temperature of each of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, and waste of the cooling efficiency.

In recent years, therefore, a refrigerator evaporator for cooling the refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment evaporator for cooling the freezer compartment have been provided, and the refrigerant from the compressor is refrigerated by the flow path switching valve. By alternately switching between flowing to the room evaporator and flowing to the freezing room evaporator, the refrigerating room and the freezing room are alternately cooled, and the operating frequency of the compressor is varied to change the temperature of each room. A refrigerator has been proposed in which the temperature is controlled so as to be a temperature suitable for each room (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
-192028).

[0004] In such a configuration, the refrigerating compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be cooled at a temperature suitable for each, so that a high refrigerating cycle efficiency can be obtained. However, the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment cannot be simultaneously cooled.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a refrigerator having an evaporator for a refrigerator and an evaporator for a refrigerator, and for cooling the refrigerator and the refrigerator alternately. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of cooling a refrigerator compartment while cooling a refrigerator compartment.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 comprises an evaporator for a refrigerator for cooling a refrigerator, and an evaporator for a refrigerator for cooling a refrigerator. And a refrigerator compartment cooling mode for cooling the refrigerator compartment by the refrigerator compartment evaporator and a freezer compartment cooling mode for cooling the freezer compartment by the freezer compartment evaporator. In the refrigerator, at least one of a part of a pipe connected to an outlet of the freezer evaporator and an accumulator connected to the pipe is used as an auxiliary cooling unit, and the auxiliary cooling unit communicates with the refrigerator compartment. It is characterized in that it is arranged at a site where

In the freezing room cooling mode, the freezing room is naturally cooled by the freezing room evaporator, but the temperature of the auxiliary cooling means is low, and the air around it is also cooled. For this reason, by supplying the cold air cooled by the auxiliary cooling means to the refrigerator compartment, the refrigerator compartment can also be cooled during the cooling of the freezer compartment.

In this case, it is preferable that the auxiliary cooling means be provided with fins. According to this, since the heat transfer area of the auxiliary cooling means is increased by the fins, the heat exchange efficiency is improved, and the surrounding air can be efficiently cooled. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary cooling means comprises:
The refrigerator is characterized in that a cooling air flow path through which air flows in the refrigerator compartment is disposed in a storage section whose periphery is partitioned by a partition wall, and the storage section is provided with a damper means for controlling the flow of cold air. According to this, by opening and closing the damper, it is possible to control the flow of cool air from the storage section to the refrigerator compartment, and thus to control the temperature of the refrigerator compartment.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a defrost heater is provided near the auxiliary cooling means. According to this,
Frost attached to the auxiliary cooling means can be removed as needed. The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that an auxiliary cooling fan is provided near the auxiliary cooling means. According to this, the cold air cooled by the auxiliary cooling means can be positively supplied to the refrigerator compartment side, and the temperature of the refrigerator compartment can be controlled.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator. In FIG.
The refrigerator body 1 includes an outer box 2 made of a steel plate and an inner box 3 made of a synthetic resin.
Is formed as a well-known heat insulating box body filled with a foam heat insulating material 4. The inside of the refrigerator body 1 is divided into an upper refrigeration temperature zone space 6 and a lower refrigeration temperature zone space 7 by a heat insulating partition wall 5.
The cooling air in the freezing temperature zone space 7 is independent of each other, and does not mix with each other.

The inside of the refrigerator temperature zone space 6 is partitioned into an upper refrigerator compartment 9 and a lower vegetable compartment 10 by a partition plate 8, and the interior of the freezer temperature zone space 7 is partitioned by a partition wall 11. Thus, the upper and lower freezer compartments 13 and 13 are partitioned by the upper and lower compartments. A hinged door 9 is provided on the front of the refrigerator compartment 9, and drawer doors 10 a and 12 are provided on the front of the vegetable compartment 10 and the first and second freezer compartments 12 and 13.
a, 13a are provided. The lower part of the refrigerator compartment 9 is a chilled compartment 14.

In the inner box 3 forming the wall of the refrigerator compartment 9,
A cooling pipe 16 constituting a refrigerator evaporator 15 is provided on the outer surface of the upper surface, the rear surface, and the left and right side surfaces in a state where the cooling pipe 16 is buried by the foamed heat insulating material 4. The wall surface to be formed is a cooling wall surface 17. A cool air flow path 18 extending in the vertical direction is formed at the rear of the refrigerator compartment 9, and a cool air circulation fan 19 is arranged at the top of the rear of the refrigerator compartment 9. This cooling air circulation fan 19 is used for controlling the temperature fluctuation in the refrigerator compartment 9 and the refrigerator compartment 9.
The operation is controlled based on the opening / closing of the door 9a and the door 10a of the vegetable compartment 10. The front surface of the cool air passage 18 is covered with a duct cover 18a.

In the lower part of the cold air passage 18 at the rear of the refrigerator compartment 9, at the rear part of the chilled chamber 14, as shown in FIG. 2, there is provided a storage part 21 which is partitioned by a partition wall 20 having heat insulation. It is formed, and in this storage part 21,
A part of a refrigeration cycle pipe 23 connected to the outlet side of a freezer compartment cooler 22 described later, an accumulator 24 connected to the pipe 23, and a defrost heater 25 are provided. In this case, the defrost heater 25 is arranged near the lower part of the pipe 23. A part of the pipe 23 provided in the storage part 21 and the accumulator 24 together constitute auxiliary cooling means.
Many fins 26 are provided. A damper 27 constituting damper means for opening and closing the ventilation port 21 a of the storage unit 21 is rotatably provided above the storage unit 21. In this case, the refrigerator compartment 9, the vegetable compartment 10, and the cold air passage 1
8 and the storage section 21 communicate with each other.

A freezing room cooling chamber 28 is formed at the back of the freezing temperature zone space 7.
Inside, the above-mentioned freezing room evaporator 22, a cool air circulation fan 29, and a defrost heater 30 are arranged. In this case, the cool air circulation fan 29 is disposed above the freezer compartment evaporator 22, and the defrost heater 30 is disposed below the freezer compartment evaporator 22. A machine room 31 is formed in the lower part of the back of the refrigerator main body 1.
32 and condenser 33 constituting the refrigeration cycle of
(The condenser 33 is not shown in FIG. 1).

In FIG. 3 showing the configuration of the refrigeration cycle,
The refrigerant discharge port 32 a of the compressor 32 is connected via a condenser 33 to an inlet of a three-way switching valve 34 constituting a flow path switching unit. One outlet of the switching valve 34 is connected to the inlet 2 of the freezer evaporator 22 through a freezing capillary 35.
2a. The above-mentioned pipe 23 is connected to an outlet 22b of the freezer evaporator 22, and
The accumulator 24 and the check valve 36 are connected to the pipe 23, and the outlet of the check valve 36 is connected to the refrigerant inlet 32 b of the compressor 32.

Further, the other outlet of the switching valve 34 is connected to the inlet of the cooling pipe 16 of the evaporator 15 for a refrigerator through a refrigerator capillary 37. The outlet of the stop valve 36 is connected. Accordingly, in this case, the refrigerator 32 and the freezer evaporator 22 are connected in parallel to the compressor 32.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. (Freezer compartment cooling mode) With the compressor 32 driven,
In a state where the refrigerant flow path is switched by the switching valve 34 so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 32 flows toward the freezer evaporator 22 (see the solid line arrow A1 in FIG. 3), the refrigerant is compressed in the compressor 32. The refrigerant is sent to the condenser 33 as a high-temperature and high-pressure gas, where it radiates heat and is liquefied. The liquefied refrigerant flows through the switching valve 34 in the direction of the arrow A1, passes through the freezing capillary 35, and passes through the freezing chamber evaporator 2.
2 where it evaporates and takes away the surrounding heat as a result of which it cools the surrounding air. The gasified refrigerant is supplied to the pipe 23, the accumulator 24, and the check valve 36.
, And is compressed again in the compressor 32.

Here, the cool air cooled by the freezing room evaporator 22 is supplied to the first and second freezing rooms 12 and 13 by the blowing action of the cool air circulation fan 29, and the first and second freezing rooms are provided. 12 and 13 are cooled. In this manner, the switching valve 34 switches the refrigerant flow path so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 32 flows toward the freezing-room evaporator 22, thereby cooling the first and second freezing chambers 12 and 13. Is called a freezer compartment cooling mode. In this case, since the cooling temperature of the first and second freezing compartments 12 and 13 is, for example, −18 ° C., the operating frequency of the compressor 32 is set so that the cooling temperature of the freezing compartment evaporator 22 becomes approximately −26 ° C. Is set.

In such a freezing room cooling mode,
The refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 are in a cooling standby state, and are not cooled.
If the doors 9a and 10a are frequently opened and closed, the temperature rise in the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 may increase.

In such a case, the damper 27 in the storage section 21 is opened (see the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1), and the cool air circulation fan 19 is driven. Then, the cool air flowing through the cool air flow path 18 on the refrigeration temperature zone space 6 side flows upward through the storage section 21 as shown by a white arrow B1 in FIG. At this time, the freezer evaporator 2
2 and the accumulator 2 connected to the outlet of
4 also has a temperature of about −26 ° C. like the freezer evaporator 22, so that the air passing through the storage section 21 is cooled by the pipes 23 and the accumulator 24.
Therefore, the cool air that has passed through the storage section 21 is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10, so that the temperature rise in the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 can be suppressed.

At this time, if the rotation speed of the cooling air circulation fan 29 in the freezing temperature zone space 7 is reduced or stopped, the refrigerant evaporation process in the freezing room evaporator 22 is performed on the downstream side, that is, on the accumulator 24 side. Then, the cooling temperature by the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 can be further reduced.

(Refrigerator Compartment Cooling Mode) In a state where the compressor 32 is driven, the refrigerant flow path is switched by the switching valve 34 so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 32 flows to the refrigerator compartment evaporator 15 side. In the state (see the broken line arrow A2 in FIG. 3),
The refrigerant compressed in the compressor 32 and liquefied in the condenser 33 flows through the switching valve 34 in the direction of the arrow A2, passes through the refrigeration capillary 37, is sent to the refrigeration compartment evaporator 15, and passes through the cooling pipe 16 thereof. Evaporation in the passing process deprives the surrounding heat and, as a result, cools the cooling wall 17. The gasified refrigerant is compressed in the compressor 32 again.

Here, the air in the refrigerator compartment 9 is cooled by the cooling wall 17 cooled by the cooling pipe 16, and the air in the vegetable compartment 10 is cooled. In this way, the refrigerant valve is switched by the switching valve 34 so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 32 flows to the refrigerator compartment evaporator 15 side, and the state of cooling the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 is changed to the refrigerator compartment. It is called cooling mode. In this case, the operating frequency of the compressor 32 is controlled such that the cooling temperatures of the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 are, for example, + 2 ° C. Further, in the refrigerator compartment cooling mode, the pressure on the refrigerator compartment evaporator 15 side becomes higher than that on the freezer compartment evaporator 22 side, and the check valve 36 operates. And the low-temperature refrigerant is held in the freezer evaporator 22.

In the case of the refrigerator compartment cooling mode,
The damper 27 in the storage section 21 is in a state in which the vent 21a is closed (see a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1). In this case, the cool air flowing through the cool air passage 18 can flow around the storage section 21 as indicated by an arrow B2 in FIG.

In the refrigerating compartment cooling mode, the cooling air circulation fan 19 is basically not operated, and cooling is performed only by radiant cooling from the cooling wall surface 17 (direct cooling type). In the case of this method, since the inside of the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 is almost calm, evaporation of moisture from food is suppressed,
Food preservability can be improved. However, when the difference between the temperature distributions in the refrigerator (the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10) becomes large, or when the temperature inside the refrigerator rises due to frequent opening and closing of the doors 9a and 10a, the cooling air circulation The fan 19 is operated. Then, the heat transfer performance between the cooling wall surface 17 and the air in the refrigerator is improved, and the cooling speed is improved. At this time, when the damper 27 is in the open state, the cooling heat of the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 in the storage section 21 can be used, and the cooling speed can be further increased.

Further, as described above, the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10
Is cooled by radiation cooling from the cooling wall 17,
Dew condensation (with dew) on the cooling wall surface 17 is a major problem, but the cooling heat of the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 in the storage unit 21 having a lower temperature than the cooling pipe 16 for cooling the cooling wall surface 17 is used. By circulating the cool air, dew condensation on the cooling wall surface 17 can be prevented as much as possible. In other words, extra moisture in the refrigerator (refrigerator room 9 and vegetable room 10)
This is because frost can be positively attached to the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 in the storage section 21. Then, by detecting the temperatures of the pipes 23 and the accumulator 24 and controlling the operation of the cool air circulation fan 19, it is also possible to adjust the humidity in the refrigerator (the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10). In order to remove the frost adhering to the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24, the defrost heater 25 provided in the storage unit 21 is energized.

In the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. In the freezer compartment cooling mode, the first and second freezer compartments 1 are operated by the freezer compartment evaporator 22.
Of course, the temperature of the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 in the storage section 21 constituting the auxiliary cooling means is low, and the air around it is also cooled. The cooled cold air is stored in the refrigerator compartment 9
And the supply to the vegetable compartment 10, the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 10 can also be cooled while the first and second freezing compartments 12 and 13 are being cooled.

A large number of fins 26 are provided in the pipe 23 disposed in the storage section 21. The fins 26 increase the heat transfer area, so that the heat exchange efficiency is improved and the surrounding air is efficiently removed. Be able to cool. Note that the accumulator 24 may be provided with fins.

Since the damper 27 is provided in the storage section 21 in which the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 are stored, the flow of cold air from the storage section 21 to the refrigerator compartment 9 can be controlled by opening and closing the damper 27, and thus the refrigerator compartment 9 can be controlled. And the temperature of the vegetable room 10 can be controlled.

By providing the defrost heater 25 near the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24,
And, the frost adhering to the accumulator 24 can be removed as needed.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the following points. That is, the front wall 21b of the storage section 21 is formed with a communication port 40 that communicates the storage section 21 with the chilled chamber 14 in the refrigerator compartment 9;
A pipe 23 and an accumulator 24
, An auxiliary cooling fan 41 is provided. Further, in this case, the communication port 40 is opened when the damper 27 closes the ventilation port 21a of the storage unit 21, and the communication port 40 is closed when the damper 27 is closed by the two-dot chain line where the ventilation port 21a is opened. It has a configuration.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. In the freezer compartment cooling mode, for example, when the damper 27 is in a state in which the ventilation port 21a is closed as shown by a solid line in FIG. 4 and the auxiliary cooling fan 41 is operated, the communication port 40 is open. The cool air cooled by the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 is supplied into the chilled chamber 14 through the communication port 40 as shown by an arrow C1 in FIG. This makes it possible to maintain the inside of the chilled chamber 14 at a lower temperature than other parts in the refrigerator compartment 9, and to reduce the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 9 to two temperatures.

Further, the damper 27 is in a state where the ventilation port 21a is opened (the communication port 40 is closed) as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4, and the auxiliary cooling fan 41 or the cool air circulation fan 19 is operated. In this case, the cool air cooled by the pipe 23 and the accumulator 24 is supplied into the refrigerating room 9 through the cool air flow path 18 as shown by a two-dot chain arrow C2 in FIG. According to the second embodiment, as described above, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 9 can be easily heated to two temperatures.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be modified or expanded as follows. The refrigerator compartment evaporator 15 is not limited to the direct cooling type configuration in which the cooling pipe 16 is arranged along the wall surface of the refrigerator compartment 9. A configuration of a cool air circulation type by blowing air from a circulation fan may be employed. As the auxiliary cooling means provided in the storage section 21, only a part of the pipe 23 connected to the outlet of the freezer evaporator 22 may be used.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, an evaporator for a refrigerator and an evaporator for a freezer are provided.
In a configuration in which a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment are alternately cooled, at least one of a part of a pipe connected to an outlet of an evaporator for the freezing compartment and an accumulator connected to the pipe is refrigerated as auxiliary cooling means. The refrigerator is arranged at a portion communicating with the room, and in the mode of cooling the freezing room, by supplying the cool air cooled by the auxiliary cooling means to the refrigerator, the refrigerator can also be cooled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of an entire refrigerator showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a refrigeration cycle diagram

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a refrigerator main body, 6 is a refrigeration temperature zone space, 7 is a freezing temperature zone space, 9 is a refrigerator room, 10 is a vegetable room, and 12 and 13 are the first and the first.
A second freezing room (freezing room), 14 is a chilled room, 15 is an evaporator for a refrigerator room, 16 is a cooling pipe, 18 is a cool air flow path, 19 is a fan for circulating cool air, 20 is a partition wall, 21 is a storage section, 2
2 is a freezer evaporator, 22a is an inlet, 22b is an outlet, 2
3 is a pipe (auxiliary cooling means), 24 is an accumulator (auxiliary cooling means), 25 is a defrost heater, 26 is a fin,
27 is a damper (damper means), 29 is a cool air circulation fan, 32 is a compressor, 34 is a switching valve, 40 is a communication port, 41
Indicates an auxiliary cooling fan.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Akihiro Noguchi 1-6 Ota Toshiba-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Inside the Toshiba Osaka Plant Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masato Tago 1-6 Ota-Toshiba-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Inside the Toshiba Osaka Plant Co., Ltd. (72) Koji Kashima 1-6 Ota Toshiba-cho, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka F-term in the Toshiba Osaka Plant Co., Ltd. PA04 PA05

Claims (5)

[Claims] An evaporator for a refrigerating compartment for cooling a refrigerating compartment, an evaporator for a freezing compartment for cooling a refrigerating compartment,
A refrigerator configured to alternately perform a refrigerator compartment cooling mode for cooling the refrigerator compartment by the refrigerator compartment evaporator and a refrigerator compartment cooling mode for cooling the refrigerator compartment by the refrigerator compartment evaporator, At least one of a part of the pipe connected to the outlet of the freezer evaporator and the accumulator connected to the pipe is used as an auxiliary cooling means, and the auxiliary cooling means is arranged at a portion communicating with the refrigerator compartment. A refrigerator characterized by that: 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary cooling means is provided with fins. 3. The auxiliary cooling means is disposed in a storage section which is surrounded by a partition wall in a cold air flow path through which air in the refrigerator compartment flows, and a damper means for controlling the flow of cold air is provided in the storage section. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerator is provided. 4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a defrost heater is provided near the auxiliary cooling means. 5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein an auxiliary cooling fan is provided near the auxiliary cooling means.