JP2002162152A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently cool in a Stirling freezer by alleviating a load to the freezer. SOLUTION: A refrigerator 1 comprises a freezing chamber 1a and a cold storage chamber 1b partitioned by a partition wall 4 in a heat insulation case 2, a freezing heat exchanger 10 for cooling in the chamber 1a, and a cold storage heat exchanger 11 for cooling in the chamber 1b. The refrigerator 1 further comprises the Stirling freezer 6 for absorbing a heat from a cold head 62 by utilizing an inverse Stirling cycle. In this case, the head 62 of the freezer 6 is mounted at the exchanger 10 to cool the exchanger 10. The head 62 heat exchanges the exchanger 10 via a heat pipe 13 to cool the exchanger 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with a Stirling refrigerator using a reverse Stirling cycle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a refrigeration cycle device such as a home refrigerator employs a vapor compression refrigeration cycle using chlorofluorocarbon as a refrigerant. It is well known that this fluorocarbon refrigerant has a large ozone depletion potential and its use is being regulated worldwide in terms of environmental problems.

In recent years, as a new refrigeration technology replacing the vapor compression refrigeration cycle, research on a Stirling refrigerator using an inverted Stirling cycle has been advanced. Since this Stirling refrigerator uses an inert gas such as helium as a working medium, it can efficiently obtain a cryogenic temperature without adversely affecting the global environment.

[0004] In the reverse Stirling cycle, the working medium compressed in the compression space is moved to the expansion space side by repeatedly moving the piston and the displacer while maintaining a predetermined phase difference by external power such as a crank mechanism. This is a closed cycle in which heat is absorbed when the working medium is expanded in the expansion space. Then, by repeating this cycle, the cold head disposed at one end of the expansion space is cooled to a low temperature.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a refrigerator equipped with a conventional Stirling refrigerator 6. The heat exchanger 30 made of metal such as aluminum is mounted on the cold head 62, and the heat exchanger 30 is cooled by the cold head 62 at a low temperature. The rotation of the fan 33 causes the air in the refrigerator to
The heat is exchanged when passing through the heat exchanger 30, and circulates through the inside of the refrigerator as shown by the arrow to cool it.

By the way, the surface and the inside of the heat exchanger 30 have a relatively low temperature near the cold head 62 where the temperature is low, and the temperature increases as the distance from the cold head 62 increases. Causes a temperature difference. Therefore, the cool air f1 passing near the inner wall in the refrigerator is sufficiently cooled by heat exchange, whereas the cool air f2 passing near the partition wall 31 of the duct 32 is hardly exchanged with heat and is not cooled much.

[0007] Since these cold airs f1 and f2 join at the downstream side of the heat exchanger 30 and are sent out into the refrigerator by the rotation of the fan 33, it takes a considerable time to sufficiently cool the refrigerator. However, the desired heat exchange performance could not be obtained from the heat exchanger 30.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-180921, as shown in FIG. 6, one end of a plurality of heat pipes 29 filled with a refrigerant gas is embedded in a cold head 62 of a Stirling refrigerator 6. A refrigerator is disclosed in which a heat exchanger 30 is configured with an end side extended in a refrigerator.

If there is a temperature difference between both ends of the heat pipe 29, the refrigerant gas condensed and liquefied at one end on the low temperature side evaporates at the other end on the high temperature side, and absorbs heat of vaporization from the surrounding air. In the case of this refrigerator, the cold head 62 side is the low temperature end of the heat pipe 29, and the inside of the refrigerator is the high temperature end.
Therefore, the rotation of the fan 33 causes the air inside the refrigerator to exchange heat when passing through the heat exchanger 30, and circulates through the refrigerator as shown by the arrow to cool it.

However, in order to obtain a desired heat exchange performance from the heat pipe 29, a considerable temperature difference is required at both ends of the heat pipe 29. Therefore, the input to the Stirling refrigerator 6 is increased and the cold head 62 Needs to be cooled to a temperature considerably lower than the set temperature in the refrigerator, and there is a problem that the coefficient of performance of the Stirling refrigerator 6 decreases.

[0011] Such a problem does not become a particularly serious problem in a small refrigerator having a small space inside the refrigerator, since the amount of air circulating in the refrigerator is small. However, in a large refrigerator having a large volume in the refrigerator, one Stirling refrigerator 6 must cover the entire refrigerator.
There is an urgent need to increase the heat absorption of heat from the circulating air in the refrigerator.

The present inventors have limited the space inside a refrigerator of a large refrigerator to a plurality of cooling rooms having different set temperatures, such as a freezer room, a refrigerator room, and a vegetable room, and set the air circulating in the refrigerator to the volume of each cooling room. Focusing on the fact that the load on the Stirling refrigerator can be reduced by increasing the number of heat exchangers,
The present invention has been made.

[0013]

That is, the present invention relates to a freezing room and a refrigerating room partitioned by providing a partition wall inside a heat insulating box, and a refrigerating heat exchanger for cooling the freezing room. A refrigerator equipped with a refrigeration heat exchanger for cooling the refrigerator compartment, further comprising a Stirling refrigerator that absorbs heat from a heat absorption unit using a reverse Stirling cycle, wherein the heat absorption unit of the Stirling refrigerator is The refrigerating heat exchanger is mounted on the refrigerating heat exchanger to cool the refrigerating heat exchanger, and heat exchange is performed between the heat absorbing unit of the Stirling refrigerator and the refrigerating heat exchanger via a heat pipe to thereby cool the refrigerating heat exchanger. It is characterized in that the heat exchanger is cooled.

According to this configuration, the refrigeration heat exchanger mounted on the heat absorbing section is cooled by driving the Stirling refrigerator, and heat exchange is performed with the heat absorbing section via the heat pipe to thereby cool the heat exchanger. Is cooled.

The present invention also provides a freezing room and a refrigerating room partitioned by providing a partition wall inside the heat insulating box, a refrigerating heat exchanger for cooling the freezing room, and cooling the refrigerating room. A Stirling refrigerator that absorbs heat from a heat absorbing unit using a reverse Stirling cycle, and the heat absorbing unit of the Stirling refrigerator is connected to the refrigeration heat exchanger. To cool the refrigeration heat exchanger, and heat exchange the refrigeration heat exchanger and the refrigeration heat exchanger through a heat pipe so as to cool the refrigeration heat exchanger. It is characterized by having done.

According to this configuration, the refrigeration heat exchanger mounted on the heat absorbing section is cooled by driving the Stirling refrigerator, and is exchanged with the refrigeration heat exchanger via the heat pipe to thereby cool the refrigeration. The heat exchanger is cooled.

In this case, if a plurality of the heat pipes are provided, the cooling heat exchanger can be efficiently cooled.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS <First Embodiment> A first embodiment of the present invention
The embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view of a refrigerator according to the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an arrangement relationship between a freezing heat exchanger and a refrigerating heat exchanger in the refrigerator according to the present embodiment, and FIG.
It is a -x line sectional view.

A Stirling refrigerator 6 is provided in a machine room 5 surrounded by a heat insulating material 2 at the upper back of the refrigerator body 1. The inside of the L-shaped cylinder 21 of the Stirling refrigerator 6 is configured as an expansion space 25 provided with a displacer 23 and a compression space 24 provided with a piston 22.

The reciprocating mechanism 27 includes a drive motor (not shown)
A displacer rod 37 deviated by a predetermined angle and a piston rod 36 are connected to a rotating body 35 to which rotational power is given by the rotation. Therefore, the displacer 23
And the piston 22 are reciprocated by the reciprocating mechanism 27 with a predetermined phase difference.

The expansion space 25 and the compression space 24 communicate with each other via a regenerator 26, and form a closed circuit 28 filled with a working medium. The end of the cylinder 21 on the expansion space 25 side is cooled by a cold head 6 that absorbs heat.
On the other hand, the compression space 24 side is a worm head 61 for radiating heat and radiating heat to the outside. Warm head 6
1 is provided with a high-temperature side heat exchanger 7 composed of fins for promoting heat radiation.

When the reciprocating mechanism 27 of the Stirling refrigerator 6 configured as described above is driven, the displacer 2
3 and the piston 22 reciprocate at a predetermined phase difference, the working medium is expanded in the expansion space 25 and absorbs heat from the cold head 62 to cool the refrigeration heat exchanger 10 described later, while the working medium in the compression space 24 Is compressed, and heat is radiated from the worm head 61. As the reciprocating motion of the displacer 23 and the piston 22 is repeated in this manner, the working medium circulates in the closed circuit 28 with cold storage and heat recovery in the cold storage 26.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an opening / closing door, 4 denotes a partition plate filled with a heat insulating material for partitioning the interior space into a freezing compartment 1a, a refrigerating compartment 1b and a vegetable compartment 1c in order from the top. A machine room 6 communicates with the outside of the main body 1 and a Stirling refrigerator 6 disposed inside the machine room 5. A high-temperature side exchanger 7 is attached to the worm head 61 of the Stirling refrigerator 6, and the heat generated by the worm head 61 is forced out of the refrigerator by the cooling fan 8 via the high-temperature side heat exchanger 7. Is to be discharged.

Reference numerals 9a and 9b denote independent cold air ducts defined by partition walls 9 substantially parallel to the rear sides of the freezing compartment 1a and the refrigerating compartment 1b, respectively. 10 is a cold air duct 9a
The cold head 62 of the Stirling refrigerator 6
And 11 is a refrigeration heat exchanger arranged in the cool air duct 9b. In addition, refrigerator room 1
b and the vegetable compartment 1c are partially connected by a ventilation port 14 provided in the partition plate 4, and a part of the cool air circulating in the refrigerator compartment 1b passes through the ventilation port 14 and is introduced into the vegetable compartment 1c. It has become.

Cold head 6 of Stirling refrigerator 6
Numeral 2 penetrates the heat insulating material 2 and faces the inside of the cool air duct 9a, and a refrigerating heat exchanger 10 is mounted at the end thereof. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration around the refrigeration heat exchanger 10. The refrigeration heat exchanger 10 includes a substrate portion 101 made of a material having excellent thermal conductivity such as aluminum and copper, and a substrate portion 1 made of the material.
01 fins 102 attached to one side of
It consists of: The refrigerating heat exchanger 11 has basically the same configuration as the refrigerating heat exchanger 10, and includes a substrate portion 111 and a plurality of fins 112.

The refrigeration heat exchanger 10 is mounted on the substrate 1
01 is arranged in the cold air duct 9a (see FIG. 1) in a state where it is vertical. On the other hand, the refrigeration heat exchanger 1
Numeral 1 is arranged in the cool air duct 9b (see FIG. 1) in a state in which the substrate section 111 is in a vertical direction. The cooling fans 12a and 12b are independently controlled, and are adjusted to an appropriate air volume according to the load state of the freezing compartment 1a and the refrigerator compartment 1b containing the food.

Screw holes 101a, 101a are formed at two positions on the surface of the substrate portion 101 facing the fins 102. The positions of these screw holes 101a, 101a correspond to the screw fixing portions 6 provided at two positions at the tip of the cold head 62.
2a and 62a. Therefore, the refrigeration heat exchanger 10 can be fixed to the Stirling refrigerator 6 by tightening the screw 16 through the screw fixing portion 62a and the screw hole 101a so that the distal end surface of the cold head 62 is brought into close contact with sufficient pressure.

At this time, an adhesive material 1 made of silicone oil or silicone rubber sheet having excellent thermal conductivity is attached to the adhesive surface.
5, the cold head 62 and the substrate 10
The adhesion with 1 is further enhanced. Thereby, heat absorption from the cold head 62 is promoted, and the substrate unit 101 can be efficiently cooled.

A part of the outer peripheral surface of the cold head 62 is substantially parallel to a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder 21.
Further, a plurality of equally-spaced groove portions 62b are recessed. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, one end sides of the plurality of heat pipes 13 are pressed into the grooves 62 b by means such as press fitting, and are wound around the cold head 62.

On the other hand, the substrate portion 111 of the refrigeration heat exchanger 11
Of the heat pipe 1
The number of the grooves 111a, which is equal to the number of the three grooves, extends in the vertical direction and is substantially parallel and depressed at equal intervals. And
As shown in FIG. 2, the other end of the heat pipe 13 penetrates the partition wall 4 (see FIG. 1) and is press-fitted into the groove 111a.

The refrigerant for the heat pipe 13 is effective in the range of 0 to -40 ° C. used in refrigerators and has a low global warming potential without destruction of the ozone layer. Carbon dioxide, propane, butane, pentane or other hydrocarbon gas, or ammonia or the like.

Next, a usage mode of the refrigerator configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. When an input is given to the Stirling refrigerator 6 to drive the piston 22 and the displacer 23, the cold head 62 is cooled to a low temperature according to the above principle. Further, the cold head 62 cools the substrate portion 101 of the refrigeration heat exchanger 10 and absorbs heat from the air through the fins 102 having a large surface area to cool it.

The air sucked into the duct 9a by the rotation of the fan 12a undergoes heat exchange when passing through the fins 102, is sent out into the freezing room 1a as shown by an arrow, and circulates in the freezing room 1a to cool. After that, it is sucked into the cool air duct 9a again and returns to the upstream side of the freezing heat exchanger 10. Then, the inside of the freezing compartment 1a is quickly cooled to the set temperature by repeatedly circulating the cool air as described above.

Further, the gas refrigerant cooled and liquefied by the cold head 62 at the upper end of the heat pipe 13 moves to the lower end connected to the substrate 111 of the refrigeration heat exchanger 11, and fins 112 having a large surface area are formed. Absorbs heat of vaporization from the air through the air and cools it. As a result, the gas refrigerant evaporates and turns into a gas, which naturally rises inside the heat pipe 13,
It moves to the cold head 62 side at the upper end and is liquefied again to contribute to heat exchange.

The air sucked into the duct 9b by the rotation of the fan 12b undergoes heat exchange when passing through the fins 112, and is sent out into the refrigerator compartment 1b as shown by the arrows, and is sent into the refrigerator compartment 1b and the vegetable compartment 1c. After being circulated and cooled, it is sucked into the cool air duct 9b again and returns to the upstream side of the refrigeration heat exchanger 11. And the inside of the refrigerator compartment 1b and the vegetable compartment 1c is quickly cooled to the set temperature by repeatedly circulating the cool air in the same manner as described above.

According to this, the effective heat absorbing area for absorbing heat from the air in the refrigerator increases, and the inside of the freezing room 1a can be efficiently cooled by the freezing heat exchanger 10, and the temperature of the cold head 62 and the refrigerator room 1b can be reduced. By operating the heat pipe 13 using the difference, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 1b can be efficiently cooled by the refrigerator heat exchanger 11. Therefore, the Stirling refrigerator 6 is compared with the case where the inside of the refrigerator is cooled by exchanging heat with the air in the whole refrigerator only by the refrigeration heat exchanger 10.
Input can be reduced, resulting in significant energy savings.

<Second Embodiment> A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
, Members common to those of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

A characteristic feature of the present embodiment is that a plurality of substantially parallel and equally spaced grooves extending vertically in a part of the surface of the substrate portion 101 of the refrigeration heat exchanger 10 facing the fins 102 are provided. In addition to the depression 101b, a plurality of grooves 111a corresponding to the grooves 101b are similarly formed in the substrate 111 of the refrigeration heat exchanger 11, and a plurality of heat pipes are inserted in these grooves 101b and 111a. It was press-fitted.

According to this, the effective heat absorbing area for absorbing heat from the air in the refrigerator increases, and the inside of the freezing room 1a can be efficiently cooled by the freezing heat exchanger 10, and the freezing heat exchanger 10 and the refrigerating room can be used. By operating the heat pipe 13 using the temperature difference of 1b, the inside of the refrigerating room 1b can be efficiently cooled by the refrigerating heat exchanger 11. Therefore, the Stirling refrigerator 6 is compared with the case where the inside of the refrigerator is cooled by exchanging heat with the air in the whole refrigerator only by the refrigeration heat exchanger 10.
Input can be reduced, resulting in significant energy savings.

Further, the structure of the cold head 62 of the Stirling refrigerator 6 is simplified, so that space can be saved and the cost of the refrigerator can be reduced. Furthermore, heat pipe 1
Due to the high thermal diffusivity of the substrate 3, the substrate portions 101 and 111 are uniformly heated, so that the heat exchange efficiency is improved.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the heat absorbing portion of the Stirling refrigerator is attached to the freezing heat exchanger to cool the freezing heat exchanger, and the heat absorbing portion or the freezing heat exchange device is cooled. By exchanging heat through a heat pipe between the vessel and the refrigeration heat exchanger to cool the refrigeration heat exchanger, the effective heat absorption area that absorbs heat from the air in the refrigerator increases, The freezing chamber can be efficiently cooled by the freezing heat exchanger, and the heat pipe is operated by utilizing the temperature difference between the heat absorbing portion or the freezing heat exchanger and the cold room, so that the cold room can be cooled. It can be cooled efficiently by the exchanger. Therefore, compared with the case of cooling the inside of the refrigerator by exchanging heat with the air inside the refrigerator only by the refrigeration heat exchanger, the input to the Stirling refrigerator can be reduced,
Significant energy saving is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arrangement relationship between a refrigerating heat exchanger and a refrigerating heat exchanger in the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line xx of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an arrangement relationship between a freezing heat exchanger and a refrigerating heat exchanger in a refrigerator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side sectional view of an example of a conventional refrigerator.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side sectional view of another example of the conventional refrigerator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator main body 1a Freezer room 1b Refrigerator room 1c Vegetable room 3 Opening door 4 Partition plate 5 Machine room 6 Stirling refrigerator 7 High temperature side heat exchanger 8 Cooling fan 9 Partition wall 9a, 9b Cold air duct 10 Refrigeration heat exchanger 11 Refrigerator Heat exchangers 12a, 12b Fans 13 Heat pipes 14 Ventilation holes 15 Adhesive materials 16 Screws 21 Cylinders 22 Pistons 23 Displacers 24 Compression spaces 25 Expansion spaces 27 Reciprocating mechanisms 61 Warm heads 62 Cold heads 101, 111 Substrate portions 102, 112 Fins 62b , 101b, 111a Groove

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Masaaki Masuda 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka City, Osaka F-term (reference) 3L045 AA01 AA06 BA01 CA02 CA03 DA01 EA01 FA01 GA05 HA02 PA04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A freezing room and a refrigerating room partitioned by providing a partition wall inside an insulated box, a refrigerating heat exchanger for cooling the freezing room, and a cooling unit for cooling the refrigerating room. A refrigerator equipped with a refrigeration heat exchanger, comprising: a Stirling refrigerator that absorbs heat from the heat absorbing portion using an inverse Stirling cycle; and mounting the heat absorbing portion of the Stirling refrigerator to the freezing heat exchanger. The refrigeration heat exchanger is cooled by exchanging heat between the heat absorbing portion of the Stirling refrigerator and the refrigeration heat exchanger via a heat pipe to cool the refrigeration heat exchanger. A refrigerator characterized by that: 2. A freezing room and a refrigerating room partitioned by providing a partition wall inside the heat insulating box, a refrigerating heat exchanger for cooling the freezing room, and a cooling unit for cooling the refrigerating room. A refrigerator equipped with a refrigeration heat exchanger, comprising: a Stirling refrigerator that absorbs heat from the heat absorbing portion using an inverse Stirling cycle; and mounting the heat absorbing portion of the Stirling refrigerator to the freezing heat exchanger. Cooling the refrigeration heat exchanger, and exchanging heat between the refrigeration heat exchanger and the refrigeration heat exchanger via a heat pipe to cool the refrigeration heat exchanger. Refrigerator to feature. 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the heat pipes are provided.