JP2002243346A - Filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the inside of a machine room from being contaminated with oil adhering to a filter and to prevent clothes from being contaminated at the time of replacing work of the filter. SOLUTION: A louver arranged with a plurality of slits in the longitudinal and lateral directions is formed at a position of a front panel 22 defining the machine room 20 corresponding to the front side of a condenser 16. A hole for inserting a filter 26 removably is made at a lower position of the louver. A duct 27 is disposed from the back side of the louver 24 to the front side of the condenser 16. The filter 26 disposed in the front panel 22 through the insertion hole is provided with a passage opening below the louver. An oil pan 34 is disposed vertically below the passage opening of the filter 26 and oppositely thereto. Oil flowing downward through the filter 26 is collected in the oil pan 34 through the passage opening.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filter device, and more particularly, to a front panel defining a machine room in which an air-cooled condenser is arranged, and a suction unit is provided through the suction unit. The present invention relates to a filter device provided in a device such as a refrigerator for air-cooling the condenser by external air sucked into the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Refrigerators and the like configured to cool a storage space to a predetermined temperature by a refrigeration mechanism or the like disposed inside a housing are suitably used in kitchen facilities such as coffee shops and restaurants. This refrigeration mechanism is basically composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, and the like, and these are housed in a machine room defined at an upper portion or a lower portion of the housing. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in a refrigerator in which a machine room 20 is defined in the upper part of the housing 10, the condenser 16
Is disposed, and an air filter 52 is disposed on the front side thereof. And by starting the refrigerator,
A fan 54 disposed on the rear side of the condenser 16 is rotated by a fan motor 56, whereby air is taken into the condenser 16 via the air filter 52. And
A high-temperature refrigerant supplied from a compressor (not shown) to the condenser 16 is cooled by exchanging heat with the air when passing through the condenser.

[0003] The dust contained in the air is collected and adhered to the air filter 52 with time, and if the amount of the attached dust increases, clogging occurs and the external air cannot be sufficiently supplied to the condenser 16. It is necessary to perform maintenance such as periodic cleaning and replacement. For example, when replacing the air filter 52, the front panel 50 is swung up to the front side of the housing to open the entire front side of the machine room 20. In this state, the operator extends the hand from the front side of the housing 10 and releases the hooked state between the condenser 16 and the air filter 52 to release the filter 52. Thereafter, a new air filter 52 is mounted on the front side of the condenser 16 and the replacement operation is completed.

[0004]

Depending on the place where the refrigerator is used, the surrounding environment, and the like, oil and the like may adhere to the air filter 52. That is, in a cooking place using oil or the like, a large amount of evaporated oil floats in the air. Therefore, when air is sucked through the fan 54 into the air filter 52 of the refrigerator installed around the same, Oil is also taken in and collected by the filter 52. Since a large amount of oil adheres to the air filter 52 during a certain period of use, a part of the oil flows down the filter 52 and contaminates the floor panel 58 of the machine room 20. Further, as described above, when replacing the air filter 52, since the worker extends his / her hand from the front side of the housing 10, the clothes and the like are soiled by coming into contact with oil or the like flowing down on the floor panel or the like. There are also disadvantages.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems inherent in the prior art, and has been proposed in order to solve the problem suitably. It is an object of the present invention to provide a filter device that prevents the clothes and the like from being stained when the filter is replaced.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and appropriately achieve the intended purpose, a filter device according to the present invention is provided with an air-cooled condenser in a machine room, and defines the machine room. A device for air-cooling the condenser by external air sucked into a room through a suction portion formed in a front panel to be formed, wherein a dust collection filter detachably disposed on the suction portion of the front panel, An oil pan disposed below the filter disposed on the front panel to collect oil and the like adhering to the filter.

[0007]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a filter device according to the present invention. In a refrigerator or the like in which this filter device is employed, as shown in FIG. 1, a machine room 20 which is opened upward by a plurality of panels is defined at an upper portion of a housing 10 thereof. Unit stand 12 on the top of the housing
And a refrigeration mechanism including a compressor 14, a condenser 16, a fan motor 18 and the like is arranged on the upper surface of the unit base 12. A front panel 22 disposed on the front side to define the machine room 20 is pivotally supported in a vertically rotatable manner via a hinge (not shown) or the like. The front panel 22 has a plurality of slits 24a arranged at positions corresponding to the front side of the condenser 16 in the up, down, left, and right directions.
4 is formed, and at a position below the louver portion 24,
An insertion hole 22a for disposing a filter 26 to be described later is opened horizontally. The back side of the louver part 24
A duct 27 is provided at a portion extending from the (machine room side) to the front side of the condenser 16. The duct 27 is made of a plate extending from the left and right side surfaces and the upper surface of the condenser 16 toward the rear surface of the front panel 22. When the fan motor 18 is started, the duct 27 The taken-in external air for cooling is all guided and supplied to the front side of the condenser 16 through the duct 27. By the way, when the distance from the front panel 22 to the condenser 16 changes, the length of the duct 27 is changed so that all the external air taken in from the louver part 24 is guided to the condenser 16. I do.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the filter 26 detachably provided on the front panel 22
An elastically deformable frame 28 having a rectangular opening 28a formed inward, and a back side of the frame 28 (the machine room side when the filter 26 is disposed on the front panel 22). And a filter material 30 of a required mesh disposed in the filter. At the lower end of the frame 28, a handle portion 28b bent toward the rear side is formed.
The handle portion 28b functions as a portion to be gripped by a finger or the like when the filter 26 is attached to or detached from the front panel 22, as described later.

Here, when the filter 26 is disposed on the front panel 22, as shown in FIG.
The lower part of 8 is curved outward (front side), and a passage port 32 in which the filter material 30 is not provided is formed in an opening 28a corresponding to the curved part 28d. Then, the oil and the like flowing down the filter material 30 are dropped through the passage 32. The passage port 32 is set so as to face below the louver part 24 and above an oil pan 34 described later when the filter 26 is disposed on the front panel 22 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). . Further, the handle portion 2 of the frame body 28
On the back side above the bent portion of 8b, a latching convex piece 28c is provided to protrude. After the filter 26 is inserted into the room inside the louver portion 24 through the insertion hole 22a of the front panel 22, the hooking projection 28c is inserted into the insertion hole 2a.
The filter 26 is fixed to the front panel 22 so as not to fall off by being hooked from the indoor side to the lower edge portion 2a. In addition, the filter 26 is set so that the entire surface of the louver portion 24 is covered with the filter material 39 in a state where the filter 26 is provided on the front panel 22.

At the lower part inside the front panel 22,
An oil pan 34 is disposed so as to face vertically below the passage port 32 of the filter 26 disposed on the panel 22. As shown in FIG. 3, the oil pan 34 is formed in a concave groove shape with an opening 34a formed upward.
The filter 26 extends in the width direction of the filter 26. The extension of the oil pan 34 in the width direction is set to be longer than the width of the filter 26, and is configured to be able to collect all the oil falling through the passage port 32 and the like. On the rear wall surface of the oil pan 34 which is set higher than the front wall surface, a mounting piece 34b supported and fixed to the front end of the unit base 12 is provided at a substantially central position in the vertical direction. It is integrally molded. That is, by fixing the mounting piece 34b to the front end of the unit base 12 in a detachable manner using a fastening member or the like, the oil pan 34
Are positioned inside the front panel 22.

The inside of the front panel 22 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, strip-shaped guide plates 36 and 38 are arranged at respective positions corresponding to the left and right pieces of the frame 28 in the filter 26 so as to sandwich the side pieces from the front and rear. . The lower end of the back guide plate 36 located on the back side of the filter 26 extends below the upper end of the wall surface on the back side of the oil pan 34, and the upper end is close to the inner upper end of the front panel 22. Extending to the position. At the lower end of the back guide plate 36, a bent portion 36a is formed which is bent downward at a required angle toward the front side.

Further, a front guide plate 38 facing the front side of the rear guide plate 36 with the filter 26 interposed therebetween is separated from the rear guide plate 36 by an interval which allows the frame 28 of the filter 26 to be inserted. Will be arranged. Front guide plate 3
A lower end of the rear guide plate 8 is located below the upper end of the rear guide plate 36 by a predetermined length, and a bent portion 38a is formed at the lower end so as to be inclined downward at a required angle toward the front side. ing. That is, the filter 26 inserted from the insertion hole 22a of the front panel 22 to the inside of the panel.
Is provided between the guide plates 36, 38 at each bent portion 36a, 38a.
It is configured to be guided via a.

[0013]

Next, the operation of the filter device according to the above-described embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the filter 26, which is not disposed on the front panel 22, extends substantially entirely except for the handle 28b, and has an upper end opposite to the handle 28b. The part is inserted in a state of being directed obliquely upward with respect to the insertion hole 22a. The upper end of the inserted filter 26 comes into contact with the vicinity of the lower end of the rear guide plate 36 provided inside the front panel 22. By inserting the filter 26 further, the frame 28 of the filter 26 is It is guided upward along the back guide plate 36 in a state of being curved upward with respect to the insertion direction. In addition, even when the insertion angle of the filter 26 with respect to the insertion hole 22a is slightly lower (approaching in the horizontal direction), by contacting the bent portion 36a formed at the lower end of the back guide plate 36, The upper end of the filter 26 is reliably guided upward.

The upper end of the filter 26 that moves upward along the back guide plate 36 is inserted between the back guide plate 36 and the front guide plate 38. Since a bent portion 38a is formed at the lower end of the front guide plate 38, the insertion of the upper end of the filter between the two guide plates 36 and 38 is ensured. Then, after the hooking projection 28c is inserted inside the insertion hole 22a, the hooking projection 28c is hooked from the inside to the lower edge of the insertion hole 22a, as shown in FIG. A filter 26 is provided in the internal space of the front panel 22 so as not to fall off. At this time, the lower part of the frame body 28 is bent toward the outdoor side, and the frame body 28 is pressed against the back guide plate 36 by the elastic restoring force of the curved portion 28d, so that the filter 26 is securely held. You.
Further, in this state, the entire surface of the louver portion 24 of the front panel 22 is covered with the filter material 39, and the passage port 32 formed in the curved portion 28d faces above the oil pan 34.

When the operation of the refrigerator is started with the filter 26 disposed on the front panel 22, the fan motor 18 disposed in the machine room 20 is activated, and the louver 24 and the duct 27 are started. The outside air is taken into the front side of the condenser 16 through the. When the external air passes through the filter 26, dust, oil, and the like mixed in the air are collected by the filter material 30, and are accumulated with time. The oil and the like adhered and collected on the filter material 30 flow down along the surface of the filter material 30,
The oil is collected by the oil pan 34 through the passage 32. That is, the inner bottom surface of the machine room 20 is prevented from being contaminated by oil or the like flowing down from the filter 26. Further, in the embodiment, since the duct 27 is provided between the front panel 22 and the condenser 16, all dust, oil, and the like mixed in the external air are collected by the filter material 30.
Dirty inside the machine room is prevented.

Next, when the filter 26 is to be replaced during regular maintenance, the handle portion 28b is lifted slightly upward to release the latching projection 28c outward from the insertion hole 22a, and then the handle 26b is removed. The filter 26 is taken out of the front panel 22 by pulling out the portion 28b obliquely downward. Thereafter, the replacement operation is completed by disposing another new filter 26 on the front panel 22 as described above. The replacement of the filter 26 is performed in the housing 1
0, and the clothes do not become dirty since the operator does not need to put his hands in the machine room.

[0017]

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the filter device, wherein a plurality of slits 48 are formed in the front part of a front panel 40 formed in a rectangular box shape open to the machine room side.
A louver portion 48 as a suction portion made of a is formed, and an insertion hole 40a through which the filter 42 is inserted / removed is formed at an upper position of the louver portion 48. Further, a guide portion 44 is provided inside the front panel 40 so as to extend a predetermined length downward from an upper position of the insertion hole 40a.
The upper portion of the guide portion 44 is inclined in an arc shape that is separated from the front portion as going from top to bottom, and its lower end is set to a length close to the inner lower end portion of the front panel 40. The lower end of the filter 42 inserted from the front side into the insertion hole 40a is guided by the guide portion 44 downward of the front panel 40.

The filter 42 includes an elastically deformable frame 43 having a rectangular opening, and a filter material 45 of a required mesh provided to cover the entire opening of the frame 43. It is composed of And the filter 4
Reference numeral 2 is such that the frame 43 is inserted into the front panel 40 while being elastically deformed along the guide portion 44. As shown in FIG. 5, an oil pan 46 is provided on the inner bottom surface of the front panel 40 at a position below the lower end of the guide portion 44. The oil pan 46 is formed in the shape of a concave groove having a cross-section having an opening 46a at the upper side similarly to the oil pan 34 of the above-described embodiment, and the opening 46a faces directly below the filter 42 arranged on the front panel 40. It is set as follows.

That is, in another embodiment, when the lower end of the filter 42 is inserted into the front panel through the insertion hole 40a, the lower end abuts on the guide portion 44, and the lower end of the filter 42 moves along the guide portion 44. The frame 43 is guided downward while being elastically deformed. Then, the filter 4 inserted into the position where the entire surface of the louver portion 48 is covered with the filter material 45 is removed.
2 is positioned and held in the front panel by being pressed against the guide portion 44 by the elastic restoring force of the frame 43. At this time, the lower end of the filter 42 faces above the oil pan 46. Therefore, all the oil and the like adhering to the filter member 45 and flowing down are collected by the oil pan 46 and the inner bottom surface of the machine room 20 is prevented from being stained.
Further, in another embodiment, work such as replacement of the filter 42 can be performed on the front side of the housing 10, and it is not necessary for an operator to put his hands in the machine room, so that clothes are not stained.

The suction portion formed on the front panel may be a single opening instead of a louver portion having a large number of slits. Further, a configuration may be adopted in which the filter is detachably disposed on the outdoor side, not on the indoor side, with respect to the suction portion. Furthermore, when the filter is disposed on the front panel, the lower portion of the frame is not limited to the one that curves outward,
It may be configured to bend indoors. Furthermore, the device in which the filter device is adopted is not limited to a refrigerator or a freezer, but may be a showcase or an air conditioner.

[0021]

As described above, in the filter device according to the present invention, the oil and the like adhering and collecting on the filter material and flowing down can be collected by the oil pan, so that the inner bottom surface of the machine room becomes dirty with the oil and the like. Can be prevented. Further, since the filter is provided on the front panel, it is not necessary for the operator to put his hand in the machine room when replacing the filter, and the clothes and the like are prevented from being stained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing a part of a housing in which a filter device of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part showing a part of the housing according to the embodiment before a filter is provided.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part showing a filter device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing a main part of the housing according to the embodiment in a state where a filter is provided.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view showing a front panel and a filter of a filter device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part showing a part of a housing in which a filter device according to a conventional technique is implemented.

[Explanation of symbols]

16 condenser, 20 machine room, 22 front panel, 2
Reference Signs List 4 louver part (suction part) 26 filter, 28 frame, 28a opening, 28d curved part 30 filter material, 32 passage port, 34 oil pan, 4
0 front panel 42 filter, 46 oil pan, 48 louver part (suction part)

Claims (2)

[Claims] An air-cooled condenser (16) is provided in a machine room (20), and a suction part (24, 48) formed in a front panel (22, 40) defining the machine room (20) is provided. An apparatus for air-cooling the condenser (16) by external air sucked into a room through the air-conditioning apparatus, wherein a dust-collecting device detachably disposed on a suction portion (24, 48) of the front panel (22, 40). Filters (26, 42) and filters (26, 4) disposed on the front panel (22, 40).
An oil pan (34, 46) disposed below the filter (2) and for collecting oil and the like attached to the filters (26, 42). 2. The filter (26) is composed of an elastically deformable frame (28) and a filter material (30) of a required mesh disposed in an opening (28a) of the frame (28). The filter (26)
When disposed on the front panel (22), the lower portion of the frame body (28) is curved, and the curved portion (28d) of the filter (26) drops oil and the like adhering to the oil pan (34). 2. The filter device according to claim 1, wherein a port is provided.