JP2002286347A - Cooling storage box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a cooling storage box comprising coolers for cooling each of a first and second storage compartments, and controlling the operating frequency of a compressor in which power consumption is reduced furthermore, in an freezer/refrigerator. SOLUTION: The freezer/refrigerator 1 comprises a freezing compartment 2, a refrigerating compartment 3, coolers 4 and 7 for cooling the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, respectively, a compressor 9 for circulating refrigerant through each cooler, a valve 12 for switching refrigerant supply to both coolers or only to the cooler for the freezing compartment by interrupting refrigerant supply to the cooler for the refrigerating compartment, and a controller 16 for controlling the operating frequency of the compressor and the switching valve. When the refrigerant is supplied to both coolers by the switching valve, the controller operates the compressor with a low frequency and when refrigerant is supplied only to the cooler for the freezing compartment, the controller operates the compressor with a high frequency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention comprises first and second coolers for cooling first and second storage chambers, respectively.
The present invention relates to a cooling storage formed by controlling the operating frequency of a compressor to cool each chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a home refrigerator is a freezer compartment (first storage compartment) for freezing and storing frozen foods and the like.
And a refrigerated compartment (second storage compartment) for refrigerated storage of fresh foods and the like. In recent years, in order to improve the cooling performance of each of these storage rooms, there has been developed one in which a cooler for cooling each of the freezing room and the refrigerator room is provided to constitute a refrigerant circuit.

In addition, the operating frequency of a compressor that circulates refrigerant through each cooler is controlled by an inverter device, thereby reducing power consumption while operating at a low frequency in a steady state where the storage room is sufficiently cooled. Therefore, when pulling down or when a large amount of food is introduced, the operating frequency is increased to allow rapid cooling.

[0004]

By the way, in a refrigerator having a refrigerator in each storage room as described above, when cooling of each storage room is required, a refrigerant is usually passed through both coolers and the refrigerator compartment is provided. When the temperature has decreased to the lower limit temperature, the circulation of the refrigerant to the cooler of the refrigerator compartment is stopped, and the refrigerant is circulated only to the cooler of the refrigerator compartment. Then, when the temperatures of both storage chambers are reduced to the lower limit temperature, the compressor is stopped.

[0005] In such a case, the circulation of the refrigerant is not performed in the cooler of the refrigerator compartment, so that the refrigerant in the cooler is stored, so that the amount of the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit is reduced. Conventionally, the operation of circulating the refrigerant only in the refrigerator in the freezer compartment is performed at the operating frequency when the refrigerant is circulated in both the refrigerators. The operation time of the compressor is prolonged due to the decrease in the amount, and there is a problem that the amount of power consumption increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problem, and comprises a cooler for cooling the first and second storage chambers, respectively, and a cooling storage for controlling the operating frequency of the compressor. In the above, the object is to further reduce the power consumption.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The cooling storage of the present invention comprises:
First and second storage chambers, first and second coolers for cooling the first and second storage chambers respectively, a compressor for circulating a refrigerant through each cooler, and both the coolers Or a flow path switching device that switches between flowing the refrigerant to the second cooler and flowing the refrigerant only to the first cooler, and an operating frequency of the compressor and the flow path switching device. A controller that controls the compressor, when the refrigerant flows through the two coolers by the flow path switching device, operates the compressor at a low frequency, and the first cooler When the refrigerant is supplied only to the compressor, the compressor is operated at a high frequency.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cooling storage device, wherein the compressor, the condenser connected to the discharge side of the compressor, and the flow path switching connected to the outlet side of the condenser are connected. A switching valve constituting the device, first and second decompression devices connected to respective outlets of the switching valve, and the first and second decompression devices connected to the outlet side of the first decompression device. A refrigerant circuit comprising: a first cooler; and a second cooler connected in communication with an outlet side of the second decompression device,
The control device switches the switching valve so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and condensed in the condenser passes through the second pressure reducing device to the second pressure reducing device.
A first cooling mode in which the refrigerant is sequentially flown from the cooler to the first cooler and then returned to the compressor, and the refrigerant condensed in the condenser is passed through the first decompressor to the first cooler. And then a second cooling mode of returning to the compressor is executed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned invention, the control device controls the first storage room to a refrigeration temperature and controls the second storage room to a refrigeration temperature. Features.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cooling storage device according to the above invention, the control device controls an operation frequency of the compressor by an inverter device.

According to the present invention, the first and second storage chambers, the first and second coolers for cooling the first and second storage chambers, respectively, and the refrigerant circulating through the coolers are provided. And a flow path switching device that switches whether to flow the refrigerant to both the coolers or to cut off the refrigerant flow of the second cooler and flow the refrigerant only to the first cooler, and In a cooling storage provided with an operation frequency and a control device for controlling the flow path switching device, the control device operates the compressor at a low frequency when the refrigerant flows through the two coolers by the flow path switching device. In addition, when the refrigerant flows only to the first cooler, the compressor is operated at a high frequency,
The operation time of the compressor in a state where the refrigerant is flowing only in the first cooler can be reduced.

Thus, the power consumption of the compressor is reduced by the low operating frequency when the refrigerant is flowing through both the coolers, and the operating time of the compressor is reduced when the refrigerant is flowing only through the first cooler. The reduction allows the amount of power consumption to be reduced, and as a whole, a remarkable reduction in power consumption can be achieved.

For example, in the case of a refrigerant circuit according to claim 2,
In the second cooling mode, the refrigerant is confined in the second cooler, so that the refrigerant circulation amount in the second cooling mode is reduced. However, in the present invention, the operation time of the compressor in such a case is reduced. In addition, the power consumption can be reduced.

Further, when the freezing room and the refrigerating room are each cooled by a cooler, the amount of power consumption can be reduced while sufficiently cooling each storage room. Further, by controlling the operating frequency of the compressor by the inverter device as described in claim 4, more accurate compressor frequency control can be realized, and the effect of reducing the power consumption can be further improved. is there.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a refrigerant circuit and a control system of a home refrigerator 1 as an embodiment of a cooling storage according to the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 2 denotes a freezing room as a first storage room configured in the refrigerator 1, and 3 denotes a refrigerator room as a second storage room. The first storage room is not limited to this, and may be an ice greenhouse (−3 ° C. to 0 ° C.).
The first storage room may be a freezing room, and the second storage room may be an ice room. That is, as long as the first storage room is cooled to a lower temperature than the second storage room, the combination is not limited to those cooling temperatures.

A freezer compartment cooler (F eva) 4 as a first cooler is disposed in the freezer compartment 2, and the cold air exchanged with the freezer compartment cooler 4 is cooled by a freezer blower 6. 2
Circulated in On the other hand, a refrigerator compartment cooler (REVA) 7 as a second cooler is also provided in the refrigerator compartment 3, and the cold air exchanged with the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 is cooled by the refrigerator compartment blower 8 into the refrigerator compartment 3. It is configured to be circulated.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a reciprocating or rotary type compressor (electric compressor) driven by a DC motor, for example, and reference numeral 11 denotes a condenser (condenser). 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a switching valve as a flow path switching device, which is constituted by a three-way solenoid valve. Reference numerals 13 and 14 denote capillary tubes as first and second decompression devices. The pipe on the inlet side of the condenser 11 is connected to the pipe on the discharge side of the compressor 9, and the pipe on the outlet side of the condenser 11 is connected to the pipe connected to the inlet of the switching valve 12. An inlet of a capillary tube 13 is connected to a pipe connected to one outlet of the switching valve 12, and a pipe on the inlet side of the freezer compartment cooler 4 is connected to an outlet of the capillary tube 13.

An inlet of a capillary tube 14 is connected to a pipe connected to the other outlet of the switching valve 12, and a pipe on the inlet side of the refrigerator cooler 7 is connected to an outlet of the capillary tube 14. You. The pipe on the outlet side of the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 is connected to the pipe on the inlet side of the refrigerator compartment cooler 4 downstream of the capillary tube 13. The outlet pipe of the freezer compartment cooler 4 is connected to the suction pipe of the compressor 9 to form a refrigerant circuit.

When the compressor 9 is operated, a high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant is discharged from the discharge-side pipe and flows into the condenser 11. After the refrigerant is condensed there, it reaches the inlet of the switching valve 12. The switching valve 12 switches between closing the other outlet and connecting the inlet to one outlet or closing one outlet and connecting the inlet to the other outlet. Now, the switching valve 12 connects the inlet to the other outlet. In the state where the refrigerant is communicated with the outlet of the above, the refrigerant that has passed through the switching valve 12 flows into the capillary tube 14, where it is depressurized,
It flows into the refrigerator compartment cooler 7.

The refrigerant flowing into the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 evaporates there and removes latent heat from the surroundings to exert a cooling effect. The cool air exchanged with the refrigerator cooler 7 is circulated into the refrigerator 3 by the refrigerator blower 8 as described above, and the refrigerator 3 is cooled. The refrigerant that has exited the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 then flows into the refrigerator compartment cooler 6, where it also evaporates and removes latent heat from the surroundings to exert a cooling effect. The cool air that has exchanged heat with the freezing room cooler 4 is also circulated into the freezing room 2 by the freezing room blower 6 as described above, and the inside of the freezing room 2 is cooled. And the refrigerant | coolant which came out of the freezer compartment cooler 4 returns to the piping of the suction side of the compressor 9 again.

On the other hand, when the switching valve 12 has the inlet communicating with the one outlet, the refrigerant flowing through the switching valve 12 flows into the capillary tube 13, where the refrigerant is depressurized and then flows into the freezing compartment cooler 4. I do. The refrigerant flowing into the freezer compartment cooler 4 evaporates there and removes latent heat from the surroundings, and exerts a cooling function as described above. Then, the refrigerant that has exited the freezer compartment cooler 4 returns to the pipe on the suction side of the compressor 9 in the same manner.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a control device for the refrigerator-freezer 1, which is constituted by a general-purpose microcomputer. Outputs of a freezer compartment temperature sensor 17 for detecting the temperature in the freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerator compartment temperature sensor 18 for detecting the temperature in the refrigerator compartment 3 are input to the control device 16. The output of the sensor 16 is connected to an inverter device 19 for controlling the operating frequency of the DC motor of the compressor 9 and the switching valve 12. The blowers 6, 8 are also connected to the output of the control device 16.

The operation of the above configuration will now be described. now,
The control device 16 is provided with a freezer 2 by a setting device (not shown).
Is set to, for example, -20.degree. C. and the set temperature of the refrigerator compartment 3 is set to, for example, + 5.degree. Further, assuming that the refrigerator-freezer 1 is in a state immediately after installation, since the temperatures of the freezer compartment 2 and the refrigerator compartment 3 are both high values close to room temperature, the control device 16 executes the pull-down operation.

In this pull-down operation, the control device 16 controls the compressor 9 by, for example, 58
Operate at a frequency such as Hz. Further, the switching valve 12 closes one outlet and connects the inlet to the other outlet. As a result, the pressure is discharged from the compressor 9 and the condenser 1
The refrigerant condensed in 1 enters the capillary tube 14 from the switching valve 12, is decompressed there, and then flows to the refrigerator cooler 7 and the refrigerator cooler 4 sequentially as described above.
This cooling operation is referred to as a refrigeration / refrigeration cooling mode as a first cooling mode.

Further, the control device 16 operates each of the blowers 6, 8, whereby the freezing room 2 and the refrigerating room 3 are cooled as described above. Note that the control device 16 controls each temperature sensor 1
Based on the outputs of 7 and 18, the operating frequency of the compressor 9 is reduced stepwise by the inverter device 19 as the temperature of each chamber approaches the above-mentioned set temperature.

When the temperature in the refrigerator compartment 3 drops to the lower limit temperature + 3 ° C., for example, the refrigerator compartment temperature sensor 18
The control device 16 switches the switching valve 12 based on the output of the above, closes the other outlet, and makes the inlet communicate with the one outlet. Thereby, the refrigerant circulation of the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 is cut off,
The refrigerant discharged from the compressor 9 and condensed by the condenser 11 enters the capillary tube 13 from the switching valve 12, is decompressed there, and then flows to the freezer compartment cooler 4. This cooling operation is referred to as a refrigeration cooling mode as a second cooling mode.

The control device 16 stops the refrigerator air blower 8 and operates only the freezer air blower 6. by this,
The cooling of the refrigerator compartment 3 is stopped, and the cooling of only the freezer compartment 2 is continued. Then, when the temperature in the freezing room 2 decreases from that state to the lower limit temperature, for example, −22 ° C., the control device 16 stops the compressor 9 based on the output of the freezing room temperature sensor 17 (the freezing room blower 6 also stops). ).
Thereby, the cooling of the freezing room 2 is also stopped.

Thereafter, when the temperature of the freezing compartment 2 rises to reach the upper limit temperature, for example, -15 ° C., the control device 16 starts the compressor 9 to return to the above-mentioned freezing / cooling mode, Rises to the upper limit temperature of, for example, + 7 ° C., the operation returns to the refrigeration / freezing / cooling mode. After the freezer compartment 2 and the refrigeration compartment 3 are sufficiently cooled to near the set temperature, the control device 16 sets the compressor 9
Is switched to and executed between the refrigeration / cooling mode and the refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode, or a cycle operation for stopping the compressor 9 is executed.

Here, during such a cycle operation, the control device 16 sets the operating frequency of the compressor 9 by the inverter device 19 to, for example, 30 in the refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode.
Hz, and 43 Hz in the freezing and cooling mode.

FIG. 2 shows the results of measuring the power consumption in each cooling mode with respect to the operating frequency of the compressor 9 (the room temperature at which the refrigerator 1 is installed is + 25 ° C.).
In the figure, the value when the compressor 9 is stopped is the power consumption of the refrigerator 1 when the compressor 9 is stopped. The power consumption when the compressor 9 is stopped when the compressor 9 is operated at 30 Hz during the cycle operation is 2 .1WH /
h, 2.5 WH / h at 32 Hz, 2.6 WH / h at 35 Hz, and 3.2 WH / h at 43 Hz.

The value at the time of refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling is the power consumption of the refrigerator 1 in the refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode.
The power consumption in the refrigeration / freezing / cooling mode when operating at 12.5 Hz is 18.5 WH / h, and 19.5 at 32 Hz.
21.3 WH / h, 43 Hz for WH / h, 35 Hz
Was 26 WH / h.

The value at the time of freezing / cooling is the power consumption of the refrigerator 1 in the freezing / cooling mode, and the power consumption in the freezing / cooling mode when the compressor 9 is operated at 30 Hz during the cycle operation is 27. .9
WH / h, 27 WH / h at 32 Hz, 26.6 WH / h at 35 Hz, 24.6 WH / h at 43 Hz
Met. Note that the total power consumption in the figure is the power consumption over the entire period during the cycle operation in which these values are summed for each operation frequency.

As described above, in the refrigeration / freezing / cooling mode in which the refrigerant is circulated through both the freezer compartment cooler 4 and the refrigerator compartment cooler 7, the lower the operating frequency of the compressor 9 is, the lower the power consumption is, and the lower the operating frequency is. The higher the power, the higher the power consumption. On the other hand, in the refrigerating / cooling mode in which the refrigerant is circulated only in the freezing compartment cooler 4, the reverse tendency is observed. The power consumption increases as the operating frequency of the compressor 9 decreases, and the power consumption decreases as the operating frequency increases. . The reason for this is that in the refrigerating cooling mode, the other outlet of the switching valve 12 is closed and the refrigerant is trapped in the refrigerator compartment cooler 7,
At a low operating frequency of the compressor 9, the cooling capacity in the freezing compartment 2 is reduced due to the decrease in the amount of the refrigerant circulating in the refrigerant circuit, and the operating time of the compressor 9 is extended. It is believed that there is.

Based on these facts, in the present invention, as described above, the control device 16 fixes the operating frequency of the compressor 9 by the inverter device 19 to 30 Hz in the refrigeration / freezing / cooling mode during the cycle operation, and reduces the operating frequency in the refrigeration / cooling mode. Since it is raised and fixed at 43 Hz, the operation time of the compressor 9 in the refrigerating cooling mode in which the refrigerant flows only in the freezing compartment cooler 4 can be reduced. Thus, in the refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode in which the refrigerant flows through both the coolers 4 and 7, the power consumption of the compressor 9 is reduced by the low operation frequency (30 Hz), and the refrigerant flows only through the freezer compartment cooler 4. In the refrigeration / cooling mode, the power consumption can be reduced by shortening the operation time of the compressor 9, and as a whole, a remarkable reduction in power consumption can be achieved.

In the embodiment, the operating frequency of the compressor 9 in the refrigeration / freezing / cooling mode is fixed at 30 Hz, and the operating frequency in the refrigeration / cooling mode is fixed at 43 Hz. 35Hz, refrigeration / freezing cooling mode 3
At 0 Hz, 32 Hz in refrigeration / cooling mode, 32 Hz in refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode, 43 Hz in refrigeration / cooling mode, 32 Hz in refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode, 35 Hz in refrigeration / cooling mode, 35 Hz in refrigeration / refrigeration / cooling mode, and 43 Hz in refrigeration / cooling mode. Is also good. Also, the numerical value of the operating frequency of the compressor 9 is not limited to this, and may be appropriately determined according to the capacity and the heat insulation capacity of the refrigerator 1, the capacity of the compressor 9 and the cooling capacity of the entire refrigerant circuit.

Further, the refrigerant circuit is not limited to the embodiment. In the first aspect of the present invention, the refrigerant flows in the freezer compartment cooler first and then in the refrigerator compartment cooler in the refrigeration / refrigeration cooling mode. Alternatively, the refrigerant may flow in parallel with the freezer compartment cooler and the refrigerator compartment cooler. However,
By using the refrigerant circuit as in the embodiment, the configuration of the switching valve or the entire refrigerant circuit can be simplified as compared with the above.

[0037]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the first
And a second storage chamber, first and second coolers for cooling the first and second storage chambers respectively, a compressor for circulating a refrigerant to each of the coolers, and a refrigerant for the two coolers Or a flow path switching device that switches between flowing the refrigerant or cutting off the refrigerant flow of the second cooler and flowing the refrigerant only to the first cooler, and controlling the operating frequency of the compressor and the flow path switching device. In the cooling storage provided with a control device, the control device operates the compressor at a low frequency when the refrigerant is caused to flow through the two coolers by the flow path switching device, and controls the refrigerant only in the first cooler. When the refrigerant is supplied, the compressor is operated at a high frequency, so that the operation time of the compressor in a state where the refrigerant is supplied only to the first cooler can be reduced.

Accordingly, the power consumption of the compressor is reduced by the low operating frequency when the refrigerant is flowing through both the coolers, and the operating time of the compressor is reduced when the refrigerant is flowing only through the first cooler. The reduction allows the amount of power consumption to be reduced, and as a whole, a remarkable reduction in power consumption can be achieved.

For example, in the case of the refrigerant circuit according to claim 2,
In the second cooling mode, the refrigerant is confined in the second cooler, so that the refrigerant circulation amount in the second cooling mode is reduced. However, in the present invention, the operation time of the compressor in such a case is reduced. In addition, the power consumption can be reduced.

Further, when the freezing room and the refrigerating room are each cooled by a cooler, the amount of power consumption can be reduced while sufficiently cooling each storage room. Further, by controlling the operating frequency of the compressor by the inverter device as described in claim 4, more accurate compressor frequency control can be realized, and the effect of reducing the power consumption can be further improved. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a refrigerant circuit and a control system of a refrigerator-freezer as an embodiment of a cooling storage according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing measurement results of power consumption of a refrigerator-freezer in each cooling mode with respect to an operating frequency of a compressor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Freezer refrigerator (cooling storage) 2 Freezer room (1st storage room) 3 Refrigerator room (2nd storage room) 4 Freezer room cooler (1st cooler) 7 Refrigerator room cooler (2nd cooler) 9) Compressor 11 Condenser 12 Switching valve (flow path switching device) 13, 14 Capillary tube (decompression device) 16 Control device 17, 18 Temperature sensor 19 Inverter device

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Katsuichi Dei 2-5-5-1 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Katsuyuki Takeda 2-5-5-1 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3L045 AA02 AA03 AA05 AA06 BA01 CA02 DA02 EA01 FA03 GA07 HA02 HA08 JA15 LA06 MA02 NA01 PA01 PA05

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first and a second storage chamber, a first and a second cooler for cooling the first and the second storage chamber, respectively, and a compressor for circulating a refrigerant through each of the coolers. A flow path switching device that switches between flowing the refrigerant to both the coolers or cutting off the refrigerant flow of the second cooler and flowing the refrigerant only to the first cooler, and the operating frequency of the compressor In a cooling storage provided with a control device that controls the flow path switching device, the control device operates the compressor at a low frequency when the refrigerant flows through the two coolers by the flow path switching device, and When the refrigerant flows through only one cooler, the compressor operates at a high frequency. 2. A compressor, a condenser connected in communication with a discharge side of the compressor, a switching valve constituting the flow path switching device connected in communication with an outlet side of the condenser, and a switching valve. First and second decompression devices connected to respective outlets of the valve, respectively;
The first cooler is connected to the outlet side of the first pressure reducing device, and the second cooler is connected to the outlet side of the second pressure reducing device. The control device switches the switching valve to switch the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and condensed in the condenser through the second pressure reducing device to the second pressure reducing device.
A first cooling mode in which the refrigerant is sequentially flown from the cooler to the first cooler and then returned to the compressor, and the refrigerant condensed in the condenser is passed through the first decompressor to the first cooler. 2. The cooling storage according to claim 1, wherein a second cooling mode in which the cooling medium is returned to the compressor and then returned to the compressor is executed. 3. The cooling system according to claim 1, wherein the control device controls the first storage room to a refrigeration temperature while controlling the first storage room to a refrigeration temperature. Storage. 4. The cooling storage according to claim 1, wherein the control device controls an operating frequency of the compressor by an inverter device.