JP2006046728A - Cooling storage with thawing chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling storage with thawing chamber capable of preventing adhesion of a large quantity of dew condensate to the inside of a thawing chamber or the surface of a matter to be thawed. <P>SOLUTION: This cooling storage comprises the thawing chamber 3 storing an object of thawing, a steam generator 14 storing a predetermined quantity of water by overflowing, and supplying a predetermined quantity of steam per predetermined time into the thawing chamber 3, a tank 55 storing water to be fed to the steam generator 14, and a feed water control device feeding a predetermined quantity or more of water to the steam generator 14 at predetermined time intervals. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a thawing chamber equipped with a steam generator for humidifying the thawing chamber, and more specifically, thawing to keep the amount of water supplied to the steam generator constant and the amount of steam generated per predetermined time constant. It relates to a refrigerator with a room.

Conventionally, a refrigerator including a thawing chamber provided in a part of a refrigeration chamber and an ultrasonic humidifier that humidifies and defrosts an object to be thawed stored in the thawing chamber is known. When the object to be thawed is thawed in the thawing chamber of the conventional refrigerator, water droplets sprayed from the ultrasonic humidifier adhere to the surface of the object to be thawed. And, when water vapor condenses, condensation latent heat is given to the object to be thawed. For this reason, the material to be thawed can be thawed uniformly and naturally using the latent heat and sensible heat of water.
JP-A-6-257933

  In a refrigerator equipped with a thawing chamber as described above, the amount of water vapor in the thawing chamber needs to be constant. That is, when the amount of water supplied by the ultrasonic humidifier is large, a large amount of condensed water adheres to the wall surface of the thawing chamber or the surface of the object to be thawed. This is because a problem arises.

  In the refrigerator described in the above-mentioned patent document, it is possible to control the humidity in the thawing chamber using a humidity sensor, but the detection result may vary depending on the accuracy of the sensor itself and the mounting position. As a result, there may be a difference between the amount of water vapor supplied into the thawing chamber and the required amount, and in this case, the above-described problems may occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a refrigerator with a thawing chamber that can reliably supply a predetermined amount of water vapor into the thawing chamber.

  In the present specification, the term “cooling” is defined as a concept including both freezing and refrigeration. That is, the refrigerator refers to all devices that bring the space to be cooled to a temperature lower than the outside air. The refrigerator includes a refrigerator-freezer. A refrigerator-freezer is a refrigerator having both a freezer that freezes an object and a refrigerator that does not freeze the object but maintains the surrounding space of the object at a temperature lower than the outside air. .

  In one aspect, the refrigerator with a thawing chamber according to the present invention stores a predetermined amount of water by overflowing with a thawing chamber that stores an object to be thawed, and stores a predetermined amount of steam per predetermined time in the thawing chamber. A steam generator to be supplied, a tank for storing water to be supplied to the steam generator, and a water supply control device for supplying a predetermined amount or more of water to the steam generator every predetermined time.

  More specifically, the discharge pipe is made to overflow from the discharge pipe opened in the side wall of the storage unit, and the discharge pipe is connected to an evaporating dish for evaporating defrost water of a cooler that cools the refrigerator. The steam generator is preferably evaporated with a self-control heater.

  Since the refrigerator with a thawing chamber of the present invention includes the steam generation device and the water supply control device as described above, a predetermined amount of water can be supplied to the steam generation device, and the thawing chamber has a predetermined unit time per unit time. A predetermined amount of steam can be supplied stably.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a refrigerator with a thawing chamber in one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator 100 with a thawing chamber according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes an evaporator (cooler) that generates cold air using cold heat generated by a Stirling cooler (not shown), The door which is not made and the heat insulation wall 90 are provided. In the space surrounded by the door and the heat insulating wall 90, there are provided a freezing room 1 for storing food to be frozen and a refrigerating room 2 for storing food to be refrigerated. The refrigerator 100 also includes a thawing chamber 3 for storing food as an object to be thawed, an ice storage chamber 4 for storing manufactured ice, and a tank for storing ice-making water and thawing water. 55.

  2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of the refrigerator 100 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a pump 7 for pumping up water in the tank 55 is disposed on the back side of the tank 55. An ice making grill 5 for producing ice is provided on the upper surface side of the ice storage chamber 4. On the lower surface of the main body of the refrigerator 100, there is provided an evaporating dish 11 through which condensed water (defrosted water) generated in the evaporator flows and evaporates the condensed water. A pipe 500 that communicates with the tank 55 and a pipe 30 that communicates with the ice making grill 5 are connected to the pump 7.

  3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, and as shown in FIG. 3, the thawing chamber 3 is provided at a position adjacent to the tank 55 through the heat insulating wall 90.

  The thawing chamber 3 includes a storage chamber 50 in which an object to be thawed is stored, and a duct 40 provided on the back side of the storage chamber 50 and extending in the width direction of the refrigerator 100. An opening 21 for sucking humid air in the storage chamber 50 into the duct 40 is provided at the end of the duct 40 on the tank 55 side. Further, the duct 40 is formed with an opening 20 that supplies humid air in the duct 40 into the storage chamber 50 at an end opposite to the end where the opening 21 is formed. The thawing chamber 3 is provided with a discharge port (not shown) through which the humidified air in the thawing chamber 3 is discharged from the thawing chamber 3 after thawing is completed.

  4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, a thawing water tank 12 for storing thawing water is disposed above the opening 21 of the duct 40. ing. A pipe 6 is connected between the thawing water tank 12 and the pump 7. The pipe 6 is provided with a switching valve 8 for switching the water flow path when supplying water to the ice making grill 5 or the thawing water tank 12.

  A steam generator 14 that evaporates the water supplied from the thawing water tank 12 is provided in the duct 40. Further, a heater 17 that heats the air in the thawing chamber 3 and a fan 18 that sends the generated water vapor into the storage chamber 50 are provided in the duct 40.

  The steam generator 14 is disposed below the thawing water tank 12, and a pipe (water supply channel) through which the water in the thawing water tank 12 circulates between the evaporation generator 14 and the thawing water tank 12. 22 is arranged.

  FIG. 5 shows a steam generator 14 that humidifies the inside of the thawing chamber 3, and a pipe 22 that supplies water from a tank 55 that stores water supplied to the steam generator 14 to the electromagnetic valve 13 that constitutes the water supply control device. It is a sectional side view. As shown in FIG. 5, the steam generating device 14 heats the water stored in the storage unit 70 for a predetermined time by storing a predetermined amount by overflowing the water from the thawing water tank 12. A PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) heater (self-control heater) 72 that generates a predetermined amount of water vapor by evaporating all of the water vapor is provided.

  The water supply control device is composed of an electromagnetic valve 13 provided in the pipe 22 and a control means (not shown) for driving and controlling the electromagnetic valve 13, and opens and closes the electromagnetic valve 13 every predetermined time to a predetermined amount. The above water is supplied to the storage unit 70. The control means is constituted by a microcomputer or the like. A discharge conduit 75 that overflows water exceeding a predetermined amount is connected to the side wall of the reservoir 70.

  In addition, in this embodiment, although the water supply control apparatus is provided with the electromagnetic valve 13, it can replace with the pump 7. FIG. That is, the pump 7 may be driven so that a predetermined amount or more of water is directly supplied from the pipe 6 to the storage unit 70. The discharge channel 75 has one end connected to the side wall of the storage unit 70 and the other end connected to the evaporating dish 11 disposed on the bottom surface of the refrigerator 100. The discharge channel 75 is connected to a predetermined height position from the bottom surface of the storage unit 70 so that the amount of water stored in the storage unit 70 is, for example, 1 cc.

  In addition, the height position to which the discharge flow path 75 is connected, that is, the amount of water stored in the storage unit 70 is appropriately set depending on the capacity in the thawing chamber 3 and the like.

  In the refrigerator 100 configured as described above, an object to be stored is stored in the thawing chamber 3. At the time of thawing, the switching valve 8 causes the thawing water tank 12 and the tank 55 to communicate with each other. The pump 7 supplies the water in the tank 55 to the thawing water tank 12.

  The water supplied into the thawing water tank 12 is dripped by the electromagnetic valve 13 from the tip of the pipe 11 into the storage part 70 of the steam generator 14, for example, about 1 cc to 4 cc every minute. Thus, the water in the tank 55 flows through the pipes 6 and 22 and is supplied into the storage unit 70 of the steam generator 14 through the electromagnetic valve 13 of the water supply control device 15. In the reservoir 70 of the steam generator 14, water exceeding 1 cc is discharged from the discharge flow path 75 to the evaporating dish 11. And the PTC heater 72 heats the water in the storage part 70, and produces | generates water vapor | steam.

  The generated water vapor flows through the duct 40 by the fan 17 and is heated by the heater 17 in the process. The heated water vapor is supplied into the storage chamber 50 from the opening 20. Since the amount of water stored in the storage unit 70 is set to 1 cc in the present embodiment, 1 cc of water is reliably supplied to the storage unit 70 by supplying 1 cc or more of water to the storage unit 70. Can be stored. Since all the water in the storage unit 70 is evaporated within 1 minute by the PTC heater 72, for example, steam corresponding to 1 cc / min of water can be reliably generated. For this reason, the amount of water vapor supplied to the thawing chamber 3 per predetermined time can be kept constant, and the humidity in the thawing chamber 3 can be kept from 80% to 90%.

  As the temperature of the PTC heater 72 increases, the resistance value of the PTC heater 72 increases, and the current flowing through the PTC heater 72 decreases. For this reason, when the water stored in the storage part 70 decreases, it is prevented that the temperature of the PTC heater 72 becomes too high.

  Further, when the amount of water stored in the storage unit 70 is large, the heat of the PTC heater 72 is expended on the evaporation heat of the water, and therefore the temperature of the PTC heater 72 is unlikely to increase. As described above, when the temperature of the PTC heater 72 itself is not high, the resistance value of the PTC heater 72 is low, and a good current flows. For this reason, when there is sufficient water in the reservoir 70, the amount of heat generated by the PTC heater 72 increases, and water vapor is generated satisfactorily. When the thawing is completed, the humidified air in the thawing chamber 3 is discharged from the discharge port, and cold air cooled by the evaporator is supplied into the thawing chamber 3.

  In such a refrigerator 100, since the amount of water vapor generated per predetermined time is constant, it is possible to prevent the humidity in the thawing chamber 3 from becoming excessively high during thawing. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a large amount of condensed water from adhering to the wall surface in the thawing chamber 3 and the surface of the object to be thawed. Moreover, since it can prevent that the humidity in the thawing chamber 3 becomes too low, it can defrost effectively. Furthermore, since a predetermined amount or more of water stored in the storage unit 70 is discharged from the discharge channel 75 to the evaporating dish 11, it is possible to prevent water from leaking from the storage unit 70 into the cooling chamber. Since only a predetermined amount of water is supplied into the storage unit 70 and a predetermined amount of water is stored in the storage unit 70, it is not necessary to perform highly accurate water supply control with the pump 7 or the electromagnetic valve 13. It is not necessary to use a simple pump. As a result, the cost of the apparatus main body can be reduced.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, since the PTC heater 72 is used, even when the water in the storage part 70 becomes a small amount, it prevents that the temperature of the PTC heater 72 rises excessively. Can do.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described as above, the embodiments disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  The present invention can be applied to a refrigerator with a thawing chamber.

It is a front view of the refrigerator which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the II-II line sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the IV-IV sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is side sectional drawing which shows a steam generator and a water supply amount control apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Freezer room, 2 Refrigerated room, 3 Thaw room, 4 Ice storage room, 7 Pump, 8 Switching valve, 12 Thawing water tank, 13 Solenoid valve (water supply control device), 14 Steam generator, 40 Duct, 55 tank, 70 Reservoir, 72 PTC heater (self-control heater), 75 discharge channel.

Claims (4)

A thawing room for storing objects to be thawed,
A steam generator for storing a predetermined amount of water by overflowing and supplying a predetermined amount of steam per predetermined time into the thawing chamber;
A tank for storing water to be supplied to the steam generator;
A water supply control device for supplying a predetermined amount or more of water to the steam generator every predetermined time;
A refrigerator with a thawing chamber.   The refrigerator with a thawing chamber according to claim 1, which overflows from a discharge flow path opened in a side wall of the storage unit.   The said discharge | emission flow path is a refrigerator with a thawing | decompression chamber of Claim 2 connected to the evaporating dish which evaporates the defrost water of the cooler which cools a refrigerator. The said steam generator is a refrigerator with a thawing chamber in any one of Claims 1-3 provided with a self-control type heater.

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