JP2006226582A - Cooling storage - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling storage capable of improving visibility from the outside into a defrosting state of a defrosted object in a defrosting compartment. <P>SOLUTION: This cooling storage comprises a refrigerating compartment, a freezing compartment, the defrosting compartment, an ice-making water tank, and an ice storage compartment. A defrosting compartment door 14 for opening and closing the defrosting compartment 4 has a defrosting compartment window portion 13 for making the defrosting compartment 4 visible from the external. The defrosting compartment door 14 is provided with a communication passage 22 for communicating the defrosting compartment 4 with a space 8 around the defrosting compartment 4. A duct communicated with the defrosting compartment 4 to suck the air in the defrosting compartment 4 from one end side and supply the humidified air into the defrosting compartment 4 from the other end side, is mounted on a position adjacent to the defrosting compartment 4 in the space 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator capable of freezing and / or refrigeration of an object, and more particularly to a refrigerator having a thawing chamber for thawing an object to be thawed.

Conventionally, a refrigerator with a thawing chamber provided with a thawing chamber for thawing an object to be thawed is known. In this type of refrigerator, the object to be thawed is generally thawed using heat generated during refrigerant compression. A refrigerator with a thawing chamber using a Stirling refrigeration cycle is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-82852.
JP 2001-82852 A

  In the refrigerator with a thawing chamber described in the above document, the heat generated when the working medium is compressed is transmitted to the thawing chamber by driving a Stirling engine that generates cold by a reverse Stirling cycle, and the food stored in the thawing chamber is thawed. However, there is also a method of thawing the object to be thawed by a humidifying and thawing method using humidified air.

  By the way, when thawing the object to be thawed, it is preferable that the thawing state of the object to be thawed is visible from the outside of the thawing room. Therefore, a transparent window may be provided in the thawing room. However, when the humidifying and thawing method is employed when such a visual window is provided, the air in the thawing chamber is humidified to the vicinity of 100% RH when thawing by the humidifying and thawing method. Condensation of water vapor occurs on the inner surface of the part. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to visually recognize the thawing state of the thawing object in the thawing chamber from the outside.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of improving the visibility from the outside of the thawing situation in the thawing chamber.

  The refrigerator of the present invention includes a thawing chamber that accommodates an object to be thawed, a window portion that allows the thawing chamber to be visible from the outside, and communicates with the thawing chamber to suck in air from the thawing chamber from one end side and from the other end side to the thawing chamber. A ventilation path for sending humidified air to the air and a communication path for communicating the thawing chamber with the space around the thawing chamber.

  The communication path is preferably provided in the vicinity of the window portion. For example, the communication path is configured by a gap provided in the vicinity of the window portion for communicating the thawing chamber with the surrounding space, or a single or plural small holes provided in the vicinity of the window portion for communicating the thawing chamber with the surrounding space. be able to. Also, by providing a suction means for sucking air from the thawing chamber, the thawing chamber has a lower pressure than the surrounding space, and low humidity air is appropriately supplied from the surrounding space to the thawing chamber through the communication path. It is preferable to do.

  Typically, a humidifier that humidifies air supplied into the thawing chamber and a blower fan that sends air to the humidifier are installed in the ventilation path. In this case, it is preferable to provide the communication path in the ventilation path located between the blower fan and the humidifier.

  Further, a packing having air permeability may be installed in the vicinity of the window portion so as to function as the communication path. For example, it is conceivable to attach a sponge-like packing having open cells to the door of the thawing chamber or the vicinity thereof.

  Moreover, it is preferable to attach to the refrigerator compartment door the gasket which closely_contact | adheres to the front surface of a thawing chamber door and forms an air insulation layer.

  Since the refrigerator of the present invention includes a communication path that allows the thawing chamber to communicate with the surrounding space, low-humidity air can be appropriately supplied from the surrounding space into the thawing chamber. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the dew condensation of water vapor on the inner surface of the window portion of the thawing chamber, and to improve the visibility from the outside of the thawing situation in the thawing chamber.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a refrigerator in one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 in the present embodiment includes a refrigerating room 2, a freezing room 3, a thawing room 4, an ice-making water tank 5, and an ice storage room 6.

  The refrigerating room 2 is a room for refrigerating objects such as food, and is disposed above the thawing room 4 in the example of FIG. The freezing room 3 is a room for storing frozen objects such as foods in a frozen state, and is disposed below the thawing room 4 in the example of FIG.

  In the example of FIG. 1, the thawing chamber 4 is disposed at a substantially central portion in the height direction of the refrigerator 1 and receives the thawing object inside to defrost. An ice-making water tank 5 is disposed adjacent to the thawing chamber 4, and an ice storage chamber 6 for storing ice is disposed below the ice-making water tank 5.

  FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, two adjacent spaces 8 and 24a are defined by a partition wall 7 made of a heat insulating material, the thawing chamber 4 is disposed in the space 8, and the ice making water tank 5 is disposed in the space 24a. Is placed.

  A thawing plate (not shown) is installed in the thawing chamber 4, and an object to be thawed such as frozen food is placed on the thawing plate. A duct (ventilation path) 11 is installed at a position adjacent to the thawing chamber 4 so as to communicate with the thawing chamber 4. In the example of FIG. 2, both ends of the duct 11 are connected to and communicated with the thawing chamber 4. Further, the duct 11 is disposed on the opposite side of the thawing chamber window 13 described later with respect to the thawing chamber 4.

  In the duct 11, a blower fan (blower device) 9 that circulates air, a heater 10 that heats air, and a steam generator (humidifier) 12 that humidifies air by generating water vapor are installed. In the example of FIG. 2, the blower fan 9 is disposed on one end side of the duct 11, the heater 10 is disposed on the center portion of the duct 11, and the water vapor generator 12 is disposed on the other end side of the duct 11. The heater 10 can heat air from, for example, about 0 ° C. to about 25 ° C., and is controlled ON / OFF by detecting the temperature in the duct 11 with a thermistor (not shown). The steam generator 12 includes a container having an open top, a self-temperature control (PTC) type heater under the container, and a water supply mechanism. In the example of FIG. 2, the water supply mechanism includes a water supply pump 18 connected to the ice-making water tank 5, a switching valve (for example, an electromagnetic valve) 19 connected to the water supply pump 18, and a pipe connected to the switching valve 19. Consists of.

  A predetermined amount of water from the ice-making water tank 5 is dropped into the container of the water vapor generating device 12 through the water supply pump 18, the switching valve 19 and the pipe (for example, about 1 cc every 3 minutes), and this water is added to the PTC heater. It is evaporated by heating with, and water vapor is generated.

  By driving the blower fan 9 in the duct 11 having the above-described configuration, the air in the thawing chamber 4 is sucked into the duct 11 from one end of the duct 11, and the air is heated by the heater 10. It is humidified by the device 12 and humid air can be sent into the thawing chamber 4 from the other end of the duct 11.

  The thawing chamber 4 has a thawing chamber door 14 that opens and closes the thawing chamber 4, and the thawing chamber door 14 is provided with a thawing chamber window 13. The thawing chamber window 13 can be made of, for example, a transparent resin so that the inside of the thawing chamber 4 can be visually recognized from the outside. A refrigerator door 15 is installed in front of the thawing chamber door 14. The refrigerator compartment door 15 has a refrigerator compartment door window 16. A packing 17 is installed between the refrigerator compartment door 15 and the partition wall 7. The refrigerator compartment door window 16 can also be made of, for example, a transparent resin so that the inside of the thawing compartment 4 can be visually recognized from the outside.

  FIG. 3 shows a partially enlarged view of the thawing chamber door 14 and the vicinity thereof. In the example of FIG. 3, a communication path 22 that penetrates the thawing chamber door 14 is provided, and the thawing chamber 4 and the space 8 around the thawing chamber 4 are communicated.

  By driving the blower fan 9, air is sucked from the thawing chamber 4 into the duct 11, so that the region in the thawing chamber 4 located near the portion where air is sucked into the duct 11 is relatively low pressure. It becomes a state. Therefore, by providing the communication path 22 so as to open in the low pressure region in the thawing chamber 4 or in the vicinity thereof, the space 8 around the thawing chamber 4 is efficiently lowered into the thawing chamber 4 via the communication path 22. Humid air can be supplied. In the example of FIGS. 2 and 3, the communication path 22 is provided at a position facing the air suction port in the duct 11, so that the thawing chamber window 13 from the space 8 around the thawing chamber 4 through the communication path 22. Can be supplied with low-humidity air efficiently.

  By supplying the low-humidity air into the thawing chamber 4 as described above, it is possible to suppress the dew condensation of water vapor on the inner surface of the thawing chamber window 13, and the outside of the thawing situation in the thawing chamber 4. Visibility from can be improved.

  The communication path 22 is preferably provided in the vicinity of the thawing chamber window 13, but the formation position of the communication path 22 is not limited to the position shown in FIG. 3. The communication path 22 may be provided in an element other than the thawing chamber door 14 (for example, the thawing chamber wall 20). Furthermore, a gap, a groove, or the like may be provided between the thawing chamber window 13 and the elements located in the vicinity thereof, and this may function as the communication path 22. Further, the communication path 22 may be provided so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the thawing chamber window 13 as in the example of FIG. 3, but so as to extend in a direction parallel to the thawing chamber window 13. It may be provided. Thereby, low-humidity air can be supplied into the thawing chamber 4 so that low-humidity air flows along the inner surface of the thawing chamber window 13, and water vapor is more effectively applied to the inner surface of the thawing chamber window 13. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of condensation.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a packing 21 is installed between the thawing chamber door 14 and the thawing chamber wall 20, but it is also conceivable to provide a communication path 22 in the packing 21. Further, the packing 21 may be provided with air permeability by configuring the packing 21 with a sponge-like material having open cells. When it is sufficient to provide the packing 21 with air permeability as described above, it is not necessary to separately form the communication passage 22 as shown in FIG. 3, and it is not necessary to perform special processing on the door of the thawing chamber 4.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, by providing a gasket 24 between the front surface of the thawing chamber door 14 and the refrigeration chamber door 15, an air insulation layer is formed, so that the heat insulation performance is improved, and the space around the thawing chamber door 14 is increased. It becomes difficult to receive the influence of the cool air from 8, and it can suppress that dew condensation of water vapor | steam generate | occur | produces on the inner surface of the thawing chamber window part 13. FIG.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is conceivable to provide a communication path 23 in the duct 11 located between the blower fan 9 and the water vapor generator 12. In the example of FIG. 4, the communication path 23 is provided on the downstream side of the heater 10, but the communication path 23 may be provided on the upstream side of the heater 10 as long as it is between the blower fan 9 and the steam generator 12. Good. As described above, by providing the communication path 23 in the duct 11 located on the upstream side of the water vapor generating device 12, it is possible to suppress the high humidity air from flowing out of the thawing chamber 4.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the embodiment 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 includes meanings equivalent to the terms of the claims and all modifications within the scope.

  The present invention is applied to a refrigerator capable of freezing and / or refrigeration of an object.

It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the refrigerator in one embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which follows the II-II line | wire of FIG. It is a partial expanded sectional view of the thawing chamber door and its vicinity in one embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the modification of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling box, 2 Refrigeration room, 3 Freezing room, 4 Thawing room, 5 Water tank for ice making, 6 Ice storage room, 7 Partition wall, 8, 24a space, 9 Blower fan, 10 Heater, 11 Duct, 12 Water vapor generator, 13 Defrosting chamber window, 14 Defrosting chamber door, 15 Refrigeration chamber door, 16 Refrigeration chamber window, 17, 21 Packing, 18 Water supply pump, 19 Switching valve, 20 Defrosting chamber wall, 22, 23 Communication path, 24 Gasket.

Claims (3)

A thawing chamber for storing the material to be thawed;
A window portion that allows the inside of the thawing chamber to be visible from the outside;
A ventilation path that communicates with the thawing chamber, sucks air in the thawing chamber from one end side, and sends humidified air into the thawing chamber from the other end side;
A communication path for communicating the thawing chamber with a space around the thawing chamber;
Equipped with a refrigerator. A humidifier installed in the ventilation path and humidifying the air supplied to the thawing chamber;
A blower fan installed in the ventilation path and sending air to the humidifier;
The refrigerator of Claim 1 which provided the said communicating path in the said ventilation path located between the said ventilation fan and the said humidifier.   A refrigerator equipped with a gasket that forms an air insulation layer in close contact with the front surface of the thawing chamber door.

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