JP2006343084A - Cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling device capable of cooling water and air at the same time. <P>SOLUTION: The cooling device comprises a compressor 10; an evaporator 20; an expansion valve 24; a compressor protecting means 30 provided in a circulating line connected to the compressor 10 from the evaporator, to protect the compressor from a liquid refrigerant and/or a high pressure gas refrigerant flowing out of the evaporator; a water sprinkling means 42 for sprinkling water on the surface of the evaporator; a water cooling mechanism 40 disposed below the evaporator and having a cold water tank 44 for holding water sprinkled by the water sprinkling means, and a water circulating means 46 for circulating water held in the cold water tank to the water sprinkling means; and an air circulating means 50 for circulating air in a closed space so as to be blasted toward the surface of the evaporator. The water sprinkled on the surface of the evaporator by the water sprinkling means is cooled by the evaporator to drip into the cold water tank, and at the same time, the air blasted toward the surface of the evaporator by the air circulating means is cooled by the evaporator and circulated in the closed space to cool the water and air in the closed space. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device, for example, a cooling device that cools a meat carcass such as a hollow carcass of a food animal after sterilization.

  Coolers and refrigerators are widely used for air conditioning and industrial purposes. For example, in a vapor compression type refrigerator, as shown in FIG. 8, the refrigerant is evaporated by connecting the evaporator 2, the compressor 1, the condenser 3, the liquid receiver 4, and the expansion valve 5 so that the refrigerant circulates. A refrigeration cycle that circulates in four steps, compression, condensation, and expansion, and performs cooling arrow refrigeration while repeating changes in vaporization and liquefaction, and realizes a thermodynamic cycle that transfers heat from a cold body to a hot body .

By such a refrigeration cycle, air and water in a specific environment can be cooled. For example, for air conditioning or cooling in a closed environment, or for refrigeration and freezing, the temperature is maintained at a temperature lower by several to tens of degrees Celsius than the outside air, or is maintained at a temperature close to 0 ° C. or below 0 ° C. Some refrigerators can be maintained at a low temperature of about -40 ° C. In these cooling apparatuses, the temperature is lowered by taking the temperature of air by heat exchange using a refrigerant. On the other hand, in order to cool a liquid such as water, there is a method in which heat is exchanged by directly circulating water like a refrigerant in addition to indirectly lowering the temperature by cooling the outside air.
JP-A-11-108507

  However, a system for simultaneously cooling a liquid such as water and a gas has not been used. Conventional cooling devices have been developed to cool either water or air, and one can be indirectly cooled by directly cooling either one, but only to the secondary The system that cools water and air at the same time is not used. The reason seems to be that the refrigeration cycle has been considered to be destroyed when such a system is assembled.

  Another reason is that the amount of heat changes depending on the object to be cooled. That is, in order to simplify the cooling device itself, a refrigeration cycle is used in which heat is exchanged using the heat of vaporization when the refrigerant is circulated to gasify the refrigerant, but there is an excess amount of cooling heat. In this case, gasification is not completely performed, and some refrigerant may be returned to the compressor while being in a liquid state, and the compressor may be damaged. On the other hand, when the amount of heat of cooling is insufficient, gasification progresses at a stretch, and the pressure increases rapidly due to expansion, which may damage the compressor. For this reason, a system for simultaneously cooling water and air by circulating a coolant such as water has not been put into practical use.

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems. A main object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device capable of simultaneously cooling water and air.

  In order to achieve the above object, a cooling device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a cooling device that cools the inside of a closed space to a constant temperature or lower, and a refrigerant circulation means that constantly circulates a refrigerant at a predetermined amount or more, The compressor has an inlet and an outlet connected to the refrigerant circulation means, can compress the refrigerant and can be pressurized, and has an inlet and an outlet connected to the refrigerant circulation means, and is sent from the inlet side through the refrigerant circulation means. An evaporator for evaporating and evaporating the refrigerant, an expansion valve connected between the outlet side of the compressor and the inlet side of the evaporator, decompressing the refrigerant and sending it to the evaporator side, and the evaporator And a compressor protection means for protecting the compressor from the liquid refrigerant and / or high-pressure gas refrigerant flowing out from the evaporator in a circulation path leading from the compressor to the compressor, and further spraying water on the surface of the evaporator For water spraying means, and placed below the evaporator A water cooling mechanism comprising a cold water tank for holding the water sprayed by the water spraying means, and a water circulation means for circulating the water held in the cold water tank to the water spraying means, and the air in the enclosed space, Air circulating means for circulating so as to spray toward the surface of the evaporator, the water sprayed on the surface of the evaporator by the water spraying means is cooled by the evaporator and dropped into the cold water tank, at the same time The air jetted toward the surface of the evaporator by the air circulation means is cooled by the evaporator and circulated in the closed space, thereby cooling the water and air in the closed space. In this way, a cooling apparatus having three circulation paths capable of simultaneously cooling water and air is realized by providing a refrigerant circulation path and circulating water and air respectively and cooling the surface of the evaporator with sensible heat. it can.

  In the cooling device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the compressor protection means is connected to the inlet side of the compressor, gas-liquid separation of the refrigerant, and only the vaporized component is sent to the compressor side. And a pressure adjusting valve connected to the inlet side of the compressor rather than the gas-liquid separator and for adjusting the pressure of the vaporized component of the refrigerant. As a result, the gas-liquid separator avoids a situation in which liquid refrigerant is contained in the refrigerant sent from the evaporator to the compressor and damages the compressor, while the vaporized gas becomes high pressure and damages the compressor. The situation can be avoided by the pressure regulating valve, and the compressor is reliably protected by dealing with each situation with each member.

  Further, in the cooling device according to the third aspect of the present invention, the compressor includes a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor separately, and the constant speed compressor and the variable capacity compressor include a gas-liquid separator and a variable capacity compressor, respectively. A pressure regulating valve is provided separately. With this configuration, the constant capacity compressor can maintain a constant amount of cooling capacity, and the variable capacity compressor can vary the cooling capacity according to the amount of load to be cooled, thereby efficiently exhibiting the cooling capacity.

  Furthermore, in the cooling device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the compressor integrally includes a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor. As a result, the constant speed compressor and the variable capacity compressor can be used as a single compressor unit to save space, and the gas-liquid separator and the pressure regulating valve can be shared, thereby reducing the cost.

  As described above, according to the cooling device of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously cool water and the room temperature in the closed space. In particular, by continuously spraying water and air onto the evaporator surface, icing can be prevented while maintaining a low temperature around the ice temperature. In this way, it is possible to realize a cooling device that can simultaneously extract cold water and cold air that could not be achieved conventionally.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a cooling device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention does not specify the cooling device as follows. Further, the present specification by no means specifies the members shown in the claims to the members of the embodiments. In particular, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention unless otherwise specified, but are merely described. It is just an example. Note that the size, positional relationship, and the like of the members shown in each drawing may be exaggerated for clarity of explanation. Furthermore, in the following description, the same name and symbol indicate the same or the same members, and detailed description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. Furthermore, each element constituting the present invention may be configured such that a plurality of elements are constituted by the same member and the plurality of elements are shared by one member, and conversely, the function of one member is constituted by a plurality of members. It can also be realized by sharing.
(Embodiment 1)

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a cooling device 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The cooling device 100 shown in this figure includes a compressor 10 capable of compressing a refrigerant constituting the refrigerator, an evaporator 20, and a refrigerant circulating means for constantly circulating a predetermined amount or more of the refrigerant between the evaporator 20 and the compressor 10. A refrigerant circulation path 22 that circulates the refrigerant between them, and an expansion valve 24 that is connected between the outlet side of the compressor 10 and the inlet side of the evaporator 20 to depressurize the refrigerant and send it to the evaporator 20 side. Is provided. Further, between the outlet side of the evaporator 20 and the inlet side of the compressor 10, a compressor protection for protecting the compressor 10 from the liquid refrigerant that has flowed out of the evaporator 20 and the refrigerant that has been vaporized to high pressure. Means 30 are provided. The compressor 10, the expansion valve 24, the evaporator 20, and the compressor protection means 30 are circulated and connected so that the refrigerant circulates, thereby constituting a refrigeration cycle that is a thermodynamic cycle for transferring heat from a cold body to a hot body. .
(Evaporator 20)

  The evaporator 20 can use a compressor that performs heat exchange by heat of vaporization when the refrigerant is evaporated. As the compressor, various compressors such as an internal intermediate pressure type multi-stage (two-stage) compression rotary compressor, a single-stage compressor, and a scroll-type compressor can be used as appropriate.

The evaporator 20 can have a surface below the freezing point. By setting it as the evaporator 20 with the surface temperature below freezing point, the water adhering to the surface and the air sprayed on the surface can be cooled efficiently. In addition, in this specification, the cooling device is used to include a cooler for maintaining a constant temperature of 0 ° C. or higher, in addition to a device that can be maintained below the freezing point such as a refrigerator.
(Compressor 10)

  The compressor 10 is configured as an integrated compressor unit 11 including a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor. By using a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor together, the operating efficiency of the compressor can be improved. The variable capacity compressor is a scroll type in which the operation frequency can be adjusted by an inverter or pole number conversion, and the rotation speed (rotation speed) per unit time can be controlled, whereby the operation capacity can be variably controlled. The inverter system provides a wide range of capability control. On the other hand, since the constant speed compressor operates at a constant speed, it can be operated efficiently, but the operating capacity cannot be changed. In this embodiment, while using a constant speed compressor as shown in FIG. 2, it is set as the operation control which switches or uses a variable capacity compressor according to the request | requirement amount of load, and it improves an operating efficiency and changes to a capacity | capacitance. We are trying to cope. In particular, the inverter drive can efficiently operate with respect to the required load, so that the amount of power consumption can be reduced, which can be desirable for global environmental conservation.

Further, by making the constant speed compressor and the variable capacity compressor into the compressor unit 11, the size of the compressor 10 can be reduced, and the gas-liquid separator, the pressure disposed on the upstream side of the compressor 10 can be reduced. The compressor protection means 30 such as a regulating valve can be shared, and cost reduction can be realized.
(Embodiment 2)

However, the compressor is not limited to a compressor unit in which a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor are integrated, and these can be individually provided and switched or used together. This example is shown in FIG. A cooling device 200 shown in FIG. 3 includes an inverter compressor 12 and a constant speed compressor 14 as variable capacity compressors. Each compressor includes gas-liquid separators 32A and 32B and pressure regulating valves 34A and 34B, respectively. The compressors are driven in conjunction with each other, and are switched or used together according to the load request as shown in FIG. By providing an individual compressor, maintenance of each compressor becomes easy and can be driven stably.
(Compressor protection means 30)

A compressor protection means 30 is provided on the upstream side of the compressor 10, that is, between the outlet side of the evaporator 20 and the inlet side of the compressor 10. The compressor protection means 30 gas-liquid separates the refrigerant, sends only the vaporized component to the evaporator 20 side, and a pressure adjustment valve for adjusting the pressure of the vaporized component of the refrigerant 34. In the example of FIG. 1, the pressure adjustment valve 34 is disposed downstream of the gas-liquid separator 32, that is, on the side closer to the evaporator 20. As a result, the gas-liquid separator 32 can be arranged on the upstream side of the pressure regulating valve 34 and the capacity can be increased somewhat, so that a decompression effect corresponding to the capacity can be expected.
(Gas-liquid separator 32)

The gas-liquid separator 32 stores the liquid refrigerant and prevents the liquid refrigerant that is not vaporized from being sucked into the compressor 10. An accumulator is preferably used. The accumulator is installed to temporarily store the refrigerant evaporated through the evaporator 20 and prevent the refrigerant that has partially flowed into the compressor 10 from flowing directly to the compressor 10. The refrigerant is vaporized through heat exchange. For example, the capacity of the evaporator 20 is excessive with respect to the load, and liquid refrigerant that has been sent out without being evaporated in the evaporator 20 or liquid refrigerant that has been condensed in the evaporator 20 during deicing is stored in the accumulator. The compressor 10 is designed to prevent failure caused by sucking the liquid refrigerant. The gas-liquid separator 32 may be a receiver tank, and may be configured such that liquid refrigerant is stored in the receiver tank and only gas is sucked into the compressor 10. Further, it is possible to adjust by providing a throttle means so that the liquid refrigerant in the gas-liquid separator 32 and the receiver tank does not return to the compressor 10.
(Pressure adjustment valve 34)

  The pressure regulating valve 34 is a regulator that regulates the pressure to a predetermined pressure. If the refrigerant is completely vaporized and has a high pressure, such as when the load is large, an excessive pressure may be applied to the inlet side of the compressor 10 to cause damage. For this reason, the pressure of the gas refrigerant is suppressed to a certain level or less by the pressure adjusting valve 34. Here, the pressure adjustment valve 34 detects the pressure, and performs pressure adjustment so that the valve is opened and the pressure is reduced when the pressure exceeds a predetermined pressure. Specifically, the pressure is adjusted by changing the opening area of the fluid passage with a valve body that moves by pressure.

  An accumulator and a pressure regulating valve are generally used in a supercritical refrigeration cycle, but have been hardly employed in the past in air conditioning applications in which the temperature is maintained near 0 ° C. The reason is that these are not particularly necessary unless the temperature is extremely low, and that the structure is complicated and the cost is avoided. On the other hand, in this embodiment, in addition to the refrigeration cycle for air conditioning, the cooling structure tends to have unevenness because of the dual structure in which water and air are circulated. That is, depending on the state of the load, the liquid refrigerant may flow into the compressor, or conversely, the vaporized gas refrigerant may have a high pressure, and it is necessary to protect the compressor from such a state. Therefore, a gas-liquid separator and a pressure adjusting valve are provided in order to appropriately protect the compressor and stably exhibit the cooling capacity.

  As the refrigerant, a known fluid can be used, and if necessary, an antifreeze, a metal corrosion inhibitor, an antifoaming agent, a leakage preventing agent, or the like is mixed to improve reliability.

As the members constituting the refrigeration cycle, such as the compressor 10, the evaporator 20, and the expansion valve 24, members used in conventional refrigeration apparatuses or members developed in the future can be appropriately used. Note that the surface temperature of the evaporator 20 and the cooling temperature of the cooling device can be arbitrarily set according to the application to be used, and a freezing temperature below the freezing point, a refrigeration temperature around 0 ° C. where no freezing, or the like can be used. For example, in the cooling use of the hollow carcass, the temperature is maintained at about 0.5 to 3 ° C.
(Water cooling mechanism 40)

Furthermore, this cooling device is provided with a water cooling mechanism 40 for spraying water in the closed space and cooling the water. The water cooling mechanism 40 includes a water spraying means 42 for spraying water on the surface of the evaporator 20, a cold water tank 44 that is disposed below the evaporator 20 and holds water sprayed by the water spraying means 42, Water circulation means 46 for circulating water held in the cold water tank 44 to the water spraying means 42 is provided. As the water circulation means 46, a water circulation pump that pumps up the water in the cold water tank 44 can be used. Further, the water spraying means 42 can be an injection nozzle that is connected to a water circulation pump and opens toward the surface of the evaporator 20. Thereby, water can be sprayed or sprayed on the evaporator 20 like a shower, and efficient cooling of water can be realized. The water circulation pump can prevent freezing by continuously circulating water and always injecting it.
(Air circulation means 50)

  In addition to the water cooling mechanism 40, the cooling device further includes air circulation means 50 that circulates and cools the air in the closed space. A blower fan 54 in which the air circulation means 50 circulates air toward the surface of the evaporator 20 can be suitably used. Thereby, the air in closed space can be circulated with a simple structure, and the room temperature cooling effect can be acquired. Moreover, it can also be set as the structure which sends out air to a ventilation pipe with the ventilation fan 54, and injects directly toward the surface of the evaporator 20 from the air injection nozzle 58. FIG. In addition, air may be injected from the air injection nozzle 58 by being pressurized and energized.

  Thus, in the cooling device according to the present embodiment, not only a refrigeration cycle is constructed to cool the air in the closed space and the indoor air is circulated by the blower fan 54, but also a mechanism for spraying water. In addition, the water is simultaneously cooled by the evaporator 20 to realize simultaneous cooling of air and water. In particular, by using the surface of the evaporator 20 of the refrigeration cycle in order to cool the water and spraying water directly directly onto the surface, the water can be cooled without freezing. Since water is collected in a cold water tank 44 disposed below the evaporator 20, pumped up by a water circulation pump and continuously injected from the injection nozzle, it is possible to avoid frost-like adhesion on the surface of the evaporator 20. Further, it is possible to control the injection amount to be adjusted according to the water temperature in consideration of the load of the evaporator 20. For example, a temperature sensor T that detects the surface temperature of the evaporator 20 and the water temperature in the water tank is provided, and the output of the temperature sensor is connected to a controller C that controls the operation of the water circulation pump and the injection pressure of the injection nozzle. Based on this, the driving amount can be feedback-controlled. Similarly, the amount of air blown from the blower fan can also be controlled according to the room temperature.

  Water can be used in combination with water used in a closed space. For example, when a cooling device is applied to a cleaning and cooling facility for a hollow carcass, the water sprayed on the hollow carcass is used as cooling water. Available as In this case, a disinfectant etc. can be added to water as needed. Thus, depending on the situation where the cooling device according to the present embodiment is used, an additive or the like can be appropriately added to the water. In addition to the aqueous solution, other liquids can be used. Similarly, since the cooling device according to the present embodiment can cool the gas filled in the closed space, it is needless to say that not only air but also a mixed gas or other gas can be used as appropriate.

  Next, an example in which the cooling device is arranged in a closed space such as a factory or a work room will be described. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the cooling device 300 is installed in the cooling facility for the hollow carcass. As shown in this figure, a cooling unit such as an evaporator 20C is arranged at a desired position in the room, preferably above, an injection nozzle 43 above the evaporator 20C, and at least a part of the injection port with the evaporator 20C. Fix the posture to face. Further, a cold water tank 44C is provided at the lower portion, and the dropped water is collected, pumped up by a water circulation pump 47, and circulated so as to be supplied to the injection nozzle 43. In this example, in order to cool the carcass that is the cooling object W conveyed by the belt conveyor B by injecting the cold water, the cold water injection nozzle N is also arranged. Needless to say, the cold water jetted from the cold water jet nozzle N can be shared with the water stored and circulated in the cold water tank 44C.

  On the other hand, the partition plate 52 and the like constitute a circulation path for room air, and a blower fan 54 is disposed in the circulation path to forcibly circulate the air. The blower fan 54 is preferably arranged at a position close to the evaporator 20C so that the blown air from the blower fan 54 directly hits the surface of the evaporator 20C.

  Water sprayed on the surface of the evaporator 20C by the spray nozzle N is cooled by the evaporator 20C and dropped into the cold water tank 44C. At the same time, the air injected by the blower fan 54 toward the surface of the evaporator 20C is cooled by the evaporator 20C and circulated in the closed space, and water and air are simultaneously cooled. Thus, in addition to the circulation of the refrigerant and air, the circulation of water is also combined to achieve efficient cooling. In particular, in a scene where water is originally used, this cooling water can be directly involved in cooling to further increase the cooling capacity.

  Further, by providing the wall material 56 constituting the closed space with a heat insulating material, the closed space is blocked from the outside air and the cooling effect is maintained.

  Furthermore, water and air can be efficiently cooled even in a space where a plurality of rooms are connected. In the example shown in FIG. 6, three rooms in FIG. 5 are connected, and a cooling device 400 is arranged in each room to cool each room. Further, a single large-capacity cooling device may be installed to double the cooling of each room, or a plurality of cooling devices may be installed in one room to improve the cooling capacity. Furthermore, the method for transporting the cooling object W is not limited to the belt conveyor, and for example, a configuration in which cold water is injected and cooled on a carcass (not shown) suspended by a hanger as shown in FIG. it can.

  The cooling device of the present invention can be suitably used for cooling treatment for cooling carcasses of food animals such as birds, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and mammals.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the cooling device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 2 is a graph showing operation switching of a compressor with respect to a load request in the cooling device of FIG. 1. It is a schematic diagram which shows the cooling device which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. 4 is a graph showing operation switching of the compressor with respect to a load request in the cooling device of FIG. 3. It is a schematic diagram which shows a mode that the cooling device has been arrange | positioned in closed space. It is a schematic diagram which shows a mode that the cooling device has been arrange | positioned in the space which connected the several room. It is a schematic diagram which shows the other example which has arrange | positioned the cooling device in the space which connected the several room. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the conventional refrigerator.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100, 200, 300, 400 ... Cooling device 1 ... Compressor 2 ... Evaporator 3 ... Condenser 4 ... Liquid receiver 5 ... Expansion valve 10 ... Compressor 11 ... Compressor unit 12 ... Inverter compressor 14 ... Constant speed compression Machine 20, 20C ... Evaporator 22 ... Refrigerant circulation path 24 ... Expansion valve 30 ... Compressor protection means 32, 32A, 32B ... Gas-liquid separator 34, 34A, 34B ... Pressure regulating valve 40 ... Water cooling mechanism 42 ... Water spraying Means 43 ... Injection nozzle 44, 44C ... Cold water tank 46 ... Water circulation means 47 ... Water circulation pump 50 ... Air circulation means 52 ... Partition plate 54 ... Blower fan 56 ... Wall material 58 ... Air injection nozzle T ... Temperature sensor C ... Controller N ... Cold water injection nozzle B ... Belt conveyor W ... Cooling object

Claims (4)

A cooling device for cooling the enclosed space to a certain temperature or lower,
A refrigerant circulation means for constantly circulating the refrigerant at a predetermined amount or more;
A compressor having an inlet and an outlet connected to the refrigerant circulation means, and capable of compressing and increasing the pressure of the refrigerant;
An evaporator provided with an inlet and an outlet connected to the refrigerant circulating means, and an evaporator for evaporating and evaporating the refrigerant sent from the inlet side via the refrigerant circulating means;
An expansion valve connected between the outlet side of the compressor and the inlet side of the evaporator, for decompressing the refrigerant and sending it to the evaporator side;
Compressor protection means for protecting the compressor from liquid refrigerant and / or high-pressure gas refrigerant flowing out from the evaporator in a circulation path leading from the evaporator to the compressor;
In addition,
Water spraying means for spraying water on the surface of the evaporator;
A cold water tank disposed below the evaporator and holding water sprayed by the water spraying means;
Water circulation means for circulating water held in the cold water tank to the water spraying means;
A water cooling mechanism comprising:
Air circulating means for circulating air in a closed space so as to be jetted toward the surface of the evaporator;
With
The water sprayed on the surface of the evaporator by the water spraying means is cooled by the evaporator and dropped into the cold water tank, and at the same time, the air jetted toward the surface of the evaporator by the air circulation means is The cooling device is configured to be cooled by the evaporator and circulated in a closed space, thereby cooling water and air in the closed space. The cooling device according to claim 1,
The compressor protection means includes
A gas-liquid separator connected to the inlet side of the compressor, for gas-liquid separation of the refrigerant, and for sending only vaporized components to the compressor side;
A pressure regulating valve connected to an inlet side of the compressor rather than the gas-liquid separator, and for regulating a pressure of a vaporized component of the refrigerant;
A cooling device comprising: The cooling device according to claim 1 or 2,
The compressor comprises a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor separately,
The cooling device, wherein the constant speed compressor and the variable capacity compressor are individually provided with a gas-liquid separator and a pressure regulating valve, respectively. The cooling device according to claim 1 or 2,
The cooling device, wherein the compressor is integrally provided with a constant speed compressor and a variable capacity compressor.

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