JP2007113817A - Refrigerator-freezer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator comprising an ice storing box having high handling performance as it can be easily carried though it has a large capacity, and cleaning performance, and the ice storing box provided with an ice catcher fixed to its side wall so that ice can be quickly taken out. <P>SOLUTION: An ice tray 9 and the ice storing box 10 are disposed in a freezing compartment 7, recessed portions 17 for gripping, curved to an inner side, are formed on right and left both side walls of the ice storing box 10, the recessed portions 17 for gripping are formed over the total height from a bottom of the ice storing box 10 to a flange 10a at an upper portion, and the recessed portions 17 for gripping are provided with ribs 18 for holding the ice catcher 19 to take out the ice. Further a partitioning wall 16 fixed to an inner wall of the freezing compartment 7, supporting the ice tray 9, and allowing the ice storing box 10 to be drawn out from the freezing compartment 7, is disposed at an upper part of the ice storing box 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a freezing refrigerator provided with an ice tray and an ice storage box for storing ice made from the ice tray in a freezing chamber.

  A conventional refrigerator-freezer is provided with an ice making room independent from each refrigerator room, and is provided with a cooler in the cooler room, and the air cooled by the cooler is divided and circulated to each refrigerator room by a fan device. Enclose the ice making room with a partition wall so that air does not flow in from other rooms, discharge the ice making room to guide the cold air to the ice making room, and return the ice making room to return the cool air sent to the ice making room to the cooler room The air passage is provided without communicating with the other room and the air passage of the other room. In addition, an ice tray is installed above the ice storage case, and the ice storage case and ice tray are formed of a synthetic resin material containing a deodorizing material that neutralizes and decomposes malodorous components and deodorizes ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-11-267191 (paragraphs 0009 and 0014, FIG. 2)

The shape of the ice storage case of the conventional refrigerator-freezer is the shape along the entire lower part of the inside of the ice making chamber, so the handling property when taking in and out such as during cleaning is poor, and the cleaning property is also inferior due to the poor handleability. . On the other hand, in recent years, even in ordinary households, there are increasing opportunities to use large quantities of transparent ice using freezer refrigerators that can produce large-sized and transparent ice, and ice storage boxes that store ice are also available. Due to the tendency to increase the capacity, the ice storage box as described above has a problem that it is particularly difficult to hold and handle.
Also, because there is no place to install an ice catcher that takes out the ice that is made, leave the ice catcher in the ice box or prepare an ice catcher separately from the ice box There was a problem that had to be done.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is an ice storage box that is easy to hold even with a large capacity and is easy to handle and clean. Also, an ice catcher is attached to the side wall of the ice storage box so that ice can be quickly taken out. An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator equipped with an ice storage box.

  The refrigerator-freezer according to the present invention is a refrigerator-freezer provided with an ice tray and an ice storage box in a freezer compartment, wherein a holding recess curved inward is formed on a side wall of the ice storage box.

  According to the present invention, since the holding concave portion curved inward is formed on the side wall of the ice storage box, it is easy to hold and easy to handle the ice storage box in and out and cleaning.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator-freezer showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view when an ice storage box is placed in a freezer compartment and the door is opened, and FIG. 3 is a configuration of a transparent ice tray and ice storage FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where the lower part of the holding recess of the ice storage box is gripped, FIG. 5 is a view showing a state where the upper part of the holding recess of the ice storage box is gripped, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view seen from the Z direction, and FIG. 7 is a view showing an ice storage box provided with another gripping recess for ice storage box.

  1 and 2, the refrigerator-freezer has a refrigerator 1 for generating cold air to be supplied to each chamber to a cooling chamber 20 provided on the back surface of the freezing chamber 7 in which the lower portion is a refrigerator compartment 11 and the upper portion is a freezer compartment. The defrost heater 2 for removing the frost adhering to the cooler 1 is provided under it. Furthermore, a drip tray 3 that receives drain water from which frost has been dissolved is disposed below the drip tray 3. The fan grill 4 is disposed in front of the cooling chamber 20, and an ice storage box 10 is placed on the floor of the freezing chamber 7 in front of it, and a transparent ice tray 9 is placed on the ice storage box 10 so as to close the opening of the ice storage box. is doing. A freezer compartment shelf 8 is provided above the transparent ice tray 9.

  FIG. 1 shows a small refrigerator that does not have an automatic ice making function and employs manual ice making. In addition, transparent ice is used in relatively large quantities in ordinary households, especially in the summer, when drinking somen, soft drinks and whiskeys. The ice storage box 10 shown in FIG. 1 is mainly of a large capacity type.

In FIG. 3, the transparent ice tray 9 has a double structure of an ice making upper tray 12 and an ice making lower tray 13, and there is a space between the ice making upper tray 12 and the ice making lower tray 13. A communication hole 21 is provided at the bottom of the ice lump forming chamber 15 of the transparent ice tray 9 to allow impurities to flow into the space between the ice making upper tray 12 and the ice making lower tray 13.
In FIG. 4, on both the left and right side walls of the ice storage box 10, a drawing-shaped gripping concave portion 17 is formed according to the width and shape of the hand. The holding recess 17 is provided at approximately the center of the front side and the rear side of the ice storage box 10 and is formed over the entire height from the bottom of the ice storage box 10 to the flange 10a.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the outside dimension Y of the both sides of the ice storage box is sufficiently secured so that a large amount of ice can be stored, and the outside dimension X of the holding recess 17 is set to a maximum with good handability. For example, it is set to about 100 mm.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, with respect to ice making, the cold air coming out from the cold air outlet 5 of the fan grill 4 flows between the upper surface of the transparent ice tray 9 and the freezer compartment shelf 8, and the water in the ice lump formation chamber 15 of the transparent ice tray 9 is discharged from the upper surface. Gradually freezes. When ordinary household tap water is used, impurities such as residual chlorine or hardness are transferred to unfrozen parts during ice making and concentrated in the final frozen parts, resulting in cloudiness. Impurities in the ice lump forming chamber 15 are pushed into the space below from the communication hole 21, and transparent ice with few impurities is formed in the ice lump forming chamber 15.

  Next, when the ice storage box 10 is taken in and out and cleaned, the ice storage box 10 is held by holding the lower portion of the holding recess 17 on the side wall of the ice storage box 10 as shown in FIG. Alternatively, when a large amount of ice enters and is heavy, etc., as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the refrigerator-freezer provided with the transparent ice tray 9 and the ice storage box 10 in the freezer compartment 7, the holding concave portion 17 curved inwardly is formed on the side wall of the ice storage box 10, so that the ice storage box 10 is large. However, it can be easily handled and handled by women and children with small hands when taking out and taking out ice when cleaning or removing ice.
In addition, since the gripping concave portion 17 is curved inward, the gripping concave portion 17 has a diaphragm shape and can be improved in design.

Further, since the holding recess 17 is formed over the entire height from the bottom of the ice storage box 10 to the upper flange 10a, when the ice is heavy and heavy, the upper outer flange 10a can be firmly grasped and carried. The handleability can be improved.
In addition, since the holding recesses 17 are formed on the left and right side walls of the ice storage box 10, it can be easily held and handled.
In addition, since the dimension between the outer sides of the gripping concave portion 17 is made to be a dimension with good hand-holding property and maximized, it is possible to store a lot of ice and to make it easy to hold and handle.
In addition, since the holding recesses 17 are provided at approximately the center of the front side and the rear side of the ice storage box 10, when the ice storage box 10 is held, the ice storage box 10 is kept horizontal without being inclined and is easy to handle.

In the present embodiment, the narrowed shape of the side wall is formed up to the entire height of the ice storage box 10, but as shown in FIG. The shape may not extend over the entire height of 10. In this case, unlike the one formed up to the total height of the ice storage box 10, the upper outer peripheral flange 10a cannot be grasped, but a large amount of transparent ice can be stored.
Further, although not shown, the shape of the gripping concave portion 17 may be a range of the height that is applied from the top to the hand, and may not be the entire height of the ice storage box 10. In this case, unlike the one formed up to the total height of the ice storage box 10, the lower part of the ice storage box 10 cannot be grasped, but a lot of transparent ice can be stored.
Further, although the shape of the gripping concave portion 17 is a diaphragm-shaped curve, it may be a flat shape. In this case, the design is low, but a little more transparent ice can be stored.
Further, although the ice storage box 10 is of a large capacity type, it may not be of a large capacity type in order to make it easier for even a small hand.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the present embodiment, a holding portion for holding an ice catcher that takes out ice is provided in the holding recess using the holding recess of the ice storage box, and the ice catcher is held.
FIG. 8 is a view when an ice catcher 19 is attached to the holding recess 17 of the ice storage box 10 of the refrigerator-freezer according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 8, a rib 18 for attaching an ice catcher 19 is provided outside the holding recess 17 of the ice storage box 10 so that the ice catcher can be fixed. Further, a cut-off portion 10b is provided on the flange 10a of the holding recess portion 17 of the ice storage box 10 so that the ice catcher 19 can be easily removed.

Thus, since the rib 18 for holding the ice catcher 19 for taking out ice is provided in the holding recess 17 and the ice catcher 19 is held, the ice catcher 19 can be attached without causing any extra protrusion.
Therefore, conventionally, it has been necessary to leave the ice catcher 19 in the ice storage case or separately prepare an ice catcher from outside the ice storage box, but the ice can be quickly taken out. In addition, the holding recess 17 can be effectively used.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the transparent ice tray 9 is placed on the ice storage box, but in this embodiment, a partition wall that supports the transparent ice tray 9 is provided above the ice storage box.
FIG. 9 is a view showing a partition wall provided on an ice storage box in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator-freezer according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
In FIG. 9, a partition wall 16 having an L-shaped cross section that abuts the lower portion of the freezer compartment shelf 8 is provided on the inner wall of the freezer compartment 7, and a transparent ice tray 9 is disposed on the partition wall 16. An ice storage box 10 is arranged.

As described above, since the partition wall 16 fixed to the inner wall of the freezer compartment 7 and supporting the transparent ice tray 9 is provided above the ice storage box 10, when freezing is not yet completed during ice making in the transparent ice tray 9. In addition, if you want to use the ice in the ice storage box 10, the transparent ice tray 9 is still in a water state and you do not want to move it as much as possible, so install the transparent ice tray 9 and the ice storage box 10 separately. By doing so, the ice in the ice storage box 10 can be taken out even during ice making, and the usability can be further improved.
Further, during ice making with the transparent ice tray 9, it is moved when icing is not yet completed, and the partition wall 16 is provided even if water spills, so that the water can be prevented from falling into the ice storage box 10.
In the above first to third embodiments, the case of the ice storage box 10 for storing transparent ice has been described. However, the above-described gripping concave portion has a large capacity that cannot be grasped by hand even with a general ice storage box. May be provided.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a front view when arrange | positioning the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention in a freezer compartment, and opening a door. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the transparent ice tray of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention, and an ice storage box. It is a figure which shows the state which hold | gripped the lower part of the recessed part for holding | grip of the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state which hold | gripped the upper part of the recessed part for holding | grip of the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the top view which looked at FIG. 4 from the Z direction. It is a figure which shows the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure when an ice catcher is attached to the recessed part for holding | grip of the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the figure which provided the partition wall on the ice storage box of the refrigerator-freezer which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

7 Freezer, 9 Transparent ice tray, 10 ice storage box, 10a flange, 16 partition wall, 17 gripping recess, 18 rib, 19 ice catcher.

Claims (5)

In a refrigerator with an ice tray and ice storage box in the freezer compartment,
A refrigerator-freezer comprising a holding concave portion curved inwardly on a side wall of the ice storage box.   2. The refrigerator-freezer according to claim 1, wherein the holding recess is formed over the entire height from the bottom of the ice storage box to the upper flange.   3. The refrigerator-freezer according to claim 1, wherein the holding recesses are formed on the left and right side walls of the ice storage box.   4. The refrigerator-freezer according to claim 2, wherein a holding portion for holding an ice catcher that takes out ice is provided in the holding recess, and the ice catcher is held. The refrigerator-freezer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a partition wall fixed to the freezer compartment wall and supporting the ice tray is provided above the ice storage box.

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