JP2007187363A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the following problem: when using light-emitting diodes each emitting a wavelength inside a visible ray area as in-chamber illumination such as a refrigerator, visibility of a stored object is reduced by upper-and-lower positional relation of the stored object inside the refrigerator by directivity of the light-emitting diodes. <P>SOLUTION: By disposing a mounting board 1 longitudinally mounted with the plurality of light-emitting diodes 2 in a recessed part 5 formed inside a refrigerator chamber at a prescribed distance from a light emission part of the light-emitting diodes 2 on right and left wall faces inside the refrigerating chamber as an illumination device 20 before 1/2 of a depth dimension of the inside 11 of the chamber such that a lamp cover 7 covers the whole light emission part of the light-emitting diodes 2, generation of shade by the upper-and-lower positional relation of the stored object inside the refrigerator chamber can be suppressed to improve the visibility of the stored object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a lighting device is installed in a cabinet.

  In recent years, as a lighting device in a refrigerator, a device using a semiconductor issuance element has been proposed for reasons such as low heat generation, no infrared wavelength, low voltage driving, etc., instead of conventional incandescent lamps and light bulbs.

  As a refrigerator using a conventional light-emitting diode as a lighting device, there is a refrigerator in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are arranged in a square shape and installed on the top surface of the interior to irradiate the interior (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a lighting device for a conventional ice making machine described in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram in which the lighting device of FIG. 7 is installed on the top surface of the ice making machine.

  In the illuminating device 30 of FIG. 7, the mounting substrate 1 has a flat plate shape, a circuit pattern (not shown) is formed on one surface or both surfaces, and an epoxy resin substrate or an insulating metal substrate with good thermal conductivity is used. The white LED 2 is formed in a bullet shape, and has a structure in which white light is obtained by exciting a fluorescent material using blue light from a GaN-based blue LED.

  The heat insulating plate 4 is formed in a flat plate shape using a resin such as urethane, and is provided between the mounting substrate 1 and the light emitting diode 2 with a plurality of insertion holes arranged in parallel. Here, the light-emitting diode 2 is mounted with the energization terminal 3 inserted through the insertion hole of the heat insulating plate 4 and soldered to the circuit pattern of the mounting substrate 1, and a plurality of the light-emitting diodes 2 are arranged in parallel on the mounting substrate 1. In addition, when the emitted-heat amount of the light emitting diode 2 is small, you may abolish the heat insulation board 4. FIG.

  In FIG. 8, the lighting device 30 is disposed on the top surface 32 in the warehouse of the ice making machine 31.

  The operation of the refrigerator using the light emitting diode configured as described above as a lighting device will be described below.

First, when the refrigerator door is closed, the light emitting diode 2 is not energized and the interior is not illuminated. When the door is opened, an electronic switch such as a mechanical switch or a Hall IC determines that the door is open, a forward current flows through the light emitting diode 2, white light is emitted, and the interior is irradiated.
JP 2001-82869 A

  However, in the above conventional configuration, when the lighting device is arranged on the ceiling surface in the refrigerator, when there is a storage shelf that divides the interior of the refrigerator in the refrigerator, the visibility of the stored items below the storage shelf is: It is aggravated by shadows caused by the storage shelves themselves or the stored items placed on the storage shelves. In the case of having a plurality of storage shelves as in a general household refrigerator, this becomes more conspicuous as the storage shelves become lower.

  This invention solves the said conventional subject, and provides the refrigerator which has the illuminating device aiming at improving the visibility of preserved matter irrespective of the vertical position relationship of the preserved matter in a refrigerator. Objective.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the refrigerator of the present invention is a lighting device that illuminates the inside of the refrigerator. A mounting substrate on which a plurality of light emitting diodes emitting light in the visible light region are mounted is mounted on the side wall surface in the refrigerator. Of at least one of them.

  Thereby, as illumination in the refrigerator, it is possible to irradiate from the side of the stored item, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of shadows due to the upper and lower positions of the stored item as compared with the case where the lighting device is arranged on the ceiling surface. The visibility of the stored item can also be improved at the lower part.

  The refrigerator of the present invention is not affected by the shadows due to the upper and lower positions of stored items, as compared with the case where the lighting device is arranged on the ceiling surface by arranging the lighting device on the side wall surface in the refrigerator cabinet, The visibility of stored items can be improved even in the lower part of the cabinet, and the usability can be improved.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a lighting device for irradiating the inside of the refrigerator, a mounting substrate on which a plurality of light emitting diodes emitting light in the visible light region are mounted is disposed on at least one of the side wall surfaces in the refrigerator. Thus, the stored item in the refrigerator can be irradiated from the side surface, and the occurrence of shadows due to the vertical position of the stored item can be suppressed. Therefore, the visibility of the stored item can be improved even in the lower part of the refrigerator.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the lighting device is provided with a recess on a side wall surface in a refrigerator, and the mounting substrate is disposed in the recess. The space can be effectively utilized, and the stored item in the refrigerator can be further irradiated from the side surface to improve the visibility of the stored item.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lighting device having the mounting board is disposed before ½ of the interior depth dimension, Since the stored material can be irradiated from the front side, the front surface of the stored material is not shaded, and the visibility can be further improved.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lighting device having a plurality of shelves in a vertical direction in the refrigerator and having the mounting substrate is the shelf. By being positioned in front of the front end portion, it is possible to irradiate the stored items on each shelf from the front surface, so that the front surface of the stored items is not shaded and visibility can be further improved.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the irradiation direction of the light emitting diode which is the illuminating means of the illuminating device irradiates in the rear direction of the interior. Thus, it is possible to improve the effect of irradiating the front surface of the stored object by using the directivity characteristics of the light emitting diodes constituting the illumination device.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the light-emitting diode according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the light-emitting diodes of the illumination means are disposed between the vertical directions of the shelf. The illuminance for each storage shelf can be emphasized, and the visibility of stored items can be further improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a front view of a state in which a refrigerator door is opened according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 1 in the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an illumination device according to the same embodiment. FIG. 4 is a directional characteristic diagram of the light emitting diode according to the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part of the illumination device according to the embodiment.

  In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the refrigerator main body 10 configured to be insulated from the surroundings with a heat insulating material is divided into a plurality of compartments to form a storage room, and the uppermost part is a refrigerator compartment 11, The ice making room 12 and the first freezing room 13 are arranged side by side immediately below, followed by the vegetable room 15 and the second freezing room 14 at the bottom.

  The refrigerator compartment 11 is provided with a plurality of storage shelves 17 for organizing and storing stored items without overlapping, and is configured to be partially movable up and down. A specific low temperature chamber 16 is provided at the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 11.

  The illuminating device 20 including a light emitting diode that emits a wavelength in the visible light region is in front of a half of the depth dimension of the interior 11 and the front end of the storage shelf 17 when viewed from the front of the door in the refrigerator. It is arranged in the vertical direction on the left wall surface and the right wall surface positioned further forward.

  Next, the lighting device 20 will be described in detail.

  In FIG. 3, the mounting substrate 1 has a plate-like vertically long shape, a circuit pattern (not shown) is formed on one surface or both surfaces, and an epoxy resin-based substrate or an insulating metal substrate having good thermal conductivity is used. The light-emitting diode 2 is formed in a bullet shape, and has a structure in which white light is obtained by exciting a fluorescent material using blue light from a GaN-based blue LED. The heat insulating plate 4 is formed in a flat plate shape using a resin such as urethane, and is provided between the mounting substrate 1 and the light emitting diode 2 with a plurality of insertion holes arranged in parallel. Here, the light-emitting diode 2 is mounted with the energization terminal 3 inserted through the insertion hole of the heat insulating plate 4 and soldered to the circuit pattern of the mounting substrate 1, and a plurality of the light-emitting diodes 2 are arranged in parallel on the mounting substrate 1. In addition, when the emitted-heat amount of the light emitting diode 2 is small, you may abolish the heat insulation board 4. FIG.

  Next, the mounting substrate 1 on which a plurality of light emitting diodes are mounted in the vertical direction is held by a spacer 6 integrally formed with an outer frame 9 in a recess 5 provided in a refrigerator side wall 8. The lamp cover 7 is arranged as a lighting device 20 on the left and right wall surfaces in the refrigerator cabinet so as to cover the entire light emitting part of the light emitting diode 2 at a certain distance from the light emitting part.

  FIG. 4 is a graph showing the directivity of the light emitting diode 2 with respect to the light irradiation direction. Assuming that the irradiation direction is the vertical direction, the irradiation range is within a line. For example, at an irradiation amount of 1/2, the irradiation angle is 30 ° on each of the left and right sides as in D.

  In FIG. 5, the mounting substrate 1 and the light emitting diode 2 which is a white LED are held by the spacer 6 at an angle A with respect to the inner wall surface 16 of the interior 11, and this angle A is the directivity of the light emitting diode 2. It is an arbitrary value set so that the interior can be illuminated evenly, and is determined by the volume in the refrigerator compartment and the light emitting diode used, but the light is distributed in the rear direction of the interior where the light is hard to reach Is set to The angle A is preferably between 30 ° and 60 °. In particular, when a bullet-type light emitting diode is used, the angle is around 30 °.

  About the refrigerator comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  First, when the refrigerator door is closed, the light emitting diode 2 is not energized and the interior is not illuminated. When the door is opened, a forward current flows through the light emitting diode 2 and white light is emitted. Up to this point, the operation is the same as in the conventional example.

  Next, the white light emitted from the light emitting diode 2 travels to the lamp cover 7 and is irradiated in the interior, but the directivity of the light emitting diode from the front side with respect to the depth dimension of the left and right wall surfaces in the refrigerator compartment. By the irradiation angle set by the above, the light is emphasized with respect to the rear direction of the interior and is distributed to the front and side surfaces of the stored item.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the white light from the lighting device is diffused through the lamp cover 7 and irradiated from the left and right wall surfaces in the refrigerator toward the stored items in the refrigerator. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of shadows due to the vertical position relationship of the stored items, and it is possible to improve the visibility of the stored items.

  Moreover, an effect can be heightened further by extending | stretching the length of the mounting substrate 1 to the vertical direction with respect to the inside of a refrigerator cabinet.

  Moreover, since the lamp cover 7 contains a light diffusing material, the light emitted from the directional light-emitting diode is diffused by the lamp cover 7 to irradiate the inside of the cabinet. Irradiation with light can eliminate uneven illumination, and lighting performance can be further improved.

  Further, the lamp cover 7 is formed into a free shape by forming one material or a composite material of transparent resin such as epoxy, acrylic, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene as a base material. As a result, an easy mounting design is possible, and the lighting device can be installed at an optimum position in the cabinet.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view in which a lighting device is installed on the side wall of the refrigerator according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Detailed description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted.

  In FIG. 6, the storage shelves 17 installed in the refrigerator cabinet are arranged at arbitrary intervals set so as to efficiently store stored items, and the light emitting diodes 2 on the mounting substrate 1 of the lighting device 20. Are mounted on the mounting substrate 1 so as to be positioned in front of and between the storage shelves 17.

  About the illuminating device of the refrigerator comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement is demonstrated below.

  First, when the refrigerator door is closed, the light emitting diode 2 is not energized and the interior is not illuminated. When the door is opened, a forward current flows through the light emitting diode 2 and white light is emitted. Up to this point, the operation is the same as that of the conventional example.

  Next, the white light emitted from the light emitting diode travels to the lamp cover 7 and the inside of the cabinet is irradiated from the lamp cover 7. The white light is diffused by the lamp cover 7, but the light emitting diodes are arranged in the interval between the storage shelves 17, so that the stored light on the storage shelves is concentrated due to the directivity of the light emitting diodes. Light distribution.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the light emitting diodes 2 on the mounting substrate 1 are mounted so as to be disposed within the interval between the storage shelves, by utilizing the directivity of the light emitting diodes, Since the light is concentrated on the stored items on the storage shelf, the front side of the stored items can be emphasized and irradiated, and the stored items in the refrigerator can be moved up and down by the positional relationship. Generation of shadows can be suppressed and visibility can be improved.

  As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention is not only implemented when light-emitting diode illumination is applied to household or commercial refrigerators, but also a wide range of equipment that applies light-emitting diode illumination, such as an article storage device with a door. It can be applied to.

The front view of the state which opened the door of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention BB sectional view of FIG. 1 in the same embodiment The principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of the illuminating device in the embodiment Directional characteristic diagram of light-emitting diode in the same embodiment The principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of the illuminating device in the embodiment Sectional drawing which installed the illuminating device in the side wall of the refrigerator in Embodiment 2 of this invention A perspective view of a conventional ice making machine lighting device Conceptual diagram of the lighting device of FIG. 7 installed on the top of the ice machine

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mounting board 2 Light emitting diode 5 Recessed part 8 Refrigerator side wall 10 Refrigerator main body 11 Refrigeration room 17 Storage shelf 20 Illumination device

Claims (6)

  A refrigerator comprising a mounting substrate on which a plurality of light emitting diodes emitting light having a wavelength in a visible light region are mounted as at least one of side wall surfaces in the refrigerator as an illumination device for irradiating the inside of the refrigerator.   2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the lighting device includes a recess provided on a side wall surface in the refrigerator, and the mounting substrate is disposed in the recess.   The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lighting device having the mounting substrate is disposed in front of ½ of the interior depth dimension.   The lighting device having a plurality of shelves in a vertical direction in a refrigerator and having the mounting board is positioned in front of a front end portion of the shelves. The refrigerator described.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an irradiation direction of a light emitting diode that is an illuminating unit of the illuminating device irradiates in a rearward direction in the cabinet.   6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting diode of the illumination unit is disposed between the vertical directions of the shelf.

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