JP2008289415A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator where an ice cream maker is arranged in a compact manner and housed in an ice-freezer and which is improved in usability through the utilization of the functions of ice cream maker, and making the ice-freezer which is usable, without impairing user-friendliness of the ice-freezer. <P>SOLUTION: The refrigerator is equipped with a relatively small capacity ice-freezing room 3, mounted on the lower part of a cold room 2 disposed at the top part of the body of the refrigerator via a heat-insulating partition wall 6; a vegetable room and a freezer below the ice-freezing room, wherein an automatic ice maker 13 is mounted at the ceiling part of the ice-freezing chamber; an ice storage box 16 pulled out together with an ice-freezing room door 17 is set up below the automatic ice maker: a recessed part 19 recessed toward the side of the heat insulating partition wall is formed at the ceiling part of the ice-freezing chamber at the front of the automatic ice maker; and an ice cream maker 20 provided with a stirring driving part 26 producing ice cream is arranged inside the recessed part, and an ice cream producing container 21 and stirring blades 25 for ice cream mix are detachably attached to the stirring driving part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which an ice creamer is disposed in an ice making chamber.

  Conventionally, in order to produce ice cream at home, an ice creamer that is used on a kitchen counter or table with a cold storage container cooled by a refrigerator, or the ice creamer itself is stored in the refrigerator's freezer compartment. Patent Documents 1 to 3 show that an ice cream is made by storing an ice creamer in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.

  As the ice cream manufacturing procedure, when the ice cream mix as a material is put in a container and the manufacturing operation is started, the stirring blades are rotated by predetermined control, and the ice cream mix cooled by the heat transfer from the container is stirred. To maintain a uniform temperature. This stirring operation is for promoting cooling of the ice cream mix.

When the ice cream mix near the inner wall surface of the container begins to freeze due to the progress of cooling, the ice cream mix that has started to freeze is scraped from the inner surface of the container and kneaded with the unfrozen ice cream mix by the rotating action of the stirring blade. By this operation, ice crystals in the ice cream mix become smaller and ice cream is generated, and the frozen part is kneaded, so that it is moderate in the ice cream mix with increased hardness. The air is taken in and the ice cream is soft and light.
JP-A-2-192571 JP-A-8-210744 JP 2004-313182 A

  However, the type of ice creamer used on a table or the like is a battery type or a method of supplying power from an outlet with a power cord, a motor for driving the stirring blades, and a heat storage material for keeping the cream material in the container cold Etc. are installed in the ice creamer device, and it is necessary to provide a power supply unit and an operation display unit, which increases the overall size of the device and requires a large storage space for storage when not in use. was there.

  In addition, the type used in the freezer room does not require a cold storage or heat insulation mechanism of the ice cream container, but there is a problem that the space including the upper space of the installed ice creamer becomes occupied and becomes a dead space. In Patent Document 2, as shown in FIG. 6, the inside of the freezer compartment (55) disposed above the refrigerator body is divided into three sections by an upper partition shelf (55a) and a lower partition shelf (55b). An automatic ice making device (63) is disposed at the rear of the compartment, and a refrigerator-freezer (51) provided with an ice creamer (70) at the front is shown. As is clear from the structure, Since the ice storage box (66) is installed below the lower partition shelf (55b), the space for storing frozen food is only the upper part of the upper partition shelf (55a), and the storage space for ordinary frozen food is large. There was a bug that decreased.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and the ice creamer is compactly arranged and stored in the ice making chamber so that it can be used without impairing the usability of the ice making chamber while utilizing the ice creamer function. The purpose is to provide a refrigerator with improved usability.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a refrigeration chamber disposed at the top of the main body, a relatively small-volume ice making chamber provided below the refrigeration chamber via a heat insulating partition wall, and a vegetable chamber below the refrigeration chamber. In the refrigerator having the main freezer compartment, an automatic ice making device is attached to the ceiling of the ice making chamber, and an ice storage box is provided below the automatic ice making device to be pulled out along with a drawer-type ice making chamber door. A container for generating ice cream by arranging an ice creamer provided with a stirring part for producing ice cream in the recessed part provided in the recessed part toward the heat insulating partition wall in the ceiling part of the ice making chamber in front of the ice making device And the stirring blade which stirs an ice cream mix in this container is attached to the said stirring drive part so that attachment or detachment is possible, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the configuration of the present invention, the ice creamer can be efficiently used by using the front space of the automatic ice making device in the ice making room, compactly arranged without impairing the functions of both automatic ice making and ice storage and ice creamer. In order to install an ice creamer, it is possible to improve the usability without impairing the storage space of the freezer.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1 which is a longitudinal sectional view of the refrigerator, the inside of the refrigerator main body (1) formed of a heat insulating box is used as a storage space, and a refrigerator compartment (2) is disposed at the top, and a heat insulating partition wall ( 6) A relatively small-volume ice making chamber (3) is provided on one side below via 6), and the other side is not shown, but the room temperature is switched to various temperature zones with almost the same capacity as the ice making chamber (3). There is a temperature switching room. The storage room may be an auxiliary freezer room instead of the temperature switching room.

  A vegetable room (4) is provided below the ice making room (3) and the temperature switching room, and a freezer room (5) is provided independently at the lowermost part. A door is provided and can be opened and closed.

  Since the refrigerator compartment (2) is located at the top and has the largest storage capacity and the highest frequency of use, the front door can be pivotally supported by hinges provided on both sides of the front opening. The ice making room (3), the temperature switching room, the vegetable room (4), and the freezer room (5), which are closed in the opening, have a smaller storage capacity than the refrigerated room (2), and From the ease of use depending on the installation height, the storage container held on the support frame fixed to the door is slid back and forth with the rail member provided on the indoor wall surface, and is pulled out to the outside with the door opening operation, and the food is drawn from the top opening of the storage container. It is a known drawer door system for storing and taking out.

  A refrigeration cooler (7) and a fan (9) are disposed at the back of the refrigerator compartment (2), and a refrigeration cooler (8) and a fan are disposed at the back of the vegetable compartment (4) disposed below. (10) is installed, and by driving the compressor (11) arranged at the lower back of the main body, the cool air generated by each cooler (7) (8) is introduced into each storage chamber by the fans (9) (10). The refrigerator compartment (2), the vegetable compartment (4), and the refrigerator compartment (5), the ice making compartment (3), and the freezer compartment including the temperature switching chamber are controlled to be kept at a predetermined temperature. is doing.

  Next, the configuration of the ice making chamber (3) will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part is provided in an ice making chamber (3) with an automatic ice making device that makes ice by receiving water from a water supply tank (12) installed in the upper refrigeration chamber (2) ( 13) is provided. This automatic ice making device (13) consists of an ice making tray (14) and a control device (15), twisted ice is removed and stored in the ice storage box (16) placed below, and the ice making room door ( By pulling out 17), the ice storage box (16) integrally attached to the ice making room door (17) is drawn out of the room so that the stored ice can be taken out. The automatic ice making device (13) is arranged so that the ice making device itself can be detached from the installation portion in the ice making chamber (3) by detaching the electrical connection connector portion, and is used outdoors for cleaning. It is the structure which can be taken out.

  Thus, the heat insulating partition wall (6) that forms the ceiling of the ice making chamber (3) in the front portion of the automatic ice making device (13) is provided with a recessed portion (19) that is recessed toward the heat insulating material. An ice creamer (20) is installed in the recess (19).

  The ice creamer (20) is a resin-made cylindrical container (21) for producing ice cream, as shown in FIG. 3 in a disassembled state and in FIG. 4 in a perspective view, and this container (21). An aluminum tray (22) that forms the bottom surface of the container, a case member (23) that also serves as a lid for closing the upper surface opening of the container (21), and a rotating shaft (25a) in the container (21). An agitation blade (25) that rotates the ice cream mix to rotate, and an agitation drive unit (26) that engages and rotates the rotating shaft (25a) of the agitation blade (25), and the agitation drive A motor (27) is provided for applying rotational force to the part (26).

  As shown in FIG. 5, the stirring drive unit (26) includes a reduction gear unit (28) connected to the stirring blade (25), and the motor (27) side that rotates the reduction gear unit (28). A magnet B (30) fixed to the rotating shaft of the motor (27) is disposed at a rear position facing the magnet A (29). The rotational force of the motor (27) is transmitted to the reduction gear unit (28) by a non-contact magnet coupling mechanism using magnetic force.

  That is, the rotational torque is increased by the gear train composed of a plurality of gears connected to the gear (31) connected to the worm (31) connected to the magnet A (29), and the stirring blade (25) is moved. It is intended to rotate. Reference numeral (32) denotes a case lid that covers the reduction gear unit (28) from the upper surface.

  The members constituting the stirring drive unit (26) are housed in the recessed part (19), and the case member (23) that also serves as the lid of the container (21) is used as the ceiling surface of the recessed part (19). The agitation drive part (26) is attached to the main body side by fixing the engagement piece (33a) to the surface of the heat insulating partition wall (6), which is attached to the support plate (33). The magnet B (30) facing the magnet A (29) of the drive unit (26) and the motor (27) are located on the side of the heat insulating material on the side wall of the recessed portion (19) and are embedded in the heat insulating material.

  The stirring blade (25) that stirs the ice cream mix is a container for generating ice cream, which is engaged with the stirring drive unit (26) by pushing the rotating shaft (25a) from below to engage. (21) holds the tray (22) on its lower surface and presses against the periphery of the case member (23) fixed to the main body side from below, and then engages in a fitted state by rotation in one direction. Are connected.

  When the container (21) is engaged with the case member (23), the rotation direction is the same as the rotation direction of the rotating blade (25) to prevent the container (21) from coming off when the ice cream mix is stirred. A good engagement state can be maintained. Moreover, the screwing type may be sufficient as both engagement methods.

  Therefore, the container (21) and the stirring blade (25) in the ice creamer (20) are provided detachably with respect to the stirring drive unit (26), and the stirring drive unit (26) includes the magnet A (29). ) And magnet B (30) are provided so as to be detachable from the motor (27), and the motor (27) portion is separated from the ice cream manufacturing apparatus. Therefore, the ice creamer (20) can be made compact, and as in the past, the dead space caused by being disposed in the freezer compartment (5) can be prevented and the substantial storage volume can be effectively utilized. be able to. Also, the ice creamer (20) itself including the stirring drive part (26) itself can be removed from the support plate (33) by removing the case member (23), leaving the motor (27) part and the ceiling of the recessed part (19). It can be removed from the surface.

  As described above, the main part of the stirring drive part (26) of the ice creamer (20) is housed in the recessed part (19), and the part of the container (21) is placed in the ice making chamber (3) below it. However, at this time, the upper end position of the ice creamer (20) moves into the upper recessed portion (19), and thus the container (21 connected to the stirring drive portion (26) (21) ), The bottom surface of the tray (22), which is the bottom of the automatic ice making device (13), can be positioned substantially at the same position as the lower edge of the automatic ice maker (13). Since the lower end position of the ice creamer (20) is above the drawer locus of the ice storage box (16), it is possible to prevent problems such as contact with the ice storage box (16).

  The installation of the recessed portion (19) reduces the heat insulation thickness of this portion of the heat insulating partition wall (6) of this portion and lowers the heat insulating power, so that the partition wall portion corresponding to the upper portion of the recessed portion (19) A vacuum insulation panel (35) is arranged in the case.

  This vacuum insulation panel (35) is made of glass wool, which is a thin fiberglass cotton material, matted into a core material, and this core material is inserted into a gas barrier container made of a laminated film of aluminum foil and synthetic resin. The inside of the container is kept in a vacuum-reduced state by evacuating the inside at about 0.03 to 30 Pa and closing the opening, and has a thickness of 10 to 12 mm having a low thermal conductivity of about 0.002 W / mK. By disposing the panel on the upper surface of the recessed portion (19), it is possible to prevent freezing on the bottom surface of the refrigerator compartment (2) with good heat insulation performance. The vacuum heat insulating panel (35) is preliminarily bonded and held on the inner surface of the partition plate by hot melt or the like, and a foam heat insulating material is injected and foamed into a gap between partition members forming the heat insulating partition wall (6) to insulate. It may be embedded and fixed integrally in the material.

  The container (21) and the stirring blade (25) are detachably engaged with each other, and are located above the tip gear (28a) of the reduction gear unit (28) and the rotating shaft (25a) of the stirring blade. Since it is possible to release the engagement with the upper gear (25b) and to separate them and take them out of the room, when ice cream is generated, this is used as a table. The container (21) and the stirring blade (25) can be washed in a circle, making it easy to clean and clean, and there is no risk of wetting the electrical connections.

  And when manufacturing ice cream, first, the stirring blade (25) is fitted and fixed from below to the stirring drive section (26) in the ice making chamber (3), and then the ice cream as the material is made. After the container (21) containing the mix is pressed against the case member (23) from below, it can be engaged and fixed by rotating. Next, although not shown, it is placed on the surface of the refrigerator door, etc. The motor (27) is driven by pressing the start button on the control panel or by closing the ice-making chamber door (17), and the rotational force of the motor (27) is contactlessly reduced by the magnet coupling mechanism. The ice cream manufacturing operation is started by transmitting to (28) and rotating the stirring blade (25) and stirring the ice cream mix in a frozen atmosphere.

  As the stirring blade (25) continues to rotate and the ice cream mix freezes, the stress load on the stirring blade (25) increases and eventually the motor (27) locks. By detecting this lock current value, it is judged that the generation of ice cream has been completed, the energization to the motor (27) is cut off, the rotation of the stirring blade (25) is stopped, and the generation of ice cream is The completion is notified by voice or display from the operation panel unit.

  Then, the ice making chamber door (17) is opened to release the fitting between the rotating shaft (25a) of the stirring blade (25) and the tip gear (28a) of the reduction gear unit (28), and the container (21) is driven to stir It may be removed from the section (26) and taken out from the ice making chamber (3), the stirring blade (25) is removed, and the ice cream is transferred to tableware for eating.

  In addition to detecting the change in the lock current value of the motor (27) due to the increase in load described above, the ice cream manufacturing operation is terminated by detecting the partial freezing temperature of the ice cream mix or performing an experiment. The time for the ice cream mix to freeze is set in advance by counting the elapsed time from the start of stirring, and when it reaches the predetermined time, control is performed to assume that the generation is complete and stop. May be.

  In addition, the ice creamer (20) can be controlled by stopping the power supply to the motor (27) by opening the ice making chamber door (17), and stopping the stirring blade (25). ) Rotation can be stopped at the same time, so safety can be further improved, and it is possible to prevent an infant from being injured by touching the rotating stirring blade (25) etc. due to misuse. .

  According to the present invention, as described above, the front portion, which has conventionally been a dead space of the automatic ice making device (13) installed in the ice making chamber (3), is used, and the ceiling surface of the ice making chamber (3) is further provided. By providing the recessed part (19) in the heat insulating partition wall (6) to be formed, the rotation drive part (26) of the ice creamer (20) is accommodated in the recessed part (19), and the ice cream is generated below the recessed part (19). As the installation space for the container (21) and the stirring blade (25), it can be installed in a compact and efficient manner without impairing the ice cream manufacturing function, as well as the automatic ice making function and the ice storage and take-out function for ice making. It can be used. And since it is not necessary to install an ice creamer (20) in a freezer compartment (5), the whole freezer compartment (5) can be effectively utilized as a storage space for frozen food.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view of the ice making chamber which is the principal part of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which the ice creamer in FIG. 2 decomposed | disassembled. It is a perspective view which shows the assembly state of the ice creamer of FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ice creamer shown in FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the refrigerator provided with the conventional ice creamer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator body 2 Refrigerated room 3 Ice making room 6 Heat insulation partition wall
13 Automatic ice making equipment
16 Icebox
17 Ice making room door
20 Ice creamer
21 containers
23 Case material
25 Stirring blade
26 Stirring drive
27 Motor
28 Reduction gear unit
35 Vacuum insulation panel

Claims (5)

  In a refrigerator having a refrigerator compartment arranged at the top of the main body, a relatively small-volume ice making chamber provided via a heat insulating partition wall below the refrigerator compartment, and a vegetable compartment and a main freezer compartment below the refrigerator compartment, An automatic ice making device is attached to the ceiling portion of the ice making chamber, and an ice storage box is provided below the automatic ice making device along with a drawer-type ice making door, and the ice making chamber ceiling in front of the automatic ice making device is provided. Has an ice creamer with an agitation drive that produces an ice cream in the recess, and an ice cream mix in the container, and an ice cream mix in the container. A refrigerator comprising a stirring blade that is detachably attached to the stirring drive unit.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a vacuum heat insulation panel is disposed on the heat insulation partition wall between the upper surface of the recessed portion and the bottom of the refrigerator compartment.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein an ice creamer agitation drive unit is accommodated in the recessed part and fixed to a partition wall part forming the recessed part.   The stirrer blade is connected to the agitation drive part of the ice creamer by pushing it in from below, and the container is connected to the agitation drive part by pressing from below and connected by a rotating engagement method. 4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the bottom portion of the container connected to the portion does not come into contact with the drawer trajectory of the upper edge of the ice storage box.   A motor for driving the agitation drive unit is embedded in the heat insulating wall of the recess side wall, and the rotational force of the motor is transmitted to the reduction gear unit of the agitation drive unit by a non-contact magnet coupling mechanism so as to rotate the agitation blade. 4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the refrigerator is made.

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