JP2009047359A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To equalize a surface temperature of a cooling panel disposed in a storage compartment regardless of regions, to realize even cooling. <P>SOLUTION: The cold air from a cold air passage 32 is introduced between a front face-side inner wall of the refrigerating compartment 2 and a cooling panel 70 mounted on its surface, and the inside of the refrigerating compartment 2 is cooled by lowering a surface temperature of the cooling panel 70. Heat conductivity of the cooling panel 70 is set to be comparatively low at a region near the cold air introducing portion 71b, and comparatively high at a region separating from the cold air introducing portion 71b. The cooling panel 70 is constituted by combining a surface panel 72 composed of a metallic plate of high heat conductivity with a panel base 71 composed of a heat insulating material, and the panel base 71 has various thicknesses depending on regions to have difference in heat conductivity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator that delivers cold air to a storage room through a cold air passage.

  Most recent refrigerators have a plurality of storage rooms, and the temperature zones differ for each storage room. These storage rooms are given various names depending on the temperature zone, such as “refrigerated room”, “freezer room”, “vegetable room”, “chilled room”, “temperature switching room”. In order to obtain different temperature zones for each storage room, the cool air generated by the cooler is sent to the cool air passage by a blower, and the cold air distribution to the chambers is controlled by the cool air distributor provided in the cool air passage. It is common. Examples of the refrigerator having such a configuration can be seen in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

In addition, in a normal configuration, the vegetable room is also cooled by feeding cold air, but there is also a refrigerator in which the vegetable room is indirectly cooled by a cooling plate cooled with cold air so that high humidity cooling is performed. . An example of such a refrigerator can be seen in US Pat.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-288440 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-47828 JP 2002-147915 A

  There has been a proposal to control humidity by applying the indirect cooling method using a cooling plate described in Patent Document 3 to cooling a storage room other than a vegetable room, for example, a refrigerator room. The present invention relates to such a refrigerator. The purpose of the present invention is to make the surface temperature of the cooling panel placed in the storage room uniform regardless of the part, to achieve uniform cooling, and to maintain the freshness. There is to increase.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention introduces cold air from a cold air passage between an inner wall of a storage chamber for storing a stored item and a cooling panel attached to the surface thereof, and reduces the surface temperature of the cooling panel. In the refrigerator that cools the storage chamber by lowering, the thermal conductivity of the cooling panel is set to be relatively low at a portion close to the cold air introduction portion and relatively high at a portion away from the cold air introduction portion. It is said.

  According to this configuration, the surface temperature of the portion close to the cool air introduction portion in the cooling panel is not lowered compared to the other portions, and the surface temperature becomes uniform. For this reason, the temperature nonuniformity in a storage chamber can be made small. Also, when the door is opened, moisture in the outside air adheres to the cooling panel, and after the door is closed, the moisture on the cooling panel surface is reduced to humidity in the storage chamber, so moisture adheres evenly to the entire surface of the cooling panel. Humidity unevenness in the storage chamber is reduced, and the freshness is improved. Condensation, frost formation, and icing are not abnormally increased in a portion near the cold air introduction portion.

  In the refrigerator configured as described above, the cooling panel is a combination of a panel base made of a heat insulating material and a surface panel made of a metal plate having good heat conduction, and the thickness of the panel base varies depending on the part. To obtain the difference in thermal conductivity.

  According to this configuration, the difference in thermal conductivity for each part of the cooling panel can be easily and finely set.

  In the refrigerator configured as described above, the panel base includes a lattice-shaped skeleton portion, and a heat insulating wall in contact with the back surface of the surface panel so as to fill a lattice mass of the skeleton portion. It is characterized in that the difference in thermal conductivity is obtained by thinness or lack.

  According to this configuration, the cooling base can be given sufficient strength by the grid-like skeleton portion of the panel base. Since the thermal conductivity is adjusted by the thinness or lack of a heat insulating wall that fills the grid mass, fine adjustment of the thermal conductivity can be easily performed.

  In the refrigerator configured as described above, the cooling panel is disposed on the front side inner wall of the storage room, and the cold air introduction portion from the cold air passage is provided near one of the left and right sides of the storage room front side inner wall. The rear surface of the panel base is divided into left and right compartments by ribs extending in the vertical direction, and the cold air inlets of these left and right compartments are positioned and oriented so that the amount of cold air introduced is in accordance with the area ratio of the compartments.・ It is characterized by its shape and dimensions.

  According to this configuration, even when the cold air introduction part is provided near one of the left and right of the front side inner wall of the storage room, the cooling panel is not cooled well only on the side where the cold air introduction part exists, The surface temperature of the cooling panel can be made uniform.

  In the refrigerator configured as described above, the left and right ends of the surface panel are bent in a U shape so as to hold the panel base.

  According to this configuration, the surface panel covers and conceals the cooling panel from the left end to the right end, and the panel base cannot be seen, so that the appearance of the cooling panel is improved. In addition, the presence of the U-shaped bent portions at the left and right ends of the front panel increases the strength of the cooling panel.

  According to the present invention, in the refrigerator having the above configuration, synthetic resin end covers are fitted and attached to the upper and lower ends of the cooling panel, and these end covers are engaged with the engaging portions of the storage chamber side walls. The cooling panel is detachably attached to the side wall of the storage chamber.

  According to this configuration, the panel base is covered with the end cover at the upper and lower ends of the cooling panel, and the aesthetic appearance of the cooling panel is improved. Further, since the end cover is made of a synthetic resin, it can be easily engaged with the engaging portion of the side wall of the storage chamber using its elasticity or slipperiness, and the cooling panel can be easily attached and detached.

  According to the present invention, in cooling the storage chamber by introducing the cool air from the cool air passage between the inner wall of the storage chamber and the cooling panel attached to the surface of the storage chamber and lowering the surface temperature of the cooling panel, The thermal conductivity is set to be relatively low at the part close to the cold air introduction part and relatively high at the part away from the cold air introduction part, so that the surface temperature can be made comparable at any part of the cooling panel and stored. Indoor temperature unevenness can be reduced. In addition, the degree of moisture adhesion in the outside air is also uniform over the entire cooling panel, so the humidity unevenness in the storage chamber is reduced and the freshness is improved. The larger the cooling panel, the more effective this configuration will be.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1-7 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the refrigerator, FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a front view in an opened state, FIG. 3 is a front sectional view, and FIG. 4 is a line AA in FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a cold air circuit diagram showing the flow of cold air. .

  The refrigerator 1 is provided with a refrigerating room 2 (cooling room) at the top, and a temperature switching room 3 and an ice making room 4 are provided side by side below the refrigerating room 2. A freezing room 6 is arranged below the temperature switching room 3 and the ice making room 4, and a vegetable room 5 is arranged below the freezing room 6. The door of the refrigerator compartment 2 is a double door.

  The refrigerator compartment 2 stores stored items in a refrigerator, and the vegetable compartment 5 cools and preserves vegetables at a room temperature (about 8 ° C.) higher than the refrigerator compartment 2. As will be described later in detail, the temperature switching chamber 3 can be switched by the user at room temperature. The freezer 6 stores the stored items in a frozen state, and the ice making chamber 4 communicates with the freezer 6 to make ice. The ice making room 4 and the freezing room 6 are maintained below the freezing point, and the ice making room 4 constitutes a part of the freezing room 6 in this specification.

  FIG. 4-6 is a right side cross-sectional view of the refrigerator 1, and is a cross section taken at different points. The main body of the refrigerator 1 is configured by filling a foam heat insulating material 1c between the outer box 1a and the inner box 1b. The ice making chamber 4 and the temperature switching chamber 3 are separated from the refrigerator compartment 2 by a heat insulating wall 7, and the freezer compartment 6 and the vegetable compartment 5 are separated from each other by a heat insulating wall 8. The temperature switching chamber 3 and the freezing chamber 6 are separated by a heat insulating wall 35 (see FIGS. 3 and 6), and the temperature switching chamber 3 and the ice making chamber 4 are separated by a vertical heat insulating wall 36 (see FIG. 3). Isolated.

  When the foam heat insulating material 1c is filled between the outer box 1a and the inner box 1b, the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 are filled simultaneously. That is, the stock solution of the foam heat insulating material 1c is injected simultaneously between the outer box 1a and the inner box 1b and into the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 communicating with the outer box 1a, and foamed integrally. For the conventional heat insulating walls 7 and 8, a heat insulating material such as a polystyrene foam different from the foam heat insulating material 1c between the outer box 1a and the inner box 1b has been used. By filling the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 simultaneously with the space between the outer box 1a and the inner box 1b with the foam heat insulating material 1c such as urethane foam heat insulating material, the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 can be easily formed thin. Therefore, the volume of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be ensured widely.

  Further, the exterior of the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 is made of a member different from the inner box 1b, and the side surfaces of the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 are opened before the foam heat insulating material 1c is filled, and the inner box 1b is formed of the heat insulating walls 7 and 8. Open to face the side. By filling the foam heat insulating material 1c, the openings on the side surfaces of the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 and the opening of the inner box 1b are connected and integrated. Thereby, the leakage of cold air or warm air between the storage chambers separated by the heat insulating walls 7 and 8 in different temperature zones is prevented. Thereby, energy saving by reduction of heat loss can be achieved. Moreover, the abnormal noise which generate | occur | produces by the vibration of the heat insulation walls 7 and 8 and the sliding of the heat insulation walls 7 and 8 and the inner case 1b by this vibration can be prevented. In addition, the structural strength can be increased by integral formation.

  The ice making room 4, the freezing room 6, the vegetable room 5 and the temperature switching room 3 are provided with a storage case 43 for storing stored items. The refrigerator compartment 2 is provided with a plurality of storage shelves 41 on which stored items are placed. A plurality of storage pockets 42 are provided on the door of the refrigerator compartment 2. As a result, the usability of the refrigerator 1 is improved. Further, a chilled chamber 21 (see FIG. 6), which is an isolation chamber maintained in a chilled temperature range (about 0 ° C.), for example, in a temperature range different from that of the refrigerated chamber 2 is provided in the lower part of the refrigerated chamber 2. An ice greenhouse maintained at an ice temperature (about −3 ° C.) may be provided instead of the chilled chamber 21.

  A machine room 50 is provided behind the vegetable room 5, and a compressor 57 is disposed in the machine room 50. The compressor 57 is connected to a condenser, an expander (not shown) and a cooler 11, and a refrigerant such as isobutane is circulated by driving the compressor 57 to constitute a refrigeration cycle. The cooler 11 is on the low temperature side of the refrigeration cycle.

  In FIG. 5, a cold air passage 31 (a freezer compartment cold air passage) partitioned by a back plate 6 a is provided behind the freezer compartment 6. The cool air passage 31 is partitioned into a front part 31a and a rear part 31b by a partition plate 31c, and the cooler 11 is arranged in the rear part 31b. Since the cooler 11 is arranged on the back side of the freezer compartment 6, the cold heat of the cooler 11 is released to the freezer compartment 6 side through the partition plate 31c, the front portion 31a, and the back plate 6a. For this reason, the freezer compartment 6 is indirectly cooled efficiently, and the cooling efficiency is improved.

  A cold air passage 32 (cooling chamber cold air passage) communicating with the cold air passage 31 via the cold room damper 20 (cold air distributor) is provided behind the refrigerator compartment 2. The cooler 11 on the low temperature side of the refrigeration cycle exchanges heat with the air flowing through the cold air passage 31 to generate cold air. A defrost heater 33 for defrosting the cooler 11 is provided below the cooler 11. Below the defrost heater 33, a soup saucer 63 for receiving water by defrost is provided. The soup saucer 63 is provided with a drain pipe 64, and drain water is guided to the evaporation dish 66 (see FIG. 4) disposed in the machine room 50 through the drain pipe 64.

  In the cold air passages 31 and 32, a freezer compartment fan 12 (second fan) and a refrigerator compartment fan 23 (first fan) are arranged, respectively. Although details will be described later, the cold air generated by the cooler 11 flows through the front portion 31 a of the cold air passage 31 by driving the freezer compartment fan 12, and is supplied to the freezer compartment 6, the ice making compartment 4, and the temperature switching chamber 3. The cold air is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 2, the chilled compartment 21 and the vegetable compartment 5 through the cold passage 32 by driving the refrigerator compartment fan 23.

  The freezer compartment fan 12 and the refrigerator compartment fan 23 are axial fans. The refrigerator compartment blower 23 is disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane so as to overlap the heat insulating wall 7 in front projection. Thereby, the refrigerator air blower 23 is not arrange | positioned behind the refrigerator compartment 2 with a high usage frequency, and the depth of the cold air | gas channel | path 32 can be narrowed. That is, the depth of the cold air passage 32 is formed to 80 mm, for example, on the discharge side of the refrigerator fan 23, and is gradually narrowed toward the downstream side of the air flow, for example, 12 mm. At this time, the width of the cold air passage 32 in the left-right direction is formed wider than the vicinity of the discharge side of the refrigerator compartment fan 23. Thereby, the ventilation area of the cool air passage 32 is ensured, the cool air flow rate is maintained, and the reduction of the blowing efficiency is prevented. Therefore, the depth of the refrigerator compartment 2 in front of the narrowed cold air passage 32 is increased, and the volume of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be secured widely.

  The heat insulation wall 7 may be provided above the figure to secure a large volume of the temperature switching chamber 3 and the ice making chamber 4. Moreover, you may form the refrigerator compartment fan 23 with a centrifugal fan. At this time, the centrifugal fan may be arranged with the suction side facing downward and the discharge side facing left and right, so that the air flow is directed upward during or after air discharge.

  Since the refrigerator compartment blower 23 is provided in a region overlapping the heat insulating wall 7 in the front projection, the freezer compartment blower 12 is disposed at a low position away from the ice making tray 62 disposed above the ice making chamber 4. Since the discharge direction of the cold air from the freezer blower 12 is the direction of the ice tray 62 at the upper front, the water stored in the ice tray 62 can be efficiently cooled.

  FIG. 3 shows a front sectional view of the refrigerator 1. The refrigerator compartment fan 23, the refrigerator compartment damper 20, and the freezer compartment fan 12 are arranged substantially side by side in the vertical direction. That is, the refrigerating room blower 23, the refrigerating room damper 20, and the freezing room blower 12 are arranged so as to overlap in the planar projection. Thereby, while the width | variety of the left-right direction of the refrigerator 1 can be narrowed, the cool air passages 31 and 32 can be shortened and volume efficiency and ventilation efficiency can be improved more.

  The cold air passage 31 behind the freezer compartment 6 is provided with an opening at a location corresponding to the front surface of the freezer compartment fan 12, from which air is sent out to the ice making chamber 4 by the freezer compartment fan 12. A freezer compartment return port 22 is provided at the lower part of the freezer compartment 6 communicating with the ice making chamber 4. Further, an introduction ventilation path 15 that branches from the cold air passage 31 and guides the cold air to the temperature switching chamber 3 is provided.

  The upper part of the cold air passage 31 communicates with the cold air passage 32 via the refrigerator compartment damper 20. When the refrigerator compartment damper 20 is opened and the freezer compartment fan 12 is driven, cold air is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 2 and the chilled compartment 21.

  In order to secure a large volume of the temperature switching chamber 3, the vertical heat insulating wall 36 that separates the temperature switching chamber 3 and the ice making chamber 4 is arranged biased to the left in FIG. 3.

  When the front portion 31 a of the cold air passage 31 and the refrigerator compartment damper 20 are provided behind the temperature switching chamber 3, heat is released from the temperature switching chamber 3 to the cold air in the cold air passage 31. When the cold air flowing through the cold air passage 31 is, for example, −23 ° C., and the temperature switching chamber 3 is controlled to a temperature higher than the cold air (for example, 3 ° C., 8 ° C., or 50 ° C.), heat loss increases. For this reason, the refrigerator compartment damper 20 and the front part 31a (see FIG. 5) of the cold air passage 31 are provided behind the vertical heat insulating wall 36 or on the left side thereof to prevent heat from being released from the temperature switching chamber 3 to the cold air. Yes. Thereby, cooling efficiency can be improved more.

  A refrigerator compartment outlet 2 a is opened at the lower back of the refrigerator compartment 2, and a vegetable compartment inlet (not shown) is provided in the vegetable compartment 5. The refrigerator compartment outlet 2a and the vegetable compartment inlet are connected by a connecting path 34 that passes through the back surface of the temperature switching chamber 3, whereby the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 5 communicate with each other. A return ventilation path 46 (see FIG. 5) communicating with the cold air passage 31 is provided at the upper back of the vegetable compartment 5.

  A temperature switching chamber blower 18 and a heater 16 (see FIG. 6) are disposed at the rear of the temperature switching chamber 3. A temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37 is provided at the lower left portion of the temperature switching chamber 3. The temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37 is arranged in the introduction ventilation path 15, and the temperature switching chamber blower 18 is arranged in the upper part of the introduction ventilation path 15. When the temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37 is opened and the temperature switching chamber blower 18 is driven, cold air flows from the cooler 11 into the temperature switching chamber 3 through the introduction ventilation path 15. The amount of air flowing into the temperature switching chamber 3 from the introduction ventilation path 15 is adjusted by the opening / closing amount of the temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37. In addition to the heater 16, the temperature switching chamber 3 is provided with a panel heater (not shown) at the bottom.

  Below the temperature switching chamber 3, a temperature switching chamber return damper 38 (see FIG. 6) is provided. The temperature switching chamber return damper 38 opens and closes the return ventilation path 17 extending downward, and the air in the temperature switching chamber 3 returns to the cool air passage 31 via the return ventilation path 17.

  The cooler 11 is formed by meandering refrigerant pipes 11a through which refrigerant flows, and left and right ends of the refrigerant pipes 11a are supported by end plates 11b. A large number of fins (not shown) for heat dissipation are provided in contact with the refrigerant pipe 11a. A gas-liquid separator 45 is connected to the upper part of the refrigerant pipe 11a.

  The air flowing through the return air passage 17 is returned to the cooler 11 from an outlet 17 a provided in the middle of the cooler 11 in the vertical direction. Further, the cold air flowing out from the freezer compartment 6 through the freezer compartment return port 22 returns to the lower part of the cooler 11, and the cold air flowing out from the vegetable compartment 5 and passing through the return ventilation path 46 returns to the lower part of the cooler 11. Therefore, the cold air flowing out from each storage chamber is returned to the cooler 11 in a dispersed manner. For this reason, the frost by the cold air containing the water | moisture content which circulated through each store room and returned does not generate | occur | produce intensively, but disperse | distributes and generate | occur | produces to the cooler 11 whole. Thereby, clogging of the cold air flow due to frost is prevented, and a decrease in cooling performance of the cooler 11 can be prevented.

  The cold air that has passed through the temperature switching chamber 3 with a small volume is cooled at the upper part of the cooler 11, and the cold air that has passed through the refrigerator compartment 3, the vegetable room 5, and the freezer room 6 with a large volume is cooled in the entire vertical direction of the cooler 11. Is done. Therefore, the cold air flowing out from the temperature switching chamber 3 is not heat exchanged with the cooler 11 more than necessary, and the heat exchange efficiency of the cooler 11 can be improved.

  The cold air flowing out of the freezer compartment 6 through the freezer compartment return port 22 is guided between the end plates 11b on both sides. The cold air flowing out from the vegetable compartment 5 is guided to the entire left and right direction inside and outside the end plates 11b on both sides of the cooler 11 via a return ventilation path 46 (see FIG. 5).

  Thereby, the heat exchange area of the cold air flowing out from the vegetable compartment 5 becomes larger than the heat exchange area of the cold air flowing out from the freezer compartment 6. Therefore, the low temperature cold air returning from the freezer compartment 6 is not cooled more than necessary, and the high temperature cold air returning from the vegetable compartment 5 is cooled by the entire cooler 11 so that the heat exchange efficiency of the cooler 11 can be further improved.

  Since the temperature switching chamber 3 may be maintained at the freezing temperature, the end plate 11b is provided with a notch (not shown) at a position facing the outlet 17a of the return ventilation path 17. Thereby, the cold air that has flowed out of the temperature switching chamber 3 can be guided between the end plates 11b on both sides to disperse the cold air. Therefore, the condensation of the cooler 11 can be dispersed and clogging can be further prevented.

  FIG. 7 is a cold air circuit diagram showing the flow of cold air in the refrigerator 1. The freezer compartment 6, the refrigerator compartment 2, and the temperature switching chamber 3 are each arranged in parallel. The ice making room 4 is arranged in series with the freezer room 6, and the vegetable room 5 is arranged in series with the refrigerator room 2. The cold air generated by the cooler 11 is sent to the ice making chamber 4 by driving the freezer blower 12. The cold air sent to the ice making room 4 flows through the ice making room 4 and the freezing room 6, flows out from the freezing room return port 22, and returns to the cooler 11. As a result, the ice making chamber 4 and the freezing chamber 6 are cooled.

  The cold air branched on the exhaust side of the freezer compartment fan 12 is sent to the refrigerating compartment 2 and the chilled compartment 21 through the refrigerating compartment damper 20 by driving the refrigerating compartment blower 23. The cold air that has flowed through the refrigerator compartment 2 and the chilled compartment 21 and exchanged heat with the stored material flows into the vegetable compartment 5 through the connection path 34. The cold air flowing into the vegetable compartment 5 circulates in the vegetable compartment 5 and returns to the cooler 11 through the return ventilation path 46. Thereby, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 5 is cooled, and when it becomes preset temperature, the refrigerator compartment damper 20 will be closed. In addition, the cold air sent to the refrigerator compartment 2 cools the cold air panel, and cools the refrigerator compartment 2 through the cold air panel. This will be described in detail later.

  The cold air branched on the exhaust side of the freezer compartment fan 12 flows into the temperature switching chamber 3 via the temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37 by driving the temperature switching chamber blower 18. The cold air that has flowed into the temperature switching chamber 3 flows through the temperature switching chamber 3, flows out of the temperature switching chamber return damper 38, and returns to the cooler 11 through the return ventilation path 17. Thereby, the inside of the temperature switching chamber 3 is cooled.

  As described above, the temperature switching chamber 3 can switch the room temperature by a user's operation. The operation modes of the temperature switching chamber 3 are wine (8 ° C.), refrigeration (3 ° C.), chilled (0 ° C.), soft freezing (−8 ° C.), and freezing (−15 ° C.) depending on the temperature zone. Provided.

  Thus, the user can store the refrigerated product at a desired temperature by refrigeration or refrigeration. The room temperature can be switched by varying the amount of opening of the temperature switching chamber discharge damper 37. For example, when switching from a freezing room temperature to a refrigerated room temperature, the heater 16 or a panel heater (not shown) may be energized to raise the temperature. Thereby, it can switch to desired room temperature rapidly.

  By energizing the heater 16 and the panel heater (not shown), the room temperature of the temperature switching chamber 3 can be switched from the low temperature side where the stored items are cooled and stored to the high temperature side higher than the normal temperature. Thereby, temporary heat insulation, warm cooking, etc. of the cooked heated food can be performed.

  Since the growth temperature of the main food poisoning bacteria is 30 ° C. to 45 ° C., the indoor temperature on the high temperature side is preferably set to 50 ° C. or more in consideration of the tolerance of the heater capacity, the temperature distribution in the temperature switching chamber 3, and the like. Thereby, propagation of food poisoning bacteria can be prevented.

  Moreover, since the heat-resistant temperature of the general resin parts used for a refrigerator is 80 degreeC, when the room temperature of a high temperature side shall be 80 degrees C or less, it can implement | achieve cheaply. In addition, in order to sterilize food poisoning bacteria, for example, in the case of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (pathogenic E. coli O157), heating at 75 ° C. for 1 minute is required. Therefore, it is more desirable to set the indoor temperature on the high temperature side to 75 ° C. to 80 ° C.

The following are the test results on the sterilization of food poisoning bacteria at 55 ° C. In the initial state, E. coli 2.4 × 10 ³ CFU / mL, Staphylococcus aureus 2.0 × 10 ³ CFU / mL, Salmonella 2.1 × 10 ³ CFU / mL, Vibrio parahaemolyticus 1.5 × 10 ³ CFU / ML, Cereus 4.0 × 10 ³ CFU / mL. This test sample was heated from 3 ° C. to 55 ° C. over 40 minutes, kept at 55 ° C. for 3.5 hours, then returned from 55 ° C. to 3 ° C. over 80 minutes, and the amount of each bacterium was examined again. As a result, all the bacteria were reduced to a level of 10 CFU / mL or less (not detected). Therefore, even if the set temperature on the high temperature side of the temperature switching chamber 3 is 55 ° C., there is a sufficient sterilization effect.

  According to the present embodiment, since the refrigerator compartment 2, the temperature switching chamber 3, the freezer compartment 6, and the vegetable compartment 5 are arranged in this order from the top, the width of the freezer compartment 6 and the vegetable compartment 5 is widened, and the convenience of the refrigerator 1 is improved. To do. In addition, since the temperature switching chamber 3 and the freezer compartment 6 are adjacent to each other, the cool air path from the cooler 11 provided close to the freezer compartment 6 to the temperature switching chamber 3 is shortened. For this reason, the temperature rise of the cold air supplied to the temperature switching chamber 3 maintained at the freezing temperature can be prevented, and the cooling efficiency can be improved.

  Moreover, the convenience of the refrigerator 1 improves by arrange | positioning the refrigerator compartment 2 with a high usage frequency in the uppermost stage. In addition, since the vegetable compartment 5 is disposed below the refrigerator compartment 2, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 can be easily guided to the vegetable compartment 5 by its own weight, and a reduction in blowing efficiency can be prevented. Furthermore, since the temperature switching chamber 3 is disposed above the freezer compartment 6 and the vegetable compartment 3, it is possible to easily put in and out a heavy and hot pan or the like while the user is standing. Therefore, the convenience of the refrigerator 1 can be further improved, and the risk of turning over the pan or the like can be reduced, thereby improving safety.

  Next, a mechanism for cooling the refrigerator compartment 2 with the cooling panel 70 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 6, FIG. 9 is a horizontal sectional view of the refrigerator, FIG. 10 is a front view of the cooling panel, FIG. 11 is a right side view of the cooling panel, FIG. 12 is a rear view of the cooling panel, and FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG. 12, FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG. 12, FIG. 15 is an enlarged view of a portion F of FIG. FIG. 17 is an enlarged view of a portion H in FIG.

  The cooling panel 70 is disposed on the front side inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2. Cold air from the cold air passage 32 is introduced between the front-side inner side wall and the cooling panel 70 attached to the front side wall. As seen in FIG. 9, the cooling panel 70 has a width that substantially covers the width of the refrigerator compartment 2.

  The cooling panel 70 has a rectangular front shape, and is formed by combining a panel base 71 made of a heat insulating material with a surface panel 72 made of a metal plate having good heat conduction. As a material for the panel base 71, for example, polystyrene foam can be selected. The material of the front panel 72 can be selected from aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, plated steel plate and the like. Considering thermal conductivity, rust resistance, strength, lightness, price, etc., aluminum is a powerful option.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the panel base 71 has a lattice-like skeleton 71a. For this reason, the cooling panel 70 has sufficient strength. A part of the skeleton part 71a projects downward, and this part becomes the cold air introduction part 71b.

  Some of the lattice masses of the skeleton 71a close to the cold air introduction part 71b are filled with a heat insulating wall 71c as shown in FIG. The heat insulating wall 71 c is in contact with the back surface of the front panel 72. The mass of the cold air introduction part 71b itself is also filled with the heat insulating wall 71d, but the heat insulating wall 71d is thicker than the heat insulating wall 71c. The upper mass away from the cold air introducing portion 71 b does not have the heat insulating wall 71 c, and the cold air directly hits the back surface of the front panel 72.

  By configuring as described above, the thermal conductivity of the cooling panel 70 (the thermal conductivity in the normal direction of the panel surface) is relatively low in a portion close to the cold air introduction portion 71b and a portion away from the cold air introduction portion 71b. It will be relatively high. For this reason, the surface temperature of the portion close to the cool air introduction portion 71b in the cooling panel 70 does not decrease compared to other portions, and the surface temperature of the cooling panel 70 becomes uniform. Thereby, the temperature nonuniformity in the refrigerator compartment 2 can be made small. In addition, condensation, frost formation, and icing increase abnormally at a portion close to the cold air introduction portion 71b, and a large amount of soup does not hang from here.

  Thus, the difference in thermal conductivity for each part of the cooling panel 70 can be easily set in the form of the presence or absence of the heat insulating wall 71c. If the thickness of the heat insulating wall 71c is increased, the difference in thermal conductivity can be set more finely.

  The outside air introduction portion 71 b is provided close to the right side of the front side inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2. If nothing is done, the amount of cool air passing through the right half of the cooling panel 70 increases, and there is a difference in cooling between the right half and the left half of the cooling panel 70. To prevent this, do the following:

  As shown in FIG. 12, a rib 71e having a shape surrounding the outer periphery is formed on the back surface of the panel base 71. A rib 71 f extending in the vertical direction is formed in the center of the back surface of the panel base 71. The rib 71f is connected to the rib 71e at the upper end, but not connected to the lower end. The ribs 71e and 71f bisect the back surface of the panel base 71 into a right section 71g and a left section 71h. A rib 71i extending in the lateral direction is formed at the lower end of the rib 71f. The opening formed between the rib 71i and the rib 71e serves as a cold air inlet 71j to the right section 71g and a cold air inlet 71k to the left section 71h. All the ribs 71e, 71f, 71i are in close contact with the front side inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2. Cold air outlets 71m and 71n are formed at the upper corners of the right section 71g and the left section 71h.

  The positions, orientations, shapes, and dimensions of the cold air inlets 71j and 71k are set so that the cold air introduction amount is in accordance with the area ratio of the right section 71g and the left section 71h. For this reason, although the cold air introduction part 71b is provided close to the right side of the front side inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2, only the right half of the cooling panel 70 is not cooled well, and the cooling panel 70 The surface temperature of is uniformized.

  The surface of the cooling panel 70 is convexly curved. To be precise, the axis is curved so as to form a vertical cylindrical surface. This cylindrical surface shape is brought about by the shape of the panel base 71. The other surface panel 72 has a flat plate shape before being combined with the panel base 71. As described above, since the curvature is different between the panel base 71 and the front panel 72, when the front panel 72 is combined with the panel base 71, the two come into close contact with each other, and the cooling panel 70 exhibits a cylindrical surface.

  As shown in FIGS. 14 and 17, the left and right ends of the surface panel 72 are bent into a planar U shape so as to hold the panel base 71. For this reason, the surface panel 72 covers and conceals the cooling panel 70 from the left end to the right end, and the panel base 71 cannot be seen, so that the appearance of the cooling panel 70 is improved. Further, the presence of the U-shaped bent portions 72 a at the left and right ends of the front panel 72 increases the strength of the cooling panel 70.

The metal surface on the surface of the front panel 72 is mirror-finished by buffing or the like, for example. A large number of beads 72b are formed on the surface in stripes. The width of the beads 72b itself is set to 2 mm, and the interval between the beads 72b is set to 7 mm. Needless to say, these numerical values are merely illustrative and do not limit the invention. The bead 72b is horizontal. That is, the bead 72 b extends along the circumferential direction of the cylindrical surface of the cooling panel 70. The presence of the bead 72b improves the strength of the front panel 72, and consequently the strength of the cooling panel.

  Synthetic resin end covers 73 and 74 are fitted and attached to the upper and lower ends of the cooling panel 70. As shown in FIG. 15, the end cover 73 has a claw 73 a that engages with a through hole 72 c formed in the front panel 72. A plurality of claws 73a are provided, whereby the end cover 73 is firmly coupled to the cooling panel 70 without using screws or the like. Similarly, the end cover 74 is also firmly coupled to the cooling panel 70 without using screws or the like by engaging a claw 74a with the through hole 72d of the surface panel 72 as shown in FIG. The end covers 73 and 74 cover the panel base 71 and improve the aesthetic appearance of the cooling panel 70.

  The end cover 74 is formed with a skirt portion 74b that covers the refrigerator compartment outlet 2a, and the skirt portion 74b is formed with a communication port 74c that communicates with the refrigerator compartment outlet 2a. The cold air that has come out of the cold air outlets 71m and 71n is sucked into the refrigerator compartment outlet 2a through the communication port 74c.

  The engaging portions 2b and 2c for attaching the cooling panel 70 assembled with the end covers 73 and 74 as described above are formed on the front side inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 2 (see FIG. 8). The cooling panel 70 uses the elasticity or slipperiness of the end covers 73 and 74 made of synthetic resin to engage the engaging portions 2b and 2c in a manner that fits the shoji and scissors, and from there. Can be removed. For this reason, the cooling panel 70 can be easily attached and detached without using a tool.

  Since the cooling panel 70 is connected to the upper and lower end covers 73, 74, when the cooling panel 70 is combined with the refrigerator 1 having a different height of the refrigerator compartment 2, the cooling cover 70 is not touched without touching the end covers 73, 74. It can be dealt with by changing only the height. Since it is not necessary to renew the molds of the end bars 73 and 74, cost can be saved.

  When the assembled cooling panel 70 is engaged with the engaging portions 2b and 2c and attached, and the cool air is sent from the cool air passage 32 to the cool air introducing portion 71b, the cool air is distributed to the right compartment 71g and the left compartment 71h. Cool down. Since the thermal conductivity is adjusted by the heat insulating wall 71c, the surface temperature of the front panel 72 has the same value at any part. The cold air that has cooled the front panel 72 flows out of the cold air outlets 71m and 71n, and is sucked into the refrigerator compartment outlet 2a through the communication port 74c.

  The cooling panel 70 having a cooled surface maintains the temperature in the refrigerator compartment 2 at a set temperature. When the door of the refrigerator compartment 2 is opened, outside air flows in, but moisture contained in the outside air immediately condenses on the surface of the cooling panel 70. This moisture is reduced as humidity to the air in the refrigerator compartment 2 after the door of the refrigerator compartment 2 is closed. For this reason, the moisturizing effect of the refrigerator compartment 2 improves and the freshness power increases. Since the surface temperature of the cooling panel 70 is uniform, moisture adheres evenly to the entire surface of the cooling panel 70. For this reason, the humidity nonuniformity in the refrigerator compartment 2 becomes small, and the freshness power further improves. In addition, since the surface area of the cooling panel 70 is increased due to the presence of the beads 72b, the freshness is further increased.

  As shown in FIG. 8, an interior lighting device 80 is provided on the ceiling of the refrigerator compartment 2. The cover 81 of the interior lighting device 80 has a width comparable to the width of the cooling panel 70, and the depth is about half of the depth of the refrigerator compartment 2, and has a large area as a whole. The rear corner of the cover 81 serves as an engaging portion 2b for engaging the end cover 73 of the cooling panel 70.

  The cover 81 is given a function as a light diffusing plate by, for example, diamond cutting. A plurality of LEDs 82 dispersedly arranged at several places in the space surrounded by the cover 81 constitute a light source of the interior lighting device 80. The interior lighting device 80 is turned on in conjunction with opening of the door of the refrigerator compartment 2. When the interior lighting device 80 is turned on, the light is reflected by the cooling panel 70, and the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 is brightly illuminated.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for all refrigerators that cool the inside of a refrigerator by circulating cold air.

Front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention Front view of the refrigerator open state Front sectional view of the refrigerator Sectional drawing along the AA line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the BB line of FIG. Sectional drawing along CC line of FIG. Cold air circuit diagram showing the flow of cold air Partial enlarged view of FIG. Horizontal sectional view of the refrigerator Front view of cooling panel Figure 11 is a right side view of the cooling panel Rear view of cooling panel Sectional drawing along the DD line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the EE line of FIG. Enlarged view of part F in FIG. Enlarged view of part G in FIG. Enlarged view of part H in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator 2 Refrigerated room 3 Temperature switching room 4 Ice making room 5 Vegetable room 6 Freezer room 32 Cold air passage 70 Cooling panel 71 Panel base 71a Skeletal part 71b Cold air introduction part 71c, 71d Thermal insulation wall 71e, 71f, 71i Rib 71g Right section 71h Left Section 71j, 71k Cold air inlet 71m, 71n Cold air outlet 72 Front panel 72a Bent part 73, 74 End plate 2b, 2c Engagement part

Claims (6)

In a refrigerator that cools the storage chamber by introducing cold air from a cold air passage between an inner wall of a storage chamber for storing stored items and a cooling panel attached to the surface of the storage chamber, and lowering the surface temperature of the cooling panel. ,
The refrigerator is characterized in that the heat conductivity of the cooling panel is set to be relatively low at a portion close to the cold air introduction portion and relatively high at a portion away from the cold air introduction portion. The cooling panel is a combination of a panel base made of heat insulating material and a surface panel made of a metal plate having good heat conductivity, and the difference in thermal conductivity is obtained by varying the thickness of the panel base depending on the part. The refrigerator according to claim 1. The panel base has a grid-like skeleton part and a heat insulating wall in contact with the back surface of the surface panel so as to fill a lattice mass of the skeleton part, and the difference in thermal conductivity due to the thickness or lack of the heat insulating wall. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the refrigerator is obtained. The cooling panel is disposed on the inner wall on the front side of the storage chamber, the cold air introduction part from the cold air passage is provided near one of the left and right of the inner wall on the front side of the storage chamber, and the back surface of the panel base is The ribs extending in the vertical direction are divided into left and right compartments, and the positions, orientations, shapes, and dimensions of the cold air inlets of the left and right compartments are set so that the amount of cold air introduced is in accordance with the area ratio of the compartments. The refrigerator according to claim 2 or 3, wherein 5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein left and right ends of the front panel are bent in a U shape so as to hold the panel base. A synthetic resin end cover is fitted and attached to the upper and lower ends of the cooling panel, and the end panel is engaged with the engaging portion of the side wall of the storage chamber, whereby the cooling panel is attached to the side wall of the storage chamber. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the refrigerator is detachably attached.

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