JP2011052943A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator capable of preserving food or the like at high quality by carrying out light irradiation with respect to substantially the whole of vegetables or the like in a storage container, and suppressing deterioration of freshness and quality of the vegetables or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The refrigerator has a compartment 103 included in a refrigerator body 101 and forming one part of a cold insulation chamber, a light source 3 for irradiating an interior of the compartment 103, and a luminescence plate 2 attachable and detachable with respect to the light source 3 and irradiating light from the light source 3 on substantially the whole of the compartment 103. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator provided with a mechanism for irradiating light to foods in the refrigerator.

  It is known that vegetables continue to work after breathing and photosynthesis after harvesting, and that the ingredients and quality of vegetables change by irradiating light on the vegetables stored in the refrigerator. . Thus, the light irradiation in the refrigerator can be used as a means for maintaining the freshness of vegetables.

  As a first conventional technique, for example, “a storage container for vegetable storage made of a light-transmitting material, a substantially sealing lid provided in an upper surface opening of the storage container, and an outside of the storage container are faced. A weak light irradiation device provided with a semiconductor light emitting element that emits and emits light in the visible light region wavelength is provided in the vegetable compartment, and the light of the semiconductor light emitting element is stored in the storage container through the storage container A "refrigerator characterized by irradiating vegetables" has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a vegetable storage room of a conventional refrigerator.
The compartment 103 accommodated in the refrigerator main body 101 can place the food 107 inside by pulling out the heat-insulating door 102 that can be opened and closed. The air cooled by the heat exchanger 104 is blown and supplied to the periphery of the compartment 103 by the fan 105, and the food 107 placed inside the compartment 103 is kept at a predetermined temperature.
Here, the light source 1 is provided in the refrigerator main body 101 and irradiates the food 107 from above. Since the food 107 placed on the lower stage is placed in a space sealed by the shelf 106, the light that has passed through the shelf 106 is irradiated.

  As a second conventional technique, for example, in a lighting device such as a refrigerator that is lit and illuminated when installed in a refrigerator or the like and the door is opened, the light source and the light from the light source are internally transmitted from one end. And a light guide plate made of resin that illuminates the surface by transmitting at least a part of the introduced light toward the other end facing the interior. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3718215 (Claim 1) JP 2000-258051 A (Claim 1)

In the refrigerator disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the light source is outside the storage container, if the storage portion has a large amount of food, the light is blocked by the food placed near the light source, and the stored vegetables There was a problem that only a part of the light was irradiated.
The refrigerator disclosed in Patent Document 2 is difficult to visually recognize when the surface of the light source section is dirty, and the upper part of the compartment where the light source is disposed requires a substrate for the light source and a power supply wiring portion, so that the design is limited. There was a problem that.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and allows light irradiation to be performed on substantially the entire vegetables and the like in the storage container, thereby reducing the freshness and quality of the vegetables and the like. It aims at providing the refrigerator which can preserve | save food etc. by high quality by suppressing.

  A refrigerator according to the present invention is provided in a refrigerator main body, a compartment forming a part of a cold storage room, a light source for irradiating the inside of the compartment, provided in the cold storage room, and detachable from the light source, And a light guide member for irradiating light from the light source to substantially the entire compartment.

  In the present invention, the entire storage container is surely irradiated with light, and the light in both the wavelength with high visibility for illumination and decoration and the wavelength suitable for keeping food freshness is used at the same time. Vegetables etc. can be stored with high quality.

It is a whole block diagram of the refrigerator main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state by which the light emission plate of the refrigerator main body which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention was isolate | separated from the light source. It is a figure which shows an example of the light source and light emission plate which concern on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the light source and light emission plate which concern on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the light-emitting plate which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention in the bottom face of the compartment. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the light-emitting plate which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention in the cover body of the compartment. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the light-emitting plate which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention in the cover body of the compartment. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the light emission plate which concerns on Embodiment 6 of this invention in the shelf of a compartment. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the light emission plate which concerns on Embodiment 6 of this invention in the shelf of a compartment. It is a figure which shows the example using the light-emitting plate which can irradiate the light from which two or more wavelengths which concern on Embodiment 7 of this invention differ. It is a figure which shows the example using the light-emitting plate which laminated | stacked the light-scattering layer and fluorescent layer which concern on Embodiment 7 of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the vegetable storage chamber of the conventional refrigerator.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a refrigerator body 101 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
The inside of the refrigerator main body 101 is divided into compartments 103 by a shelf 106. In order to irradiate the inside of the compartment 103 with light, the light source 3 is provided in the refrigerator main body 101.

  The refrigerator main body 101 in FIG. 1 shows a state where the light emitting plate 2 is connected to the light source 3. When the light emitting plate 2 is connected to the light source 3 in a state where the light source 3 is turned on, the whole or a part of the light emitting plate 2 emits light. Therefore, even if food is placed in the vicinity of the light source 3, the entire interior of the compartment 103 can be irradiated with light without being blocked by light.

FIG. 2 shows a state where the light-emitting plate 2 of the refrigerator main body 101 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is separated from the light source 3.
As shown in FIG. 1, the compartment 103 in which the light source 3 is disposed is detachable from the refrigerator main body 101 when the heat insulating door 102 that can be opened and closed is opened. That is, when the compartment 103 is separated from the refrigerator main body 101, a part of the end face of the light emitting plate 2 and the light source 3 are separated, and light irradiation from the light emitting plate 2 is not performed.

  In FIG. 1, the detachable light emitting plate 2 and the light source 3 are arranged in the lowest compartment 103 partitioned by the shelf body 106, and the compartment 103 is also detachable from the refrigerator main body 101. Moreover, the light source 3 is installed in the back part of the refrigerator main body 101, and it is set as the arrangement | positioning which emits light toward the front. A single light emitting plate 2 is used, and the compartment 103 is horizontally divided into two by the light emitting plate 2. However, the first embodiment is not limited to the above configuration.

  When a plurality of the light emitting plates 2 are installed inside the compartment 103, it is possible to irradiate a wide area inside the compartment 103. However, since it is difficult to place a large-sized food, it is desirable that the light-emitting plate 2 has a size and length suitable for overall light irradiation.

  In addition, you may inject light from the horizontal direction as the shelf-shaped light-emitting plate 2 which divides | segments the compartment 103 up and down. By arranging the light source 3 in the back or side of the refrigerator main body 101, the substrate and wiring necessary for the installation of the light source 3 are installed on the wall surface of the refrigerator main body 101, so that the top or bottom surface of the compartment 103 is configured. The restriction on the design of the shelf 106 to be performed is reduced. Therefore, as the shelf 106, a transparent, translucent or white material or a surface processed can be used. A thin material or a mesh material can also be used.

  The light source 3 may be any of LED (light emitting diode), EL (electroluminescence), fluorescent lamp or xenon lamp. It is desirable that the light emitting plate 2 has high transparency of incident light and is less likely to cause light attenuation inside the light emitting plate 2. Furthermore, the material and configuration of the light emitting plate 2 are not limited as long as they have light leakage characteristics such that light is uniformly emitted from the entire surface of the light emitting plate 2. In addition, in a state where the light source 3 and the light-emitting plate 2 are connected, it is desirable to design so that light does not leak outside from the vicinity of the light source 3 of the connection portion or the light-emitting plate 2 and to increase the irradiated area.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
3 and 4 show an example of the LED 11 and the light emitting plate 2 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
As described in the first embodiment, since the light emitting plate 2 is a part of the detachable compartment 103, it is detachably disposed from the light source 3.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the light emitting plate 2 is composed of a transparent resin 21 containing a scatterer 25 and a reflecting plate 22.
By including the scatterer 25 in the transparent resin 21, the light incident from the end face on the LED 11 side, which is the light source, can be scattered little by little and leaked to the outside of the light emitting plate 2. Moreover, it is possible to prevent light from leaking in the front direction of the LED 11 by the reflecting plate 22 provided on the side opposite to the incident end.

  On the refrigerator main body 101 side, a holder 12 is provided so that the LED 11 and the end face of the light-emitting plate 2 face each other when the light-emitting plate 2 is mounted. Further, a light emitting plate detecting means 13 for detecting that the light emitting plate 2 is connected to the holder 12 is provided.

  For example, when the light emitting plate 2 is mounted on the holder 12, the light emitting plate detecting means 13 is pushed up, an electric circuit is connected by this pressure, and the light emitting plate 2 is attached to the holder 12 by being connected to a microcomputer (not shown). Detects wearing. Here, when the heat insulating door 102 is closed without the light emitting plate 2 being mounted, a warning can be issued to the user.

  Alternatively, in order to notify the user that the light irradiation mechanism is operating without a failure, the LED 11 is turned on for a certain period of time after detecting that the light-emitting plate 2 is mounted on the holder 12, and then the food preservation property is maintained. Continuous or intermittent light irradiation is performed so that there is no excess or deficiency for improvement.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which a phosphor 26 that absorbs incident light and emits light of a different wavelength is used instead of the scatterer 25 used in FIG.
For example, as the phosphor 26 shown in FIG. 4, a pigment impregnated with a dye that absorbs blue LED light near 470 nm and emits orange fluorescence near 610 nm is used. The light-emitting plate 2 can be produced by mixing the above-mentioned phosphor with a resin that can transmit light of 470 nm and molding it.

  When a blue LED having a light intensity peak in the vicinity of 470 nm is used as the LED 11, blue light can be visually recognized in a state where the light emitting plate 2 is separated. When the light emitting plate 2 is mounted on the holder 12 and optically connected, the light emitting plate 2 emits orange fluorescence. By adopting the configuration as described above, the connection of the light emitting plate 2 to the holder 12, that is, the attachment / detachment state of the compartment 103 provided in a detachable manner can be easily confirmed, and the orange food is irradiated with the orange fluorescence. Is possible.

  FIG. 4 shows an example in which the LED 11 is provided with a lens 14 and the end surface of the light emitting plate 2 on the LED 11 side is processed into a shape that fits with the lens 14. At this time, for example, when the shape of the lens 14 is processed to radiate at a slightly wide angle so as to irradiate the vicinity of the LED 11, and the light emitting plate 2 is further mounted, the light linearly enters the inside of the light emitting plate 2. It is desirable to perform optical design.

  By designing the lens 14 as described above, when the compartment 103 is mounted, the entire light emitting plate 2 can be efficiently illuminated. When the compartment 103 is separated, there is an advantage that the light of the LED 11 is irradiated in the air and the attached / detached state becomes easier to visually recognize, and the irradiated light can be made not too dazzling for the user's eyes. is there.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 5 shows an example in which the light emitting plate 2 is provided on the bottom surface of the compartment 103.
In a state where the light emitting plate 2 provided on the bottom surface of the compartment 103 is mounted on the light source 3, the light emitted from the light emitting plate 2 is applied to the inside of the compartment 103 and further to the lower portion of the compartment 103 through the shelf body 106. Can also be irradiated. In FIG. 5, the compartment 103 is substantially sealed by the frame, but is not limited to such a form. By pulling out the compartment 103, food and the like can be taken in and out of the compartment 103, and the light source 3 And the light emitting plate 2 only need to be optically connected and separated.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 6 shows an example in which the light emitter 8 is provided on the lid 108 of the compartment 103.
In FIG. 6, a plurality of light sources 4 are provided in the refrigerator main body 101, and a plurality of elongated columnar light emitters 8 are provided in a portion facing the light source 4 when the compartment 103 is mounted. When the compartment 103 is mounted, light is emitted from the light emitter 8 to the inside of the compartment 103, and when the compartment 103 is separated, the lid 108 including the light emitter 8 can be opened and closed. By adopting the configuration as described above, even if the light emitter 8 is damaged or soiled, it is possible to deal with it by replacing only the small light emitter 8 or replacing only the lid 108 of the compartment 103. Can do.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
FIG. 7 shows an example in which the light emitting plate 2 is provided on the lid body 108 of the compartment 103.
In FIG. 7, the lid body 108 is mounted on the shelf body 106 of the refrigerator main body 101 and can be lifted forward and upward about the lid opening / closing rotation shaft 24, and the compartment 103 can be pulled out to the front.

  When the compartment 103 is substantially sealed, one end surface of the light-emitting plate 2 of the lid 108 is provided so as to face the light source 5 provided on the shelf 106, and when the light source 5 is turned on, the compartment from the light-emitting plate 2 It is possible to irradiate light to substantially the entire 103. On the other hand, in a state where the lid 108 is opened, the light emitting plate 2 and the light source 5 are optically separated, and the light from the light source 5 directly illuminates the interior of the compartment 103.

  For example, as the light source 5, a white LED including a blue LED and a yellow phosphor is used. A phosphor that absorbs blue light and emits red fluorescence is used as the phosphor contained in the light emitting plate 2, and a scatterer that scatters yellow is mixed in the light emitting plate 2.

  Then, when the lid 108 is closed, the phosphor contained in the shelf 106 emits red fluorescence and mixes with the yellow fluorescence from the light source 5, so that orange light as a whole enters the interior of the compartment 103. It is possible to visually recognize that the lid 108 shines orange while irradiating. Further, when the lid 108 is raised and the compartment 103 is pulled out, the lid 108 does not emit light, and the compartment 103 is irradiated with the light of the white LED of the light source 5 to obtain high visibility inside the compartment 103. Can do.

Embodiment 6 FIG.
FIG. 8 shows an example in which the light emitting plate 2 is provided on the shelf 106 of the compartment 103.
Here, the shelf 106 can divide the compartment 103 into upper and lower parts and can substantially seal the lower space of the shelf 106 similarly to the conventional example of FIG.

In a state where the heat insulating door 102 is closed, the light emitting plate 2 provided on the shelf 106 is optically connected to the light source 6 and can irradiate light above and below the light emitting plate 2. In addition, the lower food 107 can be irradiated with light.
When the heat insulating door 102 is opened (see FIG. 9), the lower portion of the shelf body 106 is pulled out along with the heat insulating door 102 according to the rail 109, and the upper portion of the shelf body 106 is located at the upper end of the lower portion of the shelf (indicated by a broken line in the figure). Therefore, it can be pulled out.

9 shows a state in which only the lower shelf is opened, and the upper portion of the shelf, that is, the light-emitting plate 2 itself is connected to the light source 6, so that the food 107 placed on the upper portion of the shelf is continuously illuminated. Irradiation is possible, and it can be visually recognized that the food 107 is irradiated with light.
9 shows a state in which the lower level of the shelf is also opened. Since the light emitter 2 is separated from the light source 6, the color of the light from the light source 6 itself can be visually recognized and the shelf is transparent. The visibility of the food 107 can be improved.

Embodiment 7 FIG.
10 and 11 show an example in which two or more different wavelengths of light are irradiated to the phosphor based on the light from the light emitting plate 2.
In FIG. 10, a shelf 106 containing phosphors that absorb light emitted from the light emitting plate 2 and emit light of different wavelengths is provided above the light emitting plate 2 that is detachably attached to the light source 7. ing. Further, below the light emitting plate 2, a compartment 103 and a lid 108 containing phosphor as a lid are provided.

  Here, the phosphors included in the shelf body 106 and the lid body 108 placed above and below the light emitting plate 2 use the phosphors having different light emission colors, so that the food B placed on the shelf body 106 and the compartments are used. The food A placed inside 103 can have different effects depending on the color of light to be irradiated. For example, food A can be irradiated with ultraviolet light together with orange light to increase the amount of polyphenol in the food, and food B can be irradiated with blue light to increase vitamin C. Or the designability can be acquired by making the fluorescent substance containing part of the lower part of the foodstuff B into only a part of the shelf 106.

Hereinafter, the advantage which irradiates the light of LED with respect to vegetables is demonstrated.
Red light is the most effective light for photosynthesis, and the plant feels the season with sunlight and affects the flowering and fruiting periods.
Blue light is light that is effective for photosynthesis after red and has a great influence on morphogenesis. Photosynthesis is performed in the chlorophyll of plants, and chlorophyll absorbs red light and blue light in sunlight and reflects other light (green). Therefore, the leaves look green.

  Since only red and blue light absorbed by this chlorophyll is emitted as LED light, photosynthesis can be promoted efficiently with almost no heat generation. Photosynthesis is the action of producing glucose and oxygen from water, carbon dioxide and light, and plants produce vitamin C from this glucose. Therefore, if photosynthesis is performed reliably, vitamin C will increase as a result.

  Vegetables also have the property of causing a photoreaction based on self-protection when activated by ultraviolet rays and activating the production of polyphenols. It is known from experiments that polyphenol increases in vegetables when light (ultraviolet rays) having a wavelength of 375 nm is weakly applied. Furthermore, a method of increasing the amount of vitamin C by activating chlorophyll of vegetables with an orange LED to promote the production (photosynthesis) of reducing sugar is also known. The blue LED light has the effect of quickly recognizing that the vegetable is exposed to light, so it increases the rate of reducing sugar production compared to the case of irradiating only orange, and the self-consumption of reducing sugar. It has the function of suppressing deterioration and preventing alteration.

  FIG. 11 shows an example in which the light emitting plate 2 is formed by stacking the light scattering layer 28 shown in FIG. 3 and the fluorescent layer 27 shown in FIG. With such a configuration, light having a wavelength from the light source 7 is emitted from the light scattering layer 28 side, and a light emission color by the phosphor is emitted from the fluorescent layer 27 side. Thereby, similarly to FIG. 10, light of different wavelengths can be emitted in different directions.

  10 and 11, the light emission directions of different wavelengths are configured to be slightly different in the upper and lower directions. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the compartment 103 is divided into left and right as shown in FIG. By using the light emitting plate 2 that performs, light of different wavelengths can be irradiated to the left and right.

  According to the present invention, the light of the light source provided in the refrigerator can be widely irradiated to the entire irradiated area even when food is placed in the vicinity of the light source, and the photoactive food stored in the refrigerator It can contribute to the suppression of quality degradation and the improvement of visibility. Further, the light source that needs to be connected to the power source and the light emitting part for widely irradiating light can be separated, and the light emitting part can be removed together with the compartment, so that convenience is improved. Furthermore, it can be visually confirmed that the light emitter is reliably optically connected to the light source, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which connection failure occurs and the effect of light irradiation cannot be obtained when the light emitter is manually attached or detached. Moreover, different wavelengths can be irradiated in different directions, space can be efficiently used, and a plurality of actions can be given to vegetables.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source, 2 Light-emitting plate, 3 Light source, 4 Light source, 5 Light source, 6 Light source, 7 Light source, 8 Light-emitting body, 11 LED, 12 Holder, 13 Light-emitting plate detection means, 14 Lens, 21 Transparent resin containing a scatterer / phosphor , 22 Reflector, 23 Fitting part, 24 Lid opening / closing rotary shaft, 25 Scattering body, 26 Phosphor, 27 Fluorescent layer, 28 Light scattering layer, 101 Refrigerator body, 102 Thermal insulation door, 103 compartment, 104 Heat exchanger, 105 Fan, 106 shelf, 107 food, 108 lid, 109 rail.

Claims (8)

A compartment that is provided in the refrigerator body and forms a part of the cold room;
A light source for illuminating the interior of the compartment, provided in the cold room;
A refrigerator having a light guide member that is detachable from the light source and that irradiates light from the light source to substantially the entire compartment. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a scatterer that scatters incident light emitted from the light source is contained inside the light guide member. The phosphor that absorbs incident light irradiated from the light source and emits light having a wavelength different from that of the incident light is contained inside the light guide member. refrigerator. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the light guide member constitutes a part of the compartment. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the light guide member is provided on the whole or a part of a lid that substantially seals the compartment. 5. The light guide member is provided in a shelf that divides the compartment into upper and lower parts, and allows light from the light source to be simultaneously irradiated toward an upper part and a lower part of the shelf. Refrigerator. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein phosphors are laminated on the light guide member, and light having different wavelengths can be simultaneously irradiated toward an upper part and a lower part of the laminated body. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a color emitted by the light source is visible when the light guide member is detached from the light source.

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