JP2012139152A - Refrigerating/freezing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerating/freezing apparatus stably maintaining cooling conditions and supercooling conditions while being prevented from increase in temperature difference between the surface and the inside of a food material to be refrigerated/frozen.SOLUTION: The refrigerating/freezing apparatus includes: a freezing box 15 housed inside a chamber (A) having a cool-air blowout port 12 via an insulating material 14 and on the peripheral wall surface of which punching metal having many openings is set; and a high-voltage power supply applying a negative voltage to the freezing box 15. The refrigerating/freezing apparatus homogeneously cools the food material by putting the food material wrapped with wrap film on a shelf board 16 of the freezing box 15 and setting a temperature in the chamber (A) to 0 to -20°C, so as to cool the inside of the chamber (A) while applying a negative high voltage such as DC voltage of -3,500 V to the freezing box 15.

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigeration / freezing apparatus used for storing foods and the like.

  Refrigerators and freezers are used to preserve fresh foods such as meat and fish while maintaining freshness. The refrigerator stores fresh foods and the like at 0 ° C. or higher where water does not freeze, and the freezer stores at a temperature lower than 0 ° C. From the standpoint of storage alone, if frozen in a freezer, it can be stored for a long time, but when the food cells are destroyed due to the expansion of moisture during freezing and thawed, a drip containing umami ingredients comes out and cooked There is a problem that the taste drops when you do.

  In order to solve such a problem, in recent years, a food refrigeration technique by supercooling, which is called CAS (Cells Alive System) freezing, has attracted attention. CAS freezing is to prevent freezing of water in cells by instantly freezing water from a supercooled state, and suppresses cell membrane destruction. Specifically, by providing weak energy to the moisture in the cells of the food by an electromagnetic field or an electrostatic field while cooling the food, the supercooled state in which the moisture in the cells is not frozen even at freezing temperatures is maintained. After that, the supercooled state is released by taking out from the interior or giving an impact, and instantly freezes.

  Patent Document 1 is a method of keeping food in an unfrozen state in an unfrozen region below the freezing point, and performing a rapid cooling process for rapidly cooling the food from normal temperature to the vicinity of the freezing point of the food, , Slow cooling treatment is performed at a slow cooling rate of 0.01 to 0.5 ° C / hour until the freezing point is reached, and the food is kept in an unfrozen state at a low temperature range of 0.1 to 10 ° C below the freezing point. And raising the temperature of the food to the freezing point or 0.5 to 1.0 ° C. above the freezing point at a rate of 1 ° C. or less for 1 hour to several days at the appropriate time and cycle during the holding. In order to stabilize the supercooled state below the freezing point, irradiation with light rays such as far-infrared rays and microwaves, and electrostatic irradiation at a temperature range above the breaking point at an appropriate time and cycle during the holding. And / or applying vibration How to symptoms is disclosed.

  In Patent Document 2, the secondary output side boosted to 1000 V to 30000 V by a high voltage transformer is connected to a negative electron applicator having a structure in which a conductor is coated with an insulator and a semiconductor, and the insulator (vinyl chloride, ABS resin). Etc.) or thawing frozen foods that are packed with a material with poor electrical conductivity (pulp fiber, etc.) or in which negative electrons are applied by electrostatic induction with a negative electron applicator. A freshness keeping device is disclosed.

  In Patent Document 3, the input power source (AC100V) line of the electrostatic reduction device is inserted into the input power line connector, the electrostatic output line is drawn into the refrigerator cabinet via the electrostatic output line connector, and is placed on each shelf in the cabinet. Disclosed is an electrostatic reduction device that helps maintain the freshness of food with the potential of static electricity generated by connecting the wires and connecting them to various places as necessary, energizing static electricity and setting the required voltage with a variable voltage control switch. ing.

Japanese Patent No. 3787171 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-304859 JP 2001-25382 A

The methods and apparatuses described in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 to 3 use electromagnetic waves and static electricity in order to place the refrigerator or freezer in a supercooled state and stabilize the supercooled state. In order to rapidly cool the inside, the cool air cooled by the evaporator is blown out from the outlet to the upper part of the inside of the cabinet, sucked from the outlet, recooled by the evaporator, and circulated in the compartment.
The food in the refrigerator is cooled by touching the cold air, but when the cold air, which is the flow of cold air, directly contacts the surface of the food, the surface of the food is first cooled, and the interior is not cooled. As a result, the temperature distribution from the surface to the inside of the food becomes non-uniform, so that it freezes from the surface. If it does so, when the water | moisture content in the cell of the frozen part of the surface of a foodstuff will crystallize and it thaw | decompresses, since the drip will flow from the surface part of a foodstuff and will be in the dry state, the problem that a food texture worsens arises.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigeration / freezing apparatus that can stably maintain a cooled state and a supercooled state in a state where the temperature difference between the surface and the inside of the refrigerated and frozen food does not increase.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first configuration of the refrigeration / freezing apparatus of the present invention includes a punching metal which is housed through an insulator in a cabinet provided with a cold air outlet and provided with a number of openings. A freezing box provided on the wall surface and a high voltage power source for applying a negative voltage to the freezing box are provided.

  In the first configuration, the cold air blown out from the cold air outlet comes into contact with the foodstuff in the freezing box through a large number of openings provided in the punching metal, and lowers the temperature. At this time, since the plate portions other than the opening of the punching metal become resistant to the natural flow (convection action) of the cold air, the plate moves to the position having the smallest possible resistance, that is, the position of the opening. Therefore, the cold air is diffused and reaches the inside of the freezing box. Thereby, the inside of a freezing box is cooled uniformly. Therefore, it cools to predetermined | prescribed temperature in the state with the small temperature difference of the surface of foodstuffs, and an inside. Furthermore, if a freezing box made of punching metal is not provided, the cold air blown from the cold air outlet directly hits the food, the surface is cooled earlier than the inside, and the surface freezes first, so the surface portion of the food Cells are destroyed. If it does so, a drip will flow out at the time of defrosting, and the taste of food will fall. On the other hand, a negative voltage is applied to the inner wall of the freezer box, and the food in the freezer box is also negatively charged. Kept.

  The second configuration of the present invention is characterized in that an opening ratio of the freezing box is 50 to 30%. When the opening ratio exceeds 50%, the resistance seen from the cold air blown out from the cold air outlet becomes small, and the cold air hardly spreads to the opening at the back. If the aperture ratio is less than 30%, the overall resistance viewed from the cold air increases, and the efficiency of circulating the cold air decreases.

  A third configuration of the present invention is characterized in that a switch for turning on and off the high-voltage power supply by opening and closing the door is provided. Thereby, when the door is opened, the high voltage applied to the freezing box becomes 0, and an electric shock when the food is taken in and out can be prevented.

  The fourth configuration of the present invention is characterized in that a switch for grounding the refrigeration box when the door is opened is provided while turning on and off the high voltage power source by opening and closing the door. As a result, even when the high voltage application becomes zero, the freezing box that is charged to a high voltage is immediately grounded and discharged, and an electric shock due to the remaining high voltage can be effectively prevented.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a porous plate that is provided in a warehouse having a cold air outlet and diffuses a flow of the cold air blown from the cold air outlet, and an insulator is provided downstream of the porous plate. And a high-voltage power supply that applies a negative voltage to the shelf.
In the first configuration, a freezing box having an inner peripheral wall made of punching metal is used in the cabinet. However, in the fifth configuration, the entire structure is not made of punching metal, and a part thereof is made of punching metal, so Diffusion can be performed to have the same effect as the first configuration.

  The refrigeration / freezing apparatus of the present invention is housed in an oven provided with a cold air outlet through an insulator and has a punching metal provided with a large number of openings on its peripheral wall surface, and a freezer box. Therefore, it is possible to stably maintain the cooled state and the supercooled state in a state where the temperature difference between the surface and the inside of the food to be refrigerated and frozen does not increase.

It is a front view of the refrigerating / freezing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the refrigerating / freezing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of the refrigerating / freezing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Embodiment 1>
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.
1 and 2, the refrigeration / freezing apparatus according to the first embodiment includes a main body 1, a front door 2, an operation panel unit 3, a power panel unit 4, and a top plate 5.

  Inside the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 2, an inner wall 6 made of a stainless steel plate is provided between the outer wall of the main body 1 via a heat insulating material 7. In addition, an evaporator unit 10 and a blower fan 11 are provided in an evaporator chamber 9 that is also provided in the main body 1 through a heat insulating material 8, and the interior A of the main body 1 is higher than the wall portion. It communicates via the cold air outlet 12 and the inlet 13 below the wall. The operation panel section 3 is provided with a temperature setting button and a display panel, and the power panel section 4 is provided with a main power switch, an operation lamp, and the like. In some cases, the control box having the operation function of the operation panel unit 3 or the power supply panel unit 4 can be detached from the main body 1 and can be freely attached in a remote control form to any place where it can be easily operated. The power supply panel 4 incorporates an earth leakage breaker and an overcurrent breaker, and has a triple safety function together with the main power switch and the current application switch.

  In the interior A of the main body 1, a freezing box 15 whose upper and lower, left and right four circumferential surfaces and a rear wall surface are formed of stainless steel punching metal through an insulating material 14 such as rubber is suitable between the inner wall 6. It is stored with a large gap. The freezing box 15 is provided with a stainless steel wire mesh or grid-like shelf plate 16 so as to be detachable in predetermined stages. The freezing box 15 is connected to a negative terminal of a high voltage power source (not shown) that boosts and rectifies a 100V AC power source to obtain a DC of 3500V and 0.3A, for example.

  In the first embodiment, the punching metal constituting the four peripheral surfaces and the rear wall surface of the freezing box 15 is made of a material SUS304, a thickness t = 1.0 mm, and a large number of openings with a diameter of 6 mm, with a pitch of 9 mm. In this case, a material perforated with an aperture ratio of 40% was used.

  Ingredients wrapped with wrap film are placed on the shelf 16 of the freezing box 15, the temperature of the inside A is set to an arbitrary temperature of 0 ° to −20 ° C. (3 ° C. for vegetables), The interior A was cooled in a state where a DC voltage of −3500 V was applied.

  The various foods are cooled in the refrigeration / freezing apparatus of the first embodiment and then used for food.

1. The wrapped sea urchin was stored refrigerated at 0 ° C. (non-frozen state), taken out and eaten one month later, and the freshness did not change.

2. Wrapped sashimi tuna, sea bream, and yellowtail were refrigerated at 0 ° C. (non-frozen state), taken out and eaten one week later, and the same taste as fresh fish was obtained. The flounder was equivalent to fresh fish for up to 5 days under the same conditions. In addition, although the tuna once weakly frozen (partial state), almost no drip after thawing was seen, and the taste was not different from that of fresh fish.

3. When raw baked fish for wrapping grilled fish (directly delivered from Hokkaido) was baked and eaten after 2 weeks of storage at 0 ° C. (non-frozen), it had the same taste as fresh fish.

4). Wrapped domestic chicken is put in the refrigerator / freezer of this embodiment on the day of killing, frozen at -18 ° C, stored in a freezer for 3 days after freezing, and then thawed in a refrigerator. When eaten three days later, the taste was the same as that of freshly prepared chicken sashimi. In addition, the same results as those of the specimens that were stored frozen and shipped in the past were obtained in the fungus test.

5. Imported salmon (for raw food) once thawed was purchased at a supermarket, frozen again at -18 ° C, and thawed the next day. The freshness was almost unchanged.
Similarly, when compared with a control frozen in a conventional commercial freezer, the difference in drip amount and freshness was obvious.

6). In addition, when compared with the control thing which stored palm, strawberry, and radish (sashimi of sashimi) at 3 degreeC for one week, and was stored with the conventional refrigerator, the refrigeration / freezing apparatus of embodiment of this invention and Differences in freshness, color, and fragrance were seen with conventional refrigerators.
Further, when the frozen horse sashimi was thawed, it was refrigerated at 3 ° C. for 1 week and compared with a control stored in a conventional refrigerator.
In addition, a comparative experiment on straw and tuna revealed that there was a clear difference in elasticity and dryness in addition to discoloration.

  As described above, according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, even when the food is cooled for a long period of time, the destruction of cells from the surface to the inside of the food is suppressed, so that the food can be stored without lowering the texture and taste. it can.

  In the first embodiment, the opening ratio of the punching metal constituting the freezing box 15 is 40%, but the opening ratio can be in the range of 50% to 30%. When the opening ratio exceeds 50%, the resistance seen from the cold air blown out from the cold air outlet 12 becomes small, and it becomes difficult for the cold air to reach the opening at the back. When the opening ratio is less than 30%, the overall resistance as seen from the cold air blown out from the cold air outlet 12 increases, and the efficiency of circulating the cold air decreases.

  Moreover, although the example which set the voltage applied to the freezing box 15 to -3500V was shown, it is not limited to this, A voltage value can be set suitably.

<Embodiment 2>
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, a perforated plate 17 made of punching metal is provided in the vicinity of the cold air outlet 12 in the upper part of the interior A of the main body 1, and a metal installed through an insulating material 18 below the perforated plate 17. A shelf 19 made of metal is provided. On the shelf 19, a stainless steel wire mesh-like shelf board 20 is detachably provided at a predetermined level. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

  In the second embodiment, like the refrigeration box 15 of the first embodiment, the entire upper, lower, left and right four circumferential surfaces and the rear wall surface are not formed of a punching metal plate, but in the vicinity of the cold air outlet 12. Only a perforated plate 17 made of punching metal is provided to diffuse the cold air blown out from the cold air outlet 12. Thereby, the foodstuffs placed on the shelf 20 of the shelf 19 are also uniformly cooled as in the first embodiment.

  The present invention is a restaurant that provides fresh fish, meat, etc. as a refrigeration / freezing device that can stably maintain a cooled state and a supercooled state in a state where the temperature difference between the surface and the inside of the refrigerated and frozen food does not become large Can be suitably used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Front door 3 Operation panel part 4 Power supply panel part 5 Top panel 6 Inner wall 7 Heat insulating material 8 Heat insulating material 9 Evaporator room 10 Evaporator unit 11 Blower fan 12 Cold air outlet 13 Inlet 14 Insulating material 15 Freezing box 16 Shelf board 17 Perforated plate 18 Insulation material 19 Shelf 20 Shelf plate

Claims (5)

A freezing box with a punching metal provided on the peripheral wall surface, which is housed via an insulator and provided with a large number of openings, in a cabinet provided with a cold air outlet,
A refrigeration / freezing apparatus comprising a high voltage power source for applying a negative voltage to the freezing box.   The refrigeration / freezing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an opening ratio of the freezing box is 50 to 30%.   The refrigeration / freezing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a switch for turning on and off the high-voltage power supply by opening and closing the door.   The refrigeration / freezing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a switch for turning on and off the high-voltage power supply by opening and closing the door and grounding the freezing box when the door is opened. A perforated plate that is provided in a cabinet provided with a cold air outlet and diffuses a flow of cold air blown out from the cold air outlet;
On the downstream side of the perforated plate, a metal shelf installed in the warehouse via an insulator,
A refrigeration / freezing apparatus comprising a high voltage power source for applying a negative voltage to the shelf.

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