JP2013019648A - Portable cooler - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooler, which uses ice as a cold storage material, has high cooling efficiency and is portable.SOLUTION: A cooler device includes a heat insulating container for storing ice and water in the device, an opening to feed ice to the container, a heat insulating door that closes the opening to keep an airtight condition, and a cooling unit heat exchanger in the heat insulating container. A piping system starting from the heat exchanger includes a cooling liquid circulation circuit that routes through a cooling liquid circulation pump into an air cooling heat exchanger and returns to the cooling unit heat exchanger. The cooler device also includes: a flow path that penetrates the device; an intake hole and an exhaust hole on the device surface; and the air cooling heat exchanger and a blower in the flow path. The device is configured to suck outside air sucked through the intake hole, to pass the outside air through the air cooling heat exchanger and discharge the air as a cool wind by the blower through the exhaust hole. The cooler device includes a control device that operates the cooling liquid circulation pump and the blower by a power supply included in the device and controls the power supply of the cooling water circulation pump depending on the temperature sensed by a temperature sensor installed in the flow path.

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable portable cooler using ice.

With the current power situation as a background, in consideration of leveling the concentration of power demand due to coolers, especially in the summertime, a device that uses excess nighttime electricity to freeze water and cools it in the daytime has been put into practical use. ing.
On the other hand, in order to cool a large room with a large apparatus as described above, large-scale equipment is required, which is difficult to introduce at home. Therefore, a cooler that is portable and can be provided at low cost is desired.

JP-A-10-132339 JP 2002-286339 A Utility Model Registration No. 3115995

Under the circumstances as described above, there has been proposed a small cooler that uses ice as a cold storage material and blows out the cold air obtained thereby by a fan.
For example, the invention described in Patent Document 1 incorporates a thermoelectric conversion element inside, generates electric power to drive a motor, holds a low-temperature substance in the airflow passage, and blows out cold air by a blower fan. It is a thing.
With such a device, a cooler that saves electric energy can be obtained, but the device is inevitably bulky and expensive, and it is difficult to carry and use in homes.

The invention described in Patent Document 2 is a cold air blower in which cold air generated by storing cubic ice in the fuselage is blown out to the outside air by a blower unit installed in the head.
In this way, the air blower unit can be driven by a battery, so it is easy to carry and has the advantage of easily obtaining cold air, but the ice is not insulated or sealed from the surroundings, so the device is used. Even when it is not, the cold air leaks out, and when the ice begins to melt, the surface area decreases rapidly and the desired cooling effect cannot be obtained.

Furthermore, the invention described in Patent Document 3 is to freeze water packed in a commercially available plastic bottle and use it as a cold storage material, to blow air around it with a blower and to discharge the cold air to the outside with a fan.
This cold air blower has a small surface area relative to the volume of the plastic bottle, and there is a problem that heat transfer between the ice inside and the air flowing on the surface is not sufficient, which requires a large number of plastic bottles and increases the weight. There is a grudge that ends up.

  The present invention uses ice as a regenerator and discharges the cooled air to obtain cold air, as in the idea of the above three patent documents. It is intended to provide a portable cooler that further enhances the cooling efficiency, and is portable and has excellent cooling performance.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the gist of the present invention is a portable cooler device that cools air using ice and water, and is a heat insulating device that stores ice and water in the device. There is a container and an opening for putting ice in the container, it has a heat insulating door that closes the opening and keeps it airtight, and there is a cooling part heat exchanger in the heat insulating container. It has a coolant circulation circuit that enters the heat exchanger for air cooling via a circulation pump and then returns to the cooling section heat exchanger, and there is a flow path that penetrates the device. Air flow heat exchanger and blower in the flow path, and the outside air drawn from the air intake hole passes through the air cooling heat exchanger and is blown by the blower. It is designed to be discharged from the exhaust hole, Move the 却液 circulation pump and the blower, in a portable cooler which is characterized by having a control device for controlling the power supply of the cooling water circulation pump by a temperature sensed at the installation temperature sensor in the flow path.

In addition, the present invention is characterized by having a heat-insulating container that can store a plastic container that can be stoppered or an aluminum container that can be stoppered. Has a heat-insulating door that opens and closes the opening, and a side wall of the heat-insulating container has a flow path for discharging outside air introduced from below to the top, and houses an air-cooling heat exchanger and a blower in it. And a drain heat exchanger that is upstream of the air cooling heat exchanger in the flow path and is cooled by dripping of the drain generated by the air cooling heat exchanger below. The drain heat exchanger is inclined at the lower end, which leads to a rain gutter-shaped drain trap provided on the side of the flow path without dripping directly below, and further stores water in the drain tank below. It is obtained by the features and.

  Since the present invention is configured as described above, ice is used as a cold storage material, and this is connected to the heat exchanger for cooling and the heat for air cooling provided through the coolant circulation pump. With the exchanger and the cooling water circulation circuit, it is possible to increase the cooling efficiency of the outside air, and to reduce the size and weight of the device as much as possible, and to provide a portable cooler that is portable and has high cooling efficiency. .

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows 1st Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows 2nd Example of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows 2nd Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of 2nd Example of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.
The main body case 1 is provided with a heat insulating container 2 for storing ice and a flow path 3 for introducing outside air to be discharged as cold air, and an intake hole 4 and an exhaust hole 5 are opened on the surface of the main body case. Furthermore, there is a cooling water circulation circuit 6. That is, cooling water is connected to the cooling section heat exchanger 7 installed in the heat insulating container 2, the reserve tank 8 for replenishing the cooling water, the cooling water circulation pump 9, and the air cooling heat exchanger 10 in this order and cooled again. It is a circuit that returns to the partial heat exchanger 7. The cooling part heat exchanger 7 is a pipe arranged in a spiral shape along the wall surface of the heat insulating container 2 in which ice is stored, and contains ice 11 and water 12 therein. On the other hand, a filter 13, a drain trap 14, a drain type heat exchanger 15, and an air cooling heat exchanger 10 are provided immediately downstream of the intake hole 4 through which the outside air is sucked in the flow path 3. It is cooled here.

The air-cooling heat exchanger 10 is of a type in which a large number of thin heat conductor conductors such as aluminum are arranged with a gap between them, and the cooling water pipe 10a passes through the thin plates. In addition, the drain (condensation water) 16 generated in the air cooling heat exchanger 10 and the drain heat exchanger 15 is collected by the drain trap 14, is collected in the drain tank 18 through the pipe 17, and the drain plug 19 is appropriately opened. Released to the outside. A blower 20 is located downstream of the air-cooling heat exchanger 10, whereby the direction is determined by the louver 21 as cold air and the air is ejected from the exhaust hole 5.

There is an electronic control unit 22 that supplies power from the power source 23 to the blower drive motor and the cooling water circulation pump drive motor, and monitors the air temperature in the flow path with the temperature sensor 24 and is set by the user. The power to these motors is controlled according to the conditions. The knob 25 is a power switch.

The inside of the main body case 1 is filled with a heat insulating material to minimize the inflow of heat from the outside. The ice charging lid 27 is fitted into the opening of the heat insulating container 2 for storing ice, and the heat insulating container 2 is hermetically sealed by the fitting packing 28.
In addition, the ice charging lid 27 is fixed to the main body case 1 by a latch or the like, and the lid 27 can be detached and ice can be poured by removing the latch. Furthermore, the ice cover 27 is filled with a heat insulating material 27a to prevent heat from entering. Moreover, although the power supply 23 is installed inside, it can also be installed in the main body case 1 in order to make a figure easy to understand. An electric wire 29 from the power source 23 enters the control unit 22, and the electric wire from the control unit 22 is connected to a blower drive motor (in the figure, behind the blower fan) and a cooling water circulation pump drive motor. The temperature sensor 24 is also connected.

  The reserve tank 8 temporarily accumulates the circulating cooling water and removes bubbles and the like, and opens the reserve tank lid 30 to replenish the cooling water. The reserve tank lid 30 is filled with a heat insulating material, and packing is attached to keep the reserve tank 8 airtight. The cooling water used here is antifreeze. The ice is usually frozen in a freezer and may have a temperature of about minus 20 ° C. Therefore, if fresh water is used, the circulating water in the piping of the cooling unit is prevented from freezing and being unable to circulate. In addition, when putting ice into the heat insulating container 2, by putting a small amount of fresh water together as a heat transfer accelerator, there is no air between the ice and ice, and the cooling part → fresh water → ice and heat transfer can be improved. I can do it.

When the switch 25 of the cooler of the present invention having such a configuration is turned on, the blower 20 is rotated by the power from the power source 23 so that hot outside air is introduced into the flow path 3 from the intake hole, and large dust and the like are removed by the filter 13. It passes through the two heat exchangers and is exhausted from the outlet 5 vigorously. At the same time, the cooling water circulation pump 9 starts to move and the cooling water in the cooling water circulation circuit 6 starts to rotate. The cooling water cooled with ice is supplied to the upper part of the air cooling heat exchanger 10 through the reserve tank 8 and the cold water circulation pump 9 to cool the air cooling heat exchanger 10. Here, hot outside air introduced from the outside touches the air cooling heat exchanger 10 to be cooled, and moisture is condensed in the air cooling heat exchanger 10 and becomes a drain 16 or drops downward, or on the channel wall surface. Flows down along. At this time, the drain 16 is still cooler than the outside air and has a cooling capacity. The drain-type heat exchanger 15 is formed by arranging thin plates of aluminum or the like with a gap between them, the outside air is cooled on the surface of the aluminum plate cooled by the drain, moisture is condensed, and a new drain 16 (the upper air heat The temperature is higher than that of the drain made by the exchanger) and drops, but the aluminum plate is cut as if the U-shaped 31 is on the top as shown in the figure, so it drops just below the U-shaped 31 along the wall. The drain generated in the upper air cooling heat exchanger gathers in the drain trap 14 and collects in the drain tank 18. The drain trap is installed over the entire circumference of the opening.

The cooling water heated by the air cooling heat exchanger 10 returns to the lower part of the cooling section heat exchanger 7 in the heat insulating container 2 through the pipe 6 and is cooled again by ice. Although the hot outside air is cooled in this way, the temperature sensor 24 constantly monitors the temperature of the cooled outside air, and when the temperature falls below the set temperature, the energization of the cooling water circulation pump drive motor is stopped. As a result, the cooling water circulation stops, but the blower 20 continues to rotate, so that the temperature of the air cooling heat exchanger 10 rises, and when the temperature of the cooling outside air rises and exceeds the set temperature, the cooling water circulation pump drive motor is energized again and air The temperature of the cooling heat exchanger 10 is lowered. The temperature of the cold air ejected by such ON-OFF control is arbitrarily controlled. In this way, it is possible to catch the temperature rise when all the ice is melted and sign the ice exchange.
When it melts and becomes water, the stopper 32 of the ice storage container drain hole is opened to drain the water. When the power switch 25 is turned off, the cooling water circulation pump 9 stops and the cooling water does not circulate. Therefore, the heat flows into the ice only through the heat insulating material, and the ice cooling power can be preserved. In this example, ice 11 is used as the cold storage material, but it may be frozen by putting water in an aluminum can or frozen by putting water in a plastic bottle. Alternatively, the polymer water-absorbing polymer may contain water and be frozen in a film pack.
The main body case 1 is provided with a heat insulating container 2 for storing ice and water, and a flow path 3 that penetrates the main body 1 for introducing outside air and discharging it as cold air, and an intake hole 4 and an exhaust hole 5 are provided. Opened on the surface of the main body 1. Further, a cooling water circulation circuit 6 is provided, and a cooling heat exchanger 7 in which the cooling water is installed in the refrigerant container 2, a reserve tank 8 for replenishing cooling water, a cooling water circulation pump 9, and an air cooling heat exchanger 10. A circuit connected in order with piping and returning to the cooling heat exchanger 7 is configured.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 will be described in detail using a container in which water is put in a plastic bottle and frozen.
As shown in the figure, two frozen plastic bottles 40 containing 2 ■ are used instead of ice, and two ice bottles are arranged side by side and used as a cold storage material. In this way, it is convenient to replace the plastic bottle with the melted ice without draining the melted ice. Also in this case, a small amount of water is put in the heat insulating container 47 together with the PET bottle 40 as a heat transfer accelerator, so that the space between the PET bottle surface and the cooling unit heat exchanger 44 can be filled.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 shows a state in which the main body case 41 and the ice bottle replacement lid 42 are removed and the inside is exposed. In FIG. 3, a flow path 43 is provided on the front surface (right side in the figure) of the frozen plastic bottle 40, and an air cooling heat exchanger 44 and a blower 45 are provided therein. The layout in which the ice bottle replacement lid 42 is placed behind the blower 45 and the drain tank 46 is placed below the heat insulating container 47 is compact and rational. The pipe 48a of the cooling section heat exchanger 48 is a system that goes around two ice bottles while meandering in the vertical direction. This is because water as a heat transfer accelerator is further promoted to transfer heat from the ice bottle surface to the cooling section heat exchanger pipe by convection due to a temperature difference in the vertical direction. The reserve tank 49 and the cooling water circulation pump 50 are installed beside the air cooling heat exchanger 44.

In this example, the cooling water flows as follows. The drain-type heat exchanger 51 has a lower end cut obliquely, and the drain 52 falls into the drain trap 53 along this, so that the drain trap 53 is provided only on one surface of the flow path 43. Also, this example has a front heat insulating lid 54, which can be attached and detached. When this is removed, the drain heat exchanger 51, the air cooling heat exchanger 44, and the blower 45 are exposed and easy to clean. .
The ice bottle replacement door 42 is joined at the rear end by a main body case 41 and a hinge 55 and fixed by a latch 56. And it is sealed with packing 57. The power source 58 is installed in an empty part of the main body case 41. It can also be charged with an AC adapter or used directly with a household power supply.

The control unit 59 is attached to the upper surface of the main body case 41. In addition, although the sirocco fan is used as the air blower 45 here, another type may be sufficient. The cooling section heat exchanger 48 is also made by meandering the pipe 48a, but it may be a plate-like one having a hollow inside and covering an ice bottle. The cooling water slowly moves through the hollow. Heat exchange takes place. In addition, a drain tank drain hole is provided in front of the cooler, and the drain can be discarded by removing the drain tank plug 60. Further, a heat insulating container drain hole 61 for storing an ice bottle is provided on the front of the cooler, and water for promoting heat transfer can be discharged from the heat insulating container plug 61 storing the ice bottle.
And although the ice bottle is used in the example described above, it is also possible to put ice as it is. At this time, if the ice bottle storage container drain hole 61 is used when draining the melted ice, the main body case 41 can be drained easily without being inverted.

1, 41 Body case
2, 47 Insulated container
3, 43 flow path
4 Intake port 5 Exhaust port
6 Cooling water circulation circuit
7, 48 Cooling section heat exchanger 8, 49 Reserve tank
9, 50 Cooling water circulation pump 10, 44 Air-cooling heat exchanger 10a Cooling water pipe
11 Ice 12 Water
13 Filter
14, 53 Drain trap
15, 51 Drain heat exchanger
16, 52 drain
17 Pipe
18, 46 Drain tank
19, 60 drain plug
20, 45 Blower
21 Louver 22, 59 Control unit 23, 58 Power supply
24 Temperature sensor
25 knob
26 Insulation material 27 Lid
27a Thermal insulation
28 Fitting packing
29 Electric wire
30 reserve tank lid
31
32 stoppers
40 PET bottles (containers)
42 Bottle replacement lid
54 Front insulation cover
55 Hinge
56 Latch 57 Packing 61 Heat insulation container drain plug

Claims (4)

A portable cooler that uses ice and water to cool the air, and has a heat insulating container for storing ice and water in the apparatus, and an opening for putting ice in the container. There is a cooler heat exchanger in the heat insulation container, and the piping coming out of this enters the heat exchanger for air cooling via the coolant circulation pump, and passes through here again to heat the cooler There is a coolant circulation circuit that returns to the exchanger, and there is a flow path through the device. The surface of the device has an intake hole for introducing outside air and an exhaust hole for discharging cool air. There is an exchanger and a blower, and the outside air drawn in from the intake hole passes through the air cooling heat exchanger and is discharged from the exhaust hole by the blower. The pump and blower are moved and detected by a temperature sensor installed in the flow path. Portable cooler characterized by having a control device for controlling the power supply of the cooling water circulation pump by temperature. The portable cooler according to claim 1, further comprising a heat-insulating container capable of storing a plastic container capable of being plugged or an aluminum container capable of being plugged. There is an opening to put ice on the top of the insulated container that holds ice or a container containing ice, and a insulated door that opens and closes this, and there is a flow path on the side of the insulated container to discharge the outside air introduced from below to the top. The portable cooler according to claim 1, wherein the portable cooler has a heat exchanger for cooling air and a blower therein. A drain-type heat exchanger that is upstream of the air-cooling heat exchanger in the flow path and is cooled by dripping the drain generated by the air-cooling heat exchanger below. 4. Inclination, thereby leading to a gutter-shaped drain trap provided on the side of the flow path without dripping directly below, and further storing water in a drain tank below. A portable cooler as described in any of the above.

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