JP2015075271A - Dehumidifier and refrigerator using dehumidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dehumidifier and a refrigerator using the dehumidifier in which energy consumption is low and an evaporator of the refrigerator is hardly frosted.SOLUTION: In order to solve the aforesaid theme, a refrigerator is divided into at least four zones in an order of the first adsorption zone, the second adsorption zone, the first desorption zone and the second desorption zone in a rotating direction opposite to a rotating direction of a desiccant rotor carrying moisture absorbent, air inside the refrigerator is flowed to the first adsorption zone, air passed through the first adsorption zone is passed to the second adsorption zone in a direction opposite to the passing direction in the first adsorption zone and passed through the second adsorption zone twice, air passed through a condenser of the refrigerator and heated is passed to the first desorption zone, air passed through the first desorption zone is passed to the second desorption zone in a direction opposite to the passing direction at the first desorption zone and passed through the desorption zone twice.

Description

  The present invention relates to a dehumidifying device used in, for example, a refrigerator and a freezer, and a refrigerator using the dehumidifying device, and performs dehumidification using waste heat of the refrigerator to achieve energy saving and a small size. Provide a refrigerator that does not increase installation space.

  The refrigerator generally uses a refrigeration cycle using a refrigerant such as fluorocarbon or ammonia. That is, it is composed of a compressor (compressor), an evaporator, and a condenser, and the refrigerant circulates.

  If the temperature in the refrigerator is lower than the dew point of the outside air, frost adheres to the evaporator (evaporator) during operation. If frost adheres, the heat exchange efficiency decreases, and if it is severe, the evaporator heat exchanger may be completely blocked by frost, making it impossible to distribute air.

  For this reason, the operation of the refrigerator is stopped at a specific cycle, and the frost attached to the evaporator through warm air is melted.

  This is problematic for refrigerators that store frozen foods and other items whose quality deteriorates when the operation of the freezer is stopped while the frost is thawed. It was.

  For this reason, two evaporators are provided in one refrigerator, and two evaporators are operated alternately to melt frost alternately. Although such a thing can defrost without stopping a refrigerator, since there are two evaporators, a price becomes high and there exists a problem that the space which installs two evaporators is required.

  That frost adheres to the evaporator means that a latent heat load is applied to the refrigerator, and energy is wasted. That is, since frost is generated, the evaporator generates heat of water condensation and heat of freezing. Under Japanese weather conditions, this latent heat load is often nearly half of the energy consumed by the refrigerator. Furthermore, since the heat conductivity of frost is low, there is also a problem that the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator is deteriorated.

  As a technique for preventing moisture in the air from forming frost on the evaporator, a technique for adsorbing moisture in the air using a desiccant rotor as in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been invented.

  Moreover, what was disclosed by patent document 2 uses the rotor which adsorb | sucks moisture as a technique which prevents the water | moisture content in air frosting to an evaporator like patent document 1, The present invention provides a dehumidifying device that consumes less energy by using the waste heat of a refrigerator as a heat source.

JP2011-99645A JP 2001-179036 A

  Although what was disclosed by patent document 1 can adsorb | suck the water | moisture content in the air before entering an evaporator with a desiccant rotor, and it can suppress that a evaporator forms frost, description which referred about the magnitude | size of a desiccant rotor. However, there is no disclosure of a technique for downsizing the apparatus. Moreover, the technique regarding the heat source used for the moisture desorption of a desiccant rotor is not disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that the desorption zone of the adsorption rotor is divided into a low temperature desorption zone and a high temperature desorption zone, and energy consumption is reduced by using the exhaust heat of the refrigerator as a heat source for low temperature desorption. Although it can be reduced, a technique for downsizing the apparatus is not disclosed.

  That is, both patent documents do not disclose a structure for dehumidifying the waste heat of the refrigerator while hardly changing the installation area of the ready-made refrigerator or freezer.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is designed so that the processing air and the regeneration air are used twice in order to obtain the dehumidifying performance even if the rotor width of the desiccant rotor is thin so that it can be thinly installed on the back of the refrigerator or freezer. The main feature is passing through a desiccant rotor.

  Since the dehumidifying device of the present invention is configured as described above, the dehumidifying device can prevent the frost formation by passing the air in the refrigerator twice through the treatment (adsorption) zone of the desiccant rotor and supplying it to the evaporator (evaporator). An apparatus can be provided.

  In addition, the air outside the refrigerator is heated by the exhaust heat of the condenser (condenser), and the regeneration (desorption) zone of the desiccant rotor is passed twice so as to always face the processing air and exhausted outside the refrigerator. The dehumidifying performance is improved even if the width of the desiccant rotor is thin. As a result, frost does not adhere to the evaporator, and it is not necessary to melt the frost attached to the evaporator by passing warm air, so that energy is not wasted.

It is a flowchart in the Example of the dehumidification apparatus of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the refrigerator which shows the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process zone and regeneration zone of the Example of the dehumidification rotor of this invention.

  The refrigerator side of the desiccant rotor is divided into a processing outlet zone, a processing inlet zone, a regeneration outlet zone, and a regeneration inlet zone with respect to the rotor rotation direction, and the opposite side is divided into a processing zone and a regeneration zone to process the air in the refrigerator. The treatment zone of the desiccant rotor is passed twice from the inlet zone to the treatment outlet zone, and dehumidified air is supplied to the evaporator (evaporator) in the refrigerator. In addition, the air outside the refrigerator is heated by the exhaust heat of the condenser (condenser), and the regeneration zone is passed twice from the regeneration inlet zone to the regeneration outlet zone so that the processing air is always counterflowed to the regeneration zone of the desiccant rotor, By exhausting out of the refrigerator, the desiccant rotor thickness was reduced, and dehumidification performance capable of preventing frost formation on the evaporator could be achieved even if the desiccant rotor was made compact.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the dehumidifying device of the present invention and a refrigerator using the dehumidifying device will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the flow of air in the dehumidifying device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Moreover, FIG. 2 is sectional drawing of the refrigerator incorporating the dehumidification apparatus in Example 1. FIG.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a desiccant rotor. The desiccant rotor 2 is divided into two zones, a treatment zone A and a regeneration zone B, by a partition plate 3 and a partition plate 5, and a connection surface side between the desiccant rotor 2 and the refrigerator 1. The partition plate 4 divides the inside of the processing zone A and the inside of the regeneration zone B into two. The desiccant rotor 2 is rotated by a motor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow.

  The processing air 7 in the refrigerator 1 is passed through the processing zone of the desiccant rotor 2 twice by a processing blower (not shown) to become dry air 8, supplied to an evaporator (evaporator) 12, and returned to the refrigerator 1.

  The regeneration inlet air 9 outside the refrigerator 1 is heated by the exhaust heat of the condenser (condenser) 11 and is passed through the regeneration zone of the desiccant rotor 2 twice by a regeneration fan (not shown), and the moisture adsorbed on the desiccant rotor 2. And are exhausted out of the refrigerator 1 as a regenerative exhaust 10.

  FIG. 3 is a view of the desiccant rotor 2 as seen from the connection surface side with the refrigerator 1. The processing outlet zone, the processing inlet zone, the regeneration outlet zone, the regeneration inlet zone, the flow of the processing air and the regeneration air are flowed with respect to the rotor rotation direction. The flow is always counter-current, and the dehumidifying performance is higher than in the case of parallel flow.

  By adopting such a configuration, another heat source for heating the regenerative air becomes unnecessary by using the waste heat of the heat pump.

  For example, when the temperature in the refrigerator 1 is minus 18 degrees Celsius (hereinafter, all temperatures are assumed to be “Celsius”) and the relative humidity is 100% RH, a desiccant rotor having an outer diameter of 300 mm and a thickness of 15 mm is used at a rotor rotational speed of 5 rph. Assuming that the processing air flow rate and the regeneration air flow rate are both 1.76 m3 / min and the regeneration zone inlet temperature is 35 degrees (the air temperature outside the refrigerator is 27 degrees, the relative humidity is 60% RH), the processing zone inlet temperature is minus 18 degrees, When the absolute humidity at the inlet is 0.768 g / Kg, the processing zone outlet temperature is minus 16.6 degrees, the processing zone outlet dew point is minus 21.2 degrees, and the dehumidifying capacity is 25.5 g / h.

  As described above, the desiccant rotor is reduced to a width of 15 to 20 mm by passing the desiccant rotor twice through the desiccant rotor for both the process air and the regenerative air in order to supply dry air for preventing defrosting to the evaporator (evaporator). Therefore, the dehumidifier can be made compact and can be built in the refrigerator as shown in FIG. By making the dehumidifier into a built-in refrigerator type, the chamber of the desiccant rotor can be manufactured integrally with the outer box of the refrigerator, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  In other words, in order to throw away the exhaust heat of the conventional condenser by natural heat dissipation, the condenser is arranged almost on the entire rear surface of the refrigerator, and a space with a width of about 30 to 50 mm is provided on the outside thereof, and this space produces a chimney effect. Thus, an upward air flow is generated over the entire rear surface of the refrigerator. In the present invention, the dehumidifying device can be accommodated in this space.

  Moreover, since it is not necessary to stop a refrigerator with a specific period for defrosting and to supply warm air in order to melt frost, it also becomes energy saving.

  The present invention provides a compact dehumidifying device that prevents frosting of evaporators such as refrigerators and freezers and that reduces energy consumption.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator 2 Desiccant rotor 3, 4, 5 Partition plate 6 Seal 7 Process air 8 Dry air 9 Regeneration inlet air 10 Regeneration exhaust 11 Condenser (condenser)
12 Evaporator

Claims (4)

  A desiccant rotor carrying a moisture adsorbent, and at least four zones in the order of a first adsorption zone, a second adsorption zone, a first desorption zone, and a second desorption zone with respect to the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the desiccant rotor; The air in the cabinet is passed through the first adsorption zone, the air that has passed through the first adsorption zone is passed through the second adsorption zone in the direction opposite to the direction of passage through the first adsorption zone, and passes through the condenser. The dehumidifying device is configured to pass the heated air through the first desorption zone and allow the air that has passed through the first desorption zone to pass through the second desorption zone in a direction opposite to the passing direction of the first desorption zone.   A desiccant rotor carrying a moisture adsorbent, and at least four zones in the order of a first adsorption zone, a second adsorption zone, a first desorption zone, and a second desorption zone with respect to the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the desiccant rotor; The air inside the refrigerator is passed through the first adsorption zone, the air that has passed through the first adsorption zone is passed through the second adsorption zone in the direction opposite to the passage direction of the first adsorption zone, Air heated through the condenser is passed through the first desorption zone, and air that has passed through the first desorption zone is passed through the second desorption zone in a direction opposite to the direction of passage of the first desorption zone. A refrigerator using a dehumidifier.   The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the dried air that has passed through the second adsorption zone is cooled by passing through an evaporator and returned to the inside of the refrigerator.   The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the air flows passing through each of the first adsorption zone, the second adsorption zone, the first desorption zone, and the second desorption zone are parallel to each other.

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