JP2015158358A - Heat insulating housing of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat insulating housing of a refrigerator capable of preventing intrusion of outside air to a clearance gap between vacuum heat insulating panels with a simple constitution, in the heat insulating housing in which a plurality of sheets of vacuum heat insulating panels are directly disposed between an outer case and an inner case.SOLUTION: A heat insulating housing 1 of a refrigerator includes an outer case configured by combining a plurality of divided surface portions, an inner case 3 disposed inside of the outer case, a wall formed by a plurality of vacuum heat insulating panels disposed between the outer case and the inner case 3 without filled with urethane foam, and seal members 10 for preventing intrusion of outside air, respectively disposed on positions corresponding to parts where the plurality of vacuum heat insulating panels are adjacent to each other, for closing clearance gaps respectively formed between the adjacent parts of the plurality of vacuum heat insulating panels.

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a heat insulating box of a refrigerator.

  Conventionally, for example, in a heat insulating box of a refrigerator for home use, in addition to filling urethane foam as a heat insulating material between an outer box and an inner box, a part thereof, for example, left and right side walls are excellent in heat insulating performance. It has been practiced to use a vacuum insulation panel together. In order to obtain better heat insulation performance, in recent years, it has been proposed to use a vacuum heat insulation panel having a thickness equivalent to that of the wall on each wall surface and directly adhere and attach it to the outer box and the inner box. In this case, it is inevitable that a narrow gap is generated between the outer box and the inner box, particularly in a portion where the vacuum heat insulating panels at the corners between the walls of the heat insulating box are adjacent to each other. At this time, if outside air containing moisture enters the gap, the outside air is cooled by the inner box and condensation occurs, and as a result, the condensation falls as water droplets, and in severe cases wets the floor There is a possibility that it will end up. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the entry of outside air by filling the gap with foamed urethane (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  However, the narrow gaps between the vacuum insulation panels that must be filled with foamed urethane as described above are generated at a plurality of locations in the whole insulation box, whereas foamed urethane is highly viscous and foamed. However, there are circumstances that are filled. For this reason, there is a problem that facilities for injecting urethane are complicated and expensive, such as requiring a plurality of urethane injection ports.

JP-A-4-260780

  Therefore, in a refrigerator in which a plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels are directly attached between the outer box and the inner box, and with a simple configuration, it is possible to prevent entry of outside air into the gap generated between the vacuum heat insulation panels. An insulating box is provided.

  The heat insulating box body of the refrigerator of the present embodiment includes an outer box configured by combining a plurality of divided surface portions, an inner box provided inside the outer box, and between the outer box and the inner box. A wall formed without filling urethane foam with a plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels provided in a position adjacent to the plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels and corresponding to the overlapping portion of the face portions, And a seal member for preventing entry of outside air that closes a gap formed in adjacent portions of the plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels.

The perspective view of the heat insulation box of a refrigerator which shows 1st Embodiment The perspective view which shows the combination of only the vacuum heat insulation panel in a heat insulation box Sectional view showing structure of vacuum insulation panel Transverse plan view of the heat insulation box along the line AA in FIG. FIG. 4 equivalent view showing the second embodiment FIG. 4 equivalent view showing the third embodiment FIG. 4 equivalent view showing the fourth embodiment FIG. 2A equivalent view showing the fifth embodiment

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
In FIG. 1, the heat insulation box 1 of the refrigerator which concerns on 1st Embodiment has comprised the vertically long rectangular box shape which opened the front surface. Although detailed explanation is omitted, the heat insulation box 1 incorporates a refrigeration cycle (not shown) and the like, and the interior is partitioned vertically (and partly left and right) to create a refrigerator room, a vegetable room, a freezer A plurality of storage chambers (not shown) such as a chamber are provided. And in the front part of each store room, the hinged opening-and-closing type heat insulation door or the drawer-type heat insulation door is provided, and the refrigerator main body is comprised.

  The heat insulation box 1 includes a vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4 (see FIG. 2B) between a steel plate outer box 2 and a synthetic resin inner box 3 housed in a space inside the outer box 2. Reference) is built in. The vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4 is provided with a thickness equivalent to the thickness of the surrounding wall itself constituting the heat insulation box 1. And the heat insulation box 1 which consists of these outer boxes 2, the inner box 3, and the vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4 comprises the wall part (multiple wall part) around a refrigerator main body. In this case, the bottom wall portion of the heat insulating box 1 is integrally formed with a portion constituting the front half of the bottom of the refrigerator main body and an inclined wall extending obliquely upward from the rear side portion and serving as a front wall of the machine room. It is comprised.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4 is divided for each wall portion of the refrigerator body, that is, the left vacuum insulation panel 4a, the right vacuum insulation panel 4b, and the ceiling surface. It is divided into a vacuum heat insulation panel 4c, a back surface vacuum heat insulation panel 4d, and a bottom surface vacuum heat insulation panel 4e. At this time, each of these vacuum heat insulating panels 4a to 4e has a shape corresponding to each of the left side surface, the right side surface, the ceiling surface, the back surface, and the bottom surface (including the inclined surface) of the outer surface of the inner box 3, and has a gap around it. The size is formed.

  And each of these vacuum heat insulation panels 4a-4e are directly adhere | attached and provided between the outer box 2 and the inner box 3 so that the outer surface of the inner box 3 may be covered. At this time, a long and narrow gap is formed at a portion where the vacuum heat insulating panels 4a to 4e are adjacent to each other, that is, at a corner of the heat insulating box 1, and a seal member 10 to be described later is attached to the gap. Then, the outer box 2 divided so as to correspond to each of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4a to 4e, specifically, the left surface portion 2a, the right surface portion 2b, the ceiling surface portion 2c, the back surface portion 2d, the bottom surface portion 2e (the inclined surface is changed). The outer box 2 (see FIG. 1) that is divided into two parts is further attached to the outer surfaces of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4 a to 4 e attached to the inner box 3. The surface portions 2a to 2e of the outer box 2 are partially overlapped by the overlapping portion 17 (see FIG. 4), and fixed by screws or the like not shown in the overlapping portion 17 to assemble the heat insulating box 1. .

Next, the structure of the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a-4e is demonstrated with reference to FIG. Here, in FIG. 3, the said vacuum heat insulation panels 4a-4e are represented by the code | symbol 4. As shown in FIG.
The vacuum heat insulation panels 4 a to 4 e are configured by covering the core material 5 having heat insulation performance with an outer bag 6. The core material 5 is formed by compressing and curing a laminated material 7 of inorganic fibers such as glass wool in an inner bag 8 made of a synthetic resin film such as polyethylene. The core material 5 is housed in a flexible film-like outer packaging bag 6 having gas barrier properties such as an aluminum vapor deposition film, and the inside is evacuated and decompressed. Vacuum insulation panels 4a-4e are obtained by sealing the opening of the outer bag 6 by heat welding while maintaining the reduced pressure, and sealing the outer bag 6. At this time, in order to obtain a sufficient sealing property of the outer bag 6 on the outer edge portions of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4a to 4e, it is necessary to enlarge the heat-welded area sufficiently, and it is bonded in a form that protrudes around the core material 5 Wide ears 9 are provided. The ear 9 is folded back to the outer box 2 side, and is adhered and fixed along the surface of the outer bag 6 with an adhesive tape or an adhesive.

As described above, since the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a to 4e are formed by bending the flexible film-like outer bag 6 at the outer peripheral edge thereof, variations in the outer dimensions in the production of the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a to 4e are different. There is a situation that becomes larger. For this reason, it is difficult to assemble the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a to 4e in close contact with each other at the corners where the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a to 4e are adjacent to each other, and a long and narrow gap is generated in the adjacent portions. Is inevitable.
Therefore, in the first embodiment, a seal member 10 is provided in the gap portion so as to fill the elongated gap portion. About the sealing member 10 in the heat insulation box 1, the right rear corner part (cross section which follows the AA line of FIG. 1) of this heat insulation box 1 is shown in FIG.

  In the heat insulating box 1, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer surface of the inner box 3 corresponding to the rear vacuum heat insulating panel 4 d, and the rear vacuum heat insulating panel 4 d is directly bonded to the inner box 3. Similarly, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer surface of the inner box 3 corresponding to the right vacuum insulation panel 4b, and the right vacuum insulation panel 4b is directly adhered to the inner box 3. At this time, the vacuum insulation panels 4b and 4d are in contact with the adjacent end faces in the elongated gap portions formed in the adjacent portions of the right vacuum insulation panel 4b and the back vacuum insulation panel 4d so as to close the gap portions. In addition, a seal member 10 that can be attached to prevent entry of outside air is attached. The seal member 10 is composed of an elastically deformable soft member (for example, a so-called soft tape).

  Specifically, the seal member 10 is made of a sponge-like synthetic resin (for example, foamed polyurethane) having a myriad of closed cells, and is formed into a rod shape (rectangular column shape) having a rectangular cross section, and is preliminarily formed on one surface or a plurality of surfaces thereof. Adhesive is arranged. The seal member 10 is attached so that a member slightly larger than the gap portion is bonded to the end faces of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d while being compressed. Thereby, the gap portion is tightly closed by the seal member 10.

  Thereafter, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer surface of the back vacuum insulation panel 4d, and the inside of the back portion 2d of the corresponding outer box 2 is directly bonded. Furthermore, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer surface of the right vacuum insulating panel 4b, and the inside of the right surface 2b of the corresponding outer box 2 is directly bonded. The same applies to the other vacuum heat insulation panels (left vacuum heat insulation panel 4a, ceiling surface vacuum heat insulation panel 4c, and bottom surface vacuum heat insulation panel 4e). In this way, the outer box 2, the inner box 3, and the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a to 4e (vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4) are assembled to constitute the heat insulation box 1.

  According to 1st Embodiment demonstrated above, the sealing member 10 is provided in the elongate clearance gap part formed in the corner | angular part which each vacuum heat insulation panel 4a-4e (a several vacuum heat insulation panel) adjoins. According to this, when the vacuum heat insulation panels 4a-4e of the thickness equivalent to the wall around the heat insulation box 1 are used for each wall surface of the heat insulation box 1, the long gap part is in the part where the vacuum heat insulation panels adjoin each other. Even if this occurs, the gap is filled with the seal member 10. For this reason, for example, moisture is included from a gap in the overlapping portion 17 (see FIG. 4) generated when the outer box 2 divided in correspondence with the right vacuum insulating panel 4b and the rear vacuum insulating panel 4d is assembled. Even if outside air tries to enter between the outer box 2 and the inner box 3, the sealing member 10 can prevent the outside air from entering. In addition, since it is not necessary to fill and fill the elongated gaps with urethane foam, complicated and expensive equipment for injecting urethane is not required, and therefore the manufacturing cost of the heat insulating box 1 can be reduced. Moreover, since it is not necessary to provide the injection | pouring hole for urethane injection | pouring also in the outer box 2, the external appearance of the heat insulation box 1 can be kept favorable.

  Furthermore, since the sealing member 10 is made of an elastically deformable soft material, so-called soft tape, it can be elastically deformed and brought into close contact with the end face shapes of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4a to 4e having large dimensional variations. Thereby, high sealing performance can be obtained.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof is omitted, and only different parts will be described.
In the second embodiment, the sealing member 12 provided in the elongated gap portion formed in the adjacent portion of the right vacuum insulating panel 4b and the back vacuum insulating panel 4d includes a heat insulating material 12a formed of a molded product and two pieces. It is comprised from the soft member 12b, 12b which can be elastically deformed. The heat insulating material 12a is, for example, a molded product of synthetic resin such as polystyrene foam, and has a substantially square cross section with a size that closes a corner portion (gap between the inner box 3) formed by the outer boxes 2b and 2d. It is columnar. The soft members 12b and 12b are also composed of a soft tape or the like, and each of the gap between the heat insulating material 12a and the end face of the right vacuum insulating panel 4b, and between the heat insulating material 12a and the end face of the back vacuum insulating panel 4d. It is provided so as to close the gap between them while being compressed and deformed. Further, the heat insulating material 12a is set to have higher rigidity than the soft members 12b and 12b.

  Then, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer surface over the right vacuum insulating panel 4b, the soft member 12b, and the heat insulating material 12a, and the outer surface over the back vacuum insulating panel 4d, the soft member 12b, and the heat insulating material 12a, The right surface portion 2b and the back surface portion 2d of the corresponding outer box 2 are directly bonded and provided.

  According to such 2nd Embodiment, the sealing member 12 is the heat insulating material 12a which consists of a highly rigid molded article arrange | positioned at the corner | angular part of the heat insulation box 1, and this heat insulating material 12a and each vacuum heat insulation panel 4b. , 4d, and elastically deformable soft members 12b, 12b that close the gaps with 4d. According to this, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, by providing the heat insulating material 12a, the heat insulating property can be improved as compared with the case where the entire sealing member is made of a soft member.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The third embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the abutting portions between the vacuum heat insulation panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12, that is, the vacuum heat insulation panels 4b and 4d and the soft members 12b and 12b. The cover member 15 has a configuration in which a cover member 15 is provided on the joint surface 13 and the joint surface 14 of the heat insulating material 12a and the soft members 12b and 12b so as to straddle both of them. The cover member 15 includes water vapor. However, it is difficult to permeate outside air, for example, it is made of a thin plate-like hard plastic and is formed in an L shape. The cover member 15 is provided in close contact with the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12 so as to be addressed to the corners formed by the outer boxes 2b and 2d. According to this configuration, the same effect as that of the second embodiment can be obtained. In addition, a slight gap generated between the right surface portion 2b and the back surface portion 2d of the outer box 2 and the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12, for example, becomes a path through which outside air enters the heat insulating box body 1. It is possible to prevent the outside air from entering.

  Note that the cover member 15 only needs to be positioned so as to straddle the butted portions of the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12, so that in addition to forming the L shape, for example, corner portions corresponding to each wall surface The shape may be divided into two pieces. The cover member 15 may be any member as long as it is difficult for the outside air to pass through, and the same effect can be obtained even if the cover member 15 is made of a metal plate or a sheet of a soft resin.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In the fourth embodiment, after the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12 are attached and the cover member 15 is attached, the adhesive 11 is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the cover member 15. Thereafter, the right surface portion 2b and the back surface portion 2d of the outer box 2 are directly bonded to the cover member 15. That is, the point that the cover member 15 is directly bonded to the outer box 2 by the adhesive 11 is different from the third embodiment. According to this configuration, since the adhesive 11 can fill even a slight gap generated between the outer box 2 and the vacuum heat insulating panels 4b and 4d and the seal member 12, which is a path through which the outside air enters. It is possible to reliably prevent intrusion of moisture including the outside air.

(Fifth embodiment)
FIG. 8 shows a fifth embodiment. Here, the vacuum insulation panel assembly 16 (the final assembly form is equivalent to the vacuum insulation panel assembly 4) is divided into two units. That is, the vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 16 in the fifth embodiment includes a vacuum heat insulation panel unit 16a which is a vacuum heat insulation panel formed by bending the left and right side wall portions and the ceiling portion together, a back surface portion and a bottom surface portion. Are divided into a vacuum heat insulation panel unit 16b, which is a vacuum heat insulation panel formed by bending them together. The vacuum heat insulating panel units 16a and 16b thus divided are combined and directly bonded to the inner box 3 and the outer box 2 so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the inner box 3. In this case, the outer box 2 may be divided into two corresponding to the vacuum heat insulation panel units 16a and 16b, or divided into each wall portion around the heat insulation box 1 (similar to the first embodiment). You may let them.

  According to this configuration, the same effects as those of the above embodiments can be obtained, and the number of parts of the vacuum heat insulation panel can be reduced. That is, in the first to fourth embodiments, the vacuum heat insulation panel assembly 4 includes the left vacuum insulation panel 4a, the right vacuum insulation panel 4b, the ceiling vacuum insulation panel 4c, the back vacuum insulation panel 4d, the bottom vacuum insulation panel 4e, On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since only two parts of the vacuum heat insulation panel units 16a and 16b are sufficient in this embodiment, the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of parts.

  As described above, according to the heat insulating box body of the refrigerator of the present embodiment, the outside air that can be attached to the adjacent portions of the plurality of vacuum heat insulating panels that are directly bonded between the inner box and the outer box is provided. An intrusion prevention seal member is provided so as to close the gap. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the outside air including moisture from entering the gap generated between the vacuum heat insulation panels between the outer box and the inner box with a simple configuration.

  The heat insulating box of the refrigerator described above is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, as a material of the sealing member (soft member, heat insulating material), various materials such as rubber and a felt-like fiber material are available. The present invention can be applied to various embodiments as appropriate without departing from the gist of the invention.

  In the drawings, 1 is a heat insulating box, 2 is an outer box, 3 is an inner box, 4 is a vacuum heat insulating panel assembly, 4a to 4e are vacuum heat insulating panels, 10 and 12 are sealing members, 11 is an adhesive, and 12a is a heat insulating material. , 12b are soft members, 15 is a cover member, and 16a and 16b are vacuum heat insulation panel units.

Claims (1)

An outer box configured by combining a plurality of divided surface portions;
An inner box provided inside the outer box;
A wall formed without filling urethane foam with a plurality of vacuum heat insulating panels provided between the outer box and the inner box;
A seal for preventing intrusion of outside air that is provided at a position corresponding to an overlapped portion of the plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels and that is adjacent to the surface portion, and that closes a gap formed in the adjacent portions of the plurality of vacuum heat insulation panels. And a heat insulating box for a refrigerator.

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