JP2017003176A - Refrigeration device and refrigerator including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve energy saving regarding a refrigeration device which performs a cooling operation by a plurality of evaporators.SOLUTION: A plurality of evaporators 30, 31 are adjacently arranged, and a heat insulation material 32 is provided between the adjacent evaporators. By allowing the plurality of evaporators 30, 31 to perform the cooling operation or a defrosting operation alternately, the plurality of evaporators 30, 31 can be arranged compactly, and also, as the movement of heat between the plurality of evaporators is suppressed by the heat insulation material 32, it becomes possible to allow one of the plurality of evaporators to perform the cooling operation and the other to perform the defrosting operation, and the inside of a storage chamber can be continuously cooled without stopping. Also, it can be suppressed that temperature of the food in the storage chamber rises during the defrosting time of the evaporators and that temperature fluctuation in the storage chamber becomes large by the cooling and defrosting operation of the evaporators. Thus, deterioration of food quality can be prevented, and a refrigerator of higher quality can be provided.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigeration apparatus and a refrigerator that perform a cooling operation with a plurality of evaporators.

  Conventionally, this type of refrigeration apparatus and a refrigerator including the same include a plurality of evaporators, and alternately cool or defrost the evaporators (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 10 shows a conventional refrigeration apparatus described in Patent Document 1. In FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, the compressor 1 compresses the refrigerant gas to a high temperature and a high pressure, the condenser 2 that condenses and liquefies the refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor 1, and the liquid refrigerant liquefied by the condenser 2 is decompressed. Depressurizers 18 and 19 that are expanded into low-temperature refrigerant, evaporators 14 and 15 that evaporate liquid refrigerant that has become low temperature in decompressor 18 and 19, blowers 16 and 17, and defrosters corresponding to both evaporators 14 and 15. Heaters 6, 7, drain pans 8, 9 that receive defrost water dripping from evaporators 14, 15, housings 12, 13 that store evaporators 14, 15, etc., solenoid valves 20, 21, solenoid valve 20 , 21 is a blower control device 23 that controls the rotational speeds of the blowers 16, 17 in response to the signal of 21.

  In the refrigeration apparatus configured as described above, both the solenoid valves 20 and 21 are opened during the cooling operation, and the load is cooled by the both evaporators 14 and 15. On the other hand, at the time of defrosting operation, for example, only the solenoid valve 20 of both the solenoid valves 20 and 21 is opened, and the load is cooled by one evaporator 14. At this time, the closing signal of the electromagnetic valve 21 is received, and the air volume of the blower 16 of the evaporator 14 is increased by the blower control device 23. At this time, the frost generated in the other evaporator 15 is removed by energizing the heater 7. This operation is performed alternately in both evaporators. In this way, the load is cooled by one of the evaporators (the cooling capacity increases by increasing the air volume), so that the internal temperature can be suppressed even when one of the evaporators is defrosted.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-90478

  However, in the said conventional structure, since defrosting of an evaporator is performed with a heater, external electric power is required and there is almost no energy saving effect. In addition, since an individual blower is provided for each evaporator, it leads to an increase in cost, and it is necessary to configure a plurality of air passages. Getting worse. Furthermore, because it is defrosted with a heater, the partition between the evaporator during cooling and the evaporator during defrost cannot be composed of a heat insulating material, and is composed of a metal plate with high heat resistance, Heat was exchanged between the two evaporators, and power wasted.

  This invention solves the said conventional subject, and it aims at providing the freezing apparatus and refrigerator which can aim at energy saving regarding the freezing apparatus which performs cooling operation with a some evaporator.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the refrigeration apparatus of the present invention has a plurality of evaporators arranged adjacent to each other, and a heat insulating material is provided between adjacent evaporators, and the plurality of evaporators are alternately cooled. Or, defrosting operation is performed.

  Thereby, since the several evaporator arrange | positioned adjacently is heat-insulated with the heat insulating material, transfer of the heat | fever between several evaporators can be suppressed.

  Since the refrigeration apparatus of the present invention suppresses the movement of heat between the plurality of evaporators by the heat insulating material, even when one of the plurality of evaporators is in the cooling operation and the other is in the defrosting operation, the temperature is high or low. It is possible to perform cooling operation or defrosting operation while individually insulating a plurality of evaporators with different temperatures, eliminating waste of power consumption due to short-circuiting and offsetting of high and low heat between the evaporators, saving energy. Can be planned.

The block diagram of the freezing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of open / close valve specifications of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of open / close valve specifications of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of open / close valve specifications of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of the three-way valve specification of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of the three-way valve specification of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Refrigeration cycle diagram of the three-way valve specification of the refrigeration system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Whole block diagram of refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The block diagram of the freezing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention Configuration diagram of conventional refrigeration equipment

  In the first invention, a plurality of evaporators are arranged adjacent to each other, a heat insulating material is provided between the adjacent evaporators, and the plurality of evaporators are alternately cooled or defrosted, whereby a plurality of evaporators are provided. Since the evaporator can be arranged in a compact manner and the heat transfer between the plurality of evaporators is suppressed by the heat insulating material, it becomes possible to perform one of the plurality of evaporators for cooling operation and the other for defrosting operation, It is possible to continuously cool the storage chamber without interruption. In addition, the food temperature in the storage room rises during defrosting of the evaporator, and the temperature fluctuation in the storage room increases due to the cooling and defrosting operation of the evaporator, preventing deterioration of food quality. This makes it possible to provide a higher-quality refrigerator.

  According to a second invention, in the first invention, when the cooling load in the storage chamber is large, the plurality of evaporators are simultaneously operated for cooling, and at the time of high load, the plurality of evaporators are all set to a cooling operation. Therefore, the cooling capacity of each of the plurality of evaporators can be designed to be smaller than that of a refrigeration cycle with only a single evaporator, and by selecting the number of cooling operations of the plurality of evaporators, It is also possible to control the total cooling capacity of the cycle.

  According to a third invention, in the first or second invention, the plurality of evaporators can be installed compactly by arranging them in parallel with the flow of cold air, and functional parts such as piping, wiring, and on-off valves can be installed. It becomes possible to arrange in a concentrated manner. Moreover, while suppressing the increase in the external dimension of a refrigerator to the minimum, the man-hour at the time of manufacture can be made efficient and a cost increase can be suppressed.

  A fourth invention has a refrigeration cycle in which the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, and the evaporator are annularly connected in any one of the first to third inventions, and the cooling operation is stopped. Since the other evaporator is defrosted with a refrigerant from a bypass pipe that guides the hot gas refrigerant on the inlet side of the condenser, the evaporator is defrosted by guiding the hot gas refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle. Parts such as a defrost heater are not required, and the power used to drive the defrost heater can be reduced along with cost reduction, and a significant energy saving can be achieved.

  In a fifth aspect of the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, defrosting is performed by sublimating the frost by causing the air from the cooler fan to flow through the other evaporator that has stopped the cooling operation. Thus, unlike the defrosting method in which the frosted evaporator is heated, heat at the time of defrosting does not enter the storage chamber. In addition, since no high-temperature heat is generated during defrosting, the food in the storage room is not deteriorated by heat, and the evaporator temperature after defrosting is maintained at a low temperature. There is no need to let them. In addition, it is possible to switch from the defrosting operation to the cooling operation in a short time, and even when the humidity is high during the rainy season and frosting occurs immediately on the evaporator, the switching between the cooling operation and the defrosting operation can be performed immediately. Therefore, it becomes possible to maintain the temperature of the storage room at an appropriate temperature.

  According to a sixth invention, in the fourth invention, a bypass pipe provided with an on-off valve for guiding the high-temperature gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor to the inlet side of the evaporator, and the high-temperature gas from the compressor By having an on-off valve that guides the refrigerant to the condenser, the hot gas refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle is not supplied in a divided manner, but all the hot gas refrigerant is led to one evaporator, so that the condensation of the refrigeration cycle Since the refrigerant that performs the cooling operation in the other evaporator also becomes the total amount in the refrigeration cycle via the evaporator and the expansion valve, the cooling operation can be maximized. In addition, since the entire amount of hot gas refrigerant flows through the evaporator to be defrosted, the defrosting action can be maximized. Further, in the method of performing defrosting with the hot gas refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle, efficient defrosting and cooling operation can be performed by effectively using the entire amount without diverting the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle.

  According to a seventh invention, in the fourth invention, an open / close valve that guides the refrigerant cooled by the condenser to the evaporator through the expansion valve has a fully closed function like a capillary tube. Even if it is not, the refrigeration cycle can be opened and closed with the on-off valve, and the reliability can be improved relatively inexpensively.

  According to an eighth invention, in the fourth invention, there is provided a bypass pipe provided with an open / close valve for guiding hot gas refrigerant defrosted from the evaporator to the condenser on an outlet side of the evaporator, and the evaporator. By having an on-off valve that recirculates the refrigerant to the compressor after the cooling operation is performed, the on-off valve can be controlled so that the refrigerant flows from the outlet side of the evaporator to the compressor or the condenser. In addition, it is possible to collect cold heat during defrosting while making the bypass pipe line simple. Moreover, not only the defrosting by the normal hot gas bypass but also recovering the cold heat of the evaporator at the same time can reduce the load on the condenser and improve the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle.

  A ninth invention is a refrigerator having a heat insulating box and a door and including the refrigeration apparatus according to any one of the first to eighth inventions, and provides a refrigerator that enhances energy saving and suppresses temperature fluctuations. it can.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a refrigeration apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are refrigeration cycle diagrams of open / close valve specifications of the refrigeration apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 is a refrigeration cycle diagram of the three-way valve specification of the refrigeration apparatus in the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is an overall configuration diagram of the refrigerator in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is the present invention. The block diagram of the freezing apparatus in 1st Embodiment of this is shown.

1 to 9, a urethane foam 63 is filled between an inner box 60 and an outer box 61 to constitute a refrigerator main body 62. The refrigerator compartment 68, the first freezer compartment 77, the second freezer compartment 78, and the vegetable compartment 79 are partitioned by partition walls 69 to 71, and doors 73 to 76 that open and close each chamber are provided on the front side of the refrigerator main body 62. It has been. A compressor 35 is installed in the machine room 64 and is covered with a machine room cover 65. The cold air cooled by the evaporator 81 passes through the duct 67 and supplies the cold air to the refrigerator compartment 68.

  The defrosting water treatment unit 82 is installed in the lower part of the evaporator 81, and a vacuum heat insulating material 80 is disposed on the back surface of the refrigerator main body 62. The front-side evaporator 30 and the back-side evaporator 31 are arranged to face each other with the heat insulating material 32 interposed therebetween. The damper 33 causes the air path of either the front side evaporator 30 or the back side evaporator 31 to communicate with the fan 34. The compressor 35, the condenser 36, the expansion valves 37 and 38, the evaporators 30 and 31, and the on-off valves 41 to 50 constitute a refrigeration cycle. Further, when the three-way valves 55 to 58 are used, the number of on-off valves can be reduced.

  About the freezing apparatus comprised as mentioned above and a refrigerator provided with the same, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  First, the refrigerator main body 62 is filled with the urethane foam 63 between the outer box 61 and the inner box 60 and partitioned by the partition walls 69 to 71, the refrigerator compartment 68, the first freezer compartment 77, the second freezer compartment 78, Since the storage rooms of different temperature zones such as the vegetable room 79 are kept insulated from the surroundings, various foods having different storage temperature ranges can be stored at an appropriate temperature with high thermal efficiency.

  In addition, doors 73 to 76 are provided in each storage chamber, and each storage chamber can be opened and closed in a single state, and the outflow of cold air at the time of opening and closing is suppressed.

  The compressor 35 is installed in a machine room 64 provided on the upper rear surface of the refrigerator main body 62 and is covered with a machine room cover 65 to prevent dust from entering.

  The duct 67 is an air passage for supplying the cool air generated by the evaporator 81 to each of the storage rooms 68, 77, 78 by a fan (not shown), and allows the installation height of the evaporator to be flexible. It is possible to expand the range of design plans.

  By providing the defrost water processing part 82 in the lower part of the evaporator 81, it is possible to process the defrost water in the refrigerator main body 62 itself without leaking the defrost water to the floor. Energy saving is achieved by disposing the vacuum heat insulating material 80 on the rear surface of the refrigerator main body 62.

  Next, when the refrigerator is installed and the operation is started, the compressor 35 is started after the opening / closing valves 41 to 50 are controlled so that both the evaporators 30 and 31 are cooled. . By performing this control, it is possible to quickly reach the set temperature in the refrigerator with full power cooling capacity at the time of installation. When a large cooling load does not exist after the inside of the refrigerator reaches the set temperature, the evaporator 30 on the front side of the refrigerator is cooled in the two evaporators 30 and 31, and the evaporator on the back side of the refrigerator On / off control of the on-off valves 41 to 50 is performed so that 31 is stopped.

  Here, the reason for selecting the evaporator 31 on the front side of the refrigerator as the cooling operation side is to minimize the influence of external intrusion heat from the back side of the refrigerator.

And the on-off valve 41-50 is switched, the hot gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 35 is guide | induced to the back side evaporator 31 of a stop state, and the hot gas defrost of the back side evaporator 31 is performed. When the frosting of the front side evaporator 30 is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value at the end of the hot gas defrost, the on-off valves 41 to 50 are switched to stop the operation of the front side evaporator 30 and stop. The hot gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 35 is guided to the front side evaporator 30 in the state, and hot gas defrost of the front side evaporator 30 is started.

  At this time, the cooling operation in the refrigerator is performed by the cooling operation of the back side evaporator 31 after the defrosting is completed. And when it determines that the frost formation of the back side evaporator 31 is more than predetermined value, while switching the on-off valves 41-50, the operation | movement of the back side evaporator 31 is stopped, and the back side evaporator 31 of a stop state is made. Hot gas defrost.

  At this time, the cooling operation in the refrigerator is performed by the cooling operation of the front side evaporator 30 after the defrosting is completed. In this way, the two evaporators 30 and 31 of the front side evaporator 30 and the back side evaporator 31 are alternately switched to the cooling operation and the defrosting operation, thereby continuously cooling the refrigerator storage room without interruption. It becomes possible to do.

  In addition, when the hot gas defrost of one of the evaporators is completed, when the refrigerator is full of food or when the cooling load is large such as in summer when the outside air temperature is high, the two evaporators 30 and 31 are connected. At the same time, the cooling operation is performed to control the temperature in the storage chamber to be maintained at the set value. Here, the defrosting timing of each of the evaporators 30 and 31 is defrosted when the frosting of each individual evaporator becomes a predetermined value or more, as in normal times. When the two evaporators 30 and 31 reach the defrosting timing at the same time, the cooling operation of the front side evaporator 30 is continued, and first, control is performed so that hot gas defrosting is performed from the back side evaporator 31.

  Also, when a large cooling capacity is required, such as during quick freezing of food, the on-off valves 41 to 50 are switched to perform the cooling operation with the two evaporators 30 and 31. At this time, if one of the evaporators is in hot gas defrost, until the defrosting ends, either endure with the single cooling operation of the other evaporator or switch the on-off valves 41 to 50 to remove the defrost. It may be forcibly terminated and the user may select whether to perform the cooling operation with the two evaporators 30 and 31 in advance. When this quick freezing is completed, the process proceeds to the restart of the hot gas defrost of one evaporator for which the defrosting is forcibly terminated and the continuation of the cooling operation in the other evaporator.

  In this way, there is a case where a special control response is required, but this is an extremely short-time event over the entire period, and in most cases, one of the two evaporators 30 and 31 is one of the two. The other evaporator is defrosted while the cooling operation is performed in the evaporator, and it becomes possible to continuously cool the storage room, suppress the temperature fluctuation in the storage room, and deteriorate due to the temperature rise of food. This is to prevent the phenomenon.

  In addition, since the heat insulating material 32 is disposed between the two evaporators 30 and 31, even when one evaporator is cooled and the other evaporator is defrosted, Since the heat transfer between 31 is suppressed, it is possible to prevent the cold and warm from being short-circuited. And since the two evaporators 30 and 31 are arrange | positioned adjacently via the heat insulating material 32, it is possible to install compactly, for example, when arrange | positioning in piles, a single cooler It is possible to store and install the two evaporators 30 and 31 together in the cover, and the conventional fan and basic air path can be used as they are or with a slight change. It is not necessary to form a road configuration or the like, and the configuration is very simple.

  As for hot gas defrost, the discharge gas of the compressor 35 is bypassed, and after defrosting one of the evaporators, it is led to the inlet side of the condenser 36, and the other evaporator contributes to the cooling action. Thus, all the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle can be used for cooling.

Here, there are various configurations for the hot gas defrosting method, for example, there is a method of bypassing the discharge gas of the compressor, defrosting one of the evaporators, and then refluxing to the inlet side of the compressor . In this case, the configuration of the refrigeration cycle can be simplified, but since the refrigerant defrosted from the evaporator is directly returned to the compressor, the amount of refrigerant passing through this bypass pipe line Since it does not contribute to the cooling action, the refrigerant circulation amount that greatly affects the cooling action is temporarily reduced, and the cooling capacity in other evaporators is reduced.

  And since it is a single lung driving | operation, a cooling capability will fall large. Furthermore, since the relatively high-temperature gas refrigerant after defrosting the evaporator is returned to the compressor, the suction temperature of the compressor rises, exceeds the allowable temperature range of the compressor, and the mechanical components are thermally deformed. There is a risk of damage. In general, since the hot gas defrost time is short and the number of times is small, the influence on the compressor is small, and it may be determined that it is within an allowable range.

  In addition, by alternately cooling or defrosting the two evaporators 30 and 31, it becomes possible to vary the capacity of the evaporator, and by combining with inverter control of the compressor speed, further energy saving It becomes possible. For example, when the load of food in the refrigerator storage room is standard, only one of the two evaporators 30 and 31 is alternately cooled to keep the storage room at a set temperature. It becomes possible to reduce power consumption.

  And when the load of a store room changes delicately from this state, it becomes possible to cope with a load that increases or decreases by adjusting the refrigerant circulation amount by compressor rotation speed control. Of course, when the load in the storage chamber is greatly increased, the two evaporators 30 and 31 are simultaneously put into a cooling operation to increase the rotational speed of the compressor. In other words, by using two evaporators for cooling the storage chamber, the control of the cooling capacity can be simply controlled twice as finely, and accordingly, extremely fine and energy-saving operation becomes possible. Furthermore, since one of the two evaporators 30 and 31 is performing the cooling operation in the storage chamber, compared to the case where the operation is stopped during defrosting, the temperature rise of the food in the storage chamber is suppressed, It becomes possible to provide a refrigerator having a small temperature fluctuation range of food.

  In addition, as a defrosting method different from the hot gas defrost method described above, the refrigerant flow of one of the frosted evaporators is stopped, the air from the fan is blown, and the frost attached to the evaporator is defrosted by sublimation. You may adopt the method to do.

  In this case, since it takes time to defrost as compared with the hot gas defrost method, it takes too much time to defrost after much frost is added. Therefore, if control is performed so that the defrosting operation is started early while the frosted state is small, the frosted state is small, so the ventilation is spread, and the refrigerant does not flow into the evaporator tube, so the defrosting time is at a practical level. It is possible to complete the defrosting.

  Further, the defrosting utilizing the sublimation action and the hot gas defrost may be fused to perform the defrosting, and the defrosting time can be shortened. In addition, by defrosting only the sublimation action, shortening the cooling and defrosting cycles of the two evaporators 30 and 31, and performing operation by performing defrosting by sublimation at an early stage with a small amount of frosting, A defrosting circuit such as a hot gas bypass circuit can be omitted, and the cost can be reduced.

  Moreover, since the hot gas defrost method is applied as the defrosting method, the heat generation temperature becomes about 300 ° C. and the temperature around the evaporator becomes very high like a heater such as a defrosting heater. Therefore, it is possible to dispose a heat insulating material 32 instead of a metal plate between the two evaporators 30 and 31.

And, in the case where the other evaporator is defrosted while cooling with one evaporator, that is, when only one of the two evaporators 30 and 31 is cooled, For the purpose of improvement, it is conceivable to increase the number of rotations of the fan. However, since the surface area of the evaporator serving as a heat transfer surface is constant and does not change, it is considered that a significant improvement in cooling capacity cannot be expected. In view of this, one common fan 34 is provided for the two evaporators 30 and 31 disposed adjacent to each other via the heat insulating material 32 without providing a fan for each of the two evaporators 30 and 31.

  Furthermore, by using one fan 34, it becomes possible to share the air path of the two evaporators 30 and 31, and a space-saving configuration can be achieved. And when each evaporator 30 and 31 becomes cooling operation and defrost operation, switching of the flow of the wind to a storage room provides the damper 33 between several evaporators and the fan 34, and damper 33 This can be simplified in consideration of the desk. That is, among the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31, the damper that is being cooled is opened and air cooled from the opening is supplied to the storage chamber by the fan.

  It is also conceivable to use a Peltier as the defrosting means. In this case, it is desirable that the Peltier is built in a heat insulating material 32 provided between two adjacent evaporators 30 and 31. The heat release side of the Peltier is installed on the evaporator that performs the defrosting operation, and the cooling side of the Peltier is installed so as to face the evaporator that performs the cooling operation. Since the evaporator repeats the cooling operation and the defrosting operation alternately, it is necessary to take measures such as rotating the Peltier or providing two.

  Moreover, although the damper 33 is provided between the several evaporators 30 and 31 and the fan 34, the sublimation effect | action which ventilates the above-mentioned evaporator with a frost and defrosts, or another defrosting system Therefore, the damper 33 may be unnecessary. A method is also conceivable in which the fan air is circulated through the evaporator in the hot gas defrost, and mixed with the cold air that has circulated through the evaporator during the cooling operation and supplied to the storage chamber together. The precondition is that the temperature of the combined cold air will be low, and if the same amount of -20 ° C cold air and 50 ° C air is mixed, it will become 15 ° C air and cool the storage room I can't do it.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to the refrigeration cycle diagram. First, as shown in FIG. 2, when the two evaporators 30 and 31 are cooled together, the gas refrigerant discharged by the compressor 35 passes through the on-off valve 41 and the on-off valve 43 and passes through the condenser 36. Led to. At this time, the on-off valve 42 and the on-off valve 44 are closed so that they do not flow toward the evaporator 30 and the evaporator 31. The refrigerant cooled by the condenser 36 passes through the opening / closing valve 45 and the opening / closing valve 48, and is decompressed by the expansion valve 37 and the expansion valve 38 such as a capillary tube, to the front side evaporator 30 and the back side evaporator 31. After the cooling action is performed here, the gas passes through the on-off valve 47 and the on-off valve 50 and returns to the compressor 35.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, when the front side evaporator 30 is cooled and the back side evaporator 31 is defrosted, the gas refrigerant discharged by the compressor 35 passes through the on-off valve 41 and the on-off valve 44. It passes through and is led to the back side evaporator 31. Here, after performing the defrosting action, it passes through the on-off valve 49 and flows out between the on-off valve 43 and the condenser 36. Then, the refrigerant that has been led to the condenser 36 and has performed a heat dissipation action and has become a gas-liquid mixed state passes through the on-off valve 45 and is decompressed by the expansion valve 37, and is then led to the evaporator 30, where A cooling action is performed, and the gas passes through the on-off valve 47 and is returned to the compressor 35. At this time, the on-off valve 42, the on-off valve 43, the on-off valve 46, the on-off valve 48, and the on-off valve 50 are closed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the front side evaporator 30 is defrosted and the back side evaporator 31 is cooled, the gas refrigerant discharged by the compressor 35 passes through the on-off valve 42 and flows to the front side. It is led to the side evaporator 30. Here, after performing a heat radiation action, the gas passes through the on-off valve 46 and flows between the on-off valve 41 and the on-off valve 43. Then, it passes through the on-off valve 43 and is led to the condenser 36. Here, the refrigerant that has become a gas-liquid mixed state by performing the heat radiation action passes through the opening / closing valve 48 and is decompressed by the expansion valve 38, and then is guided to the evaporator 31, where it performs the cooling action and opens / closes It passes through the valve 50 and is returned to the compressor 35. At this time, the on-off valve 41, the on-off valve 44, the on-off valve 45, the on-off valve 47, and the on-off valve 49 are closed.

  Further, the number of valves can be reduced by replacing the on-off valve of the basic refrigeration cycle with a three-way valve. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the on-off valve 1 and the on-off valve 2 are three-way valve 55, the on-off valve 3 and on-off valve 4 are on three-way valve 56, and the on-off valve 6 and on-off valve 7 are three-way. It is possible to replace the opening / closing valve 9 and the opening / closing valve 10 with a three-way valve 58 in place of the valve 57. Here, the three-way valves 55 to 58 are flow path switching valves provided with three-way pipe joints, and the function of switching the refrigerant flowing into the three-way valve to flow in one of two different directions. It is a part.

  Specifically, a central flow path in three directions is used as a common flow path, that is, a communication path in which the central flow path and the right flow path are formed on a semicircular arc. When switching to the left flow path, the semicircular arc-shaped communication path moves to the left side to connect the central flow path and the left flow path. In simple terms, the two channels including the central channel can be communicated, and the actuator can be driven by an electrical signal to switch between the center and right and the center and left. It is a part.

  The expansion valves 37 and 38 are capillary tubes with fixed resistances. However, the open / close valve 45 and the open / close valve 48 are not required as long as the expansion valves 37 and 38 can be fully closed using an electric expansion valve that can change the resistance. It becomes. There are various types of this electric expansion valve. Temporarily, a valve seat is provided in the opening, and a triangular pyramid needle is inserted and removed from this valve seat, so that the opening area of the valve seat, that is, the flow path resistance can be varied. There is something to do. In this type, it is possible to close the flow path by pushing down the triangular pyramid needle until it is in close contact with the valve seat.

  The flow path resistance can be adjusted electrically by cutting a groove for converting the rotation of the motor into a vertical movement in the triangular pyramid needle. The open / close valve is used to open and close the flow path in the pipe. For example, a flow path such as a straight tunnel is provided in a columnar metal, that is, an opening is opened, and the opening passes through the opening. Then, the refrigerant conducts, and when closed, the columnar metal is rotated 90 degrees, and the flow path, that is, the opening is closed by the side wall of the columnar metal.

  Also, during normal operation, when the load in the storage chamber is standard and stable, it is not necessary to use a large capacity evaporator, and it is more efficient to use a small capacity evaporator. And a cooling operation can always be performed in a state with very little frost by switching a cooling operation and a defrosting operation for a small capacity evaporator with a short cycle. Here, the capacity of the two small evaporators is set to about half or less of one large capacity evaporator. In addition, when two or more small evaporators are used, the capacity of the small evaporator can be set variously, but the total capacity of the plurality of small evaporators is almost equal to the capacity of one large evaporator. Make the same. In this case, the capacity of the refrigeration cycle can be variably controlled according to the number of small evaporators.

  Moreover, while arrange | positioning the several evaporators 30 and 31 adjacently, the heat insulating material 32 is provided between adjacent evaporators, and the several evaporators 30 and 31 are made to carry out cooling operation alternately or defrosting operation alternately. Thus, the plurality of evaporators 30, 31 arranged adjacent to each other are insulated by the heat insulating material 32, so that the plurality of evaporators 30, 31 can be arranged in a compact manner, and the heat between the plurality of evaporators 30, 31 can be provided by the heat insulating material 32. Therefore, one of the evaporators 30 and 31 can be cooled and the other can be defrosted, and the storage chamber can be continuously cooled without interruption. .

  Of course, the cooling operation of the evaporator can be temporarily stopped depending on the load condition of the food in the storage chamber. In addition, the food temperature in the storage room rises during defrosting of the evaporator, and the temperature fluctuation in the storage room increases due to the cooling and defrosting operation of the evaporator, preventing deterioration of food quality. This makes it possible to provide a higher-quality refrigerator.

  In addition, when the cooling load in the storage chamber is large, such as when the food in the storage chamber is full, the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 are simultaneously operated for cooling, so that all of the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 can be operated at a high load. Since the cooling operation can also be performed, the cooling capacity of each of the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 can be designed to be smaller than that of a refrigeration cycle having only a single evaporator, and the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 can be designed. By selecting the number of cooling operations, the total cooling capacity of the refrigeration cycle can be controlled.

  Also, two or more evaporators, the first evaporator and the second evaporator are arranged in the front-rear direction, or the first evaporator and the second evaporator are arranged in the up-down direction, or By arranging the first and second evaporators in the left-right direction, it is possible to install a plurality of evaporators adjacent to each other in any of the three-dimensional directions so that they can be installed compactly. It is possible to concentrate functional parts such as. Moreover, while suppressing the increase in the external dimension of a refrigerator to the minimum, the man-hour at the time of manufacture can be made efficient and a cost increase can be suppressed.

  The compressor 35, the condenser 36, the expansion valves 37 and 38, and the evaporator have a refrigeration cycle formed in an annular shape, and the evaporator has a plurality of evaporators arranged in parallel. One evaporator is selectively cooled by the on-off valves 45 and 48 provided on the inlet side of the plurality of evaporators, and the other evaporator that has stopped the cooling operation is connected to the inlet side of the condenser 36. By defrosting with the refrigerant from the bypass pipe that guides the hot gas refrigerant, the defrosting of the evaporator is conducted by guiding the hot gas refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle, so parts such as a defrosting heater become unnecessary, along with cost reduction, The electric power that has driven the defrosting heater can be reduced, and significant energy saving can be achieved.

  Here, the method of defrosting using the hot gas refrigerant on the inlet side of the condenser 36 of the refrigeration cycle is common in air conditioners and the like belonging to the refrigeration air conditioning field. The warm air leaks and damages the food. Moreover, even if the temperature in the storage chamber rises during defrosting, it cannot be cooled. When shifting from the defrosting mode to the cooling mode, there has been a problem that the temperature of the evaporator main body must be cooled down, which has not been realized.

  Therefore, by providing a plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 in the refrigerator, even if another evaporator is in the defrosting state, one of the evaporators can be cooled, and a response accompanying an increase in the load in the storage chamber is also possible. It is possible to prevent food from being damaged. Furthermore, for each of the plurality of evaporators, in a situation where the cooling operation and the defrosting operation are mixed, the heat radiation load of the condenser 36 in the refrigeration cycle is reduced due to the influence of the cold obtained from the evaporator during the defrosting. Therefore, the refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator can be operated with high efficiency, and as a result, power consumption can be reduced.

  Also, what is the defrosting method that heats the frosted evaporator by circulating the air from the fan 34 to the other evaporator that has stopped the cooling operation to sublimate the frost and defrost it? In contrast, heat during defrosting does not enter the storage chamber. In addition, since no high-temperature heat is generated during defrosting, the food in the storage room is not deteriorated by heat, and the evaporator temperature after defrosting is maintained at a low temperature. There is no need to let them. In addition, it is possible to switch from the defrosting operation to the cooling operation in a short time, and even when the humidity is high during the rainy season and frosting occurs immediately on the evaporator, the switching between the cooling operation and the defrosting operation can be performed immediately. Therefore, it becomes possible to maintain the temperature of the storage room at an appropriate temperature.

  Further, a bypass pipe provided with on-off valves 42 and 44 for guiding the high-temperature gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 35 to the inlet side of the evaporator, and a high-temperature gas refrigerant from the compressor are led to the condenser 36. By providing the on-off valves 41 and 43, the hot gas refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle is not supplied in a diverted state, but all the hot gas refrigerant is guided to one evaporator, so that the condenser 36 and the expansion valve of the refrigeration cycle are provided. Since the refrigerant that performs the cooling operation in the other evaporator is also in the total amount in the refrigeration cycle via 37 and 38, the cooling operation can be maximized.

  In addition, since the entire amount of hot gas refrigerant flows through the evaporator to be defrosted, the defrosting action can be maximized. Further, in the method of performing defrosting with the hot gas refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle, efficient defrosting and cooling operation can be performed by effectively using the entire amount without diverting the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle.

  In addition, since the on-off valves 45 and 48 for introducing the refrigerant cooled by the condenser 36 to the evaporator via the expansion valves 37 and 38 are provided, the expansion valves 37 and 38 have a fully closed function like a capillary tube. Even if not, the open / close valves 45 and 48 can open and close the refrigeration cycle. In addition, the method of using an electric expansion valve with a fully-closed function is also useful, but due to the configuration of adjusting the opening, there is a limit to the fully-closed performance, and the valve operation time is considered to be long, and functional reliability is expected. In addition to being uneasy about the performance and being expensive, the structure combining the capillary tube and the on-off valve is relatively inexpensive and has improved reliability.

  Further, a bypass pipe provided with on-off valves 46 and 49 for guiding the hot gas refrigerant defrosted from the evaporator to the condenser 36 on the outlet side of the evaporator, and after the cooling operation is performed by the evaporator By having the on-off valves 47 and 50 for returning the refrigerant to the compressor 35, the bypass pipe is controlled by controlling the on-off valve so that the refrigerant flows from the outlet side of the evaporator to the compressor 35 or the condenser 36. While making the path simple, cold heat recovery during defrosting is also established. Moreover, not only the defrosting by the normal hot gas bypass but also recovering the cold heat of the evaporator at the same time can reduce the load on the condenser 36 and improve the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 are disposed adjacent to each other, and a heat insulating material 32 is provided between adjacent evaporators, thereby cooling the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 alternately. In the process of operation or alternately defrosting operation, the adjacent evaporators 30 and 31 are insulated by the heat insulating material 32, so that the heat transfer between the evaporators 30 and 31 is suppressed, In the case where one of the plurality of evaporators 30 and 31 is a cooling operation and the other is a defrosting operation, the cold and the heat are short-circuited, and generation of useless power consumption is suppressed, and the storage chamber is not interrupted. It becomes possible to cool continuously. Of course, the cooling operation of the evaporator can be temporarily stopped depending on the load condition of the food in the storage chamber. In addition, the food temperature in the storage room rises during defrosting of the evaporator, and the temperature fluctuation in the storage room increases due to the cooling and defrosting operation of the evaporator, preventing deterioration of food quality. This makes it possible to provide a higher-quality refrigerator.

  In addition, in this Embodiment, the depth dimension of a refrigerator can be shortened by arrange | positioning the right side evaporator 90 and the left side evaporator 91 which comprise several evaporators on either side, and reduction of the internal volume of a refrigerator Can be effectively suppressed.

As described above, the refrigeration apparatus according to the present invention and the refrigerator equipped with the refrigeration apparatus, when one of the plurality of evaporators is set as a cooling operation and the other is set as a defrosting operation, the cold heat and the heat are short-circuited, and wasteful consumption While it is possible to continuously cool the storage chamber without interruption while suppressing the generation of electric power, the temperature fluctuations of the food in the storage chamber can be kept small, and the deterioration of the food in the storage chamber can be prevented. Can be prevented.

30 Front side evaporator (evaporator)
31 Back side evaporator (evaporator)
32 Heat insulating material 33 Damper 34 Fan 35 Compressor 36 Condenser 37, 38 Expansion valve 41-50 Open / close valve 55-58 Three-way valve 60 Inner box 61 Outer box 62 Refrigerator main body 63 Foamed urethane 69-71 Partition wall 68 Cold storage room (storage) Room)
73-76 Door 77 First freezer compartment (storage room)
78 Second freezer room (storage room)
79 Vegetable room (storage room)
80 Vacuum insulation material 81 Evaporator 82 Defrost water treatment part 90 Right side evaporator (evaporator)
91 Left evaporator (evaporator)

Claims (9)

A refrigerating apparatus in which a plurality of evaporators are arranged adjacent to each other, a heat insulating material is provided between adjacent evaporators, and the plurality of evaporators are alternately cooled or defrosted. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the cooling load in the storage chamber is large, a plurality of evaporators are simultaneously cooled. The refrigeration apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of evaporators are arranged in parallel with a flow of cold air. The other evaporator having a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator are connected in an annular shape and stopping the cooling operation is used as a hot gas on the inlet side of the condenser. The refrigeration apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the refrigerant is defrosted with a refrigerant from a bypass pipe that guides the refrigerant. 4. The defrosting is performed by sublimating frost by allowing the air from the cooler fan to flow through the other evaporator that has stopped the cooling operation. 5. Refrigeration equipment. A bypass pipe having an on-off valve for guiding the high-temperature gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor to the inlet side of the evaporator; and an on-off valve for guiding the high-temperature gas refrigerant from the compressor to the condenser. The refrigeration apparatus according to claim 4. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an on-off valve that guides the refrigerant cooled by the condenser to the evaporator through the expansion valve. A bypass pipe provided with an open / close valve for introducing hot gas refrigerant defrosted from the evaporator to the condenser on the outlet side of the evaporator, and refrigerant after being cooled by the evaporator to the compressor; The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an on-off valve that recirculates the gas. The refrigerator which has a heat insulation box and a door, and was equipped with the freezing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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