JP2019219073A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a refrigerator with an evaporation pipe capable of improving heat radiation performance and evaporation performance of evaporating defrost water.SOLUTION: A refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment includes an evaporation tray 9 for storing water generated in defrost, and an evaporation pipe 11 at least partially provided in the evaporation tray 9 such that the evaporation pipe 11 can come into contact with defrost water. The evaporation pipe 11 is formed in flattened shape.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator.

  Conventionally, in a refrigerator, defrosting for removing frost attached to a refrigeration cycle is performed. The defrost water generated during the defrost is once stored in an evaporating dish provided at the bottom of the refrigerator, for example, and then evaporates. At this time, in order to prevent the defrost water from overflowing from the evaporating dish, for example, in Patent Literature 1, the evaporating pipe is disposed in the defrosting dish so as to be able to directly contact the defrost water. It encourages evaporation of defrost water.

JP-A-2006-3831

However, conventionally, since the shape of the evaporating pipe is circular, there is a limit to increasing the surface area of the evaporating pipe in the evaporating dish, and the heat radiation performance of the evaporating pipe and the evaporating performance of evaporating defrost water are improved. It was difficult.
Accordingly, a refrigerator provided with an evaporating pipe capable of improving the heat radiation performance and the evaporation performance for evaporating defrost water is provided.

  The refrigerator of the embodiment includes an evaporating dish for storing water generated during defrosting, and an evaporating pipe at least partially disposed in the evaporating dish and provided to be able to contact the defrosted water, The pipe is formed in a flat shape in a sectional view.

The figure which shows typically the structure of the refrigerator by 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows typically the arrangement aspect of an evaporation pipe Diagram schematically showing the structure of the evaporation pipe The figure which shows typically the contact aspect of an evaporation pipe and defrost water The figure which shows typically the disposition aspect of the evaporation pipe by 2nd Embodiment. FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration example of an evaporation pipe. FIG. 2 schematically shows a configuration example of an evaporation pipe. FIG. 3 schematically shows a configuration example of an evaporation pipe. FIG. 1 schematically shows a relationship between an evaporating pipe and a flowing down position of defrost water in a third embodiment. FIG. 2 schematically shows a relationship between an evaporating pipe and a flowing down position of defrost water. The figure which shows typically the structural example of the evaporation pipe by other embodiments.

Hereinafter, a plurality of embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each embodiment, substantially common parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and described.
(1st Embodiment)

  Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator 1 includes a plurality of storage rooms such as a refrigerator room 3 in a refrigeration temperature zone, a vegetable room 4 or a freezer room 5 in a freezing temperature zone, in a rectangular box-shaped main body 2 having an open front surface. Have. Each storage room is opened and closed by a door 3a, a door 4a, and a door 5a, respectively. Note that the configuration of the refrigerator 1 is an example, and the number and arrangement of the storage rooms are not limited thereto.

  A machine room 7 in which a compressor (not shown), a condenser 6 (see FIG. 7) and the like are arranged is provided at a lower portion on the back side of the refrigerator 1. On the back side of the refrigerator 1, an evaporator 8 for generating cool air is provided. The compressor, the condenser 6 and the evaporator 8 constitute a known refrigeration cycle. Then, the refrigerator 1 cools each storage room by circulating cool air generated by operating the refrigeration cycle in the refrigerator. In addition, the number and arrangement of the evaporators 8 of the condenser 6 are examples, and are not limited thereto.

  An evaporating dish 9 is provided in the machine room 7. The evaporating dish 9 stores defrost water generated at the time of defrosting in which a defrosting operation for removing frost attached to the evaporator 8 is performed. Therefore, between the evaporator 8 and the evaporating dish 9, a guide member 10 for guiding the defrost water to the evaporating dish 9 is provided. The guide member 10 includes, for example, a tray and a gutter. The lower end of the guide member 10 serves as a flow-down port 10a when the defrost water flows down to the evaporating dish 9.

  The evaporating dish 9 is formed in a substantially flat box shape opening at the top. As an example, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the width (W) is generally 200 mm, the depth (D) is 200 mm, and the height (H) is 40 mm. However, the size of the evaporating dish 9 is not limited to this, and can be set as appropriate. In addition, the evaporating dish 9 may be formed in a shape or the like whose bottom surface is inclined toward a so-called drain hole.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the evaporating dish 9 is provided with an evaporating pipe 11 at least a part of which is arranged so as to meander inside the evaporating dish 9. As shown in FIG. 3, the evaporating pipe 11 has a generally elliptical shape or a rectangular shape with chamfered corners in a sectional view, and has a flat shape in which the thickness in the vertical direction in the drawing and the width in the horizontal direction in the drawing are different. Is formed. Hereinafter, the width direction of the evaporating pipe 11 that is a long flat shape is also referred to as a longitudinal direction, and the thickness direction of the evaporating pipe 11 that is short is also referred to as a short direction.

  In the evaporating pipe 11, a plurality of flow paths 12 through which the refrigerant used for the refrigeration cycle passes are formed. That is, the evaporating pipe 11 also functions as a pipe connecting the members in the refrigeration cycle. Further, the evaporating pipe 11 has headers 13 connected to external pipes on the inlet side and the outlet side into the evaporating dish 9, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the evaporating pipe 11 is provided such that its longitudinal direction is perpendicular to the surface of the defrost water (W). Further, the evaporating pipe 11 is disposed such that the lower end in the longitudinal direction is located relatively close to the bottom of the evaporating dish 9. That is, the evaporating pipe 11 is disposed at a position where it can directly contact the stored defrost water in a state where the defrost water is stored to some extent, depending on the amount of the defrost water. At this time, each header 13 is formed to have a length whose upper end protrudes above the additional plate. The term “vertical” here includes a range that can be regarded as substantially vertical.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
In the past, although a pipe having a circular cross section was used, it was necessary to increase the diameter in order to increase the surface area of the pipe. However, since the size of the evaporating dish 9 is limited, if the pipe is made larger, the length that can be disposed inside the defrosting dish becomes shorter, and the portion that does not come into contact with the defrosting water also becomes larger. It has been difficult to improve the evaporation performance of evaporating the defrost water.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the evaporation pipe 11 is formed in a flat shape. Thereby, the length which can be arranged in the evaporation tray 9 of a limited size can be relatively increased. Therefore, the area that can be brought into contact with the defrost water increases, so that heat can be efficiently transferred from the evaporation pipe 11 to the defrost water, and the heat radiation performance of the evaporation pipe 11 can be improved.

  In addition, the fact that the heat radiation performance of the evaporating pipe 11 is improved means that the heat from the evaporating pipe 11 is given to the defrost water, and the defrost water is easily evaporated. Therefore, the ability to evaporate the defrost water, that is, the evaporation performance can be improved.

  In this embodiment, the flat evaporation pipes 11 are arranged such that the longitudinal direction is perpendicular to the water surface. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to arrange the evaporating pipe 11 at least once in the evaporating dish 9 so as to be folded back at least once, thereby increasing the contact area with the defrost water, that is, the radiation performance and the evaporating performance. We can expect improvement. Note that the number of times the evaporating pipe 11 is folded can be appropriately set according to the size of the evaporating dish 9.

  Further, since the evaporating pipe 11 has a plurality of flow paths 12 formed therein, the heat radiation surfaces are located in the vicinity of the refrigerant flowing through each flow path 12, respectively, thereby improving the heat radiation performance and the evaporating performance. Can be done.

  Further, since the contact area with the evaporating pipe 11 increases as the storage amount of the defrost water increases, the evaporation performance relatively increases as the storage amount of the defrost water increases, and the defrost water overflows. The fear can be suppressed.

(2nd Embodiment)
Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the longitudinal direction of the evaporation pipe 11 is arranged horizontally with the water surface. The main configuration of the refrigerator 1 is common to the first embodiment. Note that the term “horizontal” includes a range that can be regarded as substantially horizontal.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the evaporating pipe 11 is disposed so that its longitudinal direction is horizontal to the water surface, that is, parallel to the water surface. Thus, in a state where the defrost water is stored to some extent, the evaporating pipe 11 comes into full contact with the defrost water, and the heat radiation performance and the evaporative performance can be improved. In FIG. 5, the header 13 is not shown for simplification of the description.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the evaporating pipe 11 is folded at least once in the height direction of the evaporating dish 9 so that the amount of defrost water shown in FIG. Evaporation can be promoted by the evaporating pipe 11 being entirely in contact with the defrost water, and when the amount of the defrost water further increases, the upper evaporating pipe 11 is brought into contact with the defrost water. , And double the evaporation performance can be obtained by simple calculation. Therefore, the possibility that the defrost water overflows can be reduced. In this case, a structure in which three or more steps are folded may be employed.

  Further, a fin 14 such as a corrugated fin may be provided between the folded evaporation pipes 11. In this case, since the heat of the evaporation pipe 11 is transmitted to the fins 14, the fins 14 also contribute to the evaporation of the defrost water, and the initial performance can be further improved. Further, when the defrost water is not stored, the area in contact with air increases, so that the heat radiation performance can be improved.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, the evaporation pipe 11 can be formed as a part of the heat exchanger, here, the condenser 6. As described above, the condenser 6 is provided in the machine room 7 in which the evaporating dish 9 is installed. As the condenser 6, a so-called multi-flow type having a pipe similar to the evaporation pipe 11 is known.

  Therefore, the flat pipe is folded back in a meandering manner, and fins 14 are provided between the pipes at the part to be the condenser 6, and parts other than those necessary for the evaporator 8 are disposed inside the evaporating dish 9, and the evaporating pipe is provided. By functioning as 11, the heat dissipation performance and the evaporation performance can be improved as described above. In addition, since the condenser 6 and the evaporating pipe 11 are integrally connected, work such as brazing is not required, and the number of steps can be reduced.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, the evaporation pipe 11 may be configured to be folded back in the longitudinal direction like so-called edgewise. Thus, even when the amount of defrost water is relatively small, the entire evaporating pipe 11 comes into contact with the evaporating pipe 11, and the evaporating performance can be improved.

(Third embodiment)
Hereinafter, the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. In the third embodiment, the positional relationship between the evaporating pipe 11 and the outlet 10a of the defrost water is defined. Note that the configuration of the refrigerator 1 is common to the first embodiment.

  As described above, the defrost water generated on the evaporator 8 side is guided to the evaporating dish 9 by the guide member 10 material, and flows down to the evaporating dish 9 from the downflow opening 10a. At this time, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the evaporation pipe 11 can be disposed such that the position of the downflow port 10 a in plan view is directly above the evaporation pipe 11. As a result, the defrost water flowing down from the downflow opening 10a first comes into direct contact with the evaporation pipe 11. Therefore, in a situation in which a small amount of defrost water drops dripping, it will evaporate when it comes into contact with the evaporation pipe 11.

  Thereby, it is possible to evaporate the defrost water to some extent before it is stored, and when it is assumed that the refrigerator 1 is relatively small and the amount of generated defrost water is small, that is, This is particularly significant when the dishes 9 are also relatively small. In this case, the defrosted water that has flowed down can be prevented from scattering by intentionally tilting the longitudinal direction of the evaporation pipe 11.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, the evaporation pipe 11 can be provided so that the position of the flow-down port 10 a in plan view does not come directly above the evaporation pipe 11. This is because a sound is generated when the defrost water evaporates. Therefore, when the amount of the defrost water is large, the sound may be continuously generated and the user may be worried. Therefore, generation of noise can be suppressed by preventing the defrosting water that flows down from directly hitting the evaporating pipe 11.

(Other embodiments)
1, 8, 9, and 10 show the evaporating pipes 11 without the fins 14, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the fins 14 may be partially or entirely provided between the folded evaporating pipes 11. A configuration may be provided. In this case, if the evaporating dish 9 has a sufficient size, the same member as that of the single condenser 6 can be used as the evaporating pipe 11 by arranging the same member in the evaporating dish 9. The labor can be reduced.

The evaporation pipe 11 can be subjected to a water-resistant treatment on its surface. This can prevent the evaporation pipe 11 from being corroded.
The surface of the evaporation pipe 11 can be subjected to a hydrophilic treatment. Thereby, the contact angle when the defrost water comes into contact with the surface of the evaporating pipe 11 can be reduced, and the evaporating can be efficiently performed by increasing the contact area. In addition, when the downflow opening 10a is located right above the evaporation pipe 11 as described above, it is possible to suppress the defrost water from scattering.

  Each embodiment is provided by way of example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments can be implemented in other various forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The present embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  In the drawings, 1 is a refrigerator, 9 is an evaporating dish, 10a is a flow down port, 11 is an evaporation pipe, 12 is a flow path, and 14 is a fin.

Claims (10)

An evaporating dish for storing defrost water generated during defrosting,
An evaporation pipe at least partially disposed in the evaporating dish and provided in contact with the defrost water,
The refrigerator, wherein the evaporation pipe is formed in a flat shape.   2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the evaporating pipe has a plurality of flow passages through which a refrigerant flows.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the evaporation pipe has a surface subjected to a water-resistant treatment.   3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the evaporation pipe is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the evaporating pipe is installed such that a flattened longitudinal direction is horizontal to a surface of the defrost water.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the evaporating pipe is installed such that a flat longitudinal direction is perpendicular to a surface of the defrost water.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a part of the evaporating pipe is disposed at a position where the defrost water flows directly down.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the evaporation pipe is not provided at a position where the defrost water flows down directly.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a fin is provided on a surface of the evaporation pipe.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the evaporation pipe forms a part of a heat exchanger.

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