JP2021063636A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

To suppress dew condensation occurring in both center gaskets with an inexpensive configuration as much as possible while resolving noise resulting from a center pillar using the center gasket, in a double-door refrigerator.SOLUTION: A refrigerator 100 comprises a pair of double doors 3, and a pair of center gaskets 4 interposed between opposite side surfaces 3a of the doors 3 facing to each other with the pair of doors 3 closed, wherein the pair of doors 3 has an inner plate 31 facing the inside of the refrigerator, an outer plate 32 facing the outside of the refrigerator, and a side cap that forms at least a part of the opposite side surfaces 3a and has a housing recess part into which the center gasket 4 is fitted, wherein a heat source 5 for heating the center gaskets 4 is provided only on one of the pair of doors 3, and a heat transfer member 7 is provided on the other of the pair of doors 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

There is a type of conventional double-door refrigerator that uses a so-called center pillar, but this type has the problem that the center pillar operates when the door is opened and closed, causing operating noise of the center pillar. is there.

Therefore, as a solution to the operating noise of the center pillar, as shown in Patent Document 1, when the pair of doors are closed, center gaskets (packings) are provided on the opposite side surfaces of the doors facing each other. In some cases, the center pillar is not required by making it possible to seal between these opposite sides.

However, the one using the center gasket has a problem that the center gasket provided at a position that shields the inside and the outside of the refrigerator is cooled by the cold air inside the refrigerator and dew condensation occurs on the outside of the refrigerator.

Under these circumstances, the inventor of the present application has studied to suppress dew condensation by providing a heat source in the door and heating the center gasket, but in order to heat both of the pair of center gaskets, each of the pair of doors is used. Another problem arises, such as providing a heat source would be too costly.

International Patent Publication No. 2018/21716

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems at once, and in a double-door refrigerator, the center gasket is used to solve the noise caused by the center pillar, and the dew condensation generated on both center gaskets is eliminated. The main issue is to suppress it with a configuration that is as inexpensive as possible.

That is, the refrigerator according to the present invention is a refrigerator provided with a pair of double doors and a pair of center gaskets interposed between the pair of doors facing each other in a closed state. The pair of doors formed an inner plate facing the inside of the refrigerator, an outer plate facing the outside of the refrigerator, and at least a part of the facing side surfaces, and a storage recess into which the center gasket was fitted was formed. It has a side cap, and only one of the pair of doors is provided with a heat source for heating the center gasket, and the other of the pair of doors is provided with a heat transfer member. It is a thing.

According to the refrigerator configured in this way, since the heat source for heating the center gasket is provided only in one of the pair of doors and the heat transfer member is provided in the other of the pair of doors, one door is provided. The heat of the heat source provided in the door and the heat of the outside air can be transferred to the center gasket of the other door. As a result, dew condensation can be suppressed on each of the pair of center gaskets without providing a heat source for each of the pair of doors. Therefore, in a double-door refrigerator, the center gasket is used to solve the noise caused by the center pillar. At the same time, dew condensation generated on both center gaskets can be suppressed with a configuration as inexpensive as possible.

Specific embodiments of the heat transfer member include a metal foil or a carbon sheet.

In order to effectively transfer heat to the center gasket, the thickness of the heat transfer member is preferably 10 μm or more and 3 mm or less.

In order to transfer more heat to the center gasket of the other door, it is preferable that the heat transfer member is provided outside the storage recess of the side cap of the other door.

It is preferable that the heat source is provided on the outer side of the refrigerator rather than the accommodating recess in the side cap.
According to the refrigerator configured in this way, since the heat source is provided on the outer side of the refrigerator with respect to the accommodating recess in the side cap, the outer surface of the center gasket where dew condensation is most likely to occur can be effectively warmed.

The inner plate is attached to the inner end of the side cap, and the outer plate is attached to the outer end of the side cap. It is preferable that the extension portion forms a leakage prevention space for preventing leakage of the heat insulating material, and the heat source is provided in the extension portion.
In such a configuration, since the heat source is provided in the extending portion forming the leakage prevention space for preventing the leakage of the heat insulating material, the heat source is provided by utilizing the existing configuration without changing the configuration of the side cap or the like. The heat source can be arranged at a position where dew condensation on the center gasket can be effectively suppressed.

According to the present invention configured in this way, in a double-door refrigerator, the center gasket is used to solve the noise caused by the center pillar, and the dew condensation generated on both center gaskets is suppressed with the lowest possible configuration. be able to.

The schematic diagram which shows the structure of the refrigerator in this embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the structure of the center gasket in the same embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the arrangement of the heat source in the same embodiment.

An embodiment of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 100 according to the present embodiment includes a refrigerator main body 2 having a storage chamber opening on the front surface, a pair of double doors 3 for opening and closing the opening of the refrigerator main body 2, and a pair of doors. 3 Each has a center gasket 4 provided.

First, the center gasket 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
The center gasket 4 is interposed between the opposing side surfaces 3a (opposing surfaces on the free end side) of the doors 3 facing each other in a state where the pair of doors 3 are closed, and is provided along the vertical direction. Has been done. Each center gasket 4 of the present embodiment contains a magnetic body 41 (for example, a magnet) along the vertical direction. With the pair of doors 3 closed, the pair of center gaskets 4 are brought into close contact with each other by the magnetic body 41, and the space between the pair of doors 3 facing each other is sealed.

Next, the structure of the door 3 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
Each of the pair of doors 3 connects the inner plate 31 facing the inside of the refrigerator, the outer plate 32 facing the outside of the refrigerator, the inner plate 31 and the outer plate 32, and forms at least a part of the facing side surface 3a of the door 3. It has a side cap 33.

More specifically, the inner plate 31 is attached to the inner end 33a of the side cap 33, and the outer plate 32 is attached to the outer end 33b of the side cap 33. A heat insulating material 34 such as urethane foam is sealed in the internal space surrounded by the outer plate 32 and the side cap 33. The outer plate 32 is, for example, sheet metal, and the inner plate 31 and the side cap 33 are made of an insulator such as resin.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the outer plate 32 has a portion 320 forming the front surface of the door 3 and a portion 321 that bends from this portion 320 toward the inside of the refrigerator to form a part of the facing side surface 3a. (Hereinafter referred to as a bent portion 321), as shown in FIG. 3, the tip portion 322 of the bent portion 321 is inserted into and held at the outer side end portion 33b of the side cap 33. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the tip portion 322 is bent inward and then bent toward the side cap 33 again. On the other hand, the outer end 33b of the side cap 33 is bifurcated, and the tip 322 of the bent portion 321 is inserted between the bifurcated outer element 331 and the inner element 332. With this configuration, the bent portion 321 of the outer plate 32 and the side cap 33 form the facing side surface 3a of the door 3.

The side cap 33 is formed with a housing recess 33x into which the center gasket 4 described above is fitted. The accommodating recess 33x forms a recessed space on the heat insulating material 34 side, and is provided here in the vicinity of the outer end portion 33b of the refrigerator. The accommodating recesses 33x are provided in each of the pair of doors 3 and face each other, and the center gasket 4 is fitted in these accommodating recesses 33x.

Further, the side cap 33 has an extending portion extending outward from the storage recess 33x to form a leak prevention space S for preventing leakage of the heat insulating material 34 from the outer plate 32. The extending portion of the present embodiment is an inner element 332 forming the above-mentioned outer side end portion 33b, and by extending the inner element 332 longer than the outer element 331, the inner element 332 and the outer plate 32 are extended. A narrow leak prevention space S is formed between the two.

However, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment is provided with a heat source 5 for heating the center gasket 4 only on one of the pair of doors 3, and the other of the pair of doors 3. Is provided with a heat transfer member 7.

The heat source 5 is, for example, a heater as a heating element provided on the outside of the storage recess 33x in the side cap 33 constituting one of the doors 3, and specifically, for example, a cord heater or the like. The heat source 5 is attached to the side cap 33 via a heat transfer body 6 having good heat conductivity such as aluminum tape, and here, it is attached to the extension portion 333 described above.

The heat transfer member 7 transfers the heat from the heat source 5 and the heat of the outside air to the side cap 33 constituting the other door 3. Specifically, the heat transfer member 7 is a sheet-like material having good thermal conductivity, for example, a metal foil or a carbon sheet, and has a thickness of, for example, 10 μm or more and 3 mm or less. The heat transfer member 7 is provided along the inner surface of the outer plate 32, and here, is provided along the inner surface of the bent portion 321 described above. The heat transfer member 7 may be provided not only on the bent portion 321 but also on the inner surface of the portion 320 forming the front surface of the door 3.

Here, Table 1 below shows the results of analyzing the average value of the surface temperature on the outside of the center gasket 4 by changing the presence / absence and arrangement of the heat transfer member 7. Specifically, the configuration A in which the heat transfer member 7 is not provided, the configuration B in which the heat transfer member 7 is provided only in one door 3 (the door 3 in which the heat source 5 is provided), and the heat transfer member 7 are both doors 3. The configuration C provided in the above and the configuration D of the present embodiment in which the heat transfer member 7 is provided only on the other door 3 (the door 3 not provided with the heat source 5) are compared.

As can be seen from this analysis result, the configuration D of the present embodiment in which the heat transfer member 7 is provided only on the other door 3 has the outer surface of each of the pair of center gaskets 4 as compared with the other configurations A to C. It can be seen that the temperature is the highest.

In configurations B and C in which the heat transfer member 7 is provided on one of the doors 3 provided with the heat source 5, the heat from the heat source 5 escapes to the outside of the refrigerator via the heat transfer member 7, and the heat source 5 is provided. More heat cannot be transferred to the center gasket 4.

As described above, according to the refrigerator 100 according to the present embodiment, the heat source 5 for heating the center gasket 4 is provided only on one of the pair of doors 3, and the heat transfer member 7 is provided on the other of the pair of doors 3. Is provided, so that the heat of the heat source 5 provided on one door 3 and the heat of the outside air can be transferred to the center gasket 4 of the other door 3. As a result, dew condensation can be suppressed on each of the pair of center gaskets 4 without providing a heat source 5 on each of the pair of doors 3. Therefore, in the double door type refrigerator 100, the center gasket 4 is used to cause the center pillar. Condensation generated on both center gaskets 4 can be suppressed with a configuration that is as inexpensive as possible while resolving the noise.

Since the heat source 5 is provided outside the storage recess 33x of the side cap 33, the outer surface of the center gasket 4 where dew condensation is most likely to occur can be warmed.

Further, since the heat source 5 is provided in the extending portion 333 forming the leakage prevention space S for preventing the leakage of the heat insulating material 34, the heat source 5 is provided by utilizing the existing configuration without changing the configuration of the side cap 33 or the like. The heat source can be located at a position where the surface temperature of the outside of the center gasket 4 can be increased, the invasion of heat into the chamber can be reduced, and the dew condensation of the center gasket 4 can be effectively suppressed. 5 can be arranged.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

For example, the heat transfer member 7 of the above embodiment has a sheet shape such as a metal foil or a carbon sheet, but the material is not limited to this and various materials may be used, and the material is not necessarily limited to the sheet shape, for example. It may be linear or the like.

Further, although the heat source 5 of the above embodiment is a heater, it may be a heat pipe through which a heat medium flows.

Further, the arrangement of the heat source 5 does not necessarily have to be the extension portion 333, and various arrangements may be made as long as it is outside the storage recess of the side cap 33.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

100 ・ ・ ・ Refrigerator 2 ・ ・ ・ Refrigerator body 3 ・ ・ ・ Door 3a ・ ・ ・ Facing side surface 31 ・ ・ ・ Inner plate 32 ・ ・ ・ Outer plate 321 ・ ・ ・ Bending part 322 ・ ・ ・ Tip part 33 ・ ・ ・Side cap 33a ・ ・ ・ Inner end 33b ・ ・ ・ Outer end 33x ・ ・ ・ Storage recess S ・ ・ ・ Leakage prevention space 331 ・ ・ ・ Outer element 332 ・ ・ ・ Inner element 333 ・ ・ ・ Extension 34 ・ ・ ・ Insulation material 4 ・ ・ ・ Center gasket 5 ・ ・ ・ Heat source 6 ・ ・ ・ Heat transfer body 7 ・ ・ ・ Heat transfer member

Claims (6)

A refrigerator provided with a pair of double doors and a pair of center gaskets interposed between the opposing side surfaces of these doors in a closed state.
The pair of doors
It has an inner plate that faces the inside of the refrigerator, an outer plate that faces the outside of the refrigerator, and a side cap that forms at least a part of the facing side surface and has a housing recess in which the center gasket is fitted.
Only one of the pair of doors is provided with a heat source for heating the center gasket.
A refrigerator in which a heat transfer member is provided on the other side of the pair of doors. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the heat transfer member is a metal foil or a carbon sheet. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heat transfer member has a thickness of 10 μm or more and 3 mm or less. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the heat transfer member is provided outside the storage recess in the side cap of the other door. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the heat source is provided outside the storage recess in the side cap. The inner plate is attached to the inner end of the side cap, and the outer plate is attached to the outer end of the side cap.
The side cap has an extension portion that extends outward from the storage recess to form a leak prevention space between the side cap and the outer plate to prevent leakage of the heat insulating material.
The refrigerator according to claim 5, wherein the heat source is provided in the extension portion.

Images