JP2021179278A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

To reduce power consumption by improving refrigeration cycle efficiency in cooling a cold room.SOLUTION: A refrigerator includes: a cold room; a refrigeration room; a cold storage evaporator; a refrigeration evaporator; cold storage decompression means connected to the cold storage evaporator in series; refrigeration decompression means connected to the refrigeration evaporator in series; a compressor connected to an outlet pipe of the cold storage evaporator and an outlet pipe of the refrigeration evaporator; a radiator connected to discharge piping of the compressor in series; a selector valve for switching a flow of refrigerant to the cold storage evaporator and the refrigeration evaporator; and a heat storage material thermally coming into contact with either an inlet pipe or the outlet pipe of the cold storage evaporator.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

This disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

Patent Document 1 discloses a refrigerator in which an evaporator is provided in each of a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, and the temperature of the evaporator is controlled by the rotation speed of the compressor.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-173729

The present disclosure provides a refrigerator capable of improving the refrigerating cycle efficiency when cooling the refrigerating chamber and reducing the power consumption.

The refrigerator in the present disclosure includes a refrigerating chamber, a freezing chamber, a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating decompression means connected in series with the refrigerating evaporator, and a refrigerating decompression means connected in series with the refrigerating evaporator. And the compressor connected to the outlet pipe of the refrigerated evaporator and the outlet pipe of the refrigerated evaporator, the radiator connected in series with the discharge pipe of the compressor, and the flow of the refrigerant to the refrigerated evaporator and the refrigerated evaporator. It is equipped with a switching valve that switches between, and is equipped with a heat storage material that makes thermal contact with either the inlet pipe or the outlet pipe of the refrigerating evaporator.

The refrigerator in the present disclosure can improve the refrigerating cycle efficiency when cooling the refrigerating chamber, and can reduce the power consumption.

Sectional drawing of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1. Refrigerator refrigeration cycle diagram according to the first embodiment Timing chart showing the operation of the refrigerator and the change in room temperature in the first embodiment Cross section of a conventional refrigerator Refrigerator cycle diagram of a conventional refrigerator

(Findings, etc. that form the basis of this disclosure)
As a conventional refrigerator, an evaporator is provided in each of a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, and the temperature of the evaporator is controlled by the rotation speed of the compressor (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional refrigerator described in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 5 is a refrigerating cycle diagram of the refrigerator.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, the conventional refrigerator 1 is composed of a heat insulating box body 3 having an open front surface and partitioned up and down by a partition 2, and above the partition 2 is a refrigerating temperature zone of about 4 ° C. Below the refrigerator compartment 4 and the partition 2 maintained at the above, the refrigerator compartment 5 is maintained in a freezing temperature zone of about -18 ° C., and the front surface is closed by the heat insulating doors 6 and 7 so as to be openable and closable.

On the back of the refrigerator compartment 4 and the freezer compartment 5, a compressor 8 whose capacity can be controlled by an inverter power supply (not shown), a condenser 9 as a radiator connected to the discharge pipe 8a of the compressor 8, and a switching valve are provided. Generated by each of the refrigerating evaporator 14 and the refrigerating evaporator 15 which are connected to the three-way valve 10, the refrigerating capillary 11 as the refrigerating depressurizing means, and the refrigerating capillary 12 as the refrigerating and depressurizing means to form the refrigerating cycle 13. A refrigerating fan 16 and a refrigerating fan 17 for circulating the cooled air into the refrigerating chamber 4 and the refrigerating chamber 5, respectively, are provided.

Further, inside the refrigerating chamber 4 and the freezing chamber 5, a refrigerating chamber sensor 18 and a freezing chamber sensor 19 for measuring the temperature in each of the storage chambers (refrigerating chamber 4, freezing chamber 5) are provided.

In the conventional refrigerator configured as described above, when the cooling operation is started, the compressor 8 operates, and the flow of the refrigerant is flown by the three-way valve 10 based on the temperatures detected by the refrigerating room sensor 18 and the freezing room sensor 19. By switching, the cooling of the refrigerating chamber 4 and the cooling of the freezing chamber 5 are switched.

First, when the freezer chamber 5 is cooled, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor 8 is cooled by the condenser 9 to become a low-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant. This liquid refrigerant flows through the refrigerating capillary 12 by the three-way valve 10, becomes a low-temperature low-pressure gas-liquid two-layer refrigerant, and flows to the refrigerating evaporator 15.

The refrigerant flowing to the refrigerating evaporator 15 evaporates by exchanging heat with the air in the freezing chamber 5, generates cold air by the heat of vaporization of evaporation, and is sucked into the compressor 8 again.

The cold air generated at this time is circulated in the freezing chamber 5 by the freezing fan 17 to cool the freezing chamber 5, and when the freezing chamber sensor 19 falls below a certain temperature, the cooling operation of the freezing chamber 5 ends.

Next, when the refrigerating chamber 4 is cooled, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor 8 is cooled by the condenser 9, and becomes a low-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant. This liquid refrigerant flows through the refrigerated capillary 11 through the three-way valve 10, becomes a low-temperature low-pressure gas-liquid two-layer refrigerant, and flows to the refrigerated evaporator 14.

The refrigerant flowing to the refrigerating evaporator 14 evaporates by exchanging heat with the air in the refrigerating chamber 4, generates cold air by the heat of evaporation vaporization, and is sucked into the compressor 8 again.

The cold air generated at this time is circulated in the refrigerating chamber 4 by the refrigerating fan 16 to cool the refrigerating chamber 4, and when the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 falls below a certain temperature, the cooling operation of the refrigerating chamber 4 ends.

When the refrigerating chamber 4 is cooled, the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 4 is in the refrigerating temperature range of about 4 ° C., and the air temperature for heat exchange with the refrigerating evaporator 14 is higher than that when the refrigerating chamber 5 is cooled. The temperature of the refrigerating evaporator 14 is also higher than that in the cooling mode of the freezer chamber 23. As a result, the compression ratio, which is the pressure ratio between the suction gas and the discharge gas of the compressor 8, becomes smaller, so that the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle 13, which is represented by the ratio of the input of the compressor 8 to the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 14, is also high. Become.

On the other hand, as the temperature of the refrigerating evaporator 14 becomes higher, the density of the refrigerant gas sucked by the compressor 8 becomes about twice as large as that when the freezer chamber 5 is cooled. As a result, the circulation amount of the refrigerant circulating in the refrigerating cycle 13 becomes large, and the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 14 becomes larger than the load amount of the refrigerating chamber 4. Therefore, if the capacity cannot be used up, the capacity actually used decreases. Not only does this reduce the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle 13, but the compressor 8 sucks in the liquid refrigerant that has not completely evaporated in the refrigerating evaporator 14.

When the compressor 8 sucks in the liquid refrigerant, the liquid refrigerant flushes the lubricating oil of the sliding portion (not shown) in the compressor 8 to cause wear, or the compressor 8 compresses the liquid to the inside. There is a risk of reducing reliability, such as damaging parts of.

At this time, the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 14 can be used up by reducing the capacity of the compressor 8 or increasing the capacity of the refrigerating fan 16 depending on the temperature detected by the refrigerating chamber sensor 18.

Then, when the temperatures of the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 and the freezing chamber sensor 19 become equal to or lower than a certain temperature, the compressor 8 is stopped and the cooling operation is terminated.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional refrigerator configuration, in order to raise the evaporation temperature to a temperature suitable for cooling the refrigerating chamber 4, the capacity of the compressor 8 is reduced or the capacity of the refrigerating fan 16 is increased. If the capacity of the compressor 8 is reduced, the efficiency of the compressor 8 is lowered and the noise is increased. If the capacity of the refrigerating fan 16 is increased, the input of the refrigerating fan 16 is input. There were problems such as the increase in size and the increase in noise of the refrigerating fan 16.

The inventors have discovered that there is a problem as described above, and have come to construct the subject matter of the present disclosure in order to solve the problem.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides a refrigerator capable of improving the refrigerating cycle efficiency when cooling the refrigerating chamber and reducing the amount of power consumption.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed explanations may be omitted than necessary. For example, detailed explanations of already well-known matters or duplicate explanations for substantially the same configuration may be omitted.

It should be noted that the accompanying drawings and the following description are provided for those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. The same parts as those of the conventional refrigerator are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

[1-1. composition]
In FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator 20 in the present embodiment is composed of a heat insulating box body 21 partitioned up and down by a partition 2, and the room above the partition 2 is in a refrigerating temperature zone of about 4 ° C. Below the maintained refrigerating chamber 22 and partition 2, there is a freezing chamber 23 in which the interior is maintained in a freezing temperature range of about -18 ° C., and the front surface is closed by the heat insulating doors 6 and 7 so as to be openable and closable.

On the back surface of the refrigerating chamber 22 and the freezing chamber 23, a refrigerating evaporator 26 is connected to a compressor 8, a condenser 9, a three-way valve 10, a refrigerating capillary 11, a refrigerating capillary 12, and a check valve 24 to form a refrigerating cycle 25. The refrigerating evaporator 15 and the refrigerating fan 16 and the refrigerating fan 17 for circulating the cold air generated by the respective evaporators into the refrigerating chamber 22 and the freezing chamber 23 are provided.

The outlet pipes 26a and 15a of the refrigerated evaporator 26 and the refrigerated evaporator 15 are connected to the compressor 8.

Further, inside the refrigerating chamber 22 and the freezing chamber 23, a refrigerating chamber sensor 18 and a freezing chamber sensor 19 for measuring the temperature in each storage chamber are provided.

A heat storage material 27 is provided in the vicinity of the refrigerated evaporator 26. The heat storage material 27 has a structure in which a highly water-absorbent resin having a freezing point lower than the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 22 and higher than the temperature of the freezing chamber 23, for example, −5 ° C., is filled in a resin case (not shown). It is in thermal contact with the inlet pipe 28 of the refrigerated evaporator 26.

[1-2. motion]
The refrigerator of the first embodiment configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG. 3 as an example of its operation and operation.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the cooling operation is started, the freezing room cooling mode, the refrigerating room cold storage mode, and the refrigerating room cooling mode are switched based on the temperatures detected by the refrigerating room sensor 18 and the freezing room sensor 19.

First, the freezing room cooling mode will be described. When the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 is at a certain temperature or lower and the freezing chamber sensor 19 is at a certain temperature or higher, the freezing chamber cooling mode is set.

In the freezer compartment cooling mode, the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor 8 is cooled by the condenser 9 and becomes a low temperature and high pressure liquid refrigerant. This liquid refrigerant flows through the refrigerating capillary 12 by the three-way valve 10, becomes a low-temperature low-pressure gas-liquid two-layer refrigerant, and flows to the refrigerating evaporator 15.

The refrigerant flowing to the refrigerating evaporator 15 evaporates by exchanging heat with the air in the freezing chamber 23, and cold air is generated by the heat of evaporation vaporization, and the gas refrigerant leaving the refrigerating evaporator 15 is a check valve 24. And is sucked into the compressor 8 again.

The cold air generated at this time is circulated in the freezing chamber 23 by the freezing fan 17 to cool the freezing chamber 23, and when the freezing chamber sensor 19 falls below a certain temperature, the freezing chamber cooling mode ends.

Next, the refrigerating room cold storage mode will be described. When the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 is above a certain temperature, the freezing chamber sensor 19 is below a certain temperature, and the heat storage material 27 is in a molten state, the refrigerating chamber cold storage mode is set.

In the refrigerating room cold storage mode, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor 8 is cooled by the condenser 9 and becomes a low-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant. This liquid refrigerant flows through the refrigerated capillary 11 through the three-way valve 10, becomes a low-temperature low-pressure gas-liquid two-layer refrigerant, and flows to the refrigerated evaporator 26.

The refrigerant flowing to the refrigerating evaporator 26 evaporates by exchanging heat with the air in the refrigerating chamber 22 in the refrigerating evaporator 26, generates cold air by the heat of evaporation vaporization, and is sucked into the compressor 8 again.

The cold air generated at this time is circulated in the refrigerating chamber 22 by the refrigerating fan 16, cools the refrigerating chamber 22, and when the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 falls below a certain temperature, the refrigerating chamber cold storage mode ends.

At the same time, the heat storage material 27 exchanges heat with the inlet pipe 28 of the refrigerating evaporator 26. At this time, the temperature of the inlet pipe 28 is -5 ° C. or lower, which is the freezing point of the heat storage material 27, and the heat storage material 27 solidifies.

When the refrigerating chamber is cooled, the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 22 is in the refrigerating temperature range of about 4 ° C., and the air temperature for heat exchange with the refrigerating evaporator 26 is higher than that when the refrigerating chamber 23 is cooled. The temperature of 26 is also higher than that in the freezer cooling mode. As a result, the compression ratio, which is the pressure ratio between the suction gas and the discharge gas of the compressor 8, becomes smaller, so that the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle 25, which is expressed by the ratio of the input of the compressor 8 to the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 26, is also high. Become.

On the other hand, as the temperature of the refrigerating evaporator 26 rises, the density of the refrigerant gas sucked by the compressor 8 becomes about twice as high as that when the freezer chamber 23 is cooled. As a result, the circulation amount of the refrigerant circulating in the refrigerating cycle 25 becomes large, and the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 26 becomes larger than the load amount of the refrigerating chamber 22. Therefore, if the capacity cannot be used up, the capacity actually used decreases. This may not only reduce the efficiency of the refrigerating cycle 25, but also reduce the reliability of the compressor 8 due to the compressor 8 sucking in the liquid refrigerant that could not be completely evaporated by the refrigerating evaporator 26.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 26 that has not been used up due to the cooling of the refrigerating chamber 22 is used to solidify the heat storage material 27 that is in thermal contact with the inlet pipe 28 of the refrigerating evaporator 26. It can be used as latent heat for solidification.

Next, the refrigerating room cooling mode will be described. When the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 is at a certain temperature or higher, the freezing chamber sensor 19 is at a certain temperature or lower, and the heat storage material 27 is in a solidified state, the refrigerating chamber cooling mode is set.

In the refrigerating room cooling mode, the compressor 8 is stopped and only the refrigerating fan 16 is operated. At this time, since the heat storage material 27 is in a solidified state and is in thermal contact with the refrigerating evaporator 26, the heat storage material 27 melts by exchanging heat with the air in the refrigerating chamber 22. , Generates cold air by latent heat of melting. Then, the refrigerating fan 16 circulates in the refrigerating chamber 22 to cool the refrigerating chamber 22, and when the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 falls below a certain temperature, the refrigerating chamber cooling mode ends.

Then, when the temperatures of the refrigerating chamber sensor 18 and the freezing chamber sensor 19 become equal to or lower than a certain temperature, the compressor 8 is stopped and the cooling operation is terminated.

[1-3. Effect, etc.]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the refrigerator 20 includes the refrigerating chamber 22, the freezing chamber 23, the refrigerating evaporator 26, the refrigerating evaporator 15, the refrigerating capillary 11, the refrigerating capillary 12, and the compressor 8. A condenser 9, a three-way valve 10, and a heat storage material 27 are provided. The refrigerated capillary 11 is connected in series with the refrigerated evaporator 26. The freezing capillary 12 is connected in series with the freezing evaporator 15. The compressor 8 is connected to the outlet pipe 26a of the refrigerating evaporator 26 and the outlet pipe 15a of the refrigerating evaporator 15.

The condenser 9 is connected in series with the discharge pipe 8a of the compressor 8. The three-way valve 10 switches the flow of the refrigerant to the refrigerating evaporator 26 and the freezing evaporator 15. The heat storage material 27 is in thermal contact with the inlet pipe 28 of the refrigerated evaporator 26.

As a result, the capacity of the refrigerating evaporator 26 can be used up without deteriorating the capacity of the compressor 8, and refrigeration is performed without reducing the efficiency of the compressor 8 or increasing the input of the refrigerating fan 16 or increasing the noise. The efficiency of the cycle 25 can be improved, and the energy saving performance of the refrigerator 20 can be improved. Further, the latent heat of the heat storage material 27 can be used to raise the evaporation temperature when the refrigerating chamber 22 is cooled.

Further, in the refrigerating room cold storage mode, the cold heat stored in the heat storage material 27 can cool the refrigerating room 22 without operating the compressor 8, and the operating time of the compressor 8 is shortened as compared with the conventional refrigerator. The refrigerator 20 can be quiet. In the above embodiment, the heat storage material 27 is thermally contacted with the inlet pipe 28 of the refrigerated evaporator 26, but the same effect can be obtained by thermally contacting the outlet pipe 26a of the refrigerated evaporator 26. Needless to say,

Further, since the freezing point of the heat storage material 27 is lower than the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 22 and higher than the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 23, the evaporation temperature of the refrigerating chamber 22 can be raised to a temperature more suitable for cooling the refrigerating chamber 22. can.

Although the freezing point of the heat storage material 27 has been described as −5 ° C. in the present embodiment, it may be any temperature as long as it can cool the inside of the refrigerating chamber 22 in the refrigerating chamber cooling mode, for example, 0 ° C. By further increasing the temperature of the refrigerating evaporator 26 and increasing the pressure of the suction gas of the compressor 8, the efficiency of the refrigerating cycle 25 can be further improved.

Further, while the compressor 8 is operating and the refrigerating chamber 22 is being cooled, the heat storage material 27 and the inside of the refrigerating chamber 22 are cooled to store heat energy in the heat storage material 27, and the heat storage material is stored at the next cooling of the refrigerating chamber 22. Since the inside of the refrigerating chamber 22 is cooled by the heat energy stored in 27, the cold heat stored by the heat storage material 27 can be used when cooling the inside of the refrigerating chamber 22.

Further, in the present embodiment, the cooling mode has been described in three modes of the freezing room cooling mode, the refrigerating room cooling mode, and the refrigerating room cooling mode, but the refrigerating room 22 is cooled by the heat storage material 27 in the freezing room cooling mode. By doing so, the temperature fluctuation of the refrigerating chamber 22 can be suppressed by always cooling the refrigerating chamber 22 except when the compressor 8 is stopped, and the freshness-retaining performance of the storage in the refrigerating chamber 22 can be improved. can.

Further, in the present embodiment, the operation of the three-way valve 10 in the refrigerating room cooling mode and when the compressor 8 is stopped is not mentioned, but the mode in which the refrigerant flows through the three-way valve 10 to the refrigerating capillary 11 It is possible to select a mode in which the refrigerant flows to the refrigerating capillary 12 and a closed state in which no refrigerant flows in either the refrigerating capillary 11 or the refrigerating capillary 12, and the closed state is set in the refrigerating room cooling mode and when the compressor 8 is stopped. Therefore, when the compressor 8 is not operating, the high temperature refrigerant on the high pressure side of the refrigerating cycle 25 flows to the refrigerating evaporator 26 or the refrigerating evaporator 15 on the low pressure side to prevent indoor temperature rise and improve the efficiency of the refrigerating cycle 25. Can be made to.

The present disclosure can be applied to refrigerators of various types and sizes, such as those for home and commercial use, because it can improve the refrigerating cycle efficiency when cooling the refrigerator compartment and reduce the power consumption.

1,20 Refrigerator 2 Partition 3,21 Insulation box 4,22 Refrigerator room 5,23 Freezer room 6,7 Insulation door 8 Compressor 8a Discharge piping 9 Condenser (heat sink)
10 Three-way valve (switching valve)
11 Refrigerated capillaries (refrigerated decompression means)
12 Freezing capillary (freezing decompression means)
13, 25 Refrigerator cycle 14, 26 Refrigerator evaporator 15 Refrigerator evaporator 15a, 26a Outlet pipe 16 Refrigerator fan 17 Refrigerator fan 18 Refrigerator chamber sensor 19 Refrigerator chamber sensor 24 Check valve 27 Heat storage material 28 Inlet pipe

Claims (3)

A refrigerating chamber, a freezing chamber, a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating decompressing means connected in series with the refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating depressurizing means connected in series with the refrigerating evaporator, and the refrigerating chamber. A compressor connected to the outlet pipe of the evaporator and the outlet pipe of the refrigerating evaporator, a radiator connected in series with the discharge pipe of the compressor, and a refrigerant to the refrigerating evaporator and the refrigerating evaporator. Equipped with a switching valve that switches the flow,
A refrigerator comprising a heat storage material that is in thermal contact with either the inlet pipe or the outlet pipe of the refrigerating evaporator. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the freezing point of the heat storage material is lower than the temperature of the refrigerating chamber and higher than the temperature of the freezing chamber. Thermal energy was stored in the heat storage material by cooling the heat storage material and the refrigerating chamber while the compressor was in operation and the refrigerating chamber was cooled, and was stored in the heat storage material at the next cooling of the refrigerating room. The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the refrigerating chamber is cooled by heat energy.

Images