JP2022100914A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a refrigerator capable of properly coping with a problem on dew condensation water generated in a storage chamber, while keeping sealing performance of a storage container disposed in a vegetable chamber.SOLUTION: A refrigerator 1 includes: a storage container 10 disposed in a vegetable chamber 4; a high heat conductive member 13 attached to the storage container 10; and cold air releasing means 40 releasing cold air to the high heat conductive member 13. Further in the refrigerator 1, the high heat conductive member 13 is attached in a manner of closing an opening portion 121 formed on a back surface 12 of the storage container 10, and the cold air releasing means 40 preferably includes a cooler 41, and a guide flow channel 421 formed at a back side with respect to the storage container 10 to guide cold air cooled by the cooler 41 to a high heat conductive member 13 side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

The humidity in the vegetable room where vegetables whose freshness is important is kept higher than the humidity in other storage rooms such as refrigerating rooms and freezing rooms. On the other hand, when cold air for cooling the inside of the refrigerator passes through the highly humid vegetable chamber, dew condensation water is generated in the storage container arranged in the vegetable compartment. Therefore, in the vegetable room, it is necessary to deal with the problem of dew condensation while maintaining the humidity required to maintain the freshness of vegetables. A refrigerator for solving such a problem is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2018-132296

The refrigerator disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a storage chamber in which storage is stored, a storage container that is housed in the storage chamber, can be pulled out to the front side, has an open upper portion, and stores storage, and storage. It is provided with a cover arranged so as to cover the opening of the container, the cover is formed with a communication hole for communicating inside and outside the storage chamber, a resin fiber member is provided on the lower surface of the cover, and the moisture in the storage chamber is the resin. It has a configuration in which the moisture absorbed by the fiber member is released to the outside of the storage chamber through the communication hole.

However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, the resin fiber member mounted on the cover and the communication hole are superimposed. According to Patent Document 1, the resin fiber member is a knitted material made of a resin fiber such as PET fiber, and is a member that blocks liquid while allowing air to pass through. That is, the air in the vegetable chamber (inside the storage container) can flow out from the overlapping portion between the resin fiber member and the communication hole. Therefore, since the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem in terms of the airtightness of the storage container, there is a concern that the humidity in the storage chamber may be lower than expected.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of appropriately dealing with the problem of dew condensation water generated in the storage chamber while maintaining the degree of sealing of the storage container arranged in the vegetable compartment.

In order to solve the above problems, the refrigerator according to the present invention is
The storage container placed in the vegetable compartment and
High thermal conductivity members mounted on storage containers,
A cold air discharge means that discharges cold air to a high thermal conductive member,
It is characterized by having.

Further, in the refrigerator according to the present invention,
High thermal conductivity members
It is attached so as to close the opening formed in the back surface of the storage container.
The means of releasing cold air is
With a cooler,
An induction flow path provided on the back side of the storage container and guiding the cold air cooled by the cooler to the high thermal conductive member side.
It is characterized by having.

Further, in the refrigerator according to the present invention
The refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment are arranged one above the other in this order.
A first light transmitting portion is provided on the upper surface of the storage container.
A second light transmitting portion facing the first light transmitting portion is provided on the bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber.

Further, the refrigerator according to the present invention is
It is further provided with a water absorbing portion that is attached to the storage container and absorbs dew condensation water generated by the high thermal conductive member.
The water absorption unit is characterized in that it is provided in the reachable area of the cold air from the cold air discharge means.

According to the present invention, the cold air from the cold air discharging means can be selectively blown to the high thermal conductive member mounted on the storage container. As a result, the mounting portion of the high thermal conductive member in the storage container is cooled as compared with the other parts of the storage container. As a result, the dew condensation water generation region in the storage container can be concentrated in the high thermal conductive member (however, the present invention does not exclude the embodiment in which a slight amount of dew condensation water is generated in other parts of the storage container). Further, according to the present invention, as in the set of the resin fiber member and the communication hole disclosed in Patent Document 1, the dew water generated in the storage container does not need to be provided with a portion that constantly communicates with the inside and outside of the storage container. Can deal with the problem. Therefore, the degree of sealing of the storage container arranged in the vegetable compartment can be maintained. Further, according to the present invention, the inside of the storage container can be cooled via the high thermal conductive member. Therefore, in order to increase the degree of sealing of the storage container, the inside of the storage container can be cooled to a desired temperature zone even if the normal circulating cold air supplied to the vegetable compartment is cut off.

Further, according to the present invention, the high thermal conductive member is mounted on the back surface of the storage container, and the cold air cooled by the cooler is sent to the high thermal conductive member side by the induction flow path provided on the back side of the storage container. Can lead to. Therefore, cold air can be discharged from a position close to the high thermal conductive member. As a result, the structure of the cold air discharging means to the high thermal conductive member can be simplified, and the cold air can be accurately reached to the high thermal conductive member.

Further, according to the present invention, since the high thermal conductive member is mounted on the back surface of the storage container, the dew condensation water hardly adheres to the first light transmitting portion provided on the upper surface of the storage container (vegetable chamber). Therefore, the light transmittance of the first light transmitting portion is not hindered. As a result, it is possible to maintain a state in which the inside of the vegetable compartment (storage container) can be visually recognized from the refrigerating chamber provided with the second light transmitting portion facing the first light transmitting portion.

Further, according to the present invention, the cold air from the cold air discharging means can reach the water absorption portion. Therefore, this cold air can be used to dry the dew condensation water from the high thermal conductive member absorbed by the water absorbing portion. As a result, the dew condensation water adhering to the inside of the high thermal conductive member can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the storage container.

The front view of the refrigerator which concerns on this embodiment. A vertical sectional view of the refrigerator according to the present embodiment (cross-sectional view taken along the line AA'shown in FIG. 1). The perspective view of the storage container arranged in the vegetable chamber in this embodiment. Exploded view of the storage container arranged in the vegetable compartment in this embodiment.

Hereinafter, the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In explaining the refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment, the "up and down" direction corresponds to the height direction of the refrigerator 1, the "left and right" direction corresponds to the width direction of the refrigerator 1, and the "front and back" direction corresponds to the height direction of the refrigerator 1. , Corresponds to the depth direction of the refrigerator 1.

First, with reference to FIG. 1, the outline of the configuration of the refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, FIG. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment includes a heat insulating box 2 corresponding to a refrigerator main body. Further, the heat insulating box 2 includes a plurality of storage chambers 3, 4, and 5. These plurality of storage rooms correspond to the refrigerating room 3, the vegetable room 4, and the freezing room 5 in this order from the top. However, the arrangement order of each storage room is not limited to this (for example, the refrigerating room, the freezing room, and the vegetable room may be arranged in order from the top).

The front surface of each storage chamber provided in the heat insulating box 2 is open. Insulation doors are provided to close each of these openings so that they can be opened and closed. Here, in the heat insulating doors 6a and 6b, for example, the upper and lower ends of the right end and the left end of the refrigerator are rotatably supported by the heat insulating box body 2 to close the front opening of the refrigerator compartment 3. Further, the heat insulating door 6c is arranged so as to be able to be pulled out in the front-rear direction with respect to the heat insulating box 2, and closes the front opening of the vegetable compartment 4. Similarly, the heat insulating door 6d is arranged so as to be able to be pulled out in the front-rear direction with respect to the heat insulating box 2, and closes the front opening of the freezing chamber 5.

Next, the internal structure of the refrigerator 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 2 is a side view vertical cross-sectional view of the refrigerator 1 (a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator 1 shown in FIG. 1 cut by AA'). As shown in FIG. 2, the heat insulating box 2 is filled in the gap formed between the outer box 2a made of steel plate, the inner box 2b made of synthetic resin, and the outer box 2a and the inner box 2b. It is provided with a heat insulating material 2c made of polyurethane foam (urethane foam).

Further, the refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment is arranged in the vegetable compartment 4, and is a storage container 10 for storing vegetables and the like, and a cold air discharging means for discharging cold air to a high thermal conductive member 13 described later. 40 and. Further, it is preferable that the refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment further includes a lid portion 20 for enhancing the airtightness of the storage container 10. When the lid 20 is attached to the storage container 10, the upper surface of the storage container 10 corresponds to the lid 20.

First, the storage container 10 in the present embodiment will be described. The storage container 10 is a container having an opening upper surface 11. The upper surface 11 of the opening is closed by the lid 20. This enhances the degree of sealing in the storage container 10. Further, a first light transmitting portion 21 (for example, glass, acrylic plate, etc.) is provided on the front side of the lid portion 20. As a result, the inside of the storage container 10 can be visually recognized from above.

Further, a second light transmitting portion 32 (for example, glass, acrylic plate, etc.) is also provided on the bottom surface 31 of the refrigerating room 3 provided directly above the vegetable room 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the second light transmitting portion 32 faces the first light transmitting portion 21. By adopting such a structure, when the heat insulating door of the refrigerating room 3 is opened, the inside of the vegetable room 4 (storage container 10) can be visually recognized from the refrigerating room 3 side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the high thermal conductive member 13 is attached to the opening 121 of the back surface 12 of the storage container 10. That is, the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13 faces the inside of the storage container 10. On the other hand, the back surface 132 of the high thermal conductive member 13 faces the outside of the storage container 10.

The high thermal conductive member 13 in this embodiment is an aluminum plate. However, it is not limited to this. As another example of the high thermal conductive member 13, a member made of a metal such as copper or stainless steel having high thermal conductivity, a member made of a metal compound, a member made of a heat conductive plastic, and the like can be mentioned. Further, the form of the high thermal conductive member 13 is not limited to the plate shape. As an example of a form other than the plate shape, there is a case where a portion such as a surface 131 is provided with an uneven shape in order to increase the contact area with air.

Next, the cold air discharging means 40 in this embodiment will be described. The cold air discharging means 40 includes a cooler (evaporator) 41 and an induction flow path 421 provided behind the storage container 10 and guiding the cold air cooled by the cooler 41 to the high thermal conductive member 13 side. .. Further, the cold air discharging means 40 further includes a valve 43 (for example, a damper or a shutter opened / closed by a stepping motor or the like) for controlling the inflow of cold air into the induction flow path 421 and a fan 44 provided above the cooler 41. You may prepare.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the cooler 41 in the present embodiment is arranged in the back region of the freezing chamber 5, and passes a refrigerant that cools each storage chamber and exchanges heat with the returned cold air. Further, the induction flow path 421 is provided in the cold air feeding duct 42 provided on the back side of the storage container 10 (the back area of the refrigerating chamber 3 and the vegetable compartment 4).

Further, the cold air feed duct 42 in the present embodiment includes a main flow path 422 extending to the refrigerating chamber 3 side. The main flow path 422 is provided on the back side of the guide flow path 421. That is, the guide flow path 421 and the main flow path 422 are arranged back and forth in the cold air feed duct 42. However, the position of the induction flow path 421 is not limited to this.

Further, the valve 43 is provided so as to face the inflow port 4211 of the induction flow path 421. As the valve 43 opens, the cold air from the cooler 41 flows into the induction flow path 421. The cold air flowing into the induction flow path 421 passes through the induction flow path 421 and is discharged to the high thermal conductive member 13. At this time, it is preferable to close the valve 45 (for example, a damper) that controls the opening and closing of the main flow path 422. On the other hand, as the valve 43 closes, the cold air flowing through the induction flow path 421 is blocked, and the flow of the cold air discharged to the high thermal conductive member 13 stops.

According to the present embodiment, cold air can be discharged to the high thermal conductive member 13 via the induction flow path 421 facing the high thermal conductive member 13. In other words, cold air can be discharged from a position close to the high thermal conductive member 13. Therefore, the structure of the cold air discharging means 40 can be simplified, and the cold air can be accurately reached to the high thermal conductive member 13.

Next, the flow of cold air in the refrigerator 1 will be described. As the fan 44 of the cold air discharging means 40 rotates, the cold air cooled by the cooler 41 rises, and a part of the raised cold air flows into the cold air feed duct 42. At this time, when the valve 43 is open and the valve 45 is closed, the cold air flows through the induction flow path 421 of the cold air feed duct 42. After that, the cold air is discharged toward the back surface 132 of the high thermal conductive member 13. As a result, the temperature of the back surface 132 that has received the cold air is transmitted to the front surface 131 side of the high thermal conductive member 13, and the temperature of the entire high thermal conductive member 13 is lowered.

As described above, the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13 faces the inside of the storage container 10. Further, the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13 to which the heat of the cold air is transferred is set to have a lower temperature than the inside of the storage container 10. Therefore, the air containing water in the storage container 10 is aggregated on the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13, and the dew condensation water adheres to the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13. On the other hand, since the temperature of the storage container 10 other than the mounting portion of the high thermal conductive member 13 is higher than that of the high thermal conductive member 13, dew condensation water hardly adheres to the storage container 10. Therefore, dew condensation water can be concentrated on the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13.

On the other hand, when the valve 43 is closed and the valve 45 is open, the cold air flowing into the cold air feed duct 42 flows through the main flow path 422 of the cold air feed duct 42. After that, the cold air is blown to the refrigerating chamber 3 through a plurality of outlets formed along the height direction of the refrigerating chamber 3 (only the air outlet 33 provided at the bottom is shown in FIG. 2). To.

Further, the cold air passes through the refrigerating chamber 3 and then passes through the ventilation holes provided on the bottom surface 31 of the refrigerating chamber 3 to reach the vegetable compartment 4. Further, the cold air flowing into the vegetable chamber 4 passes through the vegetable chamber 4, reaches a cold air return duct (not shown), and returns to the cooler 41. After being cooled by heat exchange with the cooler 41, the cold air that passes through the cold air feed duct 42 (main flow path 422), the refrigerating room 3, the vegetable room 4, and the cold air return duct and returns to the vicinity of the cooler 41 again. Hereinafter, it is referred to as "circulating cold air".

By the way, in order to increase the degree of sealing of the storage container 10, the opening upper surface 11 of the storage container 10 is closed by the lid portion 20. Therefore, the cold air (circulating cold air) that has reached the vegetable compartment 4 from the refrigerating chamber 3 does not flow into the storage container 10. From this, it is assumed that the inside of the storage container 10 is not cooled to a desired temperature zone only by the circulating cold air. However, according to the present embodiment, the high thermal conductive member 13 can be cooled by the cold air discharged from the cold air discharging means 40, and the temperature inside the storage container 10 can be lowered by the cold air from the cooled high thermal conductive member 13. can.

Next, the details of the storage container 10 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Here, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the storage container 10 and the lid 20 separated from each other. Further, FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the storage container 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, the storage container 10 in the present embodiment includes an opening 121 for mounting (fitting) the high thermal conductive member 13. The position of the opening 121 is not particularly limited, but is formed on the back surface 12 of the storage container 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the high thermal conductive member 13 in the present embodiment is attached to the inner cover portion 14 mounted on the inside of the storage container 10 and the outer cover portion 15 mounted on the outside of the storage container 10. Be pinched. In addition, the back surface 12, the inner cover portion 14, and the outer cover portion 15 may be referred to as “the back surface of the storage container”.

The inner cover portion 14 includes a wide opening 141, a first small opening 142, and a second small opening 143. The wide opening 141 is formed above the first small opening 142 and the second small opening 143. Further, the first small opening 142 and the second small opening 143 are arranged side by side along the width direction of the inner cover portion 14.

With respect to the storage container 10 having such a structure, when the back surface 12 is viewed from the inside, the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13 is exposed in the region of the wide opening 141. Further, the storage container 10 includes a shutter 16 having substantially the same width as the first small opening 142 (or the second small opening 143). The shutter 16 is arranged between the first small opening 142 (or the second small opening 143) and the high thermal conductive member 13. The shutter 16 is slidable along the width direction of the inner cover portion 14 and closes one of the first small opening 142 and the second small opening 143.

On the other hand, the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side is formed at a position facing the second small opening 143 as shown in FIG. When the shutter 16 is in a position facing the first small opening 142, the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side is in an open state. On the other hand, when the shutter 16 is in a position facing the second small opening 143, the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side is closed.

That is, the shutter 16 can open and close the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side. By moving the shutter 16 so as to face the first small opening 142, the second small opening 143 and the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side are opened, and the inside and outside of the storage container 10 communicate with each other. As a result, the humidity inside the storage container 10 can be controlled.

Although the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side in the present embodiment is provided at a position facing the second small opening 143, it may be provided at a position facing the first small opening 142. .. In this case, when the shutter 16 is in a position facing the second small opening 143, the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side is in an open state. On the other hand, when the shutter 16 is in a position facing the first small opening 142, the opening 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side is closed.

Further, it is preferable that the inner cover portion 14 includes a water absorbing portion 17 that absorbs dew condensation water generated on the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13. The water absorbing portion 17 in the present embodiment is provided on the lower side of the opening 121. Further, the water absorption portion 17 penetrates the inner cover portion 14 and extends to the outside of the storage container 10. The form of the water absorbing portion 17 is not particularly limited as long as it can absorb the dew condensation water generated on the surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13. Examples of the water absorption unit 17 include a fibrous filter and the like.

The water absorbing portion 17 extends to the outside of the storage container 10 and is exposed to the reachable region of the cold air from the cold air discharging means 40. As a result, the cold air released to cool the high thermal conductive member 13 also reaches the water absorbing portion 17. As a result, the dew condensation water absorbed by the water absorption unit 17 can be dried, and the dew condensation water adhering to the inside of the high thermal conductive member 13 can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the storage container 10.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the above description is for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not described for the purpose of limiting the present invention. The present invention may include those that can be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Further, the present invention includes the equivalent thereof.

1 ... Refrigerator 2 ... Insulation box body 2a ... Outer box 2b ... Inner box 2c ... Insulation material 3 ... Refrigerator room 4 ... Vegetable room 5 ... Freezing room 10 ... Storage container (vegetable room)
13 ... High thermal conductive member 14 ... Inner cover part 15 ... Outer cover part 16 ... Shutter 17 ... Water absorption part 20 ... Storage container lid 21 ... First light transmission part 32 ... Second light transmission part 40 ... Cold air emission Means 41 ... Cooler 42 ... Cold air feed duct 421 ... Induction flow path 422 ... Main flow path 43 ... Valve 44 ... Fan

Claims (4)

The storage container placed in the vegetable compartment and
High thermal conductivity members mounted on storage containers,
A cold air discharge means that discharges cold air to a high thermal conductive member,
A refrigerator characterized by being equipped with. High thermal conductivity members
It is attached so as to close the opening formed in the back surface of the storage container.
The means of releasing cold air is
With a cooler,
An induction flow path provided on the back side of the storage container and guiding the cold air cooled by the cooler to the high thermal conductive member side.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerator is provided with. The refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment are arranged one above the other in this order.
A first light transmitting portion is provided on the upper surface of the storage container.
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a second light transmitting portion facing the first light transmitting portion is provided on the bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber. It is further provided with a water absorbing portion that is attached to the storage container and absorbs dew condensation water generated by the high thermal conductive member.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the water absorption unit is provided in an area where cold air can be reached from the cold air discharging means.

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