JP2662928B2 - How to cool food in the refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cooling foods in a refrigerator, in which cooling air is supplied into the refrigerator to cool the foods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a system in which foodstuffs once cooked are rapidly cooled and stored in a refrigerator such as a refrigerator, an ice-temperature refrigerator, or a freezer to a low temperature at which bacteria do not grow, and then heated again when the foodstuffs are provided, has become widespread. ing. In cooling the food to the storage temperature in this way, the food is allowed to pass through a temperature zone (55 to 10 ° C.) where bacteria can easily propagate in a short time, and the food is not frozen to prevent tissue destruction and flavor deterioration. It becomes important.

[0003] In recent years, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
A food cooling method as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H11-23011 has been considered. In this method, the surface temperature of the food is detected by a temperature sensor, and until the surface temperature reaches the set temperature (0 ° C), rapid cooling is performed with cold air at a lower temperature (-40 ° C). After reaching 0 ° C., the temperature is controlled to be maintained.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, as shown in FIG. 4, when the surface temperature of the food (shown by the solid line) reaches the set temperature (0 ° C.), the internal temperature (0 ° C.) has already been reached. (Indicated by a dashed line) is considerably low (for example, −20 ° C.), so even if an attempt is made to control the surface temperature at 0 ° C. from that point on, the temperature of the food tends to decrease for a while, and the temperature of the food increases. May drop below the freezing temperature. In this case, it is conceivable that the set temperature is set sufficiently higher than the freezing temperature of the foodstuff, but this will result in insufficient maintenance of the quality of the foodstuff.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of cooling foods in a refrigerator, which can rapidly cool foods without freezing them.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of cooling food by supplying cooling air into a refrigerator, wherein the temperature of the food is frozen. Until the quenching stop temperature is higher by a predetermined temperature than the storage target temperature immediately before the temperature, it is cooled by cooling air sufficiently lower than the storage target temperature, and after the temperature of the food reaches the quenching stop temperature, It is characterized in that the storage target temperature is maintained. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, after the temperature of the food reaches the quenching stop temperature, the internal temperature is maintained at the storage target temperature based on the internal temperature sensor. However, it has features.

[0007]

<Operation and Effect of the Invention><Invention of Claim 1> The operation of the invention of claim 1 is as follows. Until the temperature of the ingredients reaches the quenching stop temperature higher than the storage target temperature,
Ingredients are cooled by cold air at a temperature sufficiently lower than the storage target temperature, and pass through a temperature zone in which bacteria can easily grow in a short time.
In this case, at the time when the temperature of the food reaches the quenching stop temperature, the temperature of the food tends to further decrease since the temperature in the refrigerator is considerably low, but the quenching stop temperature is higher than the storage target temperature. Since the temperature is set high, that is, sufficiently higher than the freezing temperature, even if the temperature of the foodstuff continues to decrease, it can be kept short of reaching the freezing temperature, and the foodstuff is prevented from freezing. Thereafter, the food is cooled and stored at the storage target temperature. That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that, after reliably preventing the food from freezing, the food can be rapidly cooled to a safe temperature at which there is no risk of bacterial propagation and stored. it can.

<Invention of Claim 2> According to the invention of Claim 2, after the temperature of the food reaches the quenching stop temperature, the temperature in the refrigerator is maintained at the storage target temperature while feeding back the temperature in the refrigerator. . Keeping the storage target temperature by looking at the internal temperature of the food instead of the temperature of the food itself,
The following effects are obtained. First, in order to prevent the food from freezing during storage, the food must be prevented from cooling below 0 ° C. When controlling the inside temperature based on the temperature of the food itself, the cooling operation is stopped just before the temperature of the food becomes 0 ° C.
It is not necessarily higher than or equal to ° C, and even after the cooling operation is stopped, there is a possibility that the food will be cooled and fall below 0 ° C. In this regard, as in the present invention, if the temperature in the refrigerator is directly observed and controlled so as to be equal to or higher than the freezing temperature, the food is cooled to the freezing temperature or lower, that is, freezing is reliably prevented. . Also, if the size and type of the stored ingredients vary, even if the temperature of the actually detected ingredients is 0 ° C or higher, other ingredients may be cooled to a lower temperature. obtain. In this regard, as in the present invention, if the temperature inside the refrigerator is controlled so as to be equal to or higher than the freezing temperature, all of the stored ingredients can be cooled and stored at a temperature equal to or higher than the freezing temperature.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, the structure of the refrigerator will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The main body 1 of the cooling box is formed of a heat-insulating box body having a rectangular box shape, and a food material inlet / outlet 1a is formed on the front surface thereof. The entrance 1a
Is opened and closed by a heat insulating door 2. Ingredient F
Are stored in the main body 1 (inside of the refrigerator), for example, in a state where they are placed on the tray 3 and stacked in multiple stages.

The main body 1 incorporates a well-known refrigeration cycle. Although not shown in detail, the refrigeration cycle is configured by connecting a compressor, a condenser, the evaporator 4 and the like so as to form a closed loop by a refrigerant pipe. Among them, the evaporator 4 is a cooler formed on a side wall portion in the main body 1. It is arranged in the room 5. A fan device 6 is provided in the cooler room 5 so as to blow cool air from the evaporator 4 toward the inside of the refrigerator. Further, the cool air supplied into the refrigerator is configured to circulate after returning to the cooler room 5 after being provided for cooling the food material F. Further, a defrost heater (not shown) is provided in the cooler room 5. Incidentally, the cooling capacity of the refrigeration cycle of this embodiment is such that the maximum load (for example, hot water of 80 ° C.)
, Can be cooled to 0 to 3 ° C. within 90 minutes.

On the other hand, a control box 7 is provided on the front face of the main body 1 at a position beside the entrance 1a, and a control device such as a microcomputer is provided in the control box 7. . This control device controls the refrigeration cycle (compressor and the like ), the fan device 6, a defrost heater, and the like, and thereby can arbitrarily control the internal temperature. At this time, the detection signal of the internal temperature sensor 8 such as a thermistor for detecting the internal temperature is input to the control device, and the temperature of the food F (for example, the surface temperature
The detection signal of the probe type foodstuff temperature sensor 9 for detecting the temperature ( degree) is input.

As will be described later in detail, the control device controls the cooling of the food F based on the detection signals from the internal temperature sensor 8 and the food temperature sensor 9 by its software configuration. Has become. At this time, until the temperature of the foodstuff F detected by the foodstuff temperature sensor 9 reaches a first temperature T1 slightly higher than 0 ° C (corresponding to the quenching stop temperature of the present invention) T1, cold air of 0 ° C or less (for example, -20)
C), and after the temperature of the food F reaches the first temperature T1, the temperature in the refrigerator detected by the temperature sensor 8 in the refrigerator is lower than the first temperature T1 and the food is cooled. F is kept at a second temperature T2 (corresponding to the storage target temperature of the present invention) T2 of 0 ° C. to 3 ° C. suitable for cold storage without freezing.

In this case, in the present embodiment, an operation panel 10 as shown in FIG. The operation panel 10 is provided with a temperature setting knob 11 for setting the second temperature T2 (set temperature T2) and a display unit 12 for displaying the set temperature T2. A temperature difference setting switch 13 for setting a temperature difference between T1 and the set temperature T2 is provided. Thus, the user can set the second temperature (set temperature) T2 in the range of 0 ° C. to 3 ° C. according to the type of the food material F by operating the temperature setting knob 11. , Temperature difference setting switch 13
The temperature difference (how much the first temperature T1 is higher than the set temperature T2 [T1-T2]) is, for example, 1 to 5
It has become to be able to choose in degrees within range.

Next, the cooling method in the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. When the cooked food F is to be cooled and stored, the user stores the tray 3 on which the food F is placed in the main body 1 (inside the storage) and sets the food temperature sensor 9 to the food F. I do. At the same time, the temperature setting knob 11 is operated to set the second temperature (set temperature) T2 in the range of 0 ° C. to 3 ° C., for example, 1 ° C., and the temperature difference setting switch 13 is operated to set the temperature difference. (T1-
T2) is set to, for example, 4 degrees. With this, for example, the first
Is set to 5 ° C., and the second temperature T2 is set to 1 ° C. Then, the control device operates as shown in FIG.
To cool. That is, first, the temperature of the food F (the temperature detected by the food temperature sensor 9: indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1) is the first temperature T1.
In the period A up to (5 ° C.), the inside of the refrigerator (foodstuff F) is rapidly cooled by cold air (for example, −20 ° C.) of 0 ° C. or less. As a result, the food F is allowed to pass through the temperature zone (55 to 10 ° C.) where bacteria can easily propagate in a short time. Also, at this time, based on the detection of the internal temperature sensor 8,
It is preferable to control the internal temperature so as not to drop below a certain temperature (for example, −20 ° C.).

Then, the temperature of the food F is reduced to the first temperature T1.
In the period B after the temperature has dropped to (5 ° C.), the internal temperature (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 1) is maintained at the second temperature T2 (1 ° C.) based on the detection of the internal temperature sensor 8. So that the inside of the refrigerator is cooled. At this time, when the temperature of the food F reaches the first temperature T1, the internal temperature is sufficiently lower than the first temperature T1, so that the internal temperature cannot be rapidly increased, Thereafter, the temperature of the foodstuff F further tends to decrease (period B1), but the first temperature T1.
Is set sufficiently higher (5 ° C.) than the freezing temperature of the food F, so that the temperature of the food F does not decrease to the freezing temperature.

After the period B1, since the temperature in the refrigerator is maintained around the second temperature T2 (1 ° C.) thereafter, the temperature of the food F is not likely to freeze and there is no risk of bacteria propagation. The safe optimal temperature will be maintained.
Thus, according to the present embodiment, the temperature of the food F is detected,
Until the temperature of the food F reaches the first temperature T1 slightly higher than 0 ° C., the food F is rapidly cooled, so that the food F is allowed to pass through the temperature zone (55 to 10 ° C.) where bacteria can easily propagate in a short time. be able to. Then, after the temperature of the food F has dropped to the first temperature T1, the internal temperature is maintained at the second temperature T2 of 0 ° C. to 3 ° C. lower than the first temperature T1. Since the inside of the refrigerator is cooled, the food F can be stored at an optimum temperature without freezing.

In the above embodiment, a probe type sensor for directly detecting the temperature of the food F is used as the food temperature sensor 9 for detecting the temperature of the food F. A sensor for detecting the temperature may be used. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications without departing from the gist, such as various modified examples of the method of setting the first and second temperatures.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a graph showing the relationship between the temperature of food and the temperature in a refrigerator.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cooling cabinet.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an operation panel.

FIG. 4 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main body 4 ... Evaporator 8 ... Internal temperature sensor 9
... Foodstuff temperature sensor 10 ... Operation panel 11 ... Temperature setting knob 13 ... Temperature difference setting switch F ... Foodstuff T1 ... First temperature T2 ... Second temperature

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for cooling foodstuffs by supplying cooling air into a refrigerator, wherein the foodstuffs are stored until the temperature of the foodstuffs reaches a quenching stop temperature that is a predetermined temperature higher than the storage target temperature just before the freezing temperature. A method of cooling food in a refrigerator, wherein the food is cooled by cooling air having a temperature sufficiently lower than the temperature, and is maintained at the storage target temperature after the temperature of the food reaches the rapid cooling stop temperature. 2. After the temperature of the food reaches the quenching stop temperature, the internal temperature is maintained at the storage target temperature based on an internal temperature sensor.
A method for cooling foodstuffs according to the above-mentioned refrigerator.