JP2825351B2 - Deodorizing equipment such as refrigerators - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[Object of the Invention]

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a deodorizer for a refrigerator or the like for removing odor components contained in air in a refrigerator or the like.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a refrigerator, there has been a problem that odors emitted from food in a refrigerator are attached to other foods.

Therefore, in recent years, a deodorizing apparatus provided with a deodorizing body in which an adsorbent and an oxidation catalyst are combined has been incorporated into a refrigerator. As shown in FIG. 5, this deodorizing device is provided in a cooler room constituting a part of a cool air circulation path.
The deodorizing body 2 is supported and attached by a metal cover 3 below the cooler and above the defrost heater 1. A heat insulating material 4 is provided between the deodorizing body 2 and the cover 3.
Is interposed.

[0005] The deodorant 2 is a porous solid plate formed by combining an adsorbent such as silica and an oxidation catalyst such as platinum, and adsorbs and absorbs odor components in the air by the adsorbent. In addition, the odor component released from the adsorbent by being heated by the heater 1 is decomposed by the oxidation catalyst. The cover 3 includes a support piece 3a.
Holds the deodorizing body 2 and, at the same time, covers the upper part of the deodorizing body 2, thereby effectively collecting the radiant heat from the heater 1 into the deodorizing body 2 and protecting the deodorizing body 2 from falling water drops from above. It fulfills. By interposing the heat insulating material 4, the heat of the deodorizing body 2 can be minimized from being radiated through the cover 3, and the thermal or mechanical shock of the deodorizing body 2 can be reduced. You can do it.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, the upper surface of the deodorizing body 2 is covered with the heat insulating material 4 so that the odor components are sufficiently adsorbed on the upper surface portion of the deodorizing body 2. However, there was a disadvantage that the area effective for deodorization was reduced.

[0007] Further, the presence of the heat insulating material 4 causes a problem that the number of members increases, the cost increases, and the assembling work takes time.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to increase the effective surface area of the deodorizing body, thereby improving the deodorizing effect, and at the same time, simplifying the structure and improving the assemblability. To provide a deodorizing device.

[Structure of the Invention]

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A deodorizing apparatus for a refrigerator or the like according to the present invention is disposed in a circulation path through which air in a refrigerator or the like circulates, adsorbs the odor component and is heated to remove the odor component. A deodorizing body that decomposes, a heater provided below the deodorizing body for intermittently heating the deodorizing body, and a cover that holds the deodorizing body so as to cover above the deodorizing body, The present invention is characterized in that a projection is formed integrally on the upper surface of the body, the tip of which abuts against the lower surface of the cover to secure a space between the cover and the deodorizing body.

[0011]

According to the above means, when the heater is not heated, the air passing through the circulation path comes into contact with the deodorizing body, so that the odor components contained in the air are adsorbed by the deodorizing body. Then, when the deodorizing body is heated by the heater, the odor component adsorbed on the deodorizing body is released and decomposed, whereby the adsorption function is regenerated.

Since the projection forms a space between the deodorizing body and the cover, air also passes through this space and comes into contact with the upper surface of the deodorizing body. Can be increased. In addition, since the space functions as a thermal buffer between the deodorant and the cover, there is no need to provide a heat insulating material. As a result, the configuration can be simplified.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, in FIG. 3 showing the upper half of the refrigerator, a freezer compartment 12 and a refrigerating compartment 13 are formed in the refrigerator main body 11, and doors 14 and 1 are respectively provided on the front portion.
5 are provided. A cooler room 16 is formed on the back side of the freezing room 12, and a cooler 17, a fan 18 and the like are disposed inside the cooler room 16.

When the fan 18 is driven, the cooler 1
A part of the air cooled by 7 is supplied from the supply port 19 into the freezer compartment 12, and the air in the freezer compartment 12 is circulated through the return duct 20 and returned into the cooler compartment 16. The inside of the freezer compartment 12 is cooled. Further, a part of the air cooled by the cooler 17 is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 13 through the supply duct 21, and the air in the refrigerator compartment 13 is returned to the refrigerator compartment 16 through the return duct 22. Thus, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 13 is cooled. In this case, a circulation path for circulating air in the freezer compartment 12 from the cooler compartment 16, the freezer compartment 12, and the return duct 20 is formed.
A circulation path through which air in the refrigerator compartment 13 circulates from the cooler compartment 16, the supply duct 21, the refrigerating compartment 13, and the return duct 22 is formed.

A deodorizing device 23 according to the present embodiment is provided at a lower portion in the cooler room 16 in the circulation path. Hereinafter, the deodorizing device 23 will be described.

Below the cooler 17, a defrosting heater 24 which is also used as the heater according to the present invention is provided.
The defrost heater 24 is formed of, for example, a glass tube heater extending in the cooler chamber 16 in the left-right direction, and both ends of the heater 24 are supported by the cooler chamber 1 through support portions 25, 25 as shown in FIG.
6 are supported on both side wall portions. This defrost heater 2
Reference numeral 4 indicates that the power is cut off during normal operation (during the cooling operation), and the power is supplied only during the defrosting operation. Is to be executed.

A cover 26 and a deodorizing body 27 are provided immediately above the defrost heater 24.
The cover 26 is formed of a thin plate made of aluminum, for example, and is formed in a horizontally long lid shape so as to cover the entire upper part of the defrosting heater 24, and both left and right end portions are supported by the support portions 25, 25, respectively. It is attached by being done. To the lower surface of the cover 26, for example, five pairs of support pieces 28 for holding a deodorant body 27 described later are fixed. The support piece 28 has a lower end bent inwardly in a hook shape to support a lower portion of a wire mesh 29 that holds the plurality of deodorizing bodies 27 in a lump.

The deodorizer 27 has a porous rectangular plate shape, and has a two-layer structure having a catalyst layer 31 on the surface of an adsorbent layer 30, as shown in FIG. The adsorbent layer 30 is formed in a rectangular plate shape by binding and solidifying, for example, powdery or granular activated carbon or silica-based adsorbent. The catalyst layer 31 includes an oxidation catalyst such as platinum or nickel, and is formed so as to be attached to the entire surface of the adsorbent layer 30 formed in a rectangular plate.

On the upper surface of the deodorizing body 27, a plurality of projections 32 are formed integrally. This projection 32
Has a rib shape extending in the front-rear direction in this case, and has a length of 2 to 3 m.
m height dimension.

For example, four deodorizing bodies 27 configured as described above are wrapped in the wire mesh 29 from below.
It is held by the cover 26. At this time, the tip of the projection 32 comes into contact with the lower surface of the cover 26, so that the deodorant 2
A predetermined space is secured between the cover 7 and the cover 26.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. During the cooling operation of the refrigerator, the blowing action of the fan 18
The air in the refrigerator is circulated through the circulation path. When the air in the refrigerator passes through the inside of the cooler room 16, it comes into contact with the deodorizing body 27, and the odor components contained in the air are adsorbed by the adsorbent layer 30 of each deodorizing body 27 and removed. At this time, the deodorant 2
Since a space is secured between the cover 7 and the cover 26, and air passes through this space, not only the lower surface and the side surface of the deodorant body 27 but also the upper surface come into contact with the air, which is large. The odor component can be efficiently adsorbed in the area.

When the operation of the fan 18 and the compressor is stopped and the defrosting operation in which the defrosting heater 24 is energized is started, the cooler 17 is heated by the heat of the defrosting heater 24 to remove the heat. Frost is performed and deodorant 27
Is also heated. By this heating, in the deodorizing body 27,
The adsorbed odor component is released from the adsorbent layer 30 and is oxidatively decomposed by the action of the catalyst layer 31, whereby the adsorption function of the deodorant 27 is regenerated. At this time,
The cover 26 can prevent water droplets dropped from the cooler 17 located above from directly hitting the deodorizing body 27 and the defrosting heater 24, and effectively remove the radiant heat from the defrosting heater 24 to the deodorizing body 27. Can be gathered in The deodorizing body 27 has only the tip of the projection 32 covered by the cover 2.
6 and the other parts are separated from the cover 27 by a space functioning as a so-called thermal buffer part,
For example, the heat shock of the deodorizing body 27 caused by the defrosting water falling as described above can be reduced, and the heat of the deodorizing body 27 is radiated from the cover 26 as much as possible, as compared to the case where there is no space and direct contact. You can do it.

According to this embodiment, since the space is formed between the deodorizing body 27 and the cover 26 by the projections 32, the heat insulating material 4 covers the upper surface of the deodorizing body 2 with the conventional one. In contrast, the odor component is sufficiently adsorbed also on the upper surface of the deodorizing body 27. Therefore, the effective surface area of the deodorant can be increased as compared with the related art, and the deodorizing effect can be improved.

Since the space functions as a thermal buffer between the deodorizing body 27 and the cover 26, the heat insulating material 4 unlike the conventional one becomes unnecessary, and the configuration is simplified. Therefore, the number of members can be reduced and the cost can be reduced, and the number of assembling steps can be reduced to improve the assemblability.

Since the deodorizing body 27 is held by the cover 26 with its lower portion locked by the supporting piece 28, the supporting piece 28 can be formed without forming the projection 32.
It is considered that simply increasing the length dimension of is sufficient to form a space. However, then, deodorant 2
7 is provided in a rattled state, and may be broken, for example, during transportation of the refrigerator. Also, the cover 26
When the deodorizing body 27 is mounted on the supporting member, a wire mesh 29 wrapping the deodorizing body 27 is inserted between the supporting pieces 28 in a state where the cover 26 is turned upside down and is not bent in a hook shape. A step of bending the tip of the portion 28 inward is performed.
This makes it difficult to position them. Further, in this case, a configuration in which a spacer member is provided on the cover 26 side for the same purpose as the projection 32 is also conceivable. However, in this configuration, the number of components also increases and the assemblability deteriorates as compared with this embodiment. It will be lost.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
A rib-shaped projection 34 is integrally provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the deodorizing body 33. With this configuration, the direction of attachment of the deodorizing body 33 is lost, and the assembling property is further improved.

In each of the above embodiments, the projections 32, 34
Is formed in a rib shape extending in the front-rear direction. However, the protrusion may be, for example, a rib shape extending in the left-right direction, and is not limited to the rib shape, and may be a rod-shaped or conical-shaped.

In addition, instead of using the heater 24 for defrosting, a dedicated heater may be provided separately.
In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented, for example, may be applied to a refrigerator, a heating cooker, or the like without being limited to the refrigerator.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the deodorizing apparatus such as a refrigerator of the present invention, the effective surface area of the deodorizing body can be increased, and the deodorizing effect can be improved. This has an excellent effect that the structure can be simplified and the assemblability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a deodorizing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the upper part of the refrigerator.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a deodorizing body showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 is a refrigerator body, 16 is a cooler room (circulation path), 17 is a cooler, 18 is a fan, 23 is a deodorizing device, 24 is a defrosting heater (heater), 26 is a cover, 27 and 33 are deodorizing bodies, 28 is a support piece, 29 is a wire mesh, 30 is an adsorbent layer, 3
1 indicates a catalyst layer, and 32 and 34 indicate protrusions.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B01D 53/34 F25D 23/00 302

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A deodorizing body which is disposed in a circulation path through which air in a refrigerator or the like circulates, adsorbs an odor component and is heated to decompose the odor component, and is provided below the deodorizing body. A heater that intermittently heats the deodorizing body, and a cover that holds the deodorizing body so as to cover above the deodorizing body, and on an upper surface of the deodorizing body,
A deodorizing device for a refrigerator or the like, characterized in that a projection for securing a space between the cover and the deodorizing body is formed integrally with a front end thereof abutting on a lower surface of the cover.