JP3903065B1 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] When using a refrigerator at home to supercool drinking water, it is not sufficient to make the cool air atmosphere in the cabinet uniform, and the temperature distribution inside the drinking water is caused by the release of supercooling. In some cases, overcooling can be easily released.
A refrigerator having a storage chamber (10) for cooling food stored in a space (65), a cold air circulation space (66) provided around the space (65), and a space (65) provided between the space (65) and the cold air circulation space (66). Cold air discharged from the cool air discharge port 57, a cool air discharge port 57 that discharges cool air having a freezing temperature to the cool air circulation space 66 so as to cool the inside of the space 65 to a freezing temperature zone lower than 0 ° C. The indirect cooling of the food is performed with the temperature in the space 65 being lower than 0 ° C. By this cooling method, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of temperature distribution inside the drinking water, and to provide a refrigerator that prevents the drinking water that has become supercooled from being suddenly released from overcooling.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

  A state where water remains in a liquid state even when the temperature falls below the freezing temperature, that is, the supercooling phenomenon has been known for a long time. For example, when drinking water in a supercooled container is poured into a glass, the supercooling is released at once due to an impact generated at that time, and sherbet-like ice is generated on the glass. What mixed sherbet-like ice and drinking water that did not freeze is not only fun to watch, but also attracted attention as a fresh texture drinking water, actually in fitness clubs, taverns, shot bars etc. It has been provided to customers. However, since the supercooled state of drinking water is a physically very unstable state, it is not easy to maintain it. For example, vibrations transmitted to drinking water, cooling rate, temperature distribution in refrigerator, temperature distribution in drinking water, etc. are thought to be factors that cancel the supercooling of liquid, but have not yet been clarified academically. There are many cases.

  When supercooling drinking water in a household refrigerator, it is important to prevent overcooling by vibration when opening and closing the door, but at the same time, how to cool drinking water becomes a major issue. Moreover, when drinking water is cooled in a store | warehouse | chamber and it makes below a predetermined freezing temperature, it may freeze from the place where cold air | gas directly hits the container of drinking water. Therefore, in order to bring the drinking water to a predetermined supercooling temperature range and maintain the temperature, a cooling method is required that equalizes the inside of the refrigerator and does not have a temperature distribution inside the drinking water.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 is cited. In Patent Document 1, a cold air supply duct and a cold air suction duct are provided in order to make the cold air atmosphere in the cabinet into a uniform temperature distribution state, and the storage room in the case of cooling drinking water to a supercooled state has a uniform temperature distribution. In this state, the supercooling is prevented from being released before reaching a predetermined temperature (below the freezing temperature). Moreover, in patent document 2, the amount of cold air circulation at the time of performing supercooling operation is controlled, and the temperature fluctuation in a warehouse is made small.

JP 2003-214753 A JP 2001-4260 A

  Patent document 1 relates to a cooling device for supercooling that produces supercooled drinking water. However, a cold air supply duct and a suction duct that are installed in a warehouse are arranged so as to face each other, and a place for storing drinking water is disclosed. The cold air atmosphere has a uniform temperature distribution. Also in Patent Document 2, attempts are made to suppress temperature fluctuations by controlling the amount of cool air circulation.

  However, when drinking water is supercooled using a refrigerator for home use, it is not sufficient to make the cool air atmosphere in the refrigerator uniform, and the temperature distribution inside the drinking water may be due to overcooling cancellation. In some cases, overcooling can be easily released.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, and it aims at providing the refrigerator which aimed at the maintenance improvement of a supercooled state.

In a refrigerator having a storage room for cooling food stored in the space, an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is a cold air circulation space provided around the space;
In order to indirectly cool the food stored in the space, a partition wall that partitions the space and the cold air circulation space;
A heat insulating layer provided between the space and the cold air circulation space;
A cold air discharge port for discharging cold air at a freezing temperature into the cold air circulation space above the partition wall covering the upper part of the space so as to cool the inside of the space to a freezing temperature zone lower than 0 ° C .;
A cooler for generating cold air discharged from the cold air outlet ;
A cold air return port for returning the cool air discharged from the cold air discharge port and flowing through the cold air circulation space to the cooler, located below the cold air discharge port ;
The food stored in the space can be stored in a supercooled state .

A preferable specific configuration in the present invention described above is that the partition wall is composed of a container member having an opening on the upper side and having no holes on the side surface and the bottom surface and a lid member covering the opening. .

Furthermore, the more preferable specific aspect in what has said structure is as follows. That is, the temperature of the air in the space is higher than the lower side above the space, and the temperature of the cold air flowing through the cold air circulation space is lower than the lower side above the space. 5 When ° C. or more food is accommodated, the food through the temperature of 4 ° C. ~0 ° C., is to be cooled to a temperature lower than the further 0 ° C..

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the refrigerator which aimed at the maintenance improvement of the supercooled state can be provided.

  As explained in this section, in order to make supercooled drinking water in a refrigerator for home use, it is important to indirectly cool the drinking water and suppress the vertical temperature distribution generated inside the drinking water. I understood it. Therefore, an indirect cooling method in which cold air does not directly flow into the supercooling container is adopted, and the temperature distribution generated in the vertical direction in the drinking water is reduced to maintain the supercooled state.

  In this embodiment, the container installed in the storage room of the household refrigerator, that is, the outer periphery of the storage container has a heat insulating layer, and the drinking water and fresh food installed inside the storage container are cooled by the cold air flowing around the storage container. Indirect cooling method is adopted. The temperature inside the storage container is detected by a temperature sensor and controlled by a damper provided at the cold air inlet of the storage chamber in which the storage container is installed.

In addition, the container is provided with rib-shaped projections so that drinking water containers such as PET bottles, bottles and cans come into direct contact with the wall surface of the storage container, and overcooling is released from that part and freezing does not proceed. A separate inner container is provided to reduce the portion where the drinking water container directly contacts the inner wall of the container. Further, a slip stopper (for example, rubber) is provided at the portion where the convex portion and the drinking water container contact so that the drinking water container does not move, and the drinking water container moves within the storage container even when the door is opened and closed. It is hard to do. An embodiment of a refrigerator having these configurations will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front external view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a heat-insulating box having a refrigerator compartment 9, freezer compartments 10, 11 and a vegetable compartment 12 from above (see FIG. 2), and the opening of each storage compartment is provided in the refrigerator compartment. The door 15, the ice making room door 43, the freezing room doors 16 and 17, and the vegetable room door 18 are covered. Note that the arrangement is not necessarily the same as in the case of this figure.

  Further, the ice making room door 43, the freezing room doors 16, 17 and the vegetable room door 18 are drawer type doors, and are structured to be pulled out together with the case in each storage room.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention. The refrigerator 8 is arrange | positioned in the order of the refrigerator compartment 9, the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the vegetable compartment 12 from the top. Inside the freezer compartment and the vegetable compartment, food storage cases 40, 41, and 42 are provided in conjunction with the opening and closing of the freezer compartment doors 16, 17 and the vegetable compartment door 18, respectively. In order to cool the inside of the refrigerator, a refrigeration cycle is incorporated in the refrigerator 8, and is constituted by a compressor 1, a condenser 2, a throttle 3, and a cooler 4, which are sequentially connected by a refrigeration pipe. The cooler 4 is disposed in a cooler chamber located behind the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the cooler chamber is partitioned from the freezer compartment by a partition wall. Cooling air is circulated by an internal cooling fan 5 installed on the downstream side of the cooler 4 to cool the interior, and the damper 6 provided on the downstream side of the internal cooling fan 5 opens and closes the refrigerator compartment air passage 7 or the freezing. Cold air is guided to the room air passage 13 so that the cold air is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 9 or the freezer compartments 10 and 11 (the vegetable compartment 12 introduces a part of the cold air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 9). The structure is cooled by this (not shown).

  When the damper 6 is open, cold air is supplied from a plurality of refrigerating room outlets or freezer outlets passing through the refrigerating room air passage 7 and the freezer compartment air passage 13, and the refrigerating room 9, vegetable room 12, And the freezer compartments 10 and 11 are cooled simultaneously. The cold air that has cooled the refrigerator compartment 9 is returned to the cooler 4 through the refrigerator compartment return duct, and the air that has cooled the freezer compartments 10 and 11 passes through the freezer compartment return port (freezer compartment return air inlet) 14. And then returned to the cooler 4. Moreover, when cooling the freezer compartments 10 and 11 independently, the damper 6 can be closed and cold air can be guide | induced to the freezer compartment air path 13, and can be cooled. In this case, the cool air returning to the cooler 4 comes only from the freezer return port 14.

  That is, the refrigerator according to the present embodiment includes a freezer compartment 10 and 11 in which the room is maintained in a freezing temperature zone, a cooler 4 that is disposed on the back of the freezer compartment 10 and 11 and cools the circulating air inside the refrigerator, and this cooling. The cooler chamber is provided behind the partition wall that is provided with the cooler 4 and partitions the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the internal cooling fan 5 that circulates the cool air generated by the cooler 4 is provided. In addition, a cool air return port 14 that communicates between the cooler chamber and the freezer compartments 10 and 11 is provided on a partition wall that partitions the cooler chamber and the freezer compartments 10 and 11.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a storage chamber that performs supercooling. Below, the storage container for performing supercooling is called and called a supercooling container. In this example, the supercooling container 62 is installed in the freezer compartment 10. Therefore, in the following description, the storage room that performs supercooling is described as being representative of the freezer room 10. The freezer compartment 10 is partitioned between the refrigerator compartment 9 and the lower freezer compartment 11 by heat insulating walls 50 and 55 in order to avoid heat intrusion from other storage compartments. Although not shown in the figure, the ice making chambers adjacent to each other are also partitioned by a heat insulating wall.

  The cold air flowing into the freezer compartment 10 flows into the freezer compartment from the discharge port 57 provided in the fan guard 60 that is the rear wall of the freezer compartment 10, and passes through the suction port 61 located below the discharge port 57 and outside the freezer compartment 10. Led to. A damper (not shown) is provided upstream from the discharge port 57 so that the temperature in the supercooling vessel 62 can be controlled. Moreover, you may provide the electric heater which controls temperature as needed.

  Further, a temperature sensor is attached to the supercooling vessel 62 (not shown), and the opening / closing of the damper is controlled based on the output of the temperature sensor. In this way, the temperature inside the supercooling container 62 can be controlled by controlling the cool air flowing into the freezer compartment 10 from the discharge port 57.

  The upper surface opening of the container member 56 having the heat insulating layer 70 is covered with a lid member 58, and a storage space 65 is formed inside the supercooling container 62. Since the lid member 58 also has a heat insulating layer, the storage space 65 is insulated from the outside of the supercooling vessel 62. The heat insulating layer may be formed by disposing a heat insulating material such as foamed urethane, foamed polystyrene, or a vacuum heat insulating material. However, as will be described later, the storage space 65 is utilized by utilizing the low temperature outside the supercooling vessel 62. Since it cools the inside, you may form by an air heat insulation layer.

  In particular, due to the nature of the supercooling vessel 62, it is conceivable that moisture adheres when the condensation is generated or removed and washed. A structure for forming a heat insulation layer by air insulation will be described later.

  The supercooling container 62 is connected to the outer frame 54 so as to interlock with the freezer compartment door 16, and includes a packing 59 between the freezer compartment door 16 and the opening peripheral edge of the freezer compartment 10. The leakage of cold air to the The lid member 58 does not need to be pulled out in conjunction with the freezer compartment door 16 and may be fixed in the freezer compartment 10. When the lid member 58 is pulled out in conjunction with the freezer compartment door 16, a handle 53 may be provided on the lid member 58.

  Next, a method for cooling food (including drinking water) stored in the storage space 65 will be briefly described. The cool air discharged from the discharge port 57 to the freezer compartment 10 flows through the cool air circulation space 66 around the supercooling container 62, and is led out of the freezer chamber 10 from the suction port 61 positioned below the discharge port 57. The storage space 65 and the cold air circulation space 66 are partitioned by the container wall of the supercooling container 62 or the lid member 58. The container wall or the lid member 58 serves as a partition wall, so that the cold air flowing through the cold air circulation space 66 does not flow directly into the storage space 65 but enables indirect cooling.

Further, the discharge port 57 is disposed above the lid member 58 in order to allow the discharged cold air to flow above the lid member 58 in the cold air circulation space 66. Therefore, most of the cold air flowing in from the discharge port 57 (illustrated by an arrow: reference numeral 51) passes through the upper portion of the lid member 58 and then flows along the outer peripheral portion of the supercooling container 62, and from the suction port 61 to outside the freezer compartment (Illustrated by an arrow: reference numeral 52). The cold air that has cooled the inside of the freezer compartment 10 and has been led out of the freezer compartment 10 from the suction port 61 is then returned to the cooler compartment after cooling the freezer compartment 11 on the lower stage side. It is cooled again.

  Moreover, the freezer compartment 10 is switched to the temperature (after-mentioned) which produces | generates a supercooled state, and normal freezing temperature (-18 degrees C or less). In other words, normal frozen storage is possible by turning on / off a switch (not shown) for switching, but in the following description, the description for normal frozen storage is omitted and the temperature at which food is stored in a supercooled state is omitted. explain.

  The temperature suitable for storing the food in a supercooled state is, for example, about −5 ° C. for drinking water in a PET bottle and about −3 to −4 ° C. for fish such as tuna. all right. As described above, since the optimum temperature differs depending on the object to be put in the supercooling vessel 62, the temperature can be set by an input means (not shown). Specifically, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor installed in the supercooling container 62 is compared with the temperature set by the input means, and the opening and closing of the damper that controls the discharge of the cold air from the discharge port 57 is controlled. To do.

  Now, when an impact is given to the supercooled drinking water, the supercooling state is released instantaneously from the gas-liquid interface in the drinking water container, and sherbet-like ice is generated. In addition, when fish such as tuna are stored in a supercooled state, the freshness retention period is said to be long, and an advantage is obtained with respect to the preservation of food in general.

  A more detailed configuration of the supercooling vessel 62 will be described. The supercooling container 62 of this embodiment includes a removable inner container 29 inside an outer container that forms an outer shell. Therefore, the heat insulation layer by air insulation can be provided by providing a clearance between the inner and outer containers.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inner container 29. A plurality of ribs 26 are provided on the inner wall side of the inner container 29, and a drinking water container stored inside the container 29, for example, a plastic bottle is supported by the ribs 26. Further, a non-slip 30 (for example, rubber) is provided at a portion in contact with the rib 26 and the drinking water container as shown in FIG.

The operational effects of the configuration of these inner containers 29 are as follows. When a drinking water container such as a PET bottle, a bottle, or a can or a food directly comes into contact with the inner wall surface of the supercooling container 62, the portion is likely to be locally cooled. In the present embodiment, by providing convex portions such as ribs 26 on the inner wall surface of the supercooling container 62, the portion where the drinking water container and the inner wall surface of the supercooling container 62 are in direct contact is reduced. Therefore, the supercooled state can be easily maintained.

  Further, by providing a non-slip 30 such as rubber on the drinking water container or the portion where the food and the convex portion contact, that is, the top of the convex portion, the food or the like is difficult to move in the supercooling container 62 when the door is opened and closed. . Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the probability that the supercooled state is canceled against the intention of the refrigerator user.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a state in which the supercooling vessel 62 and the vessel 29 are combined. The portion where the drinking water container 27 and the wall surface of the supercooling container 62 are in direct contact is reduced so that local freezing does not occur, and even when the supercooling container 62 is slid, the non-slip 30 acts. Since the drinking water becomes difficult to move, the probability that the supercooling is released is reduced.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram in the case where the storage space 65 for storing in the supercooled state is formed in a configuration different from the examples of FIGS. 3 to 6. As another configuration of the lid member having the heat insulating layer, an example in which the lid 46 is slid along the guide rail 49 is shown. In this case, since the lid 46 having the slide function includes the winding mechanism 47, food such as drinking water can be taken in and out without separating the lid 46 from the supercooling container 62. Thereby, even if it is a case where it takes out drinking water which became a supercooled state outside, and puts in another drinking water again, since a lid is a slide type, it is unlikely that all the cold air in storage space 65 is replaced, This also shortens the cooling time.

  Next, in order to consider the advantages of the above specific structure, the results of measuring the temperature change of the drinking water will be described.

  FIG. 8 shows a change with time of temperature of drinking water (hereinafter referred to as “liquid” in the description of FIGS. 8 to 11) in the case where the cold air is directly fed into the storage space in the supercooled container, that is, in the direct cooling method. FIG. This is a change with time in temperature of the upper and lower portions of the drinking water when the table is placed in a space where the cooling air temperature is constant and the drinking water contained in the container is cooled. Due to the heat conduction from the table on which the container is placed, the cooling rate of the liquid in the lower part of the container increases, so that a temperature distribution is generated in the vertical direction, and the temperature in the lower part is lower than that in the upper part in the initial stage of cooling.

  However, since water has a maximum density of about 4 ° C., when the upper temperature reaches 4 ° C., the liquid in the upper part moves to the lower part. As a result, the liquid cooled in the lower part moves to the upper part, and thus forms a temperature distribution in which the temperature on the upper side becomes the lowest.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a change with time in the temperature of the liquid in the case where the cool air is not directly fed into the storage space in the supercooled container, that is, in the indirect cooling method. Unlike the direct cooling method (FIG. 8), the cooling rate is slow, and the liquid in the container is in a quasi-steady state. Therefore, even if density reversal occurs, the temperature distribution in the vertical direction in the container is difficult to occur, so the convection generated in the solution is weak.

  Considering these results, it can be said that the indirect cooling method can reduce the temperature variation of the liquid compared to the direct cooling method.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing energy changes for ice nucleation based on homogeneous nucleation theory. The reason why freezing does not start even when the temperature of the liquid becomes below the freezing temperature is that the freezing proceeds only after the ice nucleation process, and the ice nucleation is organized by the homogeneous nucleation theory. The supercooled liquid is physically unstable, but the interfacial free energy based on surface tension (positive free energy) exceeds the free energy (negative free energy) at the time of phase transition to ice. If so, supercooling is maintained.

  The free energy of the liquid in the supercooled state is the sum of these, so if the water cluster radius exceeds the critical value, it becomes an ice nucleus and the supercooling is released. Further, the lower the temperature of the supercooled liquid, the smaller the free energy at the phase transition to ice, so the free energy at the critical radius becomes smaller. That is, the lower the temperature, the easier the supercooled state is released. However, in the case of actual supercooled water, especially a mixture such as drinking water, it contains a large number of impurities that become ice nuclei, which is higher than the probability that ice nuclei are generated by homogeneous nucleation. The state is easily released (heterogeneous nucleation).

  Factors that can cancel the supercooled state include impurities similar to ice crystal structure, impact force, interaction between gas-liquid interface and wall surface (deformation of liquid surface), cavitation, solid wall surface where liquid contacts As a result of research, it has been announced that the effect of the electric field, the action by the electric field, etc. will cancel the supercooling, and the effect of reducing the free energy at the cluster critical radius shown in FIG. It becomes easy.

  In addition, as described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, when the liquid actually put in the drinking water container (for example, a plastic bottle) is cooled, in the case of direct cooling, the upper part of the liquid becomes relatively low temperature, and the liquid When supercooling water is actually created in the refrigerator, it is assumed that supercooling due to interaction at the solid-liquid interface at the top is easy to cancel, or supercooling is easily canceled due to the influence of convection in the liquid. Indirect cooling is more suitable.

  Note that in this specification, indirect cooling is not a method in which cooling air is directly blown against an object to be cooled to promote cooling, but is cooled by a low-temperature atmosphere around the place where the object is placed. Shows the method. Therefore, even if the cooling space and the cold air circulation space are in some communication, they are referred to as indirect cooling unless the cold air is directly blown.

  FIG. 11 schematically shows the tendency of the supercooling maintenance probability with respect to the liquid water temperature based on the results of examining the probability of changing the temperature of the liquid by counting the number of times the supercooling could be maintained and the number of times of canceling. is there. The supercooling maintenance probability is a probability that when the liquid is cooled at a predetermined temperature, the liquid reaches that temperature and can maintain the supercooling. When the probability is 1, it means that the supercooling can be maintained in all cases. . From this result, it is understood that if the liquid temperature is low, the supercooling is easily released, and conversely if the liquid temperature is high, the supercooling is easily maintained.

  Moreover, when the supercooling maintenance probability of direct cooling and indirect cooling is compared, there is a tendency that the supercooling maintenance probability becomes higher when indirect cooling is performed. According to the experiment, the subcooling maintenance temperature is actually about -5 ° C, and if the temperature is higher than that, the supercooling maintenance probability increases. Since it is proportional to the temperature, if the supercooling maintenance temperature increases, the sherbet-like ice will decrease, the appearance will be less fun, and the new texture will not be enjoyed when drinking.

  Since it has been found that the indirect cooling has a higher probability of maintaining the subcooling in the vicinity of −5 ° C., in this embodiment, in order to realize the subcooling, the storage chamber in the temperature zone lower than 0 ° C. (the freezing temperature zone). Nevertheless, an indirect cooling method was adopted.

  Based on the findings found from FIGS. 8 to 11, further experiments were conducted to investigate in more detail the relationship between the temperature distribution inside the supercooling container and the cooling of drinking water. As shown in FIG. 12, in the drinking water container in which water was put, the temperature sensor was attached to each of the upper stage, the middle stage, and the lower stage, and the internal temperature distribution was measured. A thermocouple was used as the temperature sensor. Moreover, the measurement was performed in a state where the upper surface of the drinking water container 27 was closed by the lid. And when the upper stage side of the drinking water container 27 was covered with a heat insulating material, the case where the lower stage side was covered with a heat insulating material was measured, respectively, and compared with the case where there was no heat insulating material.

  FIG. 12A shows an example of cooling without covering with a heat insulating material, FIG. 12B shows an example of covering the upper side with a heat insulating material, and FIG. 12C shows the lower side with a heat insulating material. An example is shown. And these drinking water containers 27 were installed in the atmosphere of -4.8 degreeC, and were cooled.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a change in temperature in each example shown in FIGS. 12 (a) to 12 (c). From these figures, it was found that the tendency changed greatly when the water temperature passed about 4 ° C. This phenomenon is because the density of water is reversed at about 4 ° C. as described above.

  FIG. 13 (a) shows the transition of the upper, middle and lower temperatures when the drinking water container is cooled without being covered with a heat insulating material. In this example, since the drinking water container is not insulated, the cooling rate is the fastest. However, in the region where the water temperature is about 4 ° C. or less, the temperature difference between the upper side and the lower side tends to increase. FIG.13 (b) is an example which covered the upper stage side of the drinking water container with the heat insulating material, and in the area | region whose water temperature is about 4 degreeC or more, although the temperature difference of an upper stage side and a lower stage side is large, about 4 degreeC or less In the region, the temperature difference was kept small. FIG.13 (c) is the example which covered the lower stage side of the drinking water container with the heat insulating material. In this example, the temperature difference between the upper side and the lower side is suppressed small in the region where the water temperature is about 4 ° C. or higher, but the temperature difference tends to increase in the region where the water temperature is about 4 ° C. or lower.

  Further, in each example of FIGS. 12A to 12C, when 48 experiments were performed, the probabilities of maintaining the supercooled state were 28.6%, 66.7%, and 45, respectively. It was .8%.

Considering these results, the following knowledge was obtained.
(1) When cooling drinking water of 5 ° C. or higher in an atmosphere of a so-called freezing temperature range lower than 0 ° C., the temperature distribution is inverted upside down when the temperature of the drinking water decreases and passes 4 ° C.
(2) In the so-called supercooling region below the freezing point, the probability that the supercooled state can be maintained decreases if the temperature distribution in the drinking water container is large.
(3) By insulating the upper side of the drinking water container, the temperature variation in the container in a region of 4 ° C. or lower (including a supercooled region of 0 ° C. or lower) can be suppressed.

  From the study based on these findings, in order to realize a supercooled state in a home refrigerator, it is necessary to keep the temperature variation in the drinking water container small at 4 ° C. or less. It has been found that it is more effective to cool from the lower side than to cool.

  However, it was considered that if it was forced to cover the upper side of drinking water containers (such as plastic bottles, bottles, cans, etc.) with a heat insulating material, it would be troublesome for users of household refrigerators.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a storage room (freezer room 10) for realizing a supercooled state, the temperature of the beverage in the drinking water container 27 placed in the supercooled container 62, and the supercooled container. The relationship with the temperature in 62 is also shown. When the temperature of the drinking water is cooled to a state lower than 4 ° C., the upper temperature (t ₃ ) near the liquid surface is low, and the lower temperature (bottom side) of the drinking water container 27 is lower ( It is easy to distribute so that t ₄ ) is high. On the other hand, the temperature of the air in the supercooling vessel 62 tends to be distributed such that the upper layer side temperature (T ₁ ) is high and the lower layer side temperature (T ₂ ) is low.

The refrigerator described in the present embodiment aims to cool drinking water by the low temperature of the space in the supercooling container 62. That is, it is assumed that the temperature of the storage space 65 in the supercooling container 62 is lower than the temperature of the drinking water. Therefore, T ₁ and T ₂ are a lower temperature than t ₃ and t _4, the upper side temperature of the storage space 65 of the supercooling chamber 62 above the temperature of the drinking water container 27 (t ₃₎ (T ₁ the temperature difference [Delta] T ₁₃ with), than the temperature difference [Delta] T ₂₄ between the lower side temperature of the storage space 65 of the lower temperature (t ₄₎ and the supercooling chamber 62 of the drinking water container 27 (T _2), small (ΔT ₁₃ <ΔT ₂₄ ).

  According to this configuration, since the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the container on the upper side of the drinking water container 27 can be reduced, the upper side can be “insulated” more than the lower side.

In order to realize these configurations, it is effective to have a structure in which the cool air 51 flows in the cool air circulation space 66 on the upper surface side of the storage space 65. Further, the upper part is covered with a lid member so that the cool air does not flow directly into the supercooling vessel 62. At this time, between the storage space 65 and the cold air circulation space 66, the container wall of the supercooling container 62 including the lid member becomes a partition wall, so that indirect cooling is possible.

At that time, the temperature of the cold air flowing through the cold air circulation space 66 is set so that the cold air temperature Ta flowing on the upper surface side of the supercooling vessel 62 is lower than the cold air temperature Tb flowing on the lower surface side. Is provided. Thus, in order to make the temperature Ta of the cold air flowing on the upper side of the supercooling vessel 62 lower than the cold air temperature Tb flowing on the lower side, for example, the cold air discharge port 57 that discharges the cold air to the cold air circulation space 66. May be disposed above the cold air inlet and the lid member.

  The operational effects of having these configurations are as follows. The cold air flowing on the upper surface side of the supercooling vessel 62 (for example, cold air of −18 ° C. or lower) passes through the upper surface side of the supercooling vessel 62 and partly falls from the side, and the other part reaches the near side. It falls after reaching (see arrow in FIG. 14). In FIG. 14, the flow of cold air that falls on the side of the supercooling vessel 62 is indicated by a dotted arrow. Since these cold air flows while cooling the supercooling vessel 62, the temperature gradually rises. Therefore, the temperature Tb (for example, −15 ° C.) of the cold air reaching the lower surface side of the supercooling vessel 62 is higher than the temperature Ta of the cold air flowing above the supercooling vessel 62 (Ta <Tb).

The supercooling vessel 62 whose outer surface is cooled by the cold air flowing through the cold air circulation space 66 is transmitted to the inside at a low temperature. However, since the supercooling vessel 62 includes the heat insulating layer 70, the storage space 65 is gradually cooled. Is done. Accordingly, in the storage space 65, the low-temperature air moves to the lower layer side, and the upper layer side temperature T ₁ (for example, −4 ° C.) is lower than the lower layer side temperature T ₂ (for example, −6 ° C.). A temperature distribution is formed so as to be higher.

The drinking water placed in the storage space 65 having such a temperature distribution gradually decreases in temperature, but when the temperature becomes lower than 4 ° C., the upper temperature t on the liquid surface side. ₃ (for example, 1 ° C.) becomes lower than the lower temperature t ₄ (for example, 3 ° C.) on the bottom surface side. At this time, the temperature difference on the lower side becomes larger than the temperature difference between the drinking water on the upper side of the drinking water container 27 and the atmosphere on the upper layer side in the storage space 65. Therefore, in the drinking water container 27, the variation in the temperature of drinking water is reduced, and the probability of realizing supercooling can be improved.

  It is not necessary to seal the storage space 65 inside the supercooling container 62 and completely close the space between the cool air circulation space 66 and the structure is such that the cool air cannot be directly blown into the storage space 65. There is no problem. Therefore, there is no particular problem even if there is a slight gap between the lid member of the supercooling container 62. However, if there is an opening such as a hole on the bottom surface of the supercooling vessel 62, low-temperature cold air below the storage space 65 flows into the cold air circulation space 66. It is better not to provide an opening.

  The present embodiment is not limited to the more specific structure shown in FIGS. 3 to 7 as long as the various conditions described with reference to FIG. 14 are satisfied. It is possible to adopt a static structure.

It is a front external view of the refrigerator by embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the refrigerator by the form of the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the storage chamber which performs supercooling. It is a perspective view of the inner side container provided in the inside of a supercooling container. It is a figure which shows the slip prevention provided in the rib. It is the figure which showed the state which combined the supercooled container and the inner container. It is a figure at the time of setting it as the supercooling container structure different from the example of FIGS. It is a figure which shows the temperature aging change of the liquid in a direct cooling system. It is a figure which shows the temperature aging change of the liquid in an indirect cooling system. It is a figure which shows the energy change for the ice nucleation based on a homogeneous nucleation theory. It is the figure which showed typically the tendency of the supercooling maintenance probability with respect to liquid water temperature. It is the schematic of an experimental apparatus. It is the figure which showed transition of the temperature in each example shown in FIG. It is the schematic in a storage chamber.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Compressor, 2 ... Condenser, 3 ... Restriction, 4 ... Cooler, 5 ... Cooling fan in a warehouse, 6 ... Damper, 7 ... Cold room cold air path, 8 ... Refrigerator, 9 ... Cold room, 10, 11 ... Freezer room, 12 ... Vegetable room, 13 ... Freezer room air passage, 14 ... Freezer room return port, 15 ... Refrigerator room door, 16, 17 ... Freezer room door, 18 ... Vegetable room door, 26 ... Rib, 27 ... Beverage Water container, 29 ... inner container, 30 ... anti-slip, 40, 41 ... freezer compartment container, 42 ... vegetable compartment container, 43 ... ice making room door, 45, 53 ... handle, 46 ... sliding lid, 47 ... sliding lid Winding part, 49 ... guide rail, 50,
55 ... Insulating wall, 51, 52 ... Flow of cold air, 54 ... Outer frame, 56 ... Container member, 57 ... Discharge port, 58 ... Lid member, 59 ... Packing, 60 ... Fan guard, 61 ... Suction port, 62 ... Excess Cooling container, 65 ... storage space, 66 ... cold air circulation space, 70 ... heat insulation layer.

Claims (3)

A refrigerator having a storage room for cooling food stored in the space,
A cold air circulation space provided around the space;
In order to indirectly cool the food stored in the space, a partition wall that partitions the space and the cold air circulation space;
A heat insulating layer provided between the space and the cold air circulation space;
A cold air discharge port for discharging cold air at a freezing temperature into the cold air circulation space above the partition wall covering the upper part of the space so as to cool the inside of the space to a freezing temperature zone lower than 0 ° C .;
A cooler for generating cold air discharged from the cold air outlet ;
A cold air return port for returning the cool air discharged from the cold air discharge port and flowing through the cold air circulation space to the cooler, located below the cold air discharge port ;
A refrigerator that can store food stored in the space in a supercooled state . 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the partition wall includes a container member having an opening on the upper side and having no holes on a side surface and a bottom surface, and a lid member covering the opening. The temperature of the air in the space is higher on the upper side of the space than the lower side, and the temperature of the cold air flowing through the cold air circulation space is lower on the upper side of the space than on the lower side,
When 5 ° C. or more food into the space is accommodated, the food through the temperature of 4 ° C. ~0 ° C., further claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is cooled to a temperature lower than 0 ℃ Refrigerator.

Images