JP3939555B2 - Electric field unit equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electric field unit device provided in a low-temperature food storage device such as a refrigerator or a thawing container in order to apply an electric field to food and to thaw or keep the food fresh.
[0002]
[Prior art and problems to be solved by the invention]
The present applicant has filed various applications regarding an electric field device that applies an electric field to food, but thawing of frozen food is promoted by applying wind (flow of air) to the food, and for thawing and freshness maintenance, It was found that the magnitude of the current flowing through the food is important.
[0003]
In view of this point, the present invention is unitized in a low-temperature food storage device such as an existing refrigerator or thawing unit and can be stored freely, so that the food can be thawed at a low temperature in a short time and the food is kept fresh for a long time. An object of the present invention is to provide an electric field unit device that can be used.
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present onset Ming, existing refrigerators are unitized food cold accommodating device for accommodating a food at a low temperature, such as decompression chamber storing and dispensing freely mounted, in the field unit devices an electric field is applied, the electric field The unit device is provided with a fan for applying air to frozen food.
[0005]
Embodiment
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0006]
In FIG. 1, a horizontal small thawing box M has a box-shaped casing 1, a machine room 2 is provided on the left side of the casing 1 in the figure, and a storage room 3 is provided on the right side of the figure. A heat exchanging device 4 is provided in the machine room 2, and hot air or cold air is supplied into the storage chamber 3 by the heat exchanging device 4 to defrost the food in the warehouse and to maintain the freshness of the food after thawing. To do. The heat exchanging device 4 is provided with a fan 5 for creating a circulating wind, and has an evaporator 6 adjacent to the fan 5, and the wind that has passed through the evaporator 6 is sent out from the blower port 7 in the A direction. . In addition, the heat exchange device 4 includes a heater (not shown) as needed, and the heater can send warm air into the storage chamber 3 to increase the thawing speed of the food in the storage chamber 3. The hot air or the cold air thus produced hits the right end of the storage chamber 3 along the flow path A, changes its direction, flows into the machine chamber 2 from the inflow window 8 and circulates.
[0007]
Double doors 9 and 10 are provided on the front surface of the casing 1, and the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 of the present invention are stored in the storage chamber 3 so as to be removable. These electric field unit devices 11 and 12 are respectively connected to an electric field generator (transformer) 13 provided in the machine room 2. The casing 1 is provided with an electrically insulating lining, and the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 are detachably stored in the storage chamber 3 in an electrically insulated state.
[0008]
Since the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 have the same structure, the electric field unit device 11 will be described.
[0009]
The electric field unit device 11 has a frame F made of, for example, a conductive aluminum plate, and leg plates 21 and 21 are provided on the lower surface below the frame. The bottom of the frame has a back plate 20, left and right side plates 22 and 23 extending forward from both sides of the back plate 20, shelf plates 24 and 25 and a bottom plate 26 for partitioning the bottom of the frame into a plurality of stages, and the door The 9, 10 side is open. An aluminum box 27 is placed on the shelf plates 24, 25 and the bottom plate 26, and the aluminum box 27 is stored in the unit device from the open side and is defrosted in the aluminum box 29. The frozen food 28 of meat and seafood is stored. The side plate (side plate on the machine room 2 side) 22 is provided with small fans 29, 29... 29 corresponding to the respective shelves. Since it has been found that wind plays a very important role in thawing, the thawing time can be significantly shortened by allowing the object 28 to be sufficiently exposed to cold air or warm air. The small fan 29 may be a normal propeller fan or a sirocco fan.
[0010]
When the material of the frame F is a conductive plate such as aluminum, the electric field generator 13 may be connected to the frame F as shown in FIG. If the aluminum box 27 is placed on the shelf plates 24, 25, and 26 as described above, and the object to be processed is stored in the aluminum box 27, the thermal conductivity can be remarkably increased, so that reliable defrosting is guaranteed. Is done. Further, the frame F is formed with windows W, W... W so that the air can easily flow, and as shown in FIG. 3, the air from the fan 29 is made of aluminum so as to hit the object 28 to be frozen. A plurality of openings 0, 0... 0 are formed on the side wall of the box 27. And, if necessary, the fan 29 is provided with heaters 30, 30... 30 so that warm air is sent into the electric field unit device 11 at a low temperature at the initial stage of thawing. The heater 30 is connected to a power source 31.
[0011]
The frame F of the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 is formed of an aluminum plate in this embodiment, but if the inner wall in the thawing chamber is not insulated, for example, if it has a stainless steel wall, the frame The bottom is formed of an insulating ABS resin plate or PVC plate, electrode plates are provided in these plates, and an electric field generator (transformer) is connected to these electrode plates, and the object to be treated is directly or indirectly connected to these electrode plates. You may make it electrically connect to.
[0012]
In addition, in the present Example, although the electric field generator 13 connected to AC power supply is provided, you may form in a battery type instead. That is, a rechargeable battery may be provided in each electric field unit device 11 and 12 as appropriate.
[0013]
The electric field generator 13 is a high-voltage transformer, and a voltage of 500 V to 8 kV is applied to the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 in the case of a small defroster as in this embodiment. By applying an electric field to such an object to be processed, the thermal conductivity is improved, and even if the ambient temperature is in the range of -1 ° C to + 3 ° C, it is transmitted into the object to be processed 28. Less uniform thawing is possible. At the time of actual thawing, when the core temperature of the workpiece 28 is as low as −20 ° C., a warm air of about + 10 ° C. is provided in the heat exchange device 4 at the initial stage of thawing in order to quickly defrost. It is made with a heater (not shown), or with the heater 30 provided on the fan 29 of the electric field unit 11 or 12, and the temperature of the object to be processed is quickly raised to about −5 ° C., and then −1 The surface and center of the object to be processed are uniformly thawed in a short time by the action of an electric field by applying cold air of about 0 ° C. to + 3 ° C. At this time, since the wind is cold, the generation of drip is remarkably suppressed. In order to maintain the freshness after thawing, it is necessary to keep the object to be processed at a low temperature by applying an electric field while suppressing the wind. It should be noted that the freshness preservation is effective if a photocatalyst layer is formed on the wall surface of the electric field unit device. In FIG. 1, the electric field unit devices 11 and 12 are set in a horizontal thawing box, but can be set in a vertical food cold storage device such as a normal refrigerator.
[0014]
When thawing in the thawing cabinet or maintaining the freshness in a general refrigerator, it has been found that the current value flowing through the object to be processed has a great effect. Although the speed is increased, in the case of maintaining freshness, it is necessary to select a current value according to the type of food. That is, a low current value (100 μA or less) is sufficient for fruits and vegetables, but more than that (0.1 mA) is appropriate for meat.
[0015]
In general, a low voltage is preferable for safety. However, in order to increase the current value at a low voltage, the current value can be improved by grounding the object to be processed. To obtain an appropriate current value in the case of maintaining freshness, What is necessary is just to hold | grip a processed material with two electrode plates and to make the voltage between them variable.
[0016]
The means for increasing the current value and the means for making the current value variable by adjusting the voltage in the case of a constant voltage will be described below with reference to FIGS.
[0017]
In FIG. 4, the electric field unit device 50 according to the present invention includes a casing C, and the casing C includes a back plate 51, left and right side plates 52, 52, an opening / closing front plate 53, and a bottom plate 80. . A conductive electrode plate 54 is attached to the bottom plate 80. The casing C is freely housed in the refrigerator R, and is formed of ABS resin or a vinyl chloride plate or the like so as to be electrically insulated from the inner wall of the refrigerator R. A rechargeable battery 55 is mounted inside the back plate 51, and the battery 55 is attached to the bottom plate 80 via a transformer 60 and the left and right side plates 52, 52 as shown in FIG. Are connected to electrode plates 56 and 56 that are foldably attached. The electrode plate 56 is pivotally attached to guide plates 57 and 57 fixed to the inner wall of the side plate, and is attached to the upper side of the food f. A variable resistor 61 is provided between the electrode plate 54 and the transformer, and the value of current flowing through the food f is variable by adjusting the resistance. Thus, when the food f is sandwiched between the electrode plates 54 and 56, the current easily flows, and even when the battery is at a low voltage, the current value can be adjusted over a wide range according to the food f and whether it is thawed or kept fresh. As shown in FIG. 6, the upper lid 62 provided above the food f can also be a ground plate provided via air, and when the upper lid 62 is grounded, the current value flowing through the food f is This is larger than when there is no upper lid 62 at all. If a flexible ground plate 63 is provided in place of the upper lid 62 and the ground plate 63 is brought into contact with the food f along the upper surface of the food f, the current that flows even when the voltage generated by the transformer 70 is a constant low voltage. The value can be increased. The flexible ground plate 63 may be one in which an aluminum foil 64 is sandwiched between plastic films as shown in FIG.
[0018]
In FIG. 8, the electric field unit device 40 includes side plates 41, 41 and a bottom plate 42 made of insulating plates, and photocatalyst layers 43, 43, 44 are formed on the side plates 41, the inner wall of the bottom plate 42 and the upper surface of the electrode plate 54, These photocatalyst layers 43 and 44 have titanium oxide particles attached in the form of paint. The action of the photocatalyst and the electric field increases the effect of maintaining the freshness of the food f. Note that a negative ion generator 45 is provided in the electric field unit 40, and a high voltage is applied to the negative ion generator 45 from a transformer 44 as an electric field generator for generating an electric field. Negative ions are generated by corona discharge. When negative ions are imparted to the food f by the negative ion generator 45, thawing is promoted and the freshness maintaining effect is also significantly increased. The negative ion generator 45 can be attached to the thawing box shown in FIG.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention, since it is configured as above, an effect that Ru to decompress food in a short time at a low temperature without drip.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a small defroster according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electric field unit device of the present invention housed in a small thawing box.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an aluminum box housed in the electric field unit device.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an electric field unit device showing another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a wiring diagram of the electric field unit device of the embodiment of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric field unit device showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of the flexible electrode plate shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric field unit device showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Casing 4 ... Heat exchange apparatus 11, 12, 40, 50 ... Electric field unit apparatus 13 ... Electric field generator 29 ... Fan 30 ... Heater 54, 56 ... Electrode plate 61 ... Variable resistance

Claims (2)

In an electric field unit device that is unitized in a food low-temperature storage device that stores food at a low temperature, such as an existing refrigerator or defroster, and is detachably mounted and attached to an electric field generator , the electric field unit device is a front surface A side frame of the frame facing the flow of the circulating air of the food low-temperature storage device, and a plurality of small fans for strengthening the circulating air to the frozen food, Has a shelf board for partitioning it in the vertical direction, and a small fan is attached to each shelf . The electric field unit according to claim 1, wherein a heater is attached to the fan, and an aluminum box is placed on the shelf, and a food to be processed is stored in the box .

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