JP4062220B2 - Refrigerator, how to recycle the refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a vacuum heat insulating material containing a getter agent is embedded and a recycling method thereof.

The conventional method of recycling the refrigerator equipped with the first vacuum insulation material is a method of crushing the entire refrigerator, and the second method of recycling the refrigerator equipped with the vacuum insulation material is a method of crushing the main body after taking out the vacuum insulation material, There are two main types.
On the other hand, in addition to the recycling methods for the first and second vacuum heat insulating material-mounted refrigerators, the material information is displayed, but the getter agent and the vacuum heat insulating material position information are not described.
In the case of the first recycling method, when the vacuum heat insulating material containing the getter agent is crushed as it is, the getter agent exposed by the crushing treatment reacts with the cooling water sprayed in the crusher to generate heat and combustible. Generates sex gases and the like. The crusher is placed under an environment filled with urethane dust, cyclopentane in urethane and air, and it is assumed that the above-mentioned getter agent generates heat, resulting in the worst condition due to urethane dust (patent) Reference 1).

In the case of the second recycling method, after examining the position of the vacuum heat insulating material from the corresponding model name of the refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material is embedded, the outer periphery of the vacuum heat insulating material on the surface where the vacuum heat insulating material is attached After the outer box was cut, the outer box was peeled off, and the vacuum heat insulating material embedded inside was extracted, and then the box body or door was crushed, and the vacuum heat insulating material was disposed of alone.

  In the case of the third recycling method, the plastic waste is irradiated with microwaves and subjected to heat treatment, followed by crushing treatment (see Patent Document 2).

  Further, in the case of the fourth recycling method, the urethane foam waste material is compressed under heating, the foamed urethane waste material is softened and contracted, then cooled and solidified, and is crushed and granulated. . (See Patent Document 3)

JP 2002-188791 A (pages 5 to 6, FIG. 3) JP-A-10-315235 JP 11-138540 A

  In the case of including the getter agent in the case of the conventional first recycling method, the processing operation in the course of the pulverization process is extremely difficult and difficult to realize. In the case of the second recycling method, it takes time to investigate the model name and to cut the outer box, and the cutting length is as long as 3 to 4 m at one place, which makes it difficult to treat the article to be handled. In addition, in the case where a getter agent is inserted, there is a possibility that heat may be generated when the getter agent is cut by mistake. Moreover, after extracting a vacuum heat insulating material from a box or a door, the box or the door had to be hung on a crusher, and it took time and effort.

  This invention was made in order to solve the above problems, and the first object is to realize that the vacuum heat insulating material containing the getter agent is hung from a box or a door without being extracted, The object is to realize refrigerator recycling and dismantling of the processing work easily and in a short time.

In the refrigerator recycling method according to the present invention, in a refrigerator in which a vacuum heat insulating material containing a getter agent is embedded, a hole is formed in the vacuum heat insulating material, and then a recycling process is performed.

The refrigerator recycling method according to the present invention is a refrigerator in which a vacuum heat insulating material containing a getter agent is embedded, and after the hole is made in the vacuum heat insulating material, a recycling process is performed. Suppresses the deterioration of thermal conductivity due to gas intrusion into the vacuum insulation material, ensuring stable and stable heat insulation performance from the beginning of the production stage to the product life end, thereby saving energy, reducing costs, and saving energy Reduces the environmental burden caused by

Furthermore, the refrigerator recycling method of the present invention suppresses the exothermic reaction between the getter agent and water by saturating the gas adsorption capacity of the getter agent inside the vacuum insulator, and the vacuum insulator is removed from the refrigerator box or door. A box or a door can be put on a crusher without extraction. This eliminates the need for the outer box cutting, outer box peeling process, vacuum heat insulation extraction process, and getter agent extraction process, and has the effect of realizing efficient processing and an inexpensive dismantling operation in a short time.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a conventional recycling process of a used refrigerator in which a vacuum heat insulating material is embedded. FIG. 3 is a heat insulation performance characteristic diagram of the getter agent, FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of a crusher, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a refrigerator recycling method in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a vacuum heat insulating material 3 is embedded in the back urethane 2 of the refrigerator box 1. The vacuum heat insulating material 3 includes a gas shielding film 4, a core material 5, and a getter agent 6. A vacuum heat insulating material 3 is also embedded in the door 7.

  Next, the operation will be described. The used refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material configured as described above is buried is first processed in a recycling process as shown in FIG. That is, the refrigerant is recovered in step S01. Next, in step S02, the compressor and the like are removed. In step S03, the model name of the refrigerator is confirmed. In step S04, information on which position of the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is embedded in the refrigerator is acquired by confirming the model name. And in step S05, the outer peripheral part outer box of the refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is embed | buried is cut | disconnected. Next, in step S06, the outer box is peeled off, in step S07, the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is removed, and in step S08, the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is discarded. In step S09, the refrigerator main body 1 is crushed separately from the disposal of the vacuum heat insulating material 3, and in step S010, it is sorted into iron, copper, aluminum, plastic, dust and the like. However, in such a process, since the vacuum heat insulating material has the above-described configuration, since the highly reactive getter agent 6 is installed, it is dangerous to crush the refrigerator as it is. It was necessary to remove the vacuum insulation.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the getter agent 6 removes the gas that has entered the vacuum heat insulating material 3 from the outside or the gas generated inside, thereby maintaining the degree of vacuum inside the vacuum heat insulating material 3 and suppressing the deterioration of the heat insulating performance. have. It can be seen that by including the getter agent 6, the heat insulation performance can be maintained during the product lifetime of the refrigerator.

  In the selection of the getter agent 6, since there are various types of gases that enter the vacuum heat insulating material 3 and should be adsorbed, a combination of adsorbents suitable for each gas is used. Some of them react violently with water and generate heat and combustible gas. Specifically, barium lithium contained in a combo getter (R) manufactured by SAES Getters falls under this category.

Usually, inside the vacuum heat insulating material 3, water as a liquid does not come in contact, and moisture as a gas enters from the outside. Usually, another moisture adsorbent is arranged around the adsorbent that reacts violently with water and generates a combustible gas, so that the moisture does not come into direct contact.
However, when the vacuum heat insulating material 3 containing the getter agent 6 is subjected to a crushing process as it is in a general refrigerator, the vacuum heat insulating material is broken inside the crusher 9 as shown in FIG. 4, and the getter agent 6 is exposed. . As a safety measure, the inside of the crusher 9 is provided with a watering nozzle 10 for spraying cooling water, and there is a possibility that water in a liquid state directly contacts the getter agent 6. As a result, there is a risk of causing heat generation and generation of flammable gas.

  Therefore, before entering the crushing step, a hole 8 is made in the wall surface of the box body in which the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is embedded, the air is sucked into the vacuum heat insulating material 3, and the gas adsorbing ability of the getter agent 6 is saturated. If it puts into a process, processing will be possible, without extracting the vacuum heat insulating material 3 from the box 1 etc. in the state which avoided the danger of the fire by heat_generation | fever and generation | occurrence | production of combustible gas.

  That is, the recycling process of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, first, in step S10, the refrigerant is recovered. Next, a compressor etc. are removed in step S11. And in step S12, a hole is made in the vacuum heat insulation embedding part wall surface of a refrigerator main body, and it is left to stand. Next, the refrigerator main body is crushed in step S13, and sorted into iron, copper, aluminum, plastic, dust, etc. in step S14.

  As described above, in a used refrigerator embedded with a vacuum heat insulating material containing a getter agent, the vacuum heat insulating material is made to be recycled after being opened, so it has been used without extracting the vacuum heat insulating material. The refrigerator can be processed, and an efficient process and an inexpensive process can be realized in a short time.

According to the refrigerator in the first embodiment of the present invention, in the used refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material containing the getter agent is embedded, the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is punctured and then subjected to the recycling process. It is possible to process a used refrigerator without extracting the heat insulating material, and realize an efficient process and an inexpensive process in a short time.

  In the first embodiment, the vacuum heat insulating material is made to be recycled after being made a hole. In order to saturate the gas adsorption capacity of the getter agent in a shorter time, the adsorption after the hole is made. Another example of the first embodiment in which the target gas is forcibly injected into the vacuum heat insulating material will be described. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an apparatus for injecting gas into the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator in another example of the first embodiment of the present invention.

  A gas injection nozzle 13 shown in FIG. 6 is inserted into the hole 8 of the vacuum heat insulating material 3 shown in FIG. 1, and gas is injected into the vacuum heat insulating material 3 embedded from the gas injector 12. Any gas can be used as long as the getter agent 6 is a target of adsorption. However, it is effective to use water vapor because a gas existing in the atmosphere hardly obtains an accelerating effect. Further, since gas adsorption is due to a chemical reaction, if the gas is injected while the gas temperature or the getter agent temperature is raised, a greater time shortening effect can be obtained.

  FIG. 7 is a characteristic diagram showing a gas weight increase curve of the getter agent when the getter agent inside the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator in another example of the first embodiment of the present invention is left in the atmosphere. Since the increase in weight is caused by the gas adsorption reaction, it is considered that the gas adsorption capacity is lost when the increase in weight is saturated. As can be seen from FIG. 7, the higher the temperature and the higher the humidity, the faster the time for the weight increase to saturate and the faster the gas adsorption capacity decreases. In the case of injecting water vapor, it is necessary to adjust the temperature and the injection speed because water droplets may directly contact the getter agent inside the vacuum heat insulating material and cause a violent reaction.

  As described above, according to the refrigerator recycling method according to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention, a hole is formed in the vacuum heat insulating material in the used refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material containing the getter agent is embedded, and the vacuum heat insulating material is provided. By injecting a gas into the material and then performing a recycling process, the process can be performed in a shorter time.

  In another example of the first embodiment, a gas is injected after making a hole in the vacuum heat insulating material so that the gas adsorption ability of the getter agent is lost earlier. Instead, a curable liquid is injected to harden the periphery of the getter agent so that it cannot physically come into contact with water. FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an apparatus for injecting a curable liquid into the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator according to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The liquid injection nozzle 15 shown in FIG. 8 is inserted into the hole 8 of the vacuum heat insulating material 3 shown in FIG. 1, and the curable liquid is injected into the embedded vacuum heat insulating material 3 by operating the curing agent injector 14. The curable liquid to be used may be a reaction curable liquid such as urethane or epoxy resin, or a liquid such as hot melt or thermoplastic resin that becomes liquid by heating and cures with a decrease in temperature. Since the same kind of material as the constituent material of the refrigerator is desirable in the recycling process, it is effective to inject urethane, which is frequently used as a heat insulating material of the refrigerator, including the speed of the curing time.

  On the other hand, some core materials used for the vacuum heat insulating material generate dust (glass fiber, silica, etc.) during crushing, and there is a problem of clogging the crusher filter and deteriorating the working environment. In the case of the vacuum heat insulating material using such a core material, by injecting the curable liquid, the entire core material is solidified, and an effect that dust during crushing is less likely to occur can be expected.

As described above, according to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention, in a refrigerator in which a vacuum heat insulating material containing a getter agent is embedded, a hole is formed in the vacuum heat insulating material, and a curable liquid is formed inside the vacuum heat insulating material. By injecting (gas) and then performing a recycling process, the process can be performed in a shorter time, and the effect of preventing generation of dust can be obtained.

  Next, the vacuum heat insulating material 3 is mounted on the refrigerator box 1 as another example of the first embodiment of the present invention that realizes time reduction and simplification of the work of the other examples of the first to first embodiments. A description will be given according to the example. 9 is a rear view showing a refrigerator according to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a stamp example showing the vacuum heat insulating material mounting position information displayed on the refrigerator according to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is.

  In FIG. 10, in the stamp 17 on the back surface 16 of the refrigerator, information on whether or not the vacuum heat insulating material is mounted on each outer surface of the refrigerator is displayed. In addition to the stamp 17, this display can be of any type as long as it is a means for printing, stickers, molded parts, etc. to retain information until the life end of the refrigerator. If the display position is also located on the outline that can be easily seen during work, it is not necessary to be on the back surface 16. Moreover, the method shown with the description by a character and a reduced scale may be sufficient.

  According to another example of the first embodiment of the present invention, in the refrigerator in which the vacuum heat insulating material is embedded, by displaying the vacuum heat insulating material mounting position on the outer wall of the refrigerator, the manufacturer and model name of the refrigerator are confirmed during the recycling process. Without inspecting the arrangement position of the vacuum heat insulating material, the vacuum heat insulating material can be easily and stably pretreated by inactivating the getter agent before the refrigerator crushing process.

  Next, another example of the first embodiment of the present invention in which the getter agent position information of the vacuum heat insulating material is shown in the refrigerator outline will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a marking example showing refrigerator getter agent mounting position information in another example of the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 11, getter agent mounting position information on each outer surface of the refrigerator is displayed in a mark 18 on the back surface 16. It may be expressed by a symbol such as “G” or “getter” so that the position of the getter agent can be easily understood. Further, in order to make the getter agent height position easy to understand, the door portion may be symbolized.

  This display may be of any type as long as it selects a means for leaving information until the end of the refrigerator, such as printing, stickers, molded parts, etc. in addition to the marking. Further, if the display position is located in an outline that can be easily seen during work, it is not necessary to be on the back side. Moreover, the method shown by the description by a character may be sufficient.

As described above, the information is displayed on the outer shell, so that the manufacturer and model name of the refrigerator can be confirmed during the recycling process, and the getter agent can be easily and before the refrigerator crushing process without checking the arrangement position of the getter agent. It is inactivated safely and can be crushed by a crusher with the vacuum heat insulating material embedded in the refrigerator box.

  In the plurality of other examples of the first embodiment, the vacuum heat insulating material and the getter agent position information embedded in the refrigerator are shown, but the vacuum heat insulating material or the getter agent processing method is displayed on the refrigerator outline. Another example of Form 1 will be described. FIG. 12 is a stamping example showing a vacuum heat insulating material and getter agent processing method displayed on the refrigerator in another example of the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 12, the engraving 19 on the back surface 16 includes information such as a vacuum heat insulating material or getter agent treatment method for each outer surface of the refrigerator, a guide for position of the hole or setting time after the hole is opened, prohibited items, and points to be noted during work. Is displayed. This display may be of any type as long as information such as printing, stickers, molded parts, etc. for which the information remains until the recycling of the refrigerator is selected.

By having the above information in the outline, the manufacturer and model name of the refrigerator are confirmed at the time of the recycling process, and the getter agent can be easily and before the refrigerator crushing process at the time of recycling without checking the arrangement position of the getter agent. It is inactivated safely and can be crushed by a crusher with the vacuum heat insulating material embedded in the refrigerator box.

  In another example of the first embodiment of the present invention, when the vacuum heat insulating material is mounted on the refrigerator, the vacuum heat insulating material is not necessarily attached directly to the outer box. The advantage of using vacuum insulation at low temperatures is that the thermal conductivity of the vacuum insulation is lower, the efficiency is better, and the rate of aging of the vacuum insulation that is weak to heat is delayed. Because there is.

  As shown in FIG. 13, when the vacuum heat insulating material embedded in the refrigerator of the present invention is directly attached to the outer box, the outer peripheral box of the outer periphery of the heat insulating material on the vacuum heat insulating material attaching surface is cut into a gate shape. After removing the gate-shaped part and extracting the vacuum heat insulating material embedded inside, the box body from which the vacuum heat insulating material has been extracted is crushed, and the vacuum heat insulating material can be disposed of alone. However, as shown in FIG. 14, when the vacuum heat insulating material is buried in the middle of the outer box or door outer plate and the inner box or door inner plate in the refrigerator of the present invention, the conventional second recycling method is used. Can not do it.

Therefore, it can be easily and stably inactivated by processing by the getter agent saturation method shown in the first embodiment or another example of the first embodiment, and the vacuum heat insulating material is embedded in the refrigerator box. It is possible to crush with a crusher as it is.

Moreover, in the recycling facility that cannot cope with the scattering of the core material, the vacuum heat insulating material is processed without taking out the vacuum heat insulating material from the refrigerator box by the method of injecting the vacuum heat insulating material curable liquid shown in the third embodiment. It becomes possible.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the conventional recycling process of the used refrigerator which embed | buried the vacuum heat insulating material in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a heat insulation performance characteristic figure of the getter agent of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the crusher in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the recycling method of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the apparatus which inject | pours gas into the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a characteristic view which shows the getter agent gas weight increase curve at the time of leaving the getter agent gas inside the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention in air | atmosphere. It is a schematic diagram which shows the apparatus which milks a curable liquid inside the vacuum heat insulating material of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a back surface perspective view which shows the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a vacuum heat insulating material mounting position display marking example displayed on the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a getter agent position display marking example of the vacuum heat insulating material displayed on the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a stamp example which shows the recycling method display of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator which affixed the vacuum heat insulating material on the outer case of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator which embedded the vacuum heat insulating material in the middle of the outer box and inner box of the refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator heat insulation box, 2 Urethane, 3 Vacuum heat insulating material, 4 Gas shielding film, 5 Core material, 6 Getter agent, 8 hole, 9 Crushing machine, 10 Watering nozzle, 11 Crushing blade, 12 Gas injection machine, 13 Gas Injection nozzle, 14 curable liquid injection machine, 15 liquid injection nozzle, 16 Refrigerator rear surface, 17 Vacuum heat insulating material position display stamp, 18 Getter agent position display stamp, 19 Vacuum heat insulating material disassembly method display stamp.

Claims (3)

A processing step of opening a hole for sucking air into the inside of the vacuum heat insulating material from the wall surface of the refrigerator box in which a vacuum heat insulating material containing a core material that generates dust such as glass fiber and silica is embedded in the heat insulating material, and Crushing the refrigerator box together with the core after injecting a curing liquid into the vacuum heat insulating material from a hole and curing the heat insulating material, and embedding the vacuum heat insulating material in the hardening liquid; A method for recycling a refrigerator, characterized by using the same material. Display means for displaying an arrangement position provided in an outer surface such as a back surface of the refrigerator box body and embedded with a vacuum heat insulating material in the refrigerator box body, and displaying the recycling method of the refrigerator according to claim 1 on the display means. A refrigerator characterized by that. The vacuum heat insulating material is embedded in an intermediate position between the outer box and the inner box, and urethane which is a heat insulating material is filled between the outer box and the vacuum heat insulating material and between the inner box and the vacuum heat insulating material. The refrigerator according to claim 2 .

Images