JP4620003B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a device separated or separated from a main body is driven by a storage battery and the storage battery is charged by a commercial power source when the device is not operating.

  Conventionally, information terminal devices are equipped with a secondary battery that supplies power in the event of a power outage, and are structured so that programs running on information terminal devices are not temporarily stopped. The refrigerator for use did not have a secondary battery that supplies power in the event of a power failure.

  In addition, even when a secondary battery is installed, there is a concern that the required amount of power cannot be stored because there is little allowable space, and furthermore, since it takes several hours to charge, the use of the secondary battery in a refrigerator If it is frequent, the required amount of charge cannot be charged after discharging, so that the door opening device cannot be operated, for example, and if the object to be used is a lighting device, it cannot be turned on. Since it occurs, it has not been put into practical use.

In relation to the above, lithium-ion secondary batteries, which are also synonymous with batteries for small devices, are small and have high energy density, but the charging time is as long as 2 or 3 hours. There are drawbacks. On the other hand, a capacitor is a storage battery that has a higher charging performance than a lithium ion battery, but has a drawback that it cannot be driven for a long time due to its low energy density. Therefore, as a storage battery for driving a large device over a mobile phone. In recent years, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a high-speed and large-capacity non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having both the high energy density of a lithium ion battery and the high-speed charging performance of the capacitor (for example, , See Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2005-123183

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is provided so as to be separated from or separated from the main body, such as an illuminating device provided on a drawer door of a refrigerator or an ice making device that can be removed from the main body and cleaned. By driving the device with a storage battery and charging the storage battery with a commercial power source when the device is not operating, the device can be operated for a long time without running out of the battery, and the device is highly reliable and easy to use. It aims at providing the equipped refrigerator.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the refrigerator according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a pull-out door that can be opened and closed so as to close the opening of the main body storage chamber, and a door attached to the inner surface of the pull-out door. And a storage container that is pulled out from the storage chamber, an illumination device that is disposed on the inner surface side of the pull-out door and illuminates the storage container, and a storage battery that is provided in the pull-out door. When opening is detected, the lighting device is turned on using the power of the storage battery, and the storage battery is charged from a commercial power source on the main body side after the door is closed.

  Furthermore, in claim 2, the storage battery in the refrigerator according to claim 1 uses a nano-particle made of a metal material as a negative electrode material, and the nano-particle is uniformly fixed to form an electrode, thereby providing high energy density and high-speed charging. It is a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery having performance.

  According to the refrigerator of the first aspect of the present invention, the storage battery can be embedded in the drawer-type door, and the inside of the storage container can be effectively illuminated by the electric power charged in the storage battery every time the door is opened. Further, by using the high-speed and large-capacity non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery according to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to charge in a short time during normal operation even if there is frequent door opening and closing operations. There is no need to replace the battery, the control operation can be maintained normally over a long period of time, and the storage battery itself is small and light, so it can be stored and placed in a limited space such as a door. it can.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of a household refrigerator, and a refrigerator main body (1) formed of an outer box, an inner box, and an insulating box body in which a heat insulating material is foam-filled between the inner and outer boxes is disposed inside the inner box. A refrigerator compartment (2) at the top as a storage space, and an ice making room (3) and a temperature switching chamber (not shown) are arranged side by side through a heat-insulating partition wall below it, followed by a vegetable compartment (4) The freezer compartment (5) is independently arranged at the bottom, and the front opening of each storage compartment is provided with a dedicated door (2a) (3a) (4a) (5a) so that it can be opened and closed freely. Blocked.

  The door (2a) of the refrigerator compartment (2) having the largest storage volume is pivotally supported by hinges on the upper and lower ends of one side, and is attached so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction. A magnet gasket is attached to a portion corresponding to the opening of the refrigeration chamber, and when closing the door, the gasket is attracted to the periphery of the opening of the refrigeration chamber (2) by the magnetic force of the magnet, Is sealed in a heat-insulating manner to prevent heat leakage.

  The ice making room (3), the temperature switching room, the vegetable room (4), and the freezer room (5) arranged in the lower part of the refrigerator room (2) extend to the back of the storage room attached inside each door. Each storage container (4b) (5b) and ice storage box (3b) are held in a frame (not shown), and each container slides in the front-rear direction by a rail mechanism between the frame and the inner wall surface of the container together with the door. It is a method of pulling out the outside.

  Each of the storage chambers is provided with a compressor (6) provided on the back surface of the main body and the refrigeration cooler (7) or the refrigeration cooler (8) that forms part of the refrigeration cycle with the fan (9) (10) It is cooled along the set cooling storage temperature by circulating in the tank.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, for each drawer-type storage room, for example, the freezing room (5), disposed in the lower part of the refrigerating room (2), details are provided in the heat insulating wall of the door (5a). A storage battery (11), which will be described later, is embedded, and the interior of the storage container (5b) is illuminated with an illuminating device (12) formed of LEDs that are lit by the power of the storage battery (11) on the inner surface of the door. It is arranged.

  This illumination LED (12) has the characteristics that sufficient brightness can be obtained with low voltage and low power, the brightness can be easily controlled by current, the response speed is fast, the light emission is stable and the life is long. Yes, when the freezer compartment door (5a) is pulled out, the storage container (5b) is pulled forward together with the door (5a), and at the same time, the door switch (not shown) detects the open / close door of the freezer compartment (5). On / off. Then, when the door is opened, the illumination LED (12) is turned on by pulse energization, and the inside of the extracted storage container (5b) is illuminated from the upper front, making it easy to take out stored items especially at night. ing.

  The storage battery (11) is a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, and as shown in FIG. 3, a positive electrode (15) and a negative electrode (16) together with a non-aqueous electrolyte in a bag-like container (14) made of a bag-like film. Is wound in a flat shape through a separator (17) and stored, and the other ends of the strip-like positive electrode terminal (18) and the negative electrode terminal (19), one end of which is connected to the positive electrode (15) and the negative electrode (16), are connected to the container (14 The negative electrode (16) is a negative electrode current collector made of an aluminum foil or aluminum alloy foil having an average crystal particle size of 50 μm or less, and primary particles carried on the negative electrode current collector. A negative electrode layer containing negative electrode active material particles using lithium titanium oxide particles having a particle distribution with an average particle diameter h of 1 μm or less, more preferably 300 nm (nanometers) or less is provided.

  The negative electrode (16) has a crystal grain boundary that is reduced by the negative electrode current collector having an average crystal particle diameter of 50 μm or less, so that pinholes and cracks are prevented from occurring even when the aluminum foil thickness is reduced. For the same reason, since the tensile strength of the current collector can be increased, it does not break even when a large press pressure is applied to obtain a high density, and the mechanical strength is increased to increase the negative electrode containing an inert substance. The density can be made sufficiently high. In addition, by using lithium titanium oxide particles having a nanoparticle distribution with a small average particle size as the negative electrode active material, high capacity and excellent cycle performance under conditions such as high temperature environment, rapid charge or high output discharge can be obtained. A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery can be obtained.

  In general, a so-called lithium ion secondary battery is small and has a large high energy density that is several tens of times that of a capacitor (capacitor), but has a disadvantage that the charging time is long and the electrolyte solution decomposes when forced. Has high charging performance, but has a drawback that it cannot be driven for a long time due to its low energy density. On the other hand, the storage battery (11), which is a lithium ion battery used in the present invention, can absorb and store lithium ions smoothly as a negative electrode active material of a load (negative electrode) material, as described above. Even metal electrolytes such as lithium titanium oxide, which are nano-particles of the order of several hundred nanometers that are not carbon materials and have the property of not decomposing organic electrolytes, are uniformly fixed to form electrodes. Is.

  The laminate type battery prototyped by the applicant has a thickness of 3.8 mm, a height of 62 mm, a width of 35 mm, and a capacity of 600 mAh. As a result of the quick charge cycle evaluation, the battery can be charged up to 80% of the battery capacity in one minute. The battery can be fully charged in a few minutes, or it can discharge at a high output, and the capacity reduction after 1000 cycles of charge and discharge has an excellent cycle life performance of 1%. The high energy density of the lithium ion battery and the capacitor It is a compact, high-speed, large-capacity rechargeable battery that combines high-speed charging performance and can regenerate power with high efficiency.

  The storage battery (11) controls the lighting operation in the freezer compartment (5) as part of the control block (20) shown in FIG. 4, and is a storage battery embedded in the heat insulating wall of the freezer compartment door (5a). (11) and its control circuit (21) are connected to the power source (23) on the refrigerator main body (1) side by the electrical connection (22). The electrical connection portion (22) is configured by electromagnetic induction or a mechanical connector to electrically connect the main body (1) side and the door (5a) side, and the freezer compartment door (5a) is closed. When the door (5a) is pulled out, that is, when the door (5a) is separated from the main body (1), the power is cut off.

  And illumination LED (12) which is arrange | positioned at the door inner surface side and lights up with the electric power of a storage battery (11) is door sensors, such as a door switch which detects opening and closing of the door provided in the front-surface opening part vicinity of the refrigerator main body (1). When the freezer compartment door (5a) is pulled out by the operation of (24), the freezer compartment door (5a) is separated from the door sensor (24) so that the storage battery (11) A discharge circuit is formed, and the illumination LED (12) is turned on by the electric power generated by the discharge, and the interior of the storage container (5b) pulled out together with the door is illuminated.

  By this illumination, the inside of the storage container (5b) is brightly illuminated, so that the stored items can be easily viewed and stored and taken out easily. The door sensor (24) is turned off by contact or proximity between the chamber door (5a) and the main body (1), and the circuit of the illumination LED (12) is cut off by the control circuit (21).

  When the freezer compartment door (5a) is closed, the electrical connection portion (22) is connected by contact or proximity between the door side and the main body side, and from the commercial power source via the power source portion (23) on the main body side. The storage battery (11) is rapidly charged in a short time by supplying electric power.

  In addition, since the storage container (5a) is pulled out when the door is opened, the temperature in the container rises. Therefore, by detecting the ambient temperature in the storage container (5b) with the temperature sensor (25), for example, when the door is closed, The control data is transmitted from the control circuit (21) to the control circuit (26) on the refrigerator main body (1) side through the electrical connection portion (22), and controlled so as to perform the cooling operation. 5) It is possible to promote the temperature recovery in the interior and suppress the temperature effect on the stored items. The transmission of the control data to the refrigerator control circuit (26) is not limited to a wired connection, and may be transmitted wirelessly such as infrared rays.

  According to the above configuration, even if the door is opened and closed relatively frequently, the storage battery (11) can be charged quickly in a short time, so that it can be used sufficiently as a lighting device and has a large battery capacity. It can be formed in a compact manner. Moreover, since the storage battery (11) using the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery is excellent in low temperature characteristics, the capacity does not gradually decrease even in an atmosphere of −20 ° C. or lower as in the freezer compartment (5). It can be used stably.

  The lighting device is applicable not only to the freezing room (5) but also to the vegetable room (4) having the same mechanism, and the ice making room (3) for lighting in other containers. It is possible to implement. As for the ice making chamber (3), as shown in FIG. 5, a storage battery (11 ') or an ice removing drive device is installed on the ceiling near the front opening of the automatic ice making device (27) disposed in the ice making chamber (3). A control device (29) for controlling the above and a lighting LED (12 ') are attached.

  The automatic ice making device (27) in the ice making chamber (3) includes an ice tray (30) and the control device (29), and is provided integrally with the drawer-type ice making chamber door (3a) for ice making. Ice storage box (31) for storing fresh ice, and cold water from a water supply tank (32) installed in the upper refrigeration room (2) is supplied to the ice tray (30) to produce ice. The ice is twisted and deiced and stored in the ice storage box (31) below.

  Therefore, when the ice making room door (3a) is pulled out, the ice storage box (31) is drawn forward together with the door (3a) and the ice making room (3) is opened and closed at the same time as in the case of the freezing room (5). The illumination LED (12 ') is turned on by the operation of the door sensor (24') that detects the door, and the inside of the ice storage box (31) that has been drawn out is illuminated from above the front.

  The automatic ice making device (27) is detachable from the installation portion of the ice making chamber (3) so that the ice making device itself can be taken out of the room and cleaned, and the ice making device (27). A control device (29) and a storage battery (11 ') are housed in the control panel (33). As shown in the ice making control block (28) in FIG. For the motor drive, the electric power of the storage battery (11 ′) is used, and the electromagnetic power induction by the commercial power source from the power source unit (23) on the main body side is performed at other times when the deicing and the ice storage amount detection operation are not performed. The storage battery (11 ') is charged.

  By configuring as described above, the automatic ice making device (27) in which the storage battery (11 ′) for supplying electric power is integrated can adopt a waterproof structure that does not expose the electrical connection connector portion to the outside. This can be easily done when taking out from the main body side and washing it.

  In addition, since the storage battery (11 ') and the ice tray (30) are arranged at close distances, the length of the lead wire to the temperature sensor, each drive motor, control panel, etc. directly attached to the ice tray (30) Since the wiring process can be simplified and the structure can be made compact and simplified, and the storage battery (11 ′) is excellent in low temperature characteristics as well as the freezer compartment (5), Even in an atmosphere of −20 ° C. or lower, the capacity does not decrease.

  On the other hand, a door opening unit (35) is installed on the anti-pivot side in the width direction of the upper surface of the refrigerator main body (1) in the upper part of the refrigerator compartment (2). As shown in FIG. 7, the door opening unit (35) has a coil wound around the outer periphery of a cylindrical bobbin and molded into a solenoid (36) and a solenoid (36). A recess made of a magnetic plunger (37) that is attracted and moved in the axial direction by energizing the door, and this door opening unit (35) is formed in the upper part (1) of the refrigerator body via a rubber bush (1a) is disposed in a partially embedded state.

  A knock pin (38) is attached to the front end portion of the plunger (37) as a protruding member in the direction of the door (2a), and when the solenoid (36) is energized, the plunger (37) is horizontally moved forward. It is comprised so that the front-end | tip part of a knock pin (38) may protrude toward the back surface side of a door (2a) by a movement.

  The other end of the plunger (37) is provided with a coil spring (39), and the plunger is always urged in the direction opposite to the protruding direction by the solenoid (36). The knock pin (38) is formed so as to be housed in the unit again by the coil spring (39). The surface of the door opening unit (35) disposed in the recess (1a) is covered and protected by a unit cover (40).

  Thus, the solenoid (36) of the door opening unit (35) is controlled so as to be driven by the electric power from the storage battery (11 ″) similar to the above-described embodiments. That is, the refrigerator compartment shown in FIG. When the storage battery (11 ″) is disposed in the recess (1b) formed on the outer surface corresponding to the rear upper part of (1), and the door is opened using a touch panel or the like to open the refrigerator compartment door (2a). In this case, the solenoid (36) is energized by the electric power discharged from the storage battery (11 ″), and the knock pin (38) projects forward to open the refrigerator compartment door (2a). The refrigerator compartment door (2a) When the battery is in the closed state, the storage battery (11 ″) is controlled to be charged by the commercial power from the power source (23) on the main body side.

  Therefore, since the opening operation of the door opening unit (35) does not depend on the commercial power supply on the main body side, there is an advantage that the door can be automatically opened by a touch operation even if a power failure occurs.

  The storage location of the storage battery (11 ″) is not limited to the location of the above embodiment. For example, a door release unit such as a knock pin embedded in the top of the refrigerator compartment door (2a) or in a heat insulating material is also available. When energized, the refrigerator compartment door (2a) may be opened by pressing the other party, that is, the vicinity of the front opening of the main body with a knock pin when energized. Similarly to the above, when the door is closed, charging may be performed from the commercial power supply of the main body by electromagnetic induction or connector connection.

  In each of the above embodiments, the storage battery (11) (11 ') (11 ") uses nanoparticles made of a metal material such as lithium ion oxide as a negative electrode material, and the nanoparticles are fixed uniformly to form an electrode. Because it is a non-aqueous electrolyte storage battery, a battery having high energy density and high-speed charging performance can be obtained. Therefore, when the doors (2a), (3a) and (5a) are opened, the deicing operation of the ice making device is performed. Sometimes, electric power close to full charge is always stored, and illumination, opening operation, or deicing drive can be performed without opening a battery due to a storage battery.

  Furthermore, since the capacity of the storage battery itself can be made very compact as described above, the storage batteries (11), (11 '), and (11 ") are insulated doors (2a) (3a) ( 5a) and the heat insulating housing (1) can be easily housed and installed at appropriate locations.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator which shows one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a freezer compartment portion in FIG. 1. It is a partial notch perspective view of the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery used for the refrigerator of FIG. It is a control block diagram of the freezer compartment which shows one Example of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view of the ice making chamber part in FIG. It is a control block diagram of the ice making device of FIG. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the door opening unit in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Refrigerator body 2 Refrigerated room 3 Ice making room 4 Vegetable room 5 Freezer room 3a, 4a, 5a Pull-out door
11, 11 ′, 11 ″ storage battery
12, 12 'Lighting LED
20 Freezer compartment control block
21 Control circuit
22 Electrical connection
23 Power supply
24, 24 ′ door sensor
25 Temperature sensor
26 Refrigerator control circuit
27 Automatic ice making equipment
28 Ice making control block
29 Ice making control device
35 Door opening unit

Claims (2)

A drawer-type door that can be opened and closed so as to close the opening of the main body storage chamber, a storage container that is attached to the inner surface of the drawer-type door and is drawn out of the storage chamber together with the door, and an inner surface of the drawer-type door A lighting device that illuminates the inside of the storage container and a storage battery provided in the drawer door, and when the opening of the drawer door is detected, the lighting device is used by using the electric power of the storage battery. A refrigerator characterized by being lit and charging the storage battery from a commercial power source on the main body side after the door is closed.   The storage battery is a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having high energy density and high-speed charging performance that is made into an electrode by using nano-particles made of a metal material as a negative electrode material and fixing these nano-particles uniformly. The refrigerator according to claim 1.

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