JP4892944B2 - Method for manufacturing vacuum insulator and vacuum insulator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum heat insulator that can be used as a heat insulator such as a refrigerator, a heat insulation container, a vending machine, an electric water heater, an automobile, a railway vehicle, and a house, and a manufacturing method thereof. is there.

  In recent years, energy saving is strongly desired from the viewpoint of preventing global warming, and energy saving is an urgent issue for household appliances. In particular, a heat insulating material having excellent heat insulating performance is required from the viewpoint of efficiently using heat in a heat and cold insulation device such as a refrigerator, a freezer, and a vending machine.

  As general heat insulating materials, fiber materials such as glass wool and foams such as urethane foam are used. However, in order to improve the heat insulation performance of these heat insulating materials, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the heat insulating material, and there is a limit to the space that can be filled with the heat insulating material, so when space saving and effective use of the space are necessary It cannot be applied.

  Therefore, a vacuum heat insulator has been proposed as a high performance heat insulating material. This is a heat insulator in which a core material serving as a spacer is inserted into a jacket material having a gas barrier property and the inside is sealed under reduced pressure.

  Higher thermal insulation performance can be obtained by increasing the degree of vacuum inside the vacuum thermal insulator. There are roughly the following three types of gas in the vacuum insulator. One is the gas that cannot be evacuated when the vacuum heat insulator is produced, and the other is the gas generated from the core material and the jacket material after being vacuum-sealed (adsorbed to the core material and the jacket material). The remaining gas is a gas that passes through the jacket material and enters from the outside.

  In order to adsorb these gases, a method of filling a vacuum heat insulating material with an adsorbent has been devised.

  For example, there exists what adsorb | sucks the gas in a vacuum heat insulating body using Ba-Li alloy (for example, refer patent document 1).

  Of the gases to be adsorbed by the adsorbent in the vacuum insulation body, one of the gases that are difficult to adsorb is nitrogen. This is because the nitrogen molecule is a nonpolar molecule having a large binding energy of about 940 kJ / mol, and thus it is difficult to activate.

However, nitrogen can be adsorbed by the Ba-Li alloy, and the degree of vacuum inside the vacuum heat insulator is maintained.
Japanese National Patent Publication No. 9-512088

  However, the above-described conventional configuration described in Patent Document 1 does not require heat treatment for activation, and can adsorb nitrogen even at room temperature and can be handled in an air atmosphere for several minutes. In particular, a longer permissible time is desirable for handling under conditions for manufacturing a vacuum insulator.

  That is, because much of the nitrogen adsorption capacity is consumed in the manufacturing process that comes into contact with air, the adsorption capacity for maintaining the performance over time of the vacuum heat insulator becomes poor, and performance deterioration and performance variation increase.

  In order to further improve the performance of the vacuum heat insulator, it has been a big challenge to use the adsorbent more stably and efficiently in order to maintain the degree of vacuum inside the vacuum heat insulator.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems. In the vacuum insulator manufacturing process, the adsorption capacity is suppressed by not exposing the adsorbent to air in the atmosphere, and high adsorption is achieved in the vacuum insulator. Utilizing its capabilities, it will stably absorb major air components such as nitrogen and oxygen that permeate over time, maintain a vacuum over a long period of time, and provide a vacuum insulator with excellent heat insulation performance. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an air component adsorbent that is not adsorbed by the air component adsorbent and the air component adsorbent that opens when the pressure outside the container becomes smaller than a predetermined value compared to the pressure inside the container. Next, the filling container is disposed inside the jacket container together with the porous core material, and the pressure outside the filling container is smaller than a predetermined value compared to the pressure inside the filling container. By reducing the pressure in the outer container so that the non-adsorbing gas in the filling container is exhausted through the opening made in the filling container together with the air in the outer container, A vacuum heat insulator is manufactured by a method of hermetically sealing the envelope container.

  According to the method for manufacturing a vacuum heat insulating body of the present invention, the air component adsorbent is sealed together with a non-adsorbing gas in a filling container, and the filling container is opened in a vacuum atmosphere to form a porous core material. Due to vacuum packaging, contact with air in the atmosphere does not occur in the manufacturing process and the adsorbent does not deteriorate.

  Therefore, it can be used without any problem regardless of the manufacturing time of the vacuum heat insulator. For this reason, there is no variation in adsorption performance due to exposure in an air atmosphere, and a vacuum heat insulator that can be stably manufactured and has no problem with long-term reliability can be obtained.

  Here, the filling container has a configuration in which the openings of two containers having different sizes of the openings are overlapped and joined so as to close the opening of one container with the opening of the other container. When the pressure outside the container becomes smaller than the pressure inside the filling container by a predetermined value or more, it is possible to use one in which the overlapped and joined portions are removed.

  At this time, if a lubricant is applied in advance to the overlapped and joined portions of the filling containers, the joining portions of the filling containers are easily detached due to the pressure difference due to the reduced pressure, and an opening can be formed.

  In addition, the vacuum heat insulating body of the present invention includes at least an air component adsorbing material disposed in a filled container having an opening and a joint portion removed, a porous core material, and an outer container for housing these The air component adsorbent is connected to the inside of the vacuum heat insulator through the opening in a continuous space.

  As a result, the residual trace air remaining in the porous core material and the minute air permeating from the outside can be adsorbed and fixed by the air component adsorbent connected to the porous core material in a continuous space, and the internal pressure is set to a predetermined degree of vacuum. Can be maintained. This makes it possible to maintain excellent heat insulation over a long period of time.

  In addition, although a filling container here does not ask | require a shape and a magnitude | size, the capsule used for a pharmaceutical and a health food can be utilized. The capsule is a hard capsule composed of a body and a cap, and is defined as a pair of bottomed cylindrical bodies that can be alternately stacked with one end closed.

  The vacuum heat insulating body of the present invention can stably achieve high heat insulating performance, ensure long-term reliability, and can exert a remarkable effect on solving environmental problems such as global warming.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air component adsorbent and an air component adsorbent in a filling container that opens when the pressure outside the container becomes a predetermined value or more smaller than the pressure inside the container. The non-adsorbing gas that is not adsorbed is sealed, and then the filling container is disposed inside the jacket container together with the porous core material, and the pressure outside the filling container is compared with the pressure inside the filling container. By reducing the pressure in the outer container so as to be smaller than a predetermined value, the non-adsorbing gas in the filling container is exhausted through the opening made in the filling container together with the air in the outer container. After that, the outer casing container is hermetically sealed, and the air component adsorbing material is sealed together with the non-adsorbing gas in the filling container, and the filling container opens in a vacuum atmosphere and is porous. For vacuum packaging with the core material, Catalyst is not deteriorated adsorbent does not occur in the manufacturing process. Therefore, it can be used without any problem regardless of the manufacturing time of the vacuum heat insulator. For this reason, there is no variation in adsorption performance due to exposure in an air atmosphere, and a vacuum heat insulator that can be stably manufactured and has no problem with long-term reliability can be obtained.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a vacuum heat insulating body, wherein the filling container according to the first aspect of the invention has a size of the opening so that the opening of one container is closed by the opening of the other container. When the pressure outside the filling container is reduced by a predetermined value or more compared to the pressure inside the filling container, the overlapped and joined part is released. Capsules used for pharmaceuticals and health foods can be used.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a vacuum heat insulator, wherein the filling container according to the second aspect of the invention is formed by applying a lubricant in advance to a portion where the fillers are overlapped and joined, The deformation due to the difference occurs smoothly and the opening can be easily formed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air component adsorbent, a porous core material, and an outer housing for housing these components, which are disposed in a filled container having an opening and a joint portion removed. The air component adsorbing material is connected to the inside of the outer packaging container through the opening in a continuous space, and thereby, residual trace air remaining in the porous core material and The minute amount of air that permeates from the outside can be adsorbed and fixed by the air component adsorbing material connected to the porous core material in a continuous space, and the internal pressure can be maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum. This makes it possible to maintain excellent heat insulation over a long period of time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view before evacuation in the method for manufacturing a vacuum heat insulator in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a filling container used for the vacuum heat insulator in the same embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view immediately before the end of evacuation in the vacuum insulator manufacturing method in the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a vacuum after vacuum packaging in the vacuum insulator manufacturing method in the embodiment. It is sectional drawing of a heat insulating body.

  In FIG. 1, an envelope container 1 made of a laminate film encloses and covers a porous core material 2. The air component adsorbing material 3 is an adsorbing material that adsorbs at least nitrogen composed of a Ba-Li alloy (SAES combo getter) or a copper ion exchanged ZSM-5 type zeolite, and is a filled container made of a general-purpose pharmaceutical capsule 4 is enclosed together with a non-adsorbing gas 5 that is not adsorbed by the air component adsorbent 3 such as argon gas. The pressure of the non-adsorbing gas 5 filled at this time is 1 atmospheric pressure.

  As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 2, the filling container 4 made of a capsule has no gas permeability or extremely low gas permeability, and has a body (one bottomed cylindrical container) 6 and Two containers having caps (the other bottomed cylindrical container) 7 and having different opening sizes so as to close the opening of the body (one container) 6 with the opening of the cap (the other container) 7 The openings of (body 6, cap 7) are overlapped and the opening of body 6 is pushed into the opening of cap 7, and the openings are overlapped and adhered at joint 8.

  A lubricant 9 such as vacuum oil is applied to the joint 8. When the pressure outside the filling container 4 becomes smaller than the pressure inside the filling container 4 by a predetermined value or more, the overlapped and joined portion is released and opened.

  In FIG. 1, a vacuum packaging machine 10 includes a decompression chamber 11, a vacuum pump 12, and a heat sealing machine 13 that performs heat welding after a predetermined vacuum exhaust.

  In FIG. 3, when the vacuum packaging machine 10 is operated and the inside of the decompression chamber 11 is evacuated to 500 Pa, the filling container 4 made of the capsule is caused by a pressure difference with the non-adsorbed gas 5 of 1 atm. The body 6 and the cap 7 are removed to form the opening 14. Then, the non-adsorbing gas 5 in the filling container 4 made of capsules is exhausted into the decompression chamber 11 through the opening 14.

  Thereafter, when the degree of vacuum in the decompression chamber 11 reached a predetermined 10 Pa, the outer casing 1 was thermally welded by the heat sealer 13 to obtain the vacuum heat insulator 15 of FIG.

  As described above, in the manufacturing method according to the present embodiment, the air component adsorbing material 3 has the body 6 and the cap 7 of the filling container 4 made of capsules removed in a vacuum atmosphere. Even if the production time is long, there is no deterioration and it can be used without any problem. For this reason, there is no variation in the adsorption performance depending on the exposure time in the air atmosphere, stable production can be achieved, and long-term reliability can be obtained without any problem.

  As a result, it is possible to contribute to the protection of the global environment as energy saving by utilizing the high thermal insulation performance over a long period of time.

  In addition, since a lubricant 9 such as a vacuum oil is preliminarily applied to the joint portion 8 of the filling container 4 made of capsules, when the vacuum is drawn as shown in FIG. The opening 14 is formed by easily slipping off at the portion 8.

  As described above, in the manufacturing method according to the present embodiment, the body 6 and the cap 7 of the filling container 4 made of capsules are more surely removed by the lubricant 9, so that the air adsorbent 3 passes through the opening 14 and is a vacuum heat insulator. Thus, the minute amount of air inside 15 can be effectively adsorbed and removed.

  In FIG. 4, the vacuum heat insulator 15 includes an outer casing container 1, a porous core material 2, and an air component adsorbing material 3, and the air component adsorbing material 3 is porous through an opening 10 of a filling container 4 made of a capsule. It connects with the inside of the vacuum heat insulating body 11 containing the core material 2 in the continuous space of a vacuum.

  Thereby, residual trace air remaining in the porous core material 2 and trace air permeating from the outside can be adsorbed and fixed by the air component adsorbent 3 connected to the porous core material 2 in a continuous space, and the internal pressure is set to a predetermined value. The vacuum can be maintained below. In order to evaluate the aging characteristics, even if the vacuum insulation 15 is left in the air at 80 ° C. for 3 months as an accelerated test, the change in thermal conductivity is 1 to 2%, and the performance can be maintained without problems. It became clear that it was possible.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to stably realize the performance of an excellent vacuum heat insulator stably over a long period without variation.

  As described above, the vacuum heat insulating material according to the present invention has high heat insulating performance and high reliability. For example, a refrigerator, a heat insulating container, a vending machine, an electric water heater, an automobile, a railway vehicle, and a house. It can be widely applied to a thermal insulator such as

Sectional drawing before the vacuum exhaustion in the manufacturing method of the vacuum heat insulating body in one embodiment of this invention The expanded sectional view of the filling container used for the vacuum heat insulating body in the embodiment Sectional drawing just before completion | finish of evacuation in the manufacturing method of the vacuum heat insulating body in the embodiment Sectional drawing of the vacuum heat insulating body after the vacuum packaging in the manufacturing method of the vacuum heat insulating body in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outer container 2 Porous core material 3 Air component adsorption material 4 Filling container 5 Non-adsorbable gas 8 Joint part 9 Lubricant 14 Opening part 15 Vacuum heat insulator

Claims (3)

When the pressure outside the container becomes smaller than a predetermined value compared to the pressure inside the container, an air component adsorbing material and a non-adsorbing gas that is not adsorbed by the air component adsorbing material are sealed in the opening filling container, and the filling container Arranged inside the outer container together with the core material , the filling container has a structure in which the openings of the two containers are overlapped and joined, and the pressure outside the filling container and the pressure inside the filling container Due to the pressure difference, the overlapped and joined part is removed, and together with the air in the outer container, the non-filled container in the filled container is opened through an opening formed by removing the joined part of the filled container. A method for manufacturing a vacuum heat insulating body, wherein after the adsorbing gas is also exhausted, the envelope container is hermetically sealed. The manufacturing method of the vacuum heat insulating body according to claim 1 , wherein the filling container is preliminarily coated with a lubricant at a portion where they are overlapped and joined. At least an air component adsorbing material disposed in a filling container having an opening portion with a joint portion removed, a porous core material, and an outer container for storing these, the air component adsorbing material is The vacuum heat insulator using the manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum container is connected to the inside of the outer casing container through a continuous space in a continuous space.

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