JP5441431B2 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator such as a horizontal refrigerator.

  As this type of refrigerator, for example, the one described in Patent Document 1 below is known. Inside the refrigerator main body of the front opening, a storage room capable of storing trays containing cooked foods in multiple stages and an installation room in which a cooling unit is installed are provided side by side in the frontage direction. . The cooling unit includes a cooling fan disposed on the front side in a direction facing the storage chamber, and a cooler disposed on the rear side of the cooling fan. Both the cooling fan and the cooler are housed inside the casing. By driving the cooling fan, the cool air is generated while the air in the storage room is sucked into the installation room and passes through the cooler. Is again sent to the storage room. As a result, the food is cooled.

JP 2008-106978 A

However, it is conceivable that a part of the air traveling from the cooling fan to the cooler stays at the lower end portion between the cooling fan and the cooler, although a little. In addition, since the lower end of the front surface of the cooler is disposed below the cooling fan, the air from the cooling fan toward the cooler mainly passes the upper portion more easily than the lower end of the cooler. Thus, in order to increase the efficiency of heat exchange by the cooler, further improvement has been desired.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to increase the efficiency of heat exchange by a cooler.

  The cooler of the present invention is provided with a storage chamber for storing an object to be cooled on one side of the frontage direction inside the cooler body having a front opening and a door attached to the front opening. In the installation chamber provided in the cooling chamber, a cooling unit is installed in which a cooling fan and a cooler are arranged with a gap before and after facing the storage chamber and housed in a casing, and the cooling fan As the air is driven, the air in the storage chamber is sucked from the suction port on the front surface of the cooling unit and heat is exchanged with the cooler to generate cold air, and the cold air is blown out from the air outlet on the rear surface of the cooling unit. After that, the air circulates to the side of the cooling unit and is circulated and supplied to the storage chamber. Between the cooling fan and the cooler, the air sucked from the suction port is Toward the bottom front of the cooler Characterized in was configured to air guide is provided for circulating guides obliquely downward Te.

  According to the above configuration, even when the front lower end of the cooler is arranged below the cooling fan, a part of the air sucked from the suction port of the cooling fan is guided obliquely downward by the air guide. It can be circulated and sent to the lower end of the cooler without being retained at the lower end between the cooler and the cooling fan. Therefore, the air blown out from the cooling fan passes evenly throughout the entire vertical direction of the cooler, and the efficiency of heat exchange by the cooler can be increased.

The following configuration may also be used.
(1) The cooler is provided with a heater that melts frost adhered to the cooler, and a drain pan that receives frost and defrost water that has melted and dropped due to the heat of the heater is installed below the cooler. The air guide is continuous with the upper surface opening of the drain pan. In this way, even when the frost adhered to the cooler is melted by the heat of the heater and the melted frost falls on the upper surface of the air guide, the frost is guided from the upper surface of the air guide to the upper surface opening of the drain pan. And you can receive it with a drain pan.
(2) The said heater is a tubular heater arrange | positioned by the handling which can contact the frost which fell on the upper surface of the said air guide. When such a tubular heater is provided, frost that has fallen on the upper surface of the air guide can be melted, so that frost does not accumulate on the upper surface of the air guide.

(3) The air guide extends downward along the side surface of the drain pan, and a rail that supports the lower surface of the drain pan is provided at the extended end portion. That is, since the air guide is provided with the rail, the lower surface of the drain pan can be supported by the rail.
(4) The rail is formed integrally with the air guide. In this case, since it is not necessary to provide a rail separately from the air guide, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to raise the efficiency of the heat exchange by a cooler and to improve the cooling performance of a refrigerator further.

The front view of the quick refrigerator which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention Perspective view of the quick-cooling chamber with the insulated door opened Front view showing the internal structure AA line sectional view of FIG. Side view of the cooling unit from the front side A perspective view of the cooling unit with the fan case opened The perspective view of the state which removed the drain pan in FIG. BB sectional view of FIG. Perspective view of the refrigerator body Sectional drawing which shows the level | step difference formed in the junction part of the bottom face in a warehouse, and an internal peripheral surface The figure which showed a state that the drain pan was pushed by the heat insulation door

<Embodiment>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The cooler of the present embodiment is a so-called horizontal cooler, and as shown in FIG. 1, a cooler main body (hereinafter simply referred to as a main body 10) is installed on the right side of the machine room 11. The machine room 11 and the main body 10 are assembled side by side in the horizontal direction, and are supported by a plurality of legs 12 arranged on the bottom surface of the machine room 11 and the main body 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the main body 10 is formed of a heat-insulating box having an open front surface, and the front opening 13 of the main body 10 can be opened and closed with a heat insulating door 14 swinging around a right edge viewed from the front. It is attached to. A top plate having a single plate shape is attached to the upper surface of the main body 10 and the machine room 11 so that cooking or the like can be performed on the top plate.
As shown in FIG. 9, the inner surface of the main body 10 has a substantially rectangular bottom surface 10B, a left side surface 10L rising from the left end of the bottom surface 10B, a right side surface 10R rising from the right end of the bottom surface 10B, and a back surface 10C rising from the back end of the bottom surface 10B. The ceiling surface 10A is disposed to face the bottom surface 10B. Here, as shown in FIG. 10, a step 10 </ b> D is provided at a joint portion between the bottom surface 10 </ b> B and the inner peripheral surface (the left side surface 10 </ b> L, the right side surface 10 </ b> R, and the back surface 10 </ b> C). By placing the tip of the caulking gun 42 on the step 10D, the caulking gun 42 can be easily guided along the step 10D.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 8, in the inside of the main body 10, that is, in the warehouse, a region of about 60% on the right side when viewed from the front is the food storage chamber 15, and the remaining left region is the cooling unit 20. It becomes the installation room 16 of. In the storage room 15, trays (not shown) such as hotel pans can be stored in a plurality of stages by being taken in and out from the front. Therefore, a pair of tray receivers 25 are attached to the left and right side surfaces of the storage chamber 15 so as to face each other.
The cooling unit 20 is a unit obtained by assembling a cooler 21 and a cooling fan 22. The cooler 21 and the cooling fan 22 are arranged in front and rear in the direction facing the storage chamber 15. That is, the cooling fan 22 is disposed on the front side facing the storage chamber 15, and the cooler 21 is disposed on the rear side of the cooling fan 22.

The cooler 21 is formed in a vertically long block shape having a height dimension slightly lower than the height in the cabinet and a width slightly more than half the depth in the cabinet. The cooler 21 is housed in a cooler cover 23 having openings on both sides of the front plate 23C on the storage chamber 15 side and the back plate 23B on the opposite side shown in FIG. Of the two openings, the opening provided in the front plate 23 </ b> C is a suction port 28 for sucking the air in the storage chamber 15, and the opening provided in the back plate 23 </ b> B blows out the cold air generated by the cooler 21. This is the air outlet 29.
The suction port 28 is formed at a position corresponding to the position of the cooling fan 22 on the front plate 24 </ b> C of the fan case 24. On the other hand, the air outlet 29 is formed on substantially the entire surface of the back plate 23 </ b> B of the cooler cover 23. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, an upright wall 24 </ b> D rising from the back surface of the front plate 24 </ b> C is erected around the cooling fan 22 on the back side of the fan case 24. By this standing wall 24 </ b> D, the in-compartment air sucked from the suction port 28 is guided to flow toward the cooler 21.
A tubular heater 40 formed in a tubular shape is disposed on the front surface of the cooler 21 (the surface along the front plate 23C). The tubular heater 40 is arranged in a plurality of stages on the front surface of the cooler 21. The lowermost tubular heater 40 is disposed near the lower end of the front surface of the cooler 21. The tubular heater 40 melts the frost adhering to the cooler 21, and the frost and defrost water dropped from the cooler 21 are accommodated in a drain pan 43 described later.

The cooling fan 22 is mounted in the fan case 24. As shown in FIG. 8, the fan case 24 is overlapped with the front side plate 24 </ b> A being flush with the front side plate 23 </ b> A of the cooler cover 23. The opening edge of 24 </ b> B is applied to the front plate 23 </ b> C of the cooler cover 23 that protrudes to the back side, and is attached so as to be swingable and openable by hinges 26 at two locations, upper and lower. Between the opening edges of the side plate 24A on the front side of the fan case 24 and the side plate 23A on the front side of the cooler cover 23 that are opposed to each other, as shown in FIG. A locking device 27 is provided for locking. When the locking device 27 is unlocked, the fan case 24 can be opened by swinging 90 degrees counterclockwise in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, the upper surface plate 23 </ b> D of the cooler cover 23 is provided with a flange 30 that projects to the front side (the storage chamber 15 side). The cooling unit 20 is fixed to the ceiling surface 10A in the warehouse by screwing the flange 30 to the ceiling surface 10A in the warehouse. On the other hand, a bracket 31 for fixing the cooling unit 20 to the left side surface 10L in the cabinet is attached to the lower end portion of the back plate 23B of the cooler cover 23.

As shown in FIG. 7, the bracket 31 includes a rear guide portion 31A composed of an upper horizontal portion, a mounting portion 31B hanging from the rear end of the rear guide portion 31A along the left side surface 10L, and a lower side. The left rail 31C composed of a short horizontal part is provided. The cooling unit 20 is fixed to the left side surface 10L by screwing the attachment portion 31B to the lower portion of the left side surface 10L in the cabinet. Further, the left rail 31 </ b> C is a portion that receives a side edge portion on the lower surface portion of the drain pan 43 to be described later.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, a pair of refrigerant | coolant pipe | tube 39 is pulled out by the back side of the cooling unit 20. As shown in FIG. Both refrigerant pipes 39 are circulated and connected to a refrigeration apparatus 50 provided in the machine room 11. Thereby, a refrigeration circuit is configured. Further, an internal temperature sensor 38 is attached to the back side of the cooling unit 20, and the internal temperature is maintained at a constant temperature based on the temperature data obtained by the internal temperature sensor 38. Is controlled. On the other hand, a core temperature sensor 45 is detachably attached to the front side of the cooling unit 20.

Now, an air guide 32 is attached to the lower end of the front surface of the cooler cover 23 as shown in FIG. As described above, the cooling fan 22 and the cooler 21 are arranged to face each other in the front-rear direction, and a part of the internal air blown out from the cooling fan 22 at the lower end portion between the cooling fan 22 and the cooler 21 is provided. In order to restrict the stay, the air guide 32 is provided in the cooler cover 23 so that the internal air is directly sent to the cooler 21.
The air guide 32 includes a front guide portion 32A inclined obliquely downward toward the lower end of the front surface of the cooler cover 23, a mounting portion 32B hanging from the lower end of the front guide portion 32A, and a short horizontal portion on the lower side. And the right rail 32C. The front guide portion 32A, the attachment portion 32B, and the right rail 32C are integrally formed by punching or bending a single metal plate. For this reason, since it is not necessary to provide the front side guide part 32A, the attachment part 32B, and the right rail 32C separately, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

In the air guide 32, the vicinity of the corner between the front guide portion 32 </ b> A and the attachment portion 32 </ b> B is arranged in contact with or close to the lowermost tubular heater 40. For this reason, the heat of the tubular heater 40 can be transmitted to the front guide portion 32A and the attachment portion 32B. Therefore, since the frost dropped from the cooler 21 can be melted indirectly on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A or directly by the tubular heater 40, frost accumulates on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A. Absent.
As shown in FIG. 3, the upper end of the front guide portion 32A is substantially opposite to the tip of the lower end of the standing wall 24D, and the front guide portion 32A is directed from the tip of the lower end of the standing wall 24D toward the front lower end of the cooler 21. It is formed obliquely below. If it does in this way, since the internal air blown off from the cooling fan 22 can be distribute | circulated also to the lower end part of the cooler 21, the heat exchange by the cooler 21 can be performed efficiently.

On the lower surface side of the cooler cover 23, as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, an accommodating portion 41 for a drain pan 43 that receives defrosted water from the cooler 21 is disposed. The accommodating portion 41 includes an attachment portion 32B of the air guide 32, a right rail 32C, a left rail 31C of the bracket 31, and a vertical portion 31D that connects the left rail 31C and the attachment portion 31B.
The drain pan 43 is formed in a rectangular box shape having an upper surface that is elongated in the depth direction so that the drain pan 43 can be accommodated in the entire depth of the accommodating portion 41. A handle 44 is formed on the upper edge of the front surface of the drain pan 43. The left edge of the lower surface of the drain pan 43 is supported by the left rail 31C, while the right edge of the lower surface is supported by the right rail 32C. Accordingly, the drain pan 43 can be taken into and out of the accommodating portion 41. Further, since the left and right side surfaces of the drain pan 43 are sandwiched between the mounting portion 32B of the air guide 32 and the vertical portion 31D of the bracket 31, the movement of the drain pan 43 in the depth direction is guided.
In addition, when the heat insulation door 14 is closed in the state where the drain pan 43 is not in a fixed position, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the drain pan 43 is pushed in the depth direction of the housing portion 41 by the inner surface of the heat insulation door 14, so that the heat insulation is performed. By closing the door 14, the drain pan 43 is placed in the fixed position shown in FIG.

The upper edge of the right side surface of the drain pan 43 is in contact with the mounting portion 32 </ b> B of the air guide 32. For this reason, the defrost water melted on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A enters the inside of the drain pan 43 through the attachment portion 32B. Therefore, the defrost water melted on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32 </ b> A can be collected in the drain pan 43.
By the way, as shown in FIG. 5, the handle 44 of the drain pan 43 is a horizontal surface, and the upper surface of the handle 44 is arranged flush with the upper surface of the rear guide portion 31A. Therefore, the cold air blown out from the outlet 29 to the back side branches to the near side and the far side on the left side surface 10L in the warehouse as shown by the arrow line (dashed line) in FIG. The flowing cool air C1 smoothly flows from the upper surface of the rear guide portion 31A through the upper surface of the handle 44 to the storage chamber 15, and the cool air C2 flowing to the inner side of the cooling unit 20 flows from the upper surface of the rear guide portion 31A. It flows into the storage chamber 15 through the ventilation path formed on the back side.
In addition, a slight gap is set between the handle 44 and the rear guide portion 31A, and frost melted during the defrosting operation does not flow from the upper surface of the rear guide portion 31A to the upper surface of the handle 44. In addition, it falls to the bottom 10B in the cabinet or the inside of the drain pan 43. Further, a slight gap is also set between the handle 44 and the heat insulating door 14, so that the frost melted during the defrosting operation does not fall down outside the cabinet through the top surface of the handle 44, and the bottom surface inside the cabinet It is supposed to fall to 10B.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be described subsequently. The basic cooling operation is performed by driving the refrigeration apparatus 50 (compressor) and the cooling fan 22. As shown in FIG. 8, the air C <b> 3 in the storage chamber 15 flows from the suction port 28 of the fan case 24. The cool air C1 and C2, which are sucked into the cooling unit 20 and generated through the cooler 21 while passing through the cooler 21 and blown out from the air outlet 29 which is an opening on the back side of the cooler cover 23, After hitting 10L, it is divided into the near side and the far side and wraps around the near side and the far side of the cooler 21, and then a part of the cooler 21 is sent to the storage chamber 15 while flowing to the right side 10R side.
Thus, the foodstuffs put in the tray (not shown) are rapidly cooled by circulating the cool air C1, C2, C3. During this time, the internal temperature is detected by the internal temperature sensor 38, and the refrigeration apparatus 50 is turned on / off based on a comparison between the detected temperature and a predetermined internal set temperature, and the internal temperature is maintained substantially at the set temperature. The On the other hand, the core temperature sensor 45 is inserted into the stored food, the core temperature (internal temperature) of the food is detected, and when the detected temperature is lowered to a preset temperature of the core temperature, a predetermined temperature is reached. It is assumed that the rapid cooling is completed, and the cooling operation is stopped.

Here, in the present embodiment, the cooler 21 is disposed on the rear side of the cooling fan 22, and the front lower end of the cooler 21 is disposed below the cooling fan 22. It is conceivable that the internal air easily passes through the upper part than the lower end of the cooler 21. For this reason, there is room for further improving the efficiency of heat exchange by sending the internal air into the lower end of the cooler 21.
In this regard, in the present embodiment, the air guide 32 extending obliquely downward from the lower end portion of the standing wall 24D provided around the cooling fan 22 toward the front lower end of the cooler 21 is provided. However, the inside air can be circulated along the air guide 32 and the inside air can also be sent to the lower end portion of the cooler 21. Therefore, the internal air blown out from the cooling fan 22 passes through the entire area in the vertical direction of the cooler 21, and the efficiency of heat exchange by the cooler 21 can be enhanced.

Further, since the upper surface of the handle 44 of the drain pan 43 is arranged flush with the upper surface of the rear guide portion 31A, the cold air C1 branched to the front side on the left side surface 10L in the refrigerator is transferred to the rear guide portion 31A. It can be smoothly guided from the upper surface through the upper surface of the handle 44 to the storage chamber 15. On the other hand, since a ventilation path is formed on the back side of the cooling unit 20 with the back surface 10C in the warehouse, the cool air C2 branched to the back side on the left side surface 10L in the warehouse is passed through the ventilation path. It can be led to the storage chamber 15.
In addition, when the frost attached to the cooler 21 during the defrosting operation is melted by the tubular heater 40 and falls to the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A of the air guide 32, the lowermost stage installed near the lower end of the front surface of the cooler 21 The tubular heater 40 can melt frost, and frost does not accumulate on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A. At this time, the frost that has melted on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32 </ b> A becomes defrosted water and enters the inside from the upper surface opening of the drain pan 43 through the attachment portion 31 </ b> B from the front guide portion 32 </ b> A.

Moreover, since the drain pan 43 can be guided in the depth direction by being sandwiched from the left and right sides by the vertical portion 31D and the attachment portion 32B, when discarding the defrost water stored in the drain pan 43, The drain pan 43 can be easily removed by pulling the handle 44 toward the front side. Further, since the right rail 32C that supports the right edge of the lower surface of the drain pan 43 is formed integrally with the air guide 32, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.
Moreover, since the clearance gap was provided between 31 A of rear side guide parts, and the handle | steering-wheel 44, after the frost from a cooler melt | dissolved at the time of a defrost operation and it became defrost water, this defrost water is 31 A of back side guide parts. It does not reach the upper surface of the handle 44 along the upper surface. Furthermore, since a gap is provided between the handle 44 and the heat insulating door 14, the defrost water does not flow down from the upper surface of the handle 44 to the outside of the cabinet. Moreover, even if the heat insulation door 14 is closed in a state where the drain pan 43 is pulled out to the front side, the drain pan 43 can be pushed into a fixed position by the heat insulation door 14, so that the drain pan 43 remains pulled out. Can be regulated.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) The arrangement | positioning position of the cooling unit 20 may be installed in the right side seen from the front in a warehouse contrary to the said embodiment. In this case, the machine room 11 may be installed on the right side of the main body 10, and the cooler 21 and the machine room 11 may be connected by both refrigerant pipes 39.
(2) In the above embodiment, the cool air C1 and C2 blown out to the back side of the cooling unit 20 is illustrated as wrapping around both the front side and the back side, but may wrap around one side.
(3) Although the above embodiment illustrates the air guide 32 attached to the cooler 21 side, according to the present invention, the air guide 32 may be attached to the cooling fan 22 side.

(4) In the above embodiment, the upper end of the air guide 32 is opposed to the lower end tip of the standing wall 24D of the cooling fan 22. However, according to the present invention, the upper end of the air guide 32 is more than the lower end tip of the standing wall 24D. You may arrange | position below .
( 6) Although the tubular heater 40 is used to melt frost that has fallen on the upper surface of the front guide portion 32A of the air guide 32 in the above embodiment, according to the present invention, a planar heater is provided on the lower surface of the front guide portion 32A. Frost may be melted by installing it.
(7) Although the right rail 32C for supporting the right edge of the lower surface portion of the drain pan 43 is provided in the above embodiment, according to the present invention, a flange portion that protrudes to the right from the upper surface opening of the drain pan 43 is provided. A right rail that supports the flange portion may be provided.

( 9) Although the drain pan 43 can be taken in and out along the left rail 31C and the right rail 32C in the above embodiment, such a rail may not be provided.
(10) The present invention is not limited to the rapid cooling cabinet illustrated in the above embodiment, but a cooling unit is provided so that a storage chamber for an object to be cooled is provided on one side of the left and right sides of the storage, while facing the storage chamber on the other side. Can be widely applied to all types of refrigerators in which cold air blown out from the back surface of the cooling unit circulates to the side of the cooling unit and is circulated and supplied to the storage chamber.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Cooling body 13 ... Front opening 14 ... Heat insulation door 15 ... Storage room 16 ... Installation room 20 ... Cooling unit 21 ... Cooler 23 ... Cooler cover (casing) 24 ... Fan case (casing) 28 ... Suction port 29 ... Air outlet 32 ... Air guide 32A ... Front side guide part 32C ... Right rail 40 ... Tube heater 43 ... Drain pan

Claims (3)

Inside the refrigerator main body, which has a front opening and a door attached to the front opening, a storage room for storing the object to be cooled is provided on one side of the frontage direction, and an installation room provided on the other side. Is a cooling unit in which a cooling fan and a cooler are arranged in front and rear in a direction facing the storage chamber and housed in a casing, and a front lower end of the cooler is disposed below the cooling fan. Installed,
As the cooling fan is driven, the air in the storage chamber is sucked from the suction port on the front surface of the cooling unit and exchanges heat with the cooler to generate cold air, and the cold air is blown to the rear surface of the cooling unit. After being blown out from the outlet, it goes around the side of the cooling unit and is circulated and supplied to the storage chamber.
And between the cooling fan and the cooler, an air guide is provided that guides the air sucked from the suction port downward and obliquely downward toward the front lower end of the cooler ,
The cooler is provided with a heater that melts frost adhering to the cooler, and a drain pan that receives frost and defrost water that has melted and dropped due to the heat of the heater is installed below the cooler. ,
The air guide is formed integrally with a guide portion that is inclined obliquely downward toward the lower front end of the cooler and a rail that supports the drain pan.
The heater, refrigerator, characterized that you have been placed in maneuverability contactable with the frost fell on the upper surface of the guide portion of the air guide. The heater, cooler according to claim 1, characterized in that a tube-shaped heater. Claim wherein the guide portion, the which extends downwardly along the side surface portion of the drain pan, which in its extended end, wherein said rail supporting the bottom surface portion of the drain pan is provided The refrigerator according to claim 1 or claim 2 .

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