JPH0133059Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention is a low-temperature treatment for localized low-temperature treatment that aims to alleviate pain and spasticity in the affected area and improve blood circulation by applying cold air at the affected area. Regarding treatment equipment.

Prior art The prior art technology shown in Utility Model Application No. 130718/1987 consists of a refrigerant condensing unit and a cold air generation unit, and the cold air generation unit is provided with two cooling chambers.
Outside air is taken into the first cooling chamber and cold air is taken out from the second cooling chamber. During continuous use, it has a mechanism that switches between an air inlet pipe and an air outlet pipe so that outside air is taken into the second cooling chamber and cold air is taken out from the first cooling chamber as necessary.

Problems that the invention attempts to solve In the technology shown in Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-130718,
In order to obtain the temperature and amount of low-temperature air required for treatment, outside air is cooled all at once to an extremely low temperature below zero within a single insulated case. Therefore, the air cooler inside the heat insulating case is prone to frost, making it difficult to operate this device continuously for long periods of time to extract low-temperature air. That is, when frost forms on the air cooler of the first cooling chamber to which the outlet pipe is connected, the air temperature rises rapidly. At this time, even if the outlet pipe is switched to the second cooler, it will take some time for the cooling function of the first cooling chamber to recover in order to obtain low-temperature air at the desired temperature from the second cooler, so the temporary device will not function properly. will decrease.

Furthermore, when the frost in the first cooling chamber melts and moves toward the second cooling chamber along with the ventilation, frost is more likely to form on the air cooler in the second cooling chamber. It is difficult to obtain it continuously over time.

Means for Solving the Problem The present invention is an attempt to solve the difficulties of conventional devices, and its purpose is to provide a hot air defrosting type low temperature treatment device that can be operated efficiently and continuously while avoiding cooling interference caused by frost. There is.

That is, the present invention cools the air while cooling the cooler 2a.
and a refrigerant switching device that constitutes a heat exchange section 1 with the other cooler 2b, and always alternately supplies refrigerant to the one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b, thereby causing the one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b to perform cooling operations alternately. 8, a compressor 6 that compresses the refrigerant, and a radiator 7 that cools the refrigerant constitute the refrigerant section 5, and a blower 10 that blows air to the cooler 2a on the one hand and the cooler 2b on the other hand, and the radiator 7. A hot/cold switching device 17 that alternately ventilates two types of air, warm air from the air blower 7 and outside air from the blower 10, to two coolers, one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b, and one cooler. 2a and an intake/discharge switch 3 that alternately and selectively extracts the cooling air discharged from the other cooler 2b, constitute an air path control section 9, and the refrigerant section 5 circulates the refrigerant to the heat exchange section 1. , the air path control section 9 injects outside air into the heat exchange section 1 and
This is a hot air defrosting type cryotherapy device configured to extract cold air from the air.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

The heat exchange section 1 that cools the incoming outside air is connected to a cooler 2.
It consists of two coolers, one cooler 2b and the other cooler 2b, and heat exchangers 4a and 4b are housed inside these two coolers, respectively.

The refrigerant section 5 that supplies refrigerant to the heat exchange section 1 has a compressor 6 that compresses the refrigerant, a radiator 7 that cools the compressed refrigerant, and a refrigerant that is selected from one cooler 2a or the other cooler 2b. It consists of a refrigerant switching device 8 that alternately performs cooling operations on one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b by supplying the refrigerant.

The air path control unit 9 that takes out the therapeutic cold air includes a hot air pipe 16 that guides the warm air generated from the radiator 7;
A blower 10 that sends outside air is used to obtain warm air from the warm air pipe 16 and outside air from the blower 10, and these two types of air, the warm air and outside air, are cooled by two coolers, one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b. A hot/cold switch 17 that alternately switches between the two air passages 11a and 11b is connected to the air passage outlets 11a and 11b of one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b, respectively.
It consists of an intake/discharge switching device 3 that selectively extracts the cold air flowing out from either of them.

The hot/cold switching device 17 consists of two three-way valves 19 and 20 that operate synchronously. The blower 10 is connected to the inlet 19a of the three-way valve 19, and the inlet 20a of the three-way valve 20 is connected to the inlet 19a of the three-way valve 19.
A hot air pipe 16 is connected to. Also, three-way valve 19,
One outlet 19b, 20b of each of the coolers 20 is connected to each other, and outside air or warm air is taken out from an appropriate location in the connecting member, while the air passage inlet 1 of the cooler 2a
8a. Further, the other outlets 19c and 20c of the three-way valves 19 and 20 are connected to each other, and warm air or outside air is taken out from an appropriate location in the connecting member and connected to the air passage inlet 18b of the other cooler 2b.

The switching device 3 consists of two three-way valves 12 and 13, with an inlet 12a of the three-way valve 12 and a cooler 2a on one side.
The air passage outlet 11a of the three-way valve 13 is connected to the air passage outlet 11b of the other cooler 2b, and the two three-way valves 12 and 13 open and close in synchronization. One outlet 12b, 13b of each of the two three-way valves 12, 13 is connected to each other, and cold air is taken out from an appropriate point during the connection. Also, the other outlet 12c, 13 of the three-way valve 12, 13, respectively.
c is open.

In FIG. 1, 14 is a thermometer that measures and indicates the temperature of the therapeutic cold air taken out from the intake/discharge switch 3;
5a and 15b are cooler 2a on one side and cooler 2b on the other side
This is a drain valve that drains the water generated in the water.

Function A refrigerant is circulated through the heat exchangers 4a and 4b housed in the cooler 2a and the cooler 2b, respectively, and the heat exchangers 4a and 4b cool the air in the coolers. The refrigerant is compressed by a compressor 6 and then transferred to a radiator 7.
The cooled refrigerant is always alternately selected and distributed through one of the two heat exchangers 4a and 4b by the refrigerant switching device 8.

The switching operation of the refrigerant switching device 8 is performed when the thermometer 14 detects that frost has adhered to the heat exchanger through which the refrigerant is passing, for example, the heat exchanger 4a, and the cooling capacity of the peripheral air of the heat exchanger 4a has decreased. Do it manually. That is, the refrigerant switching device 8 is switched to stop the supply of refrigerant to the one cooler 2a that has been operating for cooling, and to start circulating the refrigerant to the other cooler 2b that has not been operating for cooling until now.

The blower 10 of the air path control unit 9 sends outside air to the inlet 19a of the three-way valve 19 on one side of the hot/cold switch 17, and the hot air pipe 16 sends the hot air generated in the radiator 7 to the other side of the hot/cold switch 17. It is fed into the inlet 20a of the three-way valve 20. When outside air flows from the inlet 19a of one three-way valve 19 to one outlet 19b, the other three-way valve 2
0 always flows into the other outlet 20a.
The two three-way valves 19 and 20 operate synchronously to allow the flow to 0c. Contrary to the above, three-way valves 19, 20
When the flow of one three-way valve 19 is directed from the inlet 19a to the other outlet 19c, the flow of the other three-way valve 20 is also directed from the inlet 20a to the one outlet 20b. In this way, when outside air is poured into one cooler 2a, hot air is always poured into the other cooler 2b, and when hot air is poured into the other cooler 2a, outside air is always poured into the other cooler 2b. The hot/cold switch 17 operates as follows.

During cooling operation, for example, outside air that passes through one cooler 2a is cooled and reaches the air passage outlet 11a, while warm air that passes through the other cooler 2b that is inactive melts the frost in the other cooler 2b. It reaches the air passage outlet 11b.

When one of the two coolers 2a is in cooling operation, the cold air discharged from the other cooler 2a is opened only from the inlet 12a of the three-way valve 12 of the switching device 3 to the one outlet 12b, and the cold air is taken out. It is used for cooling treatment. On the other hand, the hot air discharged from the cooler 2b is opened only from the inlet 13a of the three-way valve 13 to the other outlet 13c, and is diffused into the atmosphere from the other outlet 13c.

When the other cooler 2b is operated for cooling, the cold air discharged from the other cooler 2b is extracted by the three-way valve 13, and the warm air from the other cooler 2a is released into the atmosphere from the other outlet 12c of the three-way valve 12. be done.

When the cooling operation of one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b, which alternately perform a cooling operation, is not in operation, the drain valves 15a and 15b are opened to drain water generated in the cooler.

Refrigerant switching device 8, hot/cold switching device 17, removal/discharge switching device 3
Although the drain valves 15a and 15b are operated manually, in other embodiments, these members may be constructed of electrically powered members and may be operated automatically.
That is, although not shown, for example, the refrigerant switch 8, the hot/cold switch 17, the drain/discharge switch 3, and the drain valves 15a, 1
5b is composed of a solenoid valve, and the air passage outlet 11a, 11b
Each is equipped with a temperature detector to detect the temperature of the cold air.
It is also possible to input the output signal of the temperature sensor to a controller that converts it into a control signal, and to operate the solenoid valve using the output signal from the controller.

Effects of the invention A refrigerant switching device is installed to alternately operate two coolers, injecting outside air into the cooler that is in operation, and injecting warm air into the cooler that is not in operation. The configuration is such that only the air discharged from the cooler inside is extracted and used for low-temperature treatment, and the warm air is used to melt the frost inside the cooler while it is at rest and released into the atmosphere. For that reason,
When the equipment is in operation, if it is detected that frost has formed on the heat exchanger of one of the coolers and the cooling efficiency has decreased, the refrigerant switch, hot/cold switch, and waste/discharge switch are switched and the other cooler is activated. It is possible to take out low-temperature air while continuing the operation of the device, and it is possible to continuously and stably obtain low-temperature air while continuously operating the device.

In addition, since hot air from the radiator is injected into the idle cooler, the heat from the warm air quickly melts the frost that has adhered to the heat exchanger of the idle cooler, turning it into water. The humid air is drained through the drain valve, and the humid air is carried out of the cooler through the three-way valve of the intake/discharge switch. Therefore, the idle cooler can return to its normal function in a short time and stand by, and when the cooling operation is alternately switched, frost remains in the idle cooler and the cooling function remains poor. Eliminates the inconvenience of using a cooler. That is, when the device is used continuously, it is possible to efficiently generate low-temperature air while avoiding interference with the cooling effect due to frost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The accompanying drawings show a piping system diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Heat exchange part, 2a... One side cooler, 2b... Other side cooler, 3... Take-off switch, 5... Refrigerant part, 6... Compressor, 7... Heat radiator, 8... Refrigerant switch, 9... Air path control Part, 10...Blower, 17...Temperature/Cold switching device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A heat exchange section 1 is configured with one cooler 2a and another cooler 2b that cool air, and one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b are constantly supplied with refrigerant alternately. A refrigerant switching device 8 that performs cooling operation alternately and a compressor 6 that compresses the refrigerant.
A refrigerant section 5 is composed of a radiator 7 that cools the refrigerant, a blower 10 that blows air to the cooler 2a on the one hand and the cooler 2b on the other hand, and warm air from the radiator 7 and outside air from the blower 10. A hot/cold switching device 17 that alternately ventilates two types of air to two coolers, one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b, and cooling air discharged from one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b. An air path control unit 9 is configured with a sampling/discharging switch 3 that selectively extracts the outside air alternately at all times, and the refrigerant unit 5 circulates the refrigerant to the heat exchange unit 1. A hot air defrosting type low temperature treatment device configured to inject cold air into a heat exchanger section 1 and take out cold air from a heat exchange section 1.