JPH02238274A - Cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a cooling device in which some ices formed around a refrigerant piping is easily be removed and a high and superior cooling efficiency can be attained by a method wherein a heating and cooling coil is provided with a refrigerant circulating system which is used for supplying heating refrigerant and cooling refrigerant. CONSTITUTION:After filling water in a water tank 1, a freezing cycle is set to a cooling mode. In this case, a four-way valve 7 is set to a cooling side, a circuit changing-over solenoid valve 14 is released to supply cooled refrigerant gas to a heating and cooling coil 4. Due to this fact, ice 20 is adhered to an inner surface of a cooling tank 1. Then, the freezing cycle is set to a heating mode. At this time, the four-way valve 7 is changed over to a heating side, a circuit changing-over solenoid valve 18 is released and then the heated refrigerant gas is supplied to the heating and cooling coil 4. As a result, the ice 20 made at the inner surface of the water tank 1 is removed and the ice 20 is melted into the water in the cooling tank 1. Cold water within the cooling tank 1 is precooled with this energy and then a cooling capability of the cooling device is increased. In this way, the ice is made at the inner surface of the cooling tank, the ice can be removed and the cooling efficiency can be improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to improvements in cooling devices.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there has been known a cooling device that can cool water through a refrigerant pipe in a water tank and keep foodstuffs and the like at an appropriate temperature by immersing them in the cold water.

By the way, if you just fill the water tank with cold water, the flow rate at which the cold water circulates in the water tank is slow, and the water around the refrigerant pipes turns into ice and sticks to the pipes. And, due to this ice-making effect,
Since the cooling capacity of the cooling device is taken away, the cooling capacity for chilled water is reduced, and a cooling device with a correspondingly large capacity is required.

In order to solve this problem, a technique has been proposed in which a device such as a large pump or an air blower generates a water flow to diffuse cold water and prevent icing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the above-mentioned conventional technology has the following problems.

In other words, the equipment has become larger due to the installation of equipment such as large pumps and air blowers.

Furthermore, since power is consumed to operate the device, running costs have increased.

Furthermore, even with the above-mentioned conventional techniques, it is difficult to completely prevent icing, and it is necessary to remove the ice that has been made when cleaning the aquarium.

The cooling device of the present invention has been proposed to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and its purpose is to:
To provide an excellent cooling device that allows easy dehydration of ice made around refrigerant pipes and has high cooling efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the cooling device of the present invention includes a heating/cooling coil installed in a cooling tank filled with cooling water, a heating/cooling coil through which refrigerant circulates, and a refrigerant. The present invention is characterized by comprising a heating/cooling device, a switching valve for switching a refrigerant circulation path, and a refrigerant circulation system for supplying a heating refrigerant and a cooling refrigerant to the heating/cooling coil.

[Function] According to the present invention having the above configuration, heated refrigerant and cooled refrigerant can be selectively circulated in the refrigerant circulation system by the heating and cooling coil using the switching valve. That is, when the cooled refrigerant circulates through the heating/cooling coil, the cold water in the cooling tank is cooled and ice forms around the heating/cooling coil. At this point, after a certain amount of ice has formed, if the heated refrigerant is circulated through the heating/cooling coil using the switching valve, the ice adhering to the heating/cooling coil can be dehydrated. As a result, a decrease in cooling capacity is prevented, and at the same time, the dehydrated ice melts into the cold water in the water tank, which cools the cold water further and improves cooling efficiency.

The present invention can double the cooling efficiency by periodically switching the refrigerant to be circulated through the heating and cooling coils as described above.

[Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the cooling device of the present invention as described above will be specifically described based on the drawings.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, heat transfer ice-making plates 2 are installed on each side and bottom of a box-shaped water tank 1 with sides of 1 m. As shown in FIG. 2, the inside of this heat transfer ice making plate 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped in which hard urethane 3 is foamed and injected, and a heating and cooling coil 4 is installed on the inner surface side, and is fixed with conductive putty 5.

By the way, the heating/cooling coil 4 is configured to circulate refrigerant gas, and is incorporated into a refrigeration cycle.

This refrigeration cycle has a heating mode in which heated refrigerant gas is supplied to the heating/cooling coil 4, and a cooling mode in which cooled refrigerant gas is supplied to the heating/cooling coil 4, and has a configuration as shown in FIG. have.

That is, the compressor 6 that sends out the refrigerant gas is connected to the inlet passage 7a of the four-way valve 7 whose discharge side is a switching valve.
On the other hand, the suction side is connected to the outlet passage 7b of the four-way valve 7 via the accumulator 8. The four-way valve 7 includes two switching passages 7c and 7d in addition to the above-mentioned passages, of which the switching passage 7c is connected to the air heat exchanger 9.

A blower 10 is installed in this air heat exchanger 9.

In addition, the air heat exchanger 9 has a check valve 11a, a liquid receiver 12, and a strainer 13 piped from the opposite end that engages with the switching passage 7c. The strainer 13 is connected to the heating/cooling coil 4 via a circuit switching solenoid valve 14, an expansion valve 15, and a check valve 1lb.

Further, the heating and cooling coil 4 is connected to the liquid receiver 12 via a check valve 11c. Further, the other end of the heating/cooling coil 4 is connected to the switching passage 7d of the four-way valve 7 via a circuit switching solenoid valve 16, and is also connected to the accumulator 8 via a circuit switching solenoid valve 17. There is.

On the other hand, the strainer 13 is connected to the air heat exchanger 9 via a circuit switching solenoid valve 18, an expansion valve 19, and a check valve 11d.

The operation of this embodiment having the above configuration is as follows.

First, after filling the water tank 1 with water, the refrigeration cycle is set to cooling mode. In this case, as shown by the thick line in FIG. 4, the four-way valve 7 is set to the cooling side, the circuit switching solenoid valves 14 and 17 are opened, and cooled refrigerant gas is supplied to the heating/cooling coil 4. Therefore, ice 20 forms on the inner surface of the cooling tank 1 corresponding to the inner side of the heat transfer ice making plate 2. At this time, assuming that ice 20 with a thickness of icm is made using the heat transfer ice making plate 2, the amount of ice made will be 50 kg since the heat transfer area is 5 m 2 .

Next, as shown by the thick line in FIG. 5, the refrigeration cycle is set to heating mode. At this time, the four-way valve 7 is switched to the heating side, the circuit switching solenoid valves 16 and 18 are opened, and the heating and cooling coil 4 is opened.
supply heated refrigerant gas. As a result, the ice 20 made on the heat transfer ice making plate 2 is dehydrated, and this ice 20 melts into the water in the cooling tank 1. At this time, assuming that the ice 20 weighs 50 kg, the amount of heat when the ice 20 melts is 4000 kcal. This energy pre-cools the cold water in the cooling tank 1, increasing the cooling capacity of the cooling device.

As described above, in this embodiment, by alternately supplying cooled refrigerant gas and heated refrigerant gas to the heating and cooling coil 4, it is possible to dehydrate ice that has formed around the heating and cooling coil. can. Therefore, a decrease in the cooling capacity is prevented, and the cold water in the cooling tank 1 is further cooled by the melting energy of the dehydrated ice, thereby improving the cooling efficiency.

Moreover, in this embodiment, the refrigerant gas supplied to the heating/cooling coil 4 can be switched between the heating refrigerant and the cooling refrigerant simply by switching the four-way valve 7, which is a switching valve. Improves simplification.

Note that the cooling device of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the heating and cooling device that heats and cools the refrigerant supplied to the heating and cooling coils may function as a heating device and a cooling device independently. In addition, the shape and dimensions of the heat transfer ice making plate etc. can be changed as appropriate.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the cooling device of the present invention, heating can be achieved by a simple configuration including a heating and cooling coil that switches the circulating refrigerant to a heating refrigerant and a cooling refrigerant using a switching valve. Ice that has formed around the cooling coil can be dehydrated, making it easy to manage the hygiene of the aquarium, and the energy used to melt the dehydrated ice can dramatically improve cooling efficiency. It is possible to provide an excellent cooling device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of use of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the main part of this embodiment, FIGS. 3 to 5 are refrigeration cycle piping circuit diagrams of this embodiment, and FIG. The figure shows the cooling mode circuit diagram,
FIG. 5 is a dehydration mode circuit diagram. 1... Water tank, 2... Heat transfer ice plate, 3... Hard urethane, 4... Refrigerant piping, 5... Conductive putty, 6...
Compressor, 7... Four-way valve, 8... Accumulator, 9
...Air heat exchanger, 10...Blower, 11...Check valve, 12...Liquid receiver, 13...Strainer, 14
, 17, 16, 18... Solenoid valve for circuit switching, 15, 1
9... Expansion valve, 20... Ice.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A heating/cooling coil installed in a cooling tank filled with cooling water and through which a refrigerant circulates; a refrigerant heating/cooling device; a switching valve for switching a refrigerant circulation path; the heating/cooling coil; A cooling device comprising: a refrigerant circulation system that supplies a heating refrigerant and a cooling refrigerant.