JPH0242157Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] a. Industrial application field The present invention relates to a thawing device for frozen foods, and in particular, it can thaw many small pieces of frozen foods simultaneously and evenly in a short period of time, and can also thaw even small amounts of frozen foods. This relates to a new improvement for thawing evenly in a short period of time.

b. Prior Art Various configurations have been adopted and proposed for this type of defrosting device that has been used in the past, but representative configurations are shown in Figures 4 and 5. As shown.

That is, in FIGS. 4 and 5, the reference numeral 1
The case shown in 1 has a heat insulating structure as a whole and is approximately box-shaped. On the external upper surface of this case 1, a compressor 3, a condenser 4, and a fan motor 5 for forming a condensing unit 2 are mounted. It is set aside.

An evaporator 6 connected to the condensing unit 2 is provided at the upper part of the box 1, and a heating section 7 consisting of an electric heater or the like is provided at the lower end of the evaporator 6. A blower section 8 consisting of a fan is provided in the case 1 at one side of the evaporator 6 (on the left side in the embodiment).

A shielding plate 9 and a pair of shelf support members 10 are provided at a lower position of the heating section 7.
A guide opening 11 and a suction opening 12 are formed between the upper end of 0 and the lower end of this shielding plate 9, and each shelf support member 10 also has the aforementioned guide opening 11.
As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 5, the suction openings 12 are arranged horizontally at required intervals.

A plurality of shelves 14 are provided between each of the shelf support members 10 via L-shaped support fittings 13,
A large number of frozen foods 15 are placed on each of these shelves 14.

Further, a door 16 is provided on the front side of the case 1 so as to be openable and closable, and frozen foods 15 are taken in and out of each shelf 14.

The conventional decompressing device is configured as described above, and its operation will be explained below.

In the state shown in FIG. 4, when the heating section 7 is operated and the blowing section 8 is also operated, the warm air obtained by the blowing section 8 is directed to the guide openings as shown by arrows A, C, E, and G. After being guided from the section 11 and exchanging heat with the frozen food 15 on each shelf 14, the arrow B,
Suction openings 12 as indicated by D, F and H
The air then returns to the blower section 8 and is circulated again.

c Problems to be solved by the invention In the conventional configuration as described above, the hot air sent from the blower has a tendency to rise higher than the cold air, so the temperature of the hot air at the nearby position indicated by arrow A is different from that of the hot air. Comparing the hot air temperature at the nearby position indicated by arrow G, the temperature at the position indicated by arrow A is extremely high, whereas the temperature at the position indicated by arrow G is much lower than that. The temperature of the shelves decreases from the top to the bottom. Therefore, the thawing time on the upper shelf is very short, but the thawing time on the lower shelf is very long, and the overall thawing time is also long. In addition, the conventional thawing device described above is configured to switch to the cooling storage state after thawing the frozen food, but since the frozen food on the upper shelf is thawed faster, the frozen food on the lower shelf is By the time the frozen foods were thawed, the moisture content of the frozen foods on the upper shelves was taken away and their surfaces became burnt, significantly reducing their value as products.

Additionally, if the case is full of frozen foods, thawing will be done relatively completely, but if there are only a small amount of frozen foods, there will be areas on the shelves with no frozen foods when hot air is circulated. For example, a sensor configured to capture the intake temperature of the air blower as a signal for the completion of defrosting will capture the return of warm air as it is, and the temperature of the frozen food The completion of thawing was detected and the next cooling cycle started even though the thawing had not yet been thawed. Therefore, it has been extremely difficult to automatically defrost small amounts of frozen foods.

The purpose of this invention is to quickly solve the above problems, and in particular, it supplies warm air at a nearly uniform temperature to all frozen foods on the shelf, and the thawing time of all frozen foods is shortened. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thawing device which can defrost food at a substantially constant level and can also defrost a small amount of frozen food in the same way.

d Means for Solving the Problems The frozen food thawing device according to the present invention has a case 1 that is almost box-shaped as a whole and has a door 16 that can be opened and closed.
a heating section 7 provided at an upper position in the case 1; a blowing section 8 for supplying heat from the heating section 7 downward; and a first guide for guiding air from the blowing section 8. A guide duct 17 having at least an upper outlet 21 and a lower outlet 20 formed by the member 17a and the second guide member 17b.
a first passage 18 provided in the guide duct 17 and communicating with the upper air outlet 21; a second passage 19 provided in the guide duct 17 and communicating with the lower air outlet 20; and the first passage 18 or Second
This configuration includes a shielding means 22 for shielding the passage 19.

e. Effect In the frozen food thawing apparatus according to the present invention, when the shielding means is opened, the warm air blown from the blowing section passes through each passage and each outlet to the refrigeration system disposed throughout each room. Heat can be exchanged with the food, and when the shielding means is closed, one of the passages is closed, so warm air is circulated and supplied from the bottom of only one of the rooms. A small amount of frozen food placed in the refrigerator can be completely thawed in a short time.

f. Embodiment Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the frozen food thawing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Note that parts that are the same as or equivalent to the conventional configuration will be described with the same reference numerals.

The case designated by reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 to 3 is a case that has a heat-insulating structure as a whole and is almost box-shaped, and a compressor for forming a condensing unit 2 is mounted on the external upper surface of the case 1. 3. A condenser 4 and a fan motor 5 are mounted.

An evaporator 6 connected to the condensing unit 2 is provided at the upper part of the box 1, and a heating section 7 consisting of an electric heater or the like is provided at the lower end of the evaporator 6. A blower section 8 consisting of a fan is provided in the case 1 at one side of the evaporator 6 (on the right side in the embodiment).

A pair of ducts 10a and 10b which integrally have a shielding plate 9 on the upper part and function as a shelf support are provided at a lower position of the heating section 7, and one of the ducts 10a and 10b is As shown in FIG. 2, the duct 10a has a plurality of oblong guide openings 11 formed at required intervals, and the other duct 10b has a plurality of oblong suction openings 11 as shown in FIG. The portions 12 are formed at required intervals.

A plurality of shelves 14 are provided between the ducts 10a and 10b via L-shaped receiving fittings 13, and a large number of frozen foods 15 are placed on each of these shelves 14. The holder 13 provided between the shelf 14 and each duct 10a and 10b is as follows:
Although it is shown in a simplified manner in FIG. 1, it is actually configured as shown in FIG. 3, with each duct 10
This receiving metal fitting 13 is fixedly attached to the side end portions a and 10b where the openings 11 and 12 are not formed, and a shelf 14 is placed on this receiving metal fitting 13. Ducts 10a and 10b
An upper chamber 1a and a lower chamber 1b are formed between them.

Further, a guide duct 17 is provided between the duct 10a and the side wall of the case 1 in a state substantially parallel to the duct 10a. A second guide member 17b is formed to be shorter than the first guide member 17a, and a substantially central portion of the first guide member 17a is fixed to the duct 10a by a partition wall 17c. Therefore, the guide duct 17 has this partition wall 17c.
A first passage 18 and a second passage 19 are formed by the first guide member 17a, that is, the second passage 19.
A lower air outlet 20 is formed at the lower end of the
An upper air outlet 21 is formed at the lower end of the second guide member 17b, that is, the first passage 18. Further, a third passage 18a communicating with the first passage 18 is formed between the second guide member 17b and the duct 10a.

Further, a door 16 is provided on the front side of the case 1 so as to be openable and closable, and frozen foods 15 are taken in and out of each shelf 14.

Further, at a position corresponding to the entrance of the second passage 19, a shielding means 22 made of a shutter plate is provided with one end rotatably supported on the inner wall of the case 1. If it is provided in the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, the hot air from the blower section 8 is not guided into the second passage 19, and the warm air is supplied only into the upper room 1a through the first passage 18. be done.

Note that the shielding means 22 is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration.
For example, the first passage 18 can be closed and the warm air can be supplied only into the lower chamber 1b via the second passage 19. Further, the shielding means 22 is not limited to the structure of a shutter plate, but other structures such as a sliding plate can also be used.

The defrosting device according to the present invention is constructed as described above, and its operation will be described below.

When the shielding means 22 in FIG. 1 is in the open state as shown by the dotted line, when the heating section 7 is operated and the blowing section 8 is also operated, the warm air obtained by the blowing section 8 is directed as indicated by the arrow A. When guided as indicated by G, the first passage 18 of the guide duct 17
The warm air guided through the upper air outlet 21 makes a U-turn by the partition wall 17c, bends upward, and travels from arrow J through the third passage 18a as shown by arrows K, L, M, and N. Guide opening 1 so that
1 to the frozen foods 15 on each shelf 14 for heat exchange.

The warm air that has completed heat exchange with each frozen food 15 passes through each suction opening 12 as shown by arrows U, T, S, R, and Q, and is sucked into the blowing section 8 again as shown by arrow V. The circulation operation continues as before.

In addition, the warm air guided to the lower passage 19 makes a U-turn at the bottom wall of the case 1, and flows through the lower air outlet 20.
From there, as shown by arrows E and F, the frozen food 15 on each shelf 14 is supplied through the guide opening 11 for heat exchange.

The warm air that has completed heat exchange with each frozen food 15 is sucked upward and circulated again by the air blower 8.

When the above-mentioned hot air circulation operation continues for a predetermined period of time, the frozen foods 15 on each shelf 14 are supplied with warm air of approximately the same temperature from the upper air outlet 21 and the lower air outlet 20. , resulting in nearly uniform thawing.

This detection of the completion of defrosting is performed by setting the time using a timer.
Alternatively, this can be done by adjusting the suction temperature of the air blower 8, and after thawing is completed, the condensing unit 2 starts operating, so that the food can be cooled and preserved as a chilled food.

The above description of the operation was based on the case where both the first passage 18 and the second passage 19 were in the open state.
When the shielding means 22 is placed at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, that is, when the entrance of the second passage 19 is closed, the warm air sent from the blower section 8 is guided only to the first passage 18, and the above-mentioned Similar to the operation described above, heat is exchanged from the second outlet 21 through each guide opening 11 with the frozen food 15 in the upper chamber 1a. Therefore, when thawing a small amount of frozen food 15, the shielding means 22 stops the supply of hot air to one passage to ensure that only one room is thawed in a short time. I can do it.

In addition, when supplying hot air only to the lower room 1b, as shown in FIG. 3B, the shielding means 22 is
This can be easily achieved by rotatably providing the guide member 17a and closing the entrance of the first passage 18 with the shielding means 22. In this case, either the first passage 18 or the second passage 19 can be opened or closed as desired.

In this embodiment, two rows of guide ducts are provided to supply air to the upper room and the lower room from the two air outlets, but this is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. The same effect can be obtained even when two or more passages and air outlets are formed by a duct to create a multi-tiered room with two or more rooms.

g. Effects of the invention Since the frozen food thawing device according to the invention has the above-mentioned configuration and function, it is possible to use the rising property of the warm air to cool the storage space with the warm air coming out of each outlet. The temperature in each room becomes almost the same,
The frozen foods on all shelves can be thawed to approximately the same degree, and the shielding means can selectively control the supply of warm air to either aisle or room. One chamber can be used to thaw small amounts of frozen food. Therefore, it is possible to avoid uneven thawing, drying of excess moisture in food, burning, etc. when using each room or only one room in the case. Even if the suction temperature is detected, thawed and refrigerated food can always be obtained in a predetermined state.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 3 show the frozen food thawing device according to the present invention. Figure 1 is a front view with the door removed to reveal the inside of the refrigerator, and Figure 2 is the same figure as Figure 1 with the door attached. 3A is an enlarged sectional view of the main part indicated by the circular dotted line in Fig. 1, Fig. 3B is a configuration diagram of the main part showing another embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of the conventional device. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the interior of the refrigerator with the door removed, and FIG. 5 is a right sectional view of FIG. 4 with the door attached. 1 is a case, 1a is an upper chamber, 1b is a lower chamber, 2 is a condensing unit, 6 is an evaporator,
7 is a heating part, 8 is a blower part, 10a, 10b are ducts, 11 is a guide opening, 12 is a suction opening, 1
4 is a shelf, 15 is a frozen food, 16 is a door, 17 is a guide duct, 18 is a first passage, 19 is a second passage, 2
0 is a lower outlet, 21 is an upper outlet, and 22 is a shielding means.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A case 1 having a substantially box-like shape as a whole and having a door 16 that can be opened and closed, a heating part 7 provided at an upper position inside the case 1, and a a blower section 8 for supplying heat downward; and the blower section 8.
A first guide member 17 for guiding the air from the
At least the upper air outlet 21 and the lower air outlet 20 formed by the second guide member 17a and the second guide member 17b.
a first passage 18 provided in the guide duct 17 and communicating with the upper outlet 21; a second passage 19 provided in the guide duct 17 and communicating with the lower outlet 20; and a shielding means 22 for shielding the first passage 18 or the second passage 19, and the upper and lower air outlet 21
A thawing device for frozen food, characterized in that warm air can be discharged from either one of the air outlets. (2) The frozen food thawing apparatus according to claim (1), wherein the shielding means 22 comprises a shutter plate that can be opened and closed. (3) The frozen food thawing apparatus according to claim (2), wherein one end of the shielding means 22 is rotatably supported on the inner wall of the case 1. (4) Inside the case 1, the guide duct 17
A duct 10 having a plurality of guide openings 11 and suction openings 12 arranged substantially parallel to the
a and 10b, and the air from the air blower 8 is configured to circulate back to the air blower 8 via the respective openings 11 and 12. 1)
A thawing device for frozen foods as described in any of paragraph (3). (5) The frozen food thawing apparatus according to claim (4), wherein a plurality of shelves 14 are arranged inside the ducts 10a and 10b.