JPH03129282A - Refrigerator with deferring chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate unevenness in defreezing by a method wherein direct radiation of far infrared rays and indirect radiation by a reflection plate are applied on the upper surface and the side of a food to be defrozen, and cold air is fed through a number of ventilating holes formed on a surface in the reflection plate. CONSTITUTION:A far infrared ray heater 34 located at the upper part of the interior of a defreezing chamber 15, a reflecting plate 39 with which the upper part of the far infrared ray heater is covered in a domeform manner, and a bottom plate 41 to the bottom of which a heater 42 is adhered are provided. A defreezing tray 44 on which a good 45 to be defrozen is placed is provided. A ventilating flue 50 is formed in the rear space of the reflection plate 39 and communicated to a damper thermo 20 for regulating a cold air inflow amount mounted to the inlet of the defreezing chamber, and a number of ventilating holes are formed in the reflection plate 39. Simultaneously, during defreezing, energization of the far infrared ray heater 34 and the heater 42 is intermittently effected by a defreezing control device. With the lapse of a time, a continuous energization factor is reduced stagedly, and a blower 18 is continuously run. During non-defreezing, the defreezing chamber 15 is kept at a third temperature zone between a refrigerating temperature and a freezing temperature to insulate heat. This constitution enables execution of defreezing having little unevenness in defreezing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a thawing chamber for thawing frozen foods.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is known that a heater is used to defrost frozen foods. For example, there is an example shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-26414, which will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

1 is a thawing box; an outer box 2 formed into a box shape of metal or synthetic resin; and a metal such as aluminum with good thermal conductivity provided with an appropriate gap inside the outer box 2. It consists of an inner box 3 made of Reference numeral 4 denotes a linear heater, which is closely connected to the inner box 3 by means of aluminum foil 5 so that the bottom surface of the thawing box 1 is sparse and the top surface is densely packed.

6 is the outer box 2. This is a heat insulating material interposed between aluminum foils 5.

In this configuration, when the food 7 to be thawed is placed on the bottom of the thawing box 1 and the thawing action is started, heat is applied from the entire circumference of the inner box 3 by the heating of the heater 4, and the food to be thawed is almost uniformly heated. The feature is that 7 is heated to thaw it.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, with such a configuration, heat is transferred from the bottom of the thawing box 1 to the bottom of the food to be thawed 7 by thermal conduction. The effect of radiant heat on the food to be thawed 7 from the top and side surfaces of the thawing box 1 is almost negligible because the heat ray wavelength from the heater 4 through the inner box 3 is in the near-infrared region of 6 μm or less. Heating occurs only by heat transfer by convection of warmed air. For this reason, there are problems in that the thawing unevenness between the center and the surface of the food to be thawed 7 tends to become large, and the thawing time takes a long time. Perishable foods such as the following are subject to deterioration due to the high ambient temperature, so the user has to monitor the completion of thawing before processing, which poses a problem that they cannot be used with confidence.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a thawing chamber, particularly in a refrigerator, that is less uneven in thawing and can be thawed in a short time.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the refrigerator with a defrosting chamber of the present invention has the following features:
A far-infrared heater and a reflector plate covering the upper part in a dome shape are provided on the upper surface of the thawing chamber, and a bottom plate with the heater in close contact with the bottom surface is provided, and a thawing tray on which the food to be thawed is placed is installed. A ventilation path is formed in the space on the back side of the reflector plate to communicate with the damper thermometer installed at the entrance of the thawing chamber to adjust the amount of cold air inflow. The infrared heater and heating heater are energized intermittently, and the intermittent energization rate is gradually reduced over time, while the blower is operated continuously.When not thawing, the thawing chamber is kept between the refrigerating temperature and the freezing temperature. A thawing control device is provided to maintain the temperature in the third temperature range.

Effect of the present invention With the above-described configuration, far-infrared rays are directly radiated by the far-infrared heater from the top and side surfaces of the food to be thawed, and indirect radiation is radiated via the reflector, and conductive heating is performed from the bottom heater. heat is absorbed.

In addition, the intermittent energization rate of both heaters gradually decreases over time, and cool air is evenly supplied to the thawed food through the damper thermos and the numerous ventilation holes formed on the top surface of the reflector. to suppress the temperature rise on the food surface.

Further, after thawing is completed, the temperature of the food is automatically maintained at a third temperature range between the refrigeration temperature and the freezing temperature by the temperature control function of the damper thermo, and the food is kept cold.

EXAMPLE A refrigerator with a defrosting chamber according to an example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

8 is the refrigerator itself and the outer box 9. Inner box 10 and both boxes 9,
It is composed of a heat insulating material 11 filled between 10 and 10.

12 is a partition wall that partitions the inside of the refrigerator main body 8 into upper and lower parts;
At the top of the partition wall 12, there is a freezer compartment 13. Refrigerator compartment 1 at the bottom
4 is partitioned.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a thawing chamber provided in an upper section of the refrigerator compartment 14. 16 is a compressor of a refrigeration cycle provided at the rear of the bottom of the refrigerator body 8, and 17 is a cooler housed in the back of the freezer compartment 13. 18 transfers the cold air cooled by the cooler 17 to the freezer compartment 13° and the refrigerator compartment 14. A blower 19.20 for forcing air into the thawing chamber 16 is connected to the refrigerator chamber 14. The damper thermometer is installed at the entrance of the thawing chamber 15 and uses electrical input to adjust the amount of cold air flowing in. Its configuration will be explained by taking the damper thermometer 20 for the thawing chamber 15 as an example.
21 is an electromagnetic coil; 22 is a plunger that moves the inner core of the electromagnetic coil 21 up and down depending on the presence or absence of electromagnetic action; 23;
is a rod connected to the plunger 22, 24 is a damper that opens and closes the cold air passage), and the electromagnetic coil 21
When energized, the rod 23 is pushed up by electromagnetic action to open the damper 24, and when the energization is cut off, the mouth rad 23 falls downward and the damper 24 is closed. . Although not shown in the drawings, for convenience of later explanation, the electromagnetic coil and damper of the damper thermometer 19 for the refrigerating room having the same configuration will be referred to as 21' and 24', respectively.

25 and 26 supply cold air from the blower 18 to the refrigerator compartment 1.
4. Discharge ducts 27 and 28 leading to the thawing chamber 15 are connected to the refrigerating chamber 14, respectively. This is a suction duct for returning the cold air that has cooled the inside of the thawing chamber 15 to the cooler 17. Also, 29,30
．． 31 are the freezer compartments 13. Refrigerator room 14. Thawing chamber 15
This is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the device.

Next, the detailed configuration of the thawing chamber 16 will be explained. 32
33 is a heat insulating material installed on the inner surface of the outer box 32 and surrounding the outer periphery thereof.

34 is a far-infrared heater installed in the upper part of the thawing chamber 15. A ceramic paint layer 37 mainly composed of silicon or the like is baked on the surface of the glass tube 36 in which the heater wire 36 is enclosed, and is coated with a thickness of about 5 μm or more. It is configured to effectively radiate far-infrared rays. This far-infrared heater 34 is supported by a dome-shaped reflector plate 39 made of metal such as aluminum through a holder 38 made of synthetic resin with high heat resistance.

The reflector plate 39 is also integrally formed with the inner box part that constitutes both side walls and the back wall of the thawing chamber 16, and is a bottom plate made of metal such as a ram, and a linear heater 42 is installed on the back side of the aluminum box. It is closely fixed by a foil 43 or the like for heat conduction. 4
Reference numeral 4 denotes a thawing tray that is detachably installed on the bottom plate 41, and is composed of a tray 46 made of metal such as aluminum on which the food to be thawed 45 is placed, and a frame 47 made of synthetic resin surrounding the outer periphery. There is. 48 is a protective net for preventing burns that is fixedly installed below the reflector plate 39 at a certain interval;
is a door that opens and closes the front opening of the thawing chamber 15. Also,
Reference numeral 60 denotes a ventilation path formed in the space on the back surface of the reflector plate 39, and communicates with the damper thermometer 20 via the discharge port 51. Reference numeral 62 denotes a suction port formed in the back wall of the thawing chamber 15 and communicates with the suction duct 28. 63 is a defrost switch provided on the front surface of the outer shell of the refrigerator main body 8.

Next, the electric circuit and control circuit will be explained.

The compressor 16 and the blower 18 are connected to a power source via a relay contact 54 and a relay contact 55, respectively. The far-infrared heater 34 and the heater 42 are connected to a power source through a relay contact 56 and a relay contact 57, respectively. Also, the electromagnetic coil 21 of the damper thermo for the thawing chamber.
The electromagnetic coils 21' of the damper thermos for the refrigerator compartment are each connected to the power supply via relay contacts 58, 59.

60 is a freezing room temperature control device, which includes a temperature sensor 29 such as a thermistor. It includes resistors R1, R2, R3, a comparator circuit including a comparator 61, a transistor 62° relay coil 63, and the output of the comparator 61 is connected to the base of the transistor 62. Further, the collector of the transistor 62 is connected to the relay coil 63 for attraction, which opens and closes the relay contact 64. e4
is a refrigerator room temperature control device, and a temperature sensor such as a thermistor 3
0. The comparator circuit includes resistors R4, R6, R6, a comparator circuit including a near 7-bar 66, a transistor 66, and a relay coil 67, and the output of the comparator 66 is connected to the base of the transistor 66. Further, the collector of the transistor 66 is connected to the relay coil 67 for attraction, which opens and closes the relay contact 69. 68 is a thawing chamber temperature control device, which includes a temperature sensor 31 such as a thermistor.
゜Resistors R7, R8, R9 - comparison circuit with comparator 69, transistor 70. It is equipped with a relay coil 71, which has a resistance configuration so that the temperature inside the defrosting chamber 15 is controlled to a partial freezing temperature of about -3° C. under normal conditions. The output of the comparator 69 is connected to the base of the transistor 7o. Further, the collector of the transistor 70 is connected to the relay coil 71 for attraction, which opens and closes the relay contact 58. Furthermore, 72 is a defrosting control device, which controls the defrosting switch 53°, timer 73, 74, 75, OR time i78. )? register 77.7B, 79. Equipped with relay coil 80°81.82. The output of the defrosting switch 63 is connected to the input of the timer 73, and the output of the timer 73 is connected to the timer 74, 75 and the OR circuit 76.
is connected to one input of the In addition, the timer 74
,． 75 *The output of the OR circuit 76 is the transistor 7
7.78.79 is connected to the base of the transistor 77.78.79, and the relay connection s6, 57.79 is connected to the collector of the transistor 77.78.79. The relay coils 80, 81, 82 for suction that open and close the ss are connected.

Further, the output of the comparator 61 of the freezer compartment temperature control device 6o is connected to the other input of the OR circuit 76. Incidentally, here, the timer 73 is set once upon input.
When a 'High' (hereinafter simply referred to as H') signal is input, it continues to output a 'H' times signal for a predetermined time t, and then switches to a 'Low' (hereinafter simply referred to as L) signal. ing.

Further, while the "H" signal is input to the input, the timers 74 and 75 alternately output "H" and "L" signals for a predetermined period of time, but as the predetermined time elapses, the "H" signal For example, specifically, the output rate of the timer 74 is such that the output rate of the "H" signal is 100% at the first time t1, and the output rate of the "H" signal is 100% at the next time t1.
2, the output rate of the "H" signal is 80%, and furthermore, at the final time t
3, the output rate of the "H" signal is 4o%, and the output of the timer 75 is "H" for the first time 11/.
The output rate of the signal is 100ch, and at the next time t21, the output rate of the "H" signal is 80ch, and furthermore, at the last time +31, it is "H".
The signal output rate is configured to be 0%. Further, the predetermined operation time of the timer 73 t=t1+t2+t3=
It is configured such that t1'+t2'+t3'.

In this configuration, when the temperature of the freezer compartment 13 is higher than a predetermined value, the resistance value of the temperature detector 29 is small and the output of the comparator 61 becomes H'', so the transistor 62 is turned on and the relay coil 63 is turned on. becomes conductive.Therefore, the relay contact 54 is closed and the compressor 16 is operated.

At the same time, the output of the OR circuit 76 is also "H", so the transistor 9 is turned on and the relay coil 82 is turned on.
is conductive. Therefore, the relay contact 55 is closed and the blower 18 is also operated, causing the freezer compartment 13. Refrigerator room 14, thawing room 16
Cooling is performed by forcing cold air into the room. After that, freezer compartment 1
3 is cooled down to a predetermined temperature, the resistance value of the temperature detector 29 increases and the output of the comparator 61 becomes "L". Therefore, the transistor 62 is OFF L, and the output of the OR circuit 76 is also ``L'', so the transistor 79 is also OFF.
The relay coil/l/63.82 is turned off and power is cut off.

Therefore, relay contacts 54 and 55 are both opened and compressor 16. The blower 18 stops. Thereafter, this action is repeated to maintain the temperature inside the freezer compartment 13 at a predetermined temperature (for example, -2 o''c).

Next, when the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 14 is higher than a predetermined value, the resistance value of the temperature detector 30 is small, and the comparator 6
5 becomes H'', transistor e6 turns on and relay coil v67 becomes conductive. Therefore, the relay contact 59 closes, the electromagnetic coil 21' is energized, and the damper 24' of the damper thermometer 19 is opened. Then, cold air is introduced into the refrigerator compartment 14 to perform a cooling effect.Then, the refrigerator compartment 1
4 is cooled down to a predetermined temperature, the resistance value of the temperature sensor 3o increases and the output of the comparator 65 becomes "L". Therefore, the transistor e6 is turned off, and the current to the relay coil /l/67 is cut off, and the relay contact 59 is turned off.
is opened, and power to the electromagnetic coil 21' is also cut off. Then, the damper 24' of the damper thermostat 19 is closed to prevent cold air from flowing into the refrigerator compartment 14. Thereafter, this action is repeated until the inside of the refrigerator compartment 14 reaches a predetermined temperature (for example, 5°C).
Temperature control is maintained.

In addition, when the temperature of the thawing chamber 15 is higher than a predetermined value when not defrosting, the resistance value of the temperature detector 31 becomes small υ, and the output of the comparator 69 becomes "H", so the transistor 70 is turned on. Relay coil 71 becomes conductive. Therefore, the relay contact 58 is closed, the electromagnetic coil 21 is energized, the damper 24 of the damper thermostat 2o is opened, and cold air is introduced into the thawing chamber 15 to perform a cooling action.

Thereafter, when the thawing chamber 15 is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the resistance value of the temperature detector 31 becomes large and the output of the comparator 69 becomes "L". Therefore, the transistor 7o is
FF, the power supply to the relay carp)v17 is cut off, the relay contact 58 is opened, and the power supply to the electromagnetic carp)v21 is also cut off. Then, the damper 24 of the damper thermostat 2o is closed to prevent cold air from flowing into the thawing chamber 15. Thereafter, by repeating this action, the inside of the thawing chamber 15 is heated to the third temperature zone between the freezing temperature and the refrigeration temperature suitable for preserving fresh foods, that is, the Panyal freezing temperature zone of approximately -3°C. The key is maintained.

Next, we will discuss the action during thawing. First, the food to be thawed 45 to be thawed is placed on the thawing tray 44 and placed on the bottom plate 41 in the thawing chamber 15, and then the thawing switch 5 is turned on.
Insert 3. At the same time as the timer 73 is turned on, the timer 73 starts outputting the ``H'' signal, and when the timers 74 and 76 start outputting a predetermined output, the transistor 77.
78 becomes ○N10FF, the relay coil 80.81 is de-energized and the relay contact 66.57 is intermittently opened and closed. As a result, the far infrared heater 34 is activated for the first time t
The heating capacity is controlled so that the energization rate is 100% at 100%, the energization rate is so% at the next time t2, and 40ch at the final time t3, so that the heat generation capacity gradually decreases as time passes. In addition, the heater 42 has a conduction rate of 100% for the first time 11/, a conductivity rate of 80% for the next time t2', and a conductivity rate of ○ for the final time t3'.
It is controlled so that the heat generation capacity gradually decreases. During thawing, the food to be thawed 45 is heated evenly by far infrared rays and radiation from the heater 34 from the top surface, coupled with the reflection action of the reflector plate 39, and at the same time from the bottom surface, conductive heating by the heater 42 is performed. It will be done. Here, when heating the far-infrared heater 34, far-infrared rays with a long wavelength of 5 μm or more are radiated to the food to be thawed 46. The far infrared rays are absorbed and penetrate relatively deep into the food to be thawed 46, so that thawing proceeds without the temperature unevenness between the surface and the center becoming relatively large. Also, the heater 4
In heating according to No. 2, the bottom portion of the food to be thawed 45 that cannot be sufficiently heated by the far-infrared heater 34 can be thawed by heat conduction heating via the thawing tray 44.

In addition to these basic heating effects, in the early stages of thawing when the temperature of the food 45 to be thawed is low, the heat generating capacity is increased to rapidly heat the food 45 to rapidly raise the temperature of the food 45 to be thawed, thereby shortening the thawing time. After that, thawing proceeds while suppressing a rise in the surface temperature of the food to be thawed 45 by gradually reducing the heat generation capacity over time.

On the other hand, these far infrared heaters 34. Simultaneously with the heating action by the heater 42, the output of the OR circuit 76 is also "H" during defrosting, that is, while the output of the timer 73 continues to generate "H".
Therefore, transistor 79 is ONL relay coil/v8
2 becomes conductive and the relay contact 65 is closed. Therefore, regardless of the output of the freezer compartment temperature control device 60, the blower 1
8 is forced into operation. Here, during thawing, the thawing chamber 16
The temperature inside the far infrared heater 34. As the temperature gradually rises due to the heating action of the heater 42, the temperature detected by the temperature detector 31 installed in the thawing chamber 16 also stops, and the output of the comparator 69 of the thawing chamber temperature control wave @68 becomes H''. .For this reason, transistor 7o turns on and relay coil /l/7
1 is energized, the relay contact 58 is closed, and the electromagnetic coil 21 of the damper thermostat 20 is energized. and damper 2
4 is opened and the cold air forcedly ventilated by the blower 18 flows into the ventilation passage 5o in the upper part of the thawing chamber 15 from the discharge port 51 via the discharge duct 26. The cold air that has flowed into the ventilation path 50 is discharged downward from a large number of ventilation holes formed in the reflection plate 39, and evenly cools the surface of the food to be thawed 45. Due to this action, the food to be thawed 45 is mainly heated to the far infrared heater 34.
In addition to the far-infrared radiation effect and the control effect of gradually reducing the heat generation capacity of the far-infrared heater 34 and heating heater 42, the temperature rise of the surface portion is further suppressed.
As a result, thawing can be achieved with a small temperature difference between the center and the surface, with little unevenness in thawing (the temperature characteristics and time chart of the food 46 to be thawed during thawing are shown in FIG. 6).

In addition, due to the internal penetration effect of far infrared rays and continuous heating control in the initial stage of thawing, the thawing time is relatively short (for example, a tuna weighing 500y and 25Jff has a thickness of about 30m).
In addition, since the reflector plate 39 is exposed in the ventilation path 5o, the temperature of the reflector plate 39 itself and surrounding members, which would normally reach a considerably high temperature, is cooled and lowered, which is advantageous in terms of safety. The cold air that has flowed into the thawing chamber 16 is collected into the cooler 17 through the suction duct 28 from the suction port 52 opened at the rear surface after the cooling effect.

When such a defrosting action progresses and the timer 73 counts a predetermined time t, the output of the timer 3 becomes L".
At the same time, timer 74. The outputs of the terminals 56 and 5 also become "L', respectively, and the transistors 77 and 78 are turned off. Then, the power to the relay coil/L'80°81 is cut off, the relay contacts 56 and 57 are opened, and the far infrared heaters 34 and 34 are turned off. The power supply to the heater 42 is cut off and the defrosting action ends.At the same time, one input of the OR circuit 76 becomes L'', so the forced operation state of the blower 18 is canceled.

After thawing, the temperature sensor 3
The temperature inside the defrosting chamber 15 is controlled based on the detected temperature. Therefore, the food to be thawed 46 after thawing is immediately cooled to stabilize in the partial freezing temperature range of approximately -3°C, and the temperature does not further rise due to residual heat. Even if you leave it as it is after thawing, it is kept cool at a partial freezing temperature range of approximately -3°C, which is suitable for preserving perishables such as fish and meat, so the user does not have to monitor the end of thawing as usual. The food 45 can be thawed safely without the need for immediate processing, and the food to be thawed 45 can be used at any time after thawing, making it extremely convenient to use.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the refrigerator with a defrosting chamber of the present invention provides the following effects.

(1) Both sides can be efficiently heated by far-infrared radiant heating with a far-infrared heater from the top and heat conduction heating by a heating heater from the bottom, and the heat generation capacity of both heaters gradually decreases during thawing. Combined with the penetration effect of far infrared rays into the inside of the food to be thawed, thawing can be achieved in a short time with little temperature unevenness between the center and surface.

(b) During thawing, a forced ventilation fan is operated continuously to allow cold air to descend and flow into the food to be thawed through the ventilation passage formed in the space on the back of the reflector, so that the surface of the food to be thawed is evenly cooled. Furthermore, temperature rise is suppressed and thawing with less unevenness can be achieved.

(3) During thawing, the temperature of the reflector and other surrounding components, which would otherwise be at a high temperature, is exposed to the ventilation passage and cooled, which reduces the temperature, which is advantageous for safety.

(-4) After thawing, the inside of the thawing chamber is kept cool in the third temperature range between the freezing room temperature and the refrigerator room temperature (for example, the virtual freezing temperature range of about -3'C), so the temperature immediately after thawing is The temperature of the food to be thawed does not rise further due to residual heat,
Even if left as is, freshness is maintained at a temperature suitable for perishable foods such as fish meat, and the food can be used at any time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a thawing chamber of a refrigerator with a thawing chamber showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the thawing chamber taken along the line A-A/ in Fig. Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator with a thawing chamber equipped with a thawing chamber, Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the damper thermometer installed at the entrance of the thawing chamber shown in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a thawing unit shown in Figure 3 of the same figure. Electric circuit and control circuit diagram of room refrigerator, No. 6
The figure shows a time chart during thawing and a temperature characteristic diagram of the food to be thawed, Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a thawing box showing a conventional example, and Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along line B-B/ of the thawing box shown in Fig. 7. It is. 13... Freezer room, 14... Refrigerator room, 1
5... Thawing chamber, 16... Compressor, 17
...Cooler, 18...Blower, 20.
... Damper thermo, 34 ... Far infrared heater, 39 ... Reflector, 4o ... Ventilation hole, 41 ... Bottom plate, 42 ... Heater, 44 ... Thawing dish, 45 ... Food to be thawed, 49 ... Door, 5° ... Ventilation duct, 72... Thawing control device. 15-= 34- Go--- Xun--ichi 4/ --- Da 2--Ikke--Ichitsu-- Father --- Thawing chamber Renkai % So [-9 Reflection board layer,: lL Bottom surface Temporarily heated -9 M Rin Yu821 @ Frozen Tora Shinadori Sai route ---] 9 Guide i 4-・re llk v j5-All warehouse 16--- Pressure m Deaf n-・- Hemorrhoids D a Figure 4 I? O and Yubabu Momozu

Claims (1)

[Claims] A freezing room, a refrigerator room, a thawing room whose outer periphery is surrounded by a heat insulating material and a front opening provided with a door that can be opened and closed, a refrigeration cycle compressor, a cooler, and the air cooled by the cooler. A blower for forcing air into the freezing compartment, refrigerator compartment, and thawing compartment; a far-infrared heater provided at the top of the thawing compartment; a heating heater that is thermally conductively attached to the back side of a metal bottom plate; A metal reflecting plate that covers the top surface of the heater in a dome shape, a thawing plate that is heat-conductive and removably installed on the bottom plate on which the food to be thawed is placed, and is provided at the entrance of the thawing chamber. a damper thermostat that adjusts the amount of cold air inflow; a ventilation passage that communicates with the damper thermometer and is formed in a space above the back surface of the reflector; and a number of ventilation holes provided in the reflector that communicate the ventilation passage with the inside of the thawing chamber. During thawing, the far-infrared heater and heating heater are energized intermittently, and the intermittent energization rate is gradually lowered as time passes, and the blower is operated continuously, and when not thawing, the thawing chamber is energized. A refrigerator with a thawing chamber comprising a thawing control device that maintains the refrigerator in a third temperature range between the refrigeration temperature and the freezing temperature.