JPH04257679A - Freezer and refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a freezer and a refrigerator capable of uniformly preventing an upper freezing and a lower freezing of a food within a refrigerator chamber. CONSTITUTION:Opening ends of a cold air aeration passage 16 for use is cooling cold air within a refrigerator chamber 20 with a cooling device 5 are provided as an upper opening 17 and a lower opening 18 at an upper part and a lower part of the refrigerator chamber 20. Cooled cold air is blown from the upper opening 17 and at the same time the cold air aeration passage 16 is provided with a sheath heater 12 for use is heating the cold air. When the cold air within the refrigerator chamber 20 is over-cooled, the cold air heated by the sheath heater 12 is blown from the lower opening 18 of the cold air aeration passage 16 in a freezer and refrigerator 1. The freezer and refrigerator 1 blows the cold air heated by the sheath heater 12 from the lower opening 18 of the cold air aeration passage 16, so that the blown cold air is apt to flow toward an upper part of the refrigerator chamber 20. Due to this fact, a temperature distribution within the refrigerator chamber 20 is made uniform at the upper part and lower part.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a refrigerator-freezer that prevents food in the refrigerator compartment from freezing by heating cold air in the refrigerator compartment with a heater when the refrigerator compartment is in an overcooled state. This invention relates to a refrigerator-freezer capable of uniformly preventing food from freezing in the upper and lower portions by efficiently distributing the cold air inside the refrigerator compartment.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Some refrigerator-freezers of this type have a structure in which a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment, which are divided within the main body, are cooled independently by separate coolers. The above-mentioned coolers are arranged in respective cold air ventilation paths provided at the backs of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, together with a fan for blowing cold air. The ends of each of the cold air ventilation paths are connected to openings provided at the upper and lower parts of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, respectively. Therefore, the cold air in the freezer or refrigerator compartment is sucked into the respective cold air circulation paths through the lower opening by the drive of the fan, cooled by the cooler, and then blown out through the upper opening to cool the respective chambers. In the above-described refrigerator-freezer that cools the refrigerator compartment independently, when the ambient temperature is low, the refrigerator compartment may become overcooled and the stored food may freeze. Therefore, in order to prevent such foods from freezing, in the above-mentioned refrigerator-freezer, when the refrigerator compartment is overcooled and the refrigeration cycle compressor is stopped, the refrigerator that is already installed in the cooler for the refrigerator compartment is The defrosting heater in the refrigerator is operated in conjunction with the fan. As a result, the cold air heated by the heater is blown out into the refrigerator compartment from the upper opening of the cold air ventilation path, thereby preventing the temperature of the refrigerator compartment from lowering more than necessary.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to the above conventional refrigerator-freezer, when the refrigerator compartment is overcooled, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment is sucked into the cold air ventilation path from the lower opening, heated by the heater, and then cooled down normally. The cold air is blown out from the top opening into the refrigerator compartment. Therefore, due to its characteristics, the relatively warm cold air blown out tends to stay in the upper part of the refrigerator compartment and is difficult to circulate toward the lower part. As a result, the temperature distribution within the refrigerator compartment becomes sparse vertically, making it impossible to evenly prevent food in the refrigerator compartment from freezing vertically. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator-freezer that can uniformly prevent food in the refrigerator compartment from freezing vertically by efficiently distributing heated cold air within the refrigerator compartment. .

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the main means adopted by the present invention is to connect the open end of the cold air ventilation path to the refrigerator compartment for cooling the cold air in the refrigerator compartment. Heaters are provided in the upper and lower parts of the refrigerator compartment to blow out the cooled air from the open end of the upper part, and to heat the cold air in the cold air ventilation path.When the cold air in the refrigerator compartment is in a supercooled state, the heater The refrigerator-freezer that heats cold air is configured such that the cold air heated during heating by the heater is blown out from the open end at the bottom of the cold air ventilation path.

[0005]

[Function] In the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention, when the cold air in the refrigerator compartment becomes supercooled enough to freeze food,
A heater provided in the cold air ventilation path heats the cold air. Then, the heated cold air is blown out into the refrigerator compartment from the lower open end of the cold air ventilation path. The cold air blown out from the lower opening end is relatively warm and tends to flow toward the top of the refrigerator compartment, making the temperature distribution inside the refrigerator compartment uniform vertically.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention. It should be noted that the following examples are examples of embodying the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention. Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view showing the main structure of a refrigerator-freezer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic front sectional view showing the main structure of the refrigerator-freezer, and FIG. 3 is a schematic front sectional view showing the main structure of the refrigerator-freezer. FIG. 4 is an external view showing a cooler for the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator-freezer, and FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of the refrigerator-freezer when preventing food from freezing. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator-freezer 1 according to this embodiment has the following features:
The inside of the main body cabinet 10 is divided into a freezer compartment 19 and a refrigerator compartment 20, and cold air circulation paths 21 and 16 for circulating cold air are provided at the back of each compartment. In the cold air distribution channels 21 and 16, a fan 8 and a cooler 6 for the freezer compartment 19 and a fan 7 and a cooler 5 for the refrigerator compartment 20 are provided independently for blowing and cooling cold air. has been done. The freezer compartment 19 and the cold air circulation path 21 communicate with each other through an upper opening 22 and a lower opening 23, and the refrigerator compartment 20 and its cold air circulation path 16 communicate with each other through an upper opening 17 and a lower opening 18.

On the other hand, the refrigerator-freezer 1 has a refrigeration cycle in which predetermined cycle elements are connected via refrigerant pipes 14, as shown in FIG. The flow of refrigerant in this refrigeration cycle will be explained below. Compressor 11
The high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant compressed in the condenser 2 radiates heat,
Furthermore, the pressure is reduced in the main capillary tube 3. When it is necessary to cool both the refrigerator compartment 20 and the freezer compartment 19 of this refrigerator-freezer 1, the solenoid valve 4 of the refrigeration cycle is in an open state. In addition, since the sub-capillary tube 9 has a narrower cross-section and higher resistance than the main capillary tube 3, the refrigerant from the main capillary tube 3 is directed to the cooler 5 for the refrigerator compartment 20, which has less resistance. Most of the air flows through the cooler 5 and cools the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20. Subsequently, the refrigerant enters the cooler 6 for the freezer compartment 19 and cools the cold air in the freezer compartment 19, and then returns to the compressor 11 again through the return refrigerant pipe 14. By the way, when the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 20 drops to a predetermined temperature and it is determined that there is no need to cool it any further, the solenoid valve 4 is stopped. As a result, the refrigerant from the main capillary tube 3 passes through the sub-capillary tube 9 without passing through the cooler 5 for the refrigerator compartment 20, is depressurized, and then is guided to the cooler 6 for the freezing compartment 19. It has become. The cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20 (FIG. 1) is then moved to the lower opening 18 by the drive of the fan 7, as shown by the solid arrow in FIG.
The cold air is sucked into the ventilation path 16 and cooled by the cooler 5, and then blown out from the upper opening 17 into the refrigerator compartment 20. On the other hand, similarly, the cold air in the freezer compartment 19 is sucked into the cold air ventilation path 21 from the lower opening 23 by the drive of the fan 8, is cooled by the cooler 6, and then is blown out from the upper opening 22. ing. When the freezer compartment 19 and the refrigerator compartment 20 are cooled down to a certain level, the compressor 11 is stopped. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the cooler 5 for the refrigerator compartment 20 has a heat transfer plate 15 made of aluminum or the like with good thermal conductivity, on one side.
A refrigerant pipe 14 made of aluminum or copper is fixedly installed, and a sheathed heater 12 for defrosting is fixedly installed on the other side. The sheathed heater 12 is configured to operate when the refrigerator compartment 20 becomes supercooled.
It also serves as a heater that heats the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20. Further, the refrigeration cycle, fans 7, 8, etc. are controlled by a control section (not shown) provided in the refrigerator-freezer 1 and consisting of a microcomputer or the like. The control unit controls the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 20 when the refrigerator compartment 20 is in an overcooled state.
It has a function to prevent food stored in the container from freezing.

Next, the refrigerator compartment 20 of the refrigerator-freezer 1
The food freezing prevention operation will be explained based on the time chart of FIG. 5. The control unit controls the operation of the refrigerator compartment 20 when the compressor 11 is stopped and the ambient temperature detected based on the signal from the temperature sensor 24 provided in the main body cabinet 10 falls below a certain temperature. The fan 7 is driven and the sheathed heater 12 is energized (time s). At this time, the control section switches the rotation direction of the fan 7 to a direction opposite to that during normal cold air blowing operation, and drives the fan 7. As a result, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20 flows through the upper opening 1, as shown by the dashed arrow in FIG.
After being sucked into the cold air ventilation path 16 from 7 and heated by the sheathed heater 12 of the cooler 5, it is blown out from the lower opening 18 into the refrigerator compartment 20. Since the cold air blown out from the lower opening 18 is relatively warm, it efficiently circulates upward in the refrigerator compartment 20. As a result, the refrigerator compartment 20
temperature rises uniformly in the vertical direction. Therefore, cold room 2
The food stored in the refrigerator compartment 20 is uniformly prevented from freezing either at the top or bottom of the refrigerator compartment 20. Then, when the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 20 detected based on the signal from the temperature sensor installed in the refrigerator compartment 20 rises to a certain temperature, the control section turns off the fan 7 and the sheathed heater 12 (
time t). Furthermore, if the overall temperature in the freezer compartment 19 and refrigerator compartment 20 rises above a certain level while the compressor 11 is stopped,
The compressor 11 is started, and the refrigeration cycle resumes operation (time u). As described above, in the refrigerator-freezer 1 according to the present embodiment, when the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20 becomes supercooled enough to freeze food, the fan 7 is rotated in the opposite direction from the normal cold air blowing operation. The cold air in the refrigerator compartment 20 is sucked into the cold air ventilation path 16 through the upper opening 17 and heated by the sheathed heater 12. The heated cold air is blown out from the lower opening 18 into the refrigerator compartment 20. The lower opening 18
The cold air blown out from the refrigerator compartment 20 is relatively warm and tends to flow toward the upper part of the refrigerator compartment 20, so that the temperature distribution inside the refrigerator compartment can be made uniform vertically. As a result, the refrigerator compartment 2
It is possible to uniformly prevent food from freezing vertically.

[0009]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the open ends of the cold air ventilation path for cooling the cold air in the refrigerator compartment are provided in the upper and lower parts of the refrigerator compartment, and the cooled cold air is blown out from the open end in the upper part. In the refrigerator-freezer, a heater for heating the cold air is provided in the cold air ventilation path, and the heater heats the cold air when the cold air in the refrigerator compartment is in a supercooled state. A refrigerator-freezer is provided, characterized in that air is blown out from an open end at the bottom of a ventilation path. As a result, when the cold air in the refrigerator compartment is in a supercooled state, the cold air heated by the heater installed in the cold air ventilation path can be efficiently circulated inside the refrigerator compartment, making the temperature distribution in the refrigerator compartment uniform vertically. . As a result, it is possible to uniformly prevent food in the refrigerator compartment from freezing vertically.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view showing the main structure of a refrigerator-freezer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front sectional view showing the main components of the refrigerator-freezer.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a refrigeration cycle included in the refrigerator-freezer.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing a cooler for the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator-freezer.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation of the refrigerator-freezer when preventing food from freezing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Freezer refrigerator 5...Cooler 7...Fan 12...Sheathed heater 16...Cold air ventilation route 17...Top opening 18...Lower opening 20...Refrigerating room

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] Open ends of cold air ventilation paths for cooling the cold air in the refrigerator compartment are provided at the upper and lower parts of the refrigerator compartment, and the cooled cold air is blown out from the upper open ends and is directed to the cold air ventilation path. In a refrigerator-freezer, which is provided with a heater that heats the cold air, and uses the heater to heat the cold air when the cold air in the refrigerator compartment is in a supercooled state, the cold air heated during heating by the heater is passed through an opening at the bottom of the cold air ventilation path. A refrigerator-freezer characterized by air blowing out from the edge.