JPH04371780A - Low-temperature case - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain a storage chamber at a humidity optimum to the storage of wine or foods which dislike a high humidity extremely. CONSTITUTION:A heat conductive inner casing 3 is arranged in a heat insulating outer casing 2 with an interval between them. A cooler 12 and a cold air circulating and ventilating device 19 are arranged in a cold air circulating space 11 formed between the heat insulating outer easing 2 and the heat conductive inner casing 3. On the other hand, a small-sized ventilating device 38, introducing cold air in the cold air circulating space 11 into a storage chamber 10, is provided. Further, a first electric heater 40 and a second electric heater 41 are arranged in the cold air circulating space 11. The title case is provided with a first control means 42, controlling the first electric heater 40 and the small- sized ventilating device 38 in accordance with a humidity in the storage chamber, and a second control means 43, controlling the second electric heater 41 in accordance with an atmospheric temperature.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low-temperature refrigerator whose storage compartment is cooled by indirect cooling.

0002

[Prior art] As a conventional technology, Utility Model Application No. 60-9388
Publication No. 2 states that an insulating outer box and a thermally conductive inner box are fixedly attached with a certain space between them, and cold air is circulated in the space between the outer box and the inner box to cool the inner box. A refrigerator that indirectly cools the refrigerator compartment by placing a refrigerator evaporator to create cold air and a fan to circulate the cold air in the cold air circulation space between the outer box and the inner box. Disclosed.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since the conventional refrigerator uses an indirect cooling method, the relative humidity in the refrigerator compartment is maintained at a fairly high level, making it suitable for storing perishable products. If the humidity is high (90% to 100%), the label may peel off or mold may grow on the cork, resulting in a loss of commercial value. However, if the humidity is too low, the cork will dry out and air will circulate, causing the wine to oxidize. Further, depending on the type of food, there are foods that do not like high humidity as described above due to problems such as the growth of mold.

[0004] In view of the problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a low-temperature refrigerator for maintaining a storage room at a humidity suitable for storing wine or food/drinks that do not like extremely high humidity. It is something.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a heat insulating outer box;
an inner box with good thermal conductivity disposed at a distance inside the outer box and forming a storage chamber therein; a cold air circulation space formed between the outer box and the inner box; A low-temperature refrigerator comprising a cooler and a cold air circulation blower arranged in a circulation space, a cold air introduction means for introducing cold air in the cold air circulation space into the storage room, and a cold air introduction means arranged in the cold air circulation space. a first electric heater and a second electric heater; a first control means for detecting the humidity in the storage room and controlling the cold air introducing means and the first electric heater so as to maintain the humidity in the storage room at a set humidity; The low-temperature refrigerator is provided with a second control means that detects the temperature and controls the second electric heater to be energized when the outside temperature falls below a predetermined low temperature.

[0006]

[Operation] According to the present invention, by energizing the first electric heater according to the humidity in the storage room, the cooling operation rate can be increased, and the humidity of the cold air circulating in the cold air circulation space can be reduced. Become. A portion of this cold air is introduced into the storage chamber by a small blower device as a cold air introduction means to reduce the humidity in the storage chamber and maintain the storage chamber at a set humidity. Also, when the outside air temperature is low, the cooling operation rate decreases, so the second
The electric heater is energized to increase the cooling operation rate and lower the humidity of the cold air circulating in the cold air circulation space. Thereby, when the humidity rises, the humidity in the storage room can be quickly lowered.

[0007]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

1 is a low-temperature storage such as a prefabricated refrigerator, and an inner box 3 made of a good thermal conductor such as metal is placed inside an insulated outer box 2 with a space therebetween, so that the inside of the inner box 3 is sealed. A cold air circulation space 11 is provided in the storage room 10 and the space surrounding this storage room 10, that is, the space surrounded by the inner box 3 and the outer box 2.
is configured. The outer box 2 is formed into a box shape by combining heat insulating panels that have convex or recessed parts at the joints with adjacent panels, and the inner box 3 has a top wall 3A and a bottom wall 3B.
and front, rear, left, and right side walls 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F.

[0009] On the left side of the front wall of the insulated outer box 2 is an article entrance 7 through which food and beverages (wine in this example) are taken in and taken out, and this article entrance 7 can be opened and closed to keep it cool and the storage room 10 is closed. A heat insulating door 8 is provided.

On the lower surface of the right end of the top wall 2A of the outer box 2, there is a cooling device 1 located inside the cold air circulation space 11.
4 is installed. The cooling device 14 consists of a cooler 12 typified by an evaporator constituting a part of the refrigeration cycle, a blower fan, and a blower fan motor. It has a built-in first blower device 13 that is operated.

[0011] The above-mentioned intermittent operation means an operation control that stops when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor S1 falls below the lower limit temperature, and enters the operating state when the temperature rises above the upper limit temperature.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a partition plate that cooperates with the cooling device 14 to partition the upper space 11A, which will be described later, into a high pressure area 20 and a low pressure area 21, and the upper space 11A on the downstream side of the article inlet/outlet 7 in the cold air circulation direction is generally placed in the center. Two ventilation ports 18 are formed in this partition plate 16, and second ventilation devices 19, 19 that are always operated are arranged so as to be located closer to the heat insulation door 8 than the first ventilation device 13. It is set up.

The cold air circulation space 11 further includes an upper space 11A as a space above the top wall 3A, a bottom space 11B as a space below the bottom wall 3B, and a front space 11C as a space outside the front wall 3C. , a rear space 11D as a space on the outside of the rear side wall 3D, a left side space 11E as a space on the outside of the left side wall 3E, and a right side space 11F as a space on the outside of the right side wall 3F. In the example, the cooling device 14 is arranged in the upper space 11A.

On the other hand, in order to attach the inner box 3 to the outer box 2 at a predetermined distance, a plurality of metal supports 30 are used. The plurality of pillars 30 connect a space 11C formed by the inner box front wall 3C and the outer box 2 to a front high pressure region 31 and a low pressure region 21 that communicate with the high pressure region 20 around the left and right sides of the heat insulating door 8. The space 11D formed by the first strut 33 that vertically partitions the front low-pressure region 32, the inner box rear wall 3D, and the outer box 2, and the rear high-pressure region 34 and the low-pressure region that communicate with the high-pressure region 20. 21 and a rear low-pressure region 35 that communicates with the rear low-pressure region 35.

A through hole 37 is formed in the left side wall 3E of the inner box 3 located in the low pressure area 21 of the cold air circulation space 11, and a small blower device 38 consisting of a fan and a fan motor as a means for introducing cold air is formed in the left side wall 3E of the inner box 3. is arranged, and furthermore, the same wall 3
A small hole 39 (about 50 mm in diameter) is bored in parallel with the hole E so as not to be affected by the humidity inside the storage chamber 10. Further, a humidity sensor S2 is provided in the storage room 10 to detect the humidity inside the storage room 10.

Furthermore, a first electric heater 40 and a second electric heater 41 are provided in the upper space 11A on the low pressure area 21 side. The first electric heater 40 and the small air blower 38
is controlled by a first control means 42 including the humidity sensor S2, and the second electric heater 41 is controlled by a second control means 43 including an outside temperature sensor S3 for detecting the outside temperature. 44 is a third control means including an abnormal temperature detection sensor S4;
When the temperature inside the heater 1 rises to an abnormal temperature, the energization of the blower device 38, the first electric heater 40, and the second electric heater 41 is controlled to be stopped.

Cooling of the low-temperature refrigerator 1 in the above configuration will be explained.

First, food and beverages are stored in the storage chamber 10 in a non-cooled state, and the set temperature is set within the refrigeration temperature range (for example, +15°C).
When the temperature inside the storage chamber 10 is higher than the set temperature, the cooling device 14 is operated by a control device (not shown) based on the output of the temperature sensor S1, and the upper space is The air in the high pressure area 20 of 11A is sucked by the first blower 13, flows into the cooler 12 and is cooled, and then is blown out to the right side space 11F.

On the other hand, the air in the cold air circulation space 11 is forcibly circulated outside the inner box 3 by the second blower devices 19, 19, and from the high pressure area 20 of the upper space 11A to the front and right spaces 11C, 11D, 11F. Since the cooler 12 is guided to the bottom space 11B through the left space 11E and the low pressure region 35 and returns to the low pressure region 21 of the upper space 11A, the cooler 12 is connected to the downstream side of the cold air flowing through the upper space 11A. The cool air blown out from the cooler 12 also circulates within the space 11 along with this flow.

[0020] Through this cold air circulation, the upper, lower, front, back, left and right walls 3A~
3F, and the inside of the storage room 10 is indirectly cooled by radiant heat from each wall surface. Furthermore, the partition plate 16 divides the sealed cold air circulation space 11 into a high pressure area 20 and a low pressure area 21.
Due to the relationship between the cold air circulating space 11 and Circulate cold air evenly inside the inner box 3.
It is possible to efficiently cool the entire storage chamber 10 from the entire nadir, front, rear, right and left sides.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the operation and operation of the small blower device 38.
The relationship between the stoppage and the humidity inside the storage chamber 10 is shown. The set humidity HS set by the first control means 41 is, for example, 75%, HH indicates the upper limit humidity of 80%, and HL indicates the lower limit humidity 70%. As can be seen from the figure, the cooling device 14 is operated intermittently based on the temperature in the storage room as described above, the blower 19 is continuously operated, and the small blower 38 and the first electric heater 40 are operated intermittently by the first control means 42. is driven by.

That is, when the humidity in the storage room 10 increases and reaches the upper limit humidity HH, based on the output of the humidity sensor S2,
The first control means 42 energizes the first electric heater 40 and operates the small blower device 38 .

Due to the heat generated by the first electric heater 40, the operating rate of the cooling device 14 increases, and the humidity in the cold air circulation space 11 decreases due to the activation of the dehumidifying action by the cooler 12, reaching 60% to 70%. Become. Since the cold air in the cold air circulation space 11 is introduced into the storage room 10 by the small air blower 38, the humidity in the storage room 10 gradually decreases. Then, when the humidity reaches the lower limit humidity HL, the first control means 42 cuts off the power to the first electric heater 40, stops the small air blower 38, and stops introducing cold air based on the output of the humidity sensor S2. do. Through such control, the humidity in the storage room 10 is maintained at the set humidity HS on average.

[0024] Also, if the outside air temperature is the set temperature TS (for example, 5
℃), the second control means 43 energizes the second electric heater 41 based on the output of the outside air temperature sensor S3. As a result, the operating rate of the cooling device 14 increases, and the humidity within the cold air circulation space 11 decreases.

In this way, by lowering the humidity of the cold air in the cold air circulation space 11, which tends to rise when the outside air temperature is low, when the humidity rises to the upper limit humidity HH, the humidity in the storage room 10 can be quickly reduced. Humidity can be reduced. Furthermore, by energizing the second electric heater 41, the temperature of the storage chamber 10 can be prevented from falling below the set temperature.

In the embodiment, the cold air introducing means is constituted by the small blower device 38, but the means is not limited thereto.
It is also possible to expand the area of and combine this with an opening/closing plate. In this case, the first control means 42 controls the opening and closing of the opening/closing plate based on the humidity sensor S2.

[0027]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the first electric heater is energized to heat the cold air circulation space according to the humidity in the storage room, thereby increasing the cooling operation rate and reducing the humidity in the cold air circulation space. By introducing this cool air with reduced humidity into the storage room by the cold air introduction means, the humidity in the storage room can be reduced and the humidity in the storage room can be maintained at the set humidity.

Moreover, when the outside temperature is low, the second
By energizing the electric heater to lower the humidity in the cold air circulation space, when the humidity in the storage room increases, the humidity in the storage room can be quickly lowered to the set humidity, and the humidity in the storage room can be reduced. Control performance can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view of a low-temperature refrigerator.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway vertical cross-sectional view of the low-temperature refrigerator.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between changes in humidity in the storage room and outside temperature and the operation of the device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Low temperature storage 2 Insulated outer box 3 Inner box 10　　　　　Storage room 11 Cold air circulation space 12 Cooler 19 Cold air circulation blower 38 Small air blower 40 First electric heater 41 Second electric heater 42 First control means 43 Second control means S2 Humidity sensor S3 Outside air temperature sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A heat-insulating outer box, a thermally conductive inner box disposed at a distance inside the outer box and forming a storage chamber therein, and between the outer box and the inner box. A cold air circulation space formed in
A low temperature storage comprising a cooler and a cold air circulation blower arranged in the cold air circulation space, a cold air introduction means for introducing cold air in the cold air circulation space into the storage room, and a cold air introduction means disposed in the cold air circulation space. a first electric heater and a second electric heater; and a first control means for detecting the humidity in the storage chamber and controlling the cold air introducing means and the first electric heater so as to maintain the humidity in the storage chamber at a set humidity. A low-temperature refrigerator, comprising second control means that detects outside air temperature and controls the second electric heater to be energized when the outside air temperature falls below a predetermined low temperature.