JPH0596120A - Deodorizer for refrigerator or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a deodorizer for the refrigerator, etc., capable of efficiently oxidizing and decomposing the malodorous component without using a special adsorbent to adsorb the malodorous component. CONSTITUTION:A catalyst 27 of platinum, etc., is provided around the glass tube 26 of a heater 24 also used as a defrosting heater, and an adsorbent 30 is arranged above and close to the heater 24. When heat is produced from the heater 24, the catalyst 27 is rapidly heated to the temp. at which the malodorous component is decomposed, before the adsorbent 30 is heated by the heater 24 to a temp. where the malodorous component is desorbed. As a result, the malodorous component desorbed from the adsorbent 30 is surely and effectively oxidized and decomposed without using a special adsorbent 30.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator for removing odorous components contained in the air in a refrigerator or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator,
For example, an adsorbent such as activated carbon is used to adsorb and remove odorous components contained in the air inside the compartment, or an ozone generator and a catalyst are provided, and ozone generated from the ozone generator is included. Is reacted with the odorous components contained in the air inside the chamber, the odorous components are oxidatively decomposed and removed, and the residual ozone is decomposed and removed by the catalyst.

However, among these, the one using an adsorbent only adsorbs the odorous component by the adsorbent, and when the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent becomes saturated, the odorous component cannot be adsorbed any more, and therefore the deodorizing function It has a short life. On the other hand, the one using the ozone generator is
In addition to the need for an ozone generator, there is the disadvantage that the rest of the ozone that is harmful to the human body must be decomposed, and the structure as a whole is complicated.

In order to solve these drawbacks, in recent years, a deodorizing device has been developed which is equipped with a deodorizing body in which an adsorbent and an oxidation catalyst are combined, and a heater for appropriately heating the deodorizing body, which is used in a refrigerator. ing.

This deodorizing device is arranged in a cooler chamber which constitutes a part of a circulation path through which air in the refrigerator circulates, and is specifically constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the deodorizing body 3 is held by the supporting piece 4 on the lower surface of the cover 2 in the defrosting heater 1 installed below the cooler, and the heat insulating material 5 is provided between the cover 2 and the deodorizing body 3. It has an intervening structure.

The deodorizer 3 has a structure in which a catalyst layer 3b made of platinum or the like is provided on the surface of an adsorbent layer 3a made of silica or the like, and an odor component contained in air is adsorbed by the adsorbent layer 3a. By removing and heating by the heater 1, it has the function of desorbing the odorous components from the adsorbent layer 3a and oxidizing and decomposing the desorbed odorous components in the catalyst layer 3b.

[0007]

However, in the structure described above, when the deodorizing body 3 is heated by the heater 1, the temperature of the catalyst layer 3b and the temperature of the adsorbent layer 3a rise substantially at the same time, so the catalyst layer It is conceivable that the odorous component is desorbed from the adsorbent layer 3a before the temperature of 3b sufficiently rises, and the odorous component is released without being sufficiently oxidized and decomposed.

For this reason, conventionally, a special type of adsorbent that constitutes the adsorbent layer 3a has been required, which has the property of not desorbing odorous components until the temperature of the catalyst layer 3b is sufficiently raised.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator capable of efficiently oxidizing and decomposing an odor component without using a special adsorbent for adsorbing the odor component.

[0010]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A deodorizing device for a refrigerator or the like according to the present invention is provided with a heater which is arranged in a circulation path through which air in a refrigerator or the like circulates and is controlled to switch on and off, and the vicinity of the heater. And an adsorbent that adsorbs an odor component from the air passing through the circulation path and desorbs the odor component adsorbed by being heated by the heater, and is heated by the heater provided so as to surround the heater. Accordingly, a catalyst for oxidizing and decomposing odorous components is provided.

[0011]

According to the above means, when the heater is energized, the catalyst provided so as to surround the heater is first heated by the heater and its temperature rises, and thereafter, the adsorbent provided near the heater. Will start to rise in temperature.

Therefore, before the temperature at which the adsorbent desorbs the odorous components is reached, the temperature of the catalyst quickly reaches the temperature at which the odorous components are oxidatively decomposed. It can be oxidatively decomposed.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, in FIG. 3 showing the upper part of the refrigerator, the freezer compartment 12 is provided inside the refrigerator main body 11.
And a refrigerating chamber 13 are formed, and doors 14 and 14,
15 are provided. A cooler 17 is provided in a cooler chamber 16 formed at the back of the freezing chamber 12, and a fan 18 for circulating air inside the refrigerator is provided above the cooler 17.

When the fan 18 is driven, the cooler 1
Part of the air cooled by 7 is supplied from the supply port 19 into the freezer compartment 12, and the air in the freezer compartment 12 is circulated such that it is returned to the cooler compartment 16 through the return duct 20, Therefore, the inside of the freezer compartment 12 is cooled.

A part of the air cooled by the cooler 17 is supplied into the refrigerating chamber 13 through the supply duct 21, and the air in the refrigerating chamber 13 passes through the return duct 22 and inside the cooler chamber 16. It is circulated such that it is returned to
Therefore, the inside of the refrigerating room 13 is cooled.

In this case, therefore, the cooler chamber 16 and the freezing chamber 1
2 and the return duct 20 constitute a circulation path for circulating the air in the freezer compartment 12, and the cooler compartment 16, the supply duct 21, the refrigerating compartment 13, and the return duct 22 circulate the air in the refrigerating compartment 13. The road is made up.

A deodorizing device 23 according to the present invention is provided in a lower part of the cooler chamber 16 in the circulation path. Hereinafter, the deodorizing device 23 will be mainly described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Explain.

A heater 24 also serving as a defrosting heater is provided below the cooler 17. This heater 24
Is a so-called glass tube heater having a configuration in which a heater wire 25 made of nichrome wire or the like is covered with a glass tube 26, and is arranged in the cooler chamber 16 so as to extend in the left-right direction when viewed from the front. The deenergization of the cooler 17 is performed during defrosting, and the rest is cut off.

A catalyst 27 made of an oxidation catalyst such as platinum or vanadium is provided around the heater 24, in this case, on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 26 so as to surround the heater 24.

Further, the heater 24 is provided with a cover 28 which covers the heater 24 from above with a predetermined space therebetween. The cover 28 is formed of a metal plate such as aluminum into a shallow container shape having an open lower side, and a plurality of pairs of support pieces 29 are fixed to the lower surface.

The adsorbent 30 is in the form of a porous rectangular plate and is formed by solidifying activated carbon or a silica-based adsorbent. The surface of the adsorbent 30 is made of the same substance as the catalyst 27. The catalyst layer 31 is provided by attaching a catalyst. The plurality of adsorbents 30 configured in this manner are held below the cover 28 by the support pieces 29 via the wire netting 32.

A heat insulating material 33 made of glass fiber or the like is interposed between the upper surface of the adsorbent 30 and the lower surface of the cover 28.

In the above construction, during the cooling operation of the refrigerator, the air in the refrigerator (in the freezing compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 13) is circulated through the circulation path by the blowing action of the fan 18. In this process, the air passing through the inside of the cooler chamber 16 comes into contact with the adsorbent 30 and the odorous component contained in the air is absorbed by the adsorbent 3.
It is adsorbed by 0 and removed. Then, the air from which the odorous components have been removed is cooled by the cooler 17 and is again cooled in the freezer compartment 1.
2 and the refrigerator compartment 13.

On the other hand, when the accumulated operating time of the compressor (not shown) reaches a predetermined value, the compressor and the fan 18 are cut off, while the heater 24 is energized and the heater wire 25 thereof is heated.

The heat generated by the heater wire 25 heats the catalyst 27 around it through the glass tube 26, heats the adsorbent 30 above the heater 24, and also heats the cooler 17. .. The defrosting of the cooler 17 is performed by heating the cooler 17.

At this time, the catalyst 27 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 26 and the adsorbent 30 existing above the heater 24.
Comparing the temperature rise with
The catalyst 27 closer to the adsorbent 30 that is farther from the heater 24
The temperature will rise earlier than before.

Therefore, before the temperature of the adsorbent 30 reaches the temperature at which the odor component is desorbed by the heater 24, the catalyst 27 quickly reaches the temperature at which the odor component is decomposed, and thus the odor component desorbed from the adsorbent 30. Can be reliably and efficiently oxidatively decomposed without being released to the outside.

Further, in this case, since the catalyst layer 31 is also provided on the surface of the adsorbent 30, the odorous component desorbed from the adsorbent 30 can be more surely and efficiently oxidatively decomposed.

The adsorbent 30 is heated to desorb odorous components, so that the adsorbing function, that is, the deodorizing function is reproduced.

At this time, the wire mesh 3 covering the adsorbent 30
In addition to the function of holding the adsorbent 30, 2 also has the function of heating the entire adsorbent 30 as uniformly as possible by the heat conduction of the adsorbent 30.

The cover 28 also prevents defrosting water dripping from the cooler 17 from splashing on the adsorbent 30 and the heater 24 as the cooler 17 defrosts. Furthermore, the adsorbent 3
The heat insulating material 33 interposed between 0 and the cover 28 reduces heat shock of the adsorbent 30 due to rapid cooling when defrosting water drops on the cover 28.

When the temperature of the cooler 17 reaches a predetermined defrosting end temperature, the heater 24 is turned off and the defrosting operation is terminated. After that, the compressor and the fan 18 are energized to restart the cooling operation. Be started. Along with this, the adsorbent 3
The temperature of 0 also gradually decreases, and the adsorbent 30 re-adsorbs the odorous component in the same manner as described above.

According to this embodiment, the heater 24
Since the adsorbent 30 is provided near the upper part of the heater 24 and the catalyst 27 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 26 in the heater 24, before the adsorbent 30 is heated to a temperature at which the odor component is desorbed by the heater 24, The catalyst 27 can be quickly raised to a temperature at which it decomposes odorous components, and thus the odorous components desorbed from the adsorbent 30 can be reliably and efficiently oxidatively decomposed.

In this way, the adsorbent 30 is connected to the heater 24.
Therefore, before the temperature rises to the temperature at which the odorous components are desorbed, the catalyst 27 can be quickly raised to the temperature at which the odorous components are decomposed, so that it is not necessary to use a special adsorbent 30.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the above-mentioned first embodiment in the following points.

That is, in the first embodiment, the adsorbent 30 arranged above the heater 24 has the catalyst layer 31 on the surface thereof.
However, in the second embodiment, the heater 2 is provided.
The adsorbent 34 arranged above 4 is not provided with the catalyst layer 31 and is composed of only an adsorbent. Also in such a second embodiment, substantially the same operational effects as the first embodiment are obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings. For example, in the first and second embodiments, the glass tube 26 in the heater 24 is used.
The catalyst 27 is provided on the entire outer peripheral surface of the catalyst 2.
7 may be partially provided instead of the entire circumference. Alternatively, instead of such a configuration, the heater wire 25 itself may be used as a heater, the catalyst 27 may be formed in an annular shape surrounding the heater wire 25, and the heater wire 25 may be surrounded by the catalyst 27.

In addition, as the heater 24, a dedicated heater that does not serve also as a defrost heater may be used.

[0039]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the adsorbent is provided in the vicinity of the heater and the catalyst is provided so as to surround the heater. This allows the catalyst to be quickly raised to the temperature at which it decomposes odorous components before it reaches the temperature for desorption of odorous components, which allows desorption from the adsorbent without using a special adsorbent. It has an excellent effect that the odorous components that are generated can be reliably and efficiently oxidatively decomposed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional side view of essential parts showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of a main part.

[Fig. 3] Vertical side view of the upper part of the refrigerator

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 is a refrigerator main body, 16 is a cooler room (circulation path), 23 is a deodorizing device, 24 is a heater, 25 is a heater wire, 26 is a glass tube, 27 is a catalyst, 30 is an adsorbent, 31 is a catalyst layer, 34
Indicates an adsorbent.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heater, which is disposed in a circulation path in which air in a refrigerator such as a refrigerator circulates and is controlled to switch on and off, and an odor component from the air which is disposed in the vicinity of this heater and which passes through the circulation path. An adsorbent that adsorbs and desorbs the odorous component that is adsorbed as it is heated by a heater, and a catalyst that surrounds the heater and that oxidizes and decomposes the odorous component when heated by the heater. Deodorizing device such as a refrigerator.