JPH059711B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which the inside of a heat-insulating box is cooled by a cooler.

(b) Conventional technology Conventionally, in this type of refrigerator, the interior of the refrigerator is divided by partition walls.
A freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment are formed, and cold air from a cooler installed in a cooling compartment formed inside a partition wall or behind the freezer compartment is sent to both compartments, and the temperature of the freezer compartment is, for example, between -15°C and -20°C. For example, the freezing temperature of the refrigerator room is +
It is cooled to a refrigeration temperature above the freezing point, such as 3 degrees Celsius. Frozen foods and iced sweets are stored in the freezer, and foods that perish quickly, such as raw meat and fresh fish, cannot be stored in the refrigerator when stored for a relatively long period of time, so they are stored in the freezer and frozen. There must be.

However, raw meat, fresh fish, etc. have the disadvantage that their tissues are destroyed when they are stored in the refrigerator, resulting in a significant loss of flavor. For this reason, in recent years various methods have been considered to suppress tissue destruction by rapidly cooling and freezing food, but deterioration of flavor cannot be avoided.
When cooking food that has been frozen, it must be thawed, and it takes time and effort to thaw the food without losing flavor.

On the other hand, there are U.S. Pat. The refrigerator shown in the former publication is equipped with a closed box surrounding a cold air circulation space connected to a forced circulation device consisting of a cooler and a fan, which is placed inside the refrigerator compartment, and the inside of the closed box is kept at a chilled temperature (0 to -2). The refrigerator shown in the latter publication is equipped with a cold storage box with a space formed around a peripheral wall containing a cold storage agent to circulate cold air, and the food inside the cold storage box is kept at a constant temperature. The temperature is maintained at a temperature (for example, around zero degrees Celsius).

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the refrigerators described in both of the above-mentioned publications, when the blower is stopped, this cold air is There is a problem with the return path where the cold air around the cooler flows backwards, causing the icehouse to become supercooled, and supercooling destroys the tissue cells of the food inside the icehouse, shortening the shelf life of the food. I had a problem.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator configured to solve the above problems.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention includes a partition wall that partitions the interior of the refrigerator into an upper freezer compartment and a lower refrigerator compartment, and a blower that circulates cold air cooled by a cooler to the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment. In the refrigerator, the refrigerator includes a return passage that returns cold air from the freezer compartment to a cooler compartment in which a cooler is arranged, and a control device that controls the blower based on the temperature of the freezer compartment. , a container disposed between the heat insulating wall and the partition wall, and a cold air passage formed between an upper wall of the container and the heat insulating wall, and the heat insulating wall includes a freezer compartment and a cold air passage. the return passageway, which communicates with the passageway to form an inlet for guiding part of the cold air from the freezer compartment to the cold air passageway, and wherein the cold air outlet side of the cold air passageway is located above the air suction side of the cooler chamber; The suction port is provided with a damper device that opens and closes the suction port based on the temperature inside the container to cool the inside of the container to an ice temperature or refrigeration temperature.

(E) Function The cold air passage acts to indirectly cool the inside of the container, and the return passage serves not only as a cold air return path to the cooler room but also as a backflow prevention section that prevents cold air from flowing back into the cold air passage when the blower is stopped. Acts as.

(f) Examples Examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator, and a heat insulating box body is constructed by foaming and filling a heat insulating material 4 between an outer box 2 made of a steel plate and an inner box 3 made of a synthetic resin. Reference numeral 5 denotes a partition wall, which is formed integrally with, for example, the inner box 3, and the partition wall 5 is also integrally filled with a heat insulating material 4. The interior of the refrigerator is divided into upper and lower parts by the partition wall 5, and a freezing compartment 6 is formed in the upper part and a refrigerating compartment 7 is formed in the lower part. 8A and 8B are doors that open and close the front openings of the freezer compartment 6 and refrigerator compartment 7, respectively;
Furthermore, gaskets 9A and 9B are provided on the back surfaces of both walls 8A and 8B, respectively, and are in close contact with the opening edges of the freezer compartment 6 and the refrigerator compartment 7, respectively.

A partition plate 10 is arranged at a slight interval in front of the back wall of the freezer compartment 6, and this partition plate 10 and the freezer compartment 6
A cooling chamber 11 is formed between the back walls. A cooler 12 included in the refrigeration cycle is housed in this cooling chamber 11, and a partition plate 1 above the cooler 12 is arranged.
A window hole 13 is bored in 0, and a blower 14 is provided corresponding to this window hole 13. The blower 14 rotates and discharges air forward. 15
is a drainage pipe for discharging the defrosting water from the cooler 12 to the outside of the refrigerator, and is provided to open at the lower end of the cooling chamber 11 and pass through the heat insulating material 4. Reference numeral 16 denotes a cold air discharge passage for the refrigerator compartment, which communicates with the cooling chamber 11 and opens at the back of the lower surface of the partition wall 5. Reference numeral 17 denotes a cold air discharge passage that opens at the front of the lower surface of the partition wall 5 and passes through the partition wall 5. This is a cold storage room cold air return passage communicating with the cooling room 11. Furthermore, 18 is a damper thermostat that senses the temperature of the refrigerator compartment 7 and automatically opens and closes the opening of the refrigerator compartment cold air discharge passage 16.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a heat insulating wall made of, for example, expanded polystyrene. For example, the heat insulating wall 19 has a width that spans approximately the entire width between both side walls of the freezing chamber 6, and the cooling chamber 11 is formed between the upper wall extending to the opening edge of the freezing chamber 6 and the partition plate 10.
and a back wall located to form a cold air return passage 20 communicating with the freezer compartment 6, and is provided at the inner bottom of the freezer compartment 6. This heat insulating wall 19 allows the freezer compartment 6 to
A space that opens forward and is adiabatically separated from the freezer compartment 6 is formed at the inner bottom by the heat insulating wall 19, the side walls of the freezer compartment 6, and the bottom wall. A gasket 21 is provided on the inner surface of the door 8A and comes into contact with the front end of the heat insulating wall 19. 22 is a container that opens at least forward;
It is molded from metal, resin, or the like with good thermal conductivity, and is housed in a space partitioned by a heat insulating wall 19 . At this time, a cold air passage 23 is provided with a slight interval between the upper surface and rear surface of the container 22 and the heat insulating wall 19.
The front opening of the container 22 is closed by an inner door 24 that can be opened and closed.
The inside is almost sealed. The inside of this container 22 is defined as an ice-temperature refrigerator compartment 25.

A cold air intake port 26 is provided in the front part of the upper wall of the heat insulating wall 19 to communicate the freezer compartment 6 and the cold air passage 23.
Further, a cold air outlet 27 is bored in the back wall of the heat insulating wall 27 to communicate the midway part of the cold air return passage 20 of the freezer compartment with the cold air passage 23. Reference numeral 28 denotes a damper thermostat serving as a damper device that senses the temperature inside the ice-temperature refrigerator compartment 25 and automatically opens and closes the cold air intake port 26, and is provided in the front part of the heat insulating wall 19.

When the cooling operation is started and the blower 14 is operated, cold air circulates within the refrigerator as shown by the arrow in the figure. The freezing chamber 6 senses the temperature inside the chamber 6 and controls the operation of a compressor and a blower 14 (not shown) included in the refrigeration cycle.This is also controlled by a thermostat as a control device (not shown) from -15°C to -20°C. ℃
The refrigerator compartment 7 is maintained at, for example, about +3° C. by the damper thermostat 18. Further, a part of the cold air discharged into the freezer compartment 6 by the blower 14 flows into the cold air passage 23 from the cold air intake port 26, and while passing through this passage 23, it passes through the wall of the container 22 and enters the ice temperature storage chamber 25. After indirectly cooling the inside, it joins with the return cold air from the freezing chamber 6 through the cold air outlet 27 and circulates back to the cooling chamber 11. The damper thermostat 28 adjusts the amount of cold air flowing in from the cold air intake port 26 so that the temperature inside the ice-temperature refrigerator compartment 25 remains approximately constant between 0°C and about -5°C.
Although this temperature between 0°C and -5°C is below freezing, it is the temperature on the verge of freezing raw meat and fresh fish, that is, the freezing temperature and refrigeration temperature. Therefore, if foods such as raw meat and fresh fish are stored in this ice-temperature refrigerator chamber 25, they will not freeze and the growth of bacteria in the foods can be suppressed. or,
Since the inside of the ice-temperature refrigerator compartment 25 is sealed, moisture in the stored food is also prevented from being carried away. As a result, raw meat and fish can be stored for about a week without losing their flavor, according to experiments.

The blower 14 keeps the temperature inside the freezer compartment 6 at about -20°C.
℃, but the cooler 12 continues to exert its cooling effect for a while after that, so the cold air in the cooling chamber 11 tries to flow back through the freezer room cold air return passage 20, but the cold air outlet 27 is located in the middle of the passage 20. Since it is open, this backflow cold air does not flow into the cold air passage 23, thereby preventing the inside of the ice-temperature refrigerator compartment 25 from being supercooled when the blower 14 is stopped.

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, when a portion of the cold air introduced into the freezer compartment is guided to the cold air passage around the container by a damper device to cool the inside of the container from the wall surface of the container, so-called indirect cooling is performed. Therefore, the inside of the container is dehumidified by the dehumidified cold air and the food inside the container does not dry out, making it easier to control the inside of the container to maintain the ice temperature or refrigeration temperature regardless of the temperature of the refrigerator compartment. In addition, the cold air outlet side of the cold air passage is connected to the return passage of the freezer compartment through which cold air with relatively low humidity flows, so that the cold air that has passed through the cold air passage joins the return passage of the refrigerator compartment where cold air with relatively high humidity flows. The amount of frost on the cooler is reduced by lowering the humidity of the cold air led to the cold air passage and maintaining the humidity of the cold air returned to the air intake side of the cooler room from the cold air passage performing indirect cooling. In addition to extending the defrosting cycle and shortening the defrosting time, the cold air passage is located above the air suction side of the cooler room, so when the blower is stopped, cold air is transferred from the cooler room to the cold air passage. It is possible to suppress the backflow of cold air, prevent overcooling in the container and freezing of the food due to the backflow of cold air, and suppress the destruction of tissue cells in the food, thereby extending the shelf life of the food.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a side sectional view of the upper part of the refrigerator. 5...Partition wall, 6...Freezing room, 7...Refrigerating room, 11...
Cooler room, 12...Cooler, 14...Blower, 19...
Insulating wall, 20... Freezer room cold air return passage, 22... Container, 23... Cold air passage, 26... Cold air intake port, 27...
Cold air outlet, 28...damper thermostat.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A partition wall that divides the inside of the refrigerator into an upper freezer compartment and a lower refrigerator compartment, a blower that circulates the cold air cooled by the cooler to the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, and a cooling system that circulates the cold air from the freezer compartment with a cooler. In a refrigerator equipped with a return path returning to the storage compartment and a control device that controls the blower based on the temperature of the freezer compartment, an insulating wall that partitions the freezing compartment into an upper and lower part, and an insulating wall between the insulating wall and the partition wall. a cold air passage formed between an upper wall of the container and the heat insulating wall; an inlet for guiding the cold air passage into the cold air passage; a cold air outlet side of the cold air passage is communicated with the return passage located above the air suction side of the cooler chamber; A refrigerator comprising a damper device that opens and closes the container based on the temperature inside the container to cool the inside of the container to an ice temperature or refrigeration temperature.