JPH07313828A - Dehumidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dehumidify the inside of a cabinet to a suitable humidity without generating irregularity of humidity and also to perform operation corresponding to the humidity in the cabinet to keep the inside in a suitable humidity state. CONSTITUTION:Inside a casing 3 having an air intake port 1 and an air discharge port 2, a ventilation pass opening to both the inside and outside of a cabinet is formed. In the ventilation pass, a fan 7, a heater 8 and an air permeable moisture absorbing material 9 are placed, and a control part for setting a dehumidifying cycle for continuously performing the moisture absorption and the regeneration and heat radiation of the moisture absorption material when the inside is much humidified in a prescribed time and a standby for stopping the operation when the inside is at not more than the suitable humidity is installed to form a dehumidifier. A temp. detecting element 17 is installed in the ventilation pass. In the control part, further, a standby on dehumidification for stopping the operation to make temporary standby conditions after dehumidifying operation is finished in order to decrease the temp. difference between the neighborhood of the dehumidifier and the farther position from it when in a dehumidifying cycle, the suitable humidity state is detected from the much humidity state through the humidity detecting element, or an agitation by temporarily operating only a fan to agitate atmosphere in the cabinet is set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dehumidifying device. More specifically, the present invention is a dehumidifier capable of dehumidifying to an appropriate humidity without causing humidity unevenness in the refrigerator and enabling operation corresponding to the humidity inside the refrigerator to keep the inside of the refrigerator in an appropriate humidity state. It relates to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various dehumidifying devices such as a humidity controller have been known as devices for absorbing moisture in the air and adjusting the humidity to an appropriate level. For example, as such a dehumidifying device, the device illustrated in FIG. 3 has been provided so far.

In the dehumidifier illustrated in FIG. 3,
The inlet (1) and the outlet (2) have a casing (3)
Vents are provided at both left and right ends of the casing (3), and the inside of the casing (3) is formed with a ventilation path that is open to both inside and outside the storage such as a storage where the dehumidifying device is arranged. More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4, on the upper surface of the casing (3) having a hollow box shape, an intake port (1a) and an exhaust gas for opening the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3) to the outside of the refrigerator. Mouth (2a)
Is provided. Further, on the front surface of the casing (3), an intake port (1b) and an exhaust port (2b) for opening the internal ventilation passage are provided inside the refrigerator.

Then, as illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B, these intake ports (1a) (1b) and exhaust ports (2)
Between the a) and the (2b), an air flow path switching lid (5) that is rotatable about an axis of rotation (4) provided at a corner position inside the casing (3) within a range of approximately 90 °. ) Is provided. The rotation of the flow path switching lid (5) is obtained by the small motor (6) illustrated in FIG. Actuating a small motor (6), flow path switching lid (5)
It is possible to switch the inside air passage of the casing (3) to the inside and outside of the refrigerator by rotating the casing to open each of them.

In FIG. 5a, the flow path switching lid (5) closes the intake port (1a) and the exhaust port (2a) on the upper surface of the casing (3), and the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3) is provided only inside the refrigerator. Shows the case of opening. On the other hand, in the case of b of FIG.
Contrary to the case of FIG. 5A, the inlet (1b) and the outlet (2b) on the front of the casing (3) are closed by the flow path switching lid (5), and the internal air passage of the casing (3) is placed outside the refrigerator. Is open.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in the dehumidifying device, a fan (7), a PTC heater (8) and a honeycomb shape as a ventilating hygroscopic material are formed in the internal air passage of the casing (3). The silica gel (9) described above is sequentially arranged from the intake port (1) side provided on the casing (3) to the exhaust port (2) side. Then, a circuit part (10) including a power supply part, a control part, and the like for operating and controlling the operations of these fans (7), PTC heaters (8), and small motors (6) behind the inside of the casing (3). Is provided.

Further, the exhaust port (2) has a thermistor (11) as a temperature detecting element for detecting the exhaust temperature.
Is also provided. In the case of a moisture absorption operation for dehumidifying the inside of a storage or the like, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3) is opened to the inside of the storage, and the fan (7) is driven, The inside air (12) is fed to the intake port (1
Taken in from b) and passed through the honeycomb silica gel (9) illustrated in FIG. Then, the honeycomb-shaped silica gel (9) absorbs moisture in the taken-in air (12), and the dehumidified air (13) is blown out into the inside from the exhaust port (2b).

On the other hand, when the adsorbed water is released from the honeycomb silica gel (9) after the dehumidification and the regeneration operation is performed to restore the moisture absorption capacity, the casing (3) is used as illustrated in FIG. ) Open the internal ventilation passage to the outside of the cabinet, operate the PTC heater (8), drive the fan (7), and take in outside air (14) from the intake port (1a), and use this as the PTC heater. After being heated in (8) to form warm air, it is applied to the honeycomb-shaped silica gel (9) to release the adsorbed water, and hot air containing moisture (15)
Is discharged to the outside of the refrigerator. After regeneration, the honeycomb silica gel (9) is radiated.

The moisture absorption, regeneration and heat radiation are continuously performed within a predetermined time, and this is set as a dehumidification cycle in the controller of the dehumidifier. This dehumidification cycle is set as one cycle in which the honeycomb silica gel (9) shown in FIG. 3 is regenerated and moisture is absorbed after heat dissipation. In the dehumidifier, the intake port (1)
As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the air outlet (2) is provided with an air filter (16) standing upright with respect to the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3) to prevent dust and dirt from entering. Can be prevented.

[0010]

With respect to such a dehumidifying device, how to properly maintain the humidity in the storage room in which the dehumidifying device is arranged is a problem. Therefore, for example, a humidity sensor is used. It is considered that the operation of the dehumidifying device is controlled based on the humidity detection provided by the humidity sensor.

However, as shown in FIG. 6, although the humidity inside the chamber decreases due to the moisture absorption operation of the dehumidifier, in reality, there is a difference between the humidity in the vicinity of the dehumidifier and the humidity in the atmosphere farther than this. There is a gap, and the humidity around the dehumidifier becomes lower than the humidity in the distant atmosphere with the moisture absorption operation,
There is a problem that uneven humidity occurs in the refrigerator. Therefore, even if the dehumidifier is provided with a humidity sensor, the humidity detected by this humidity sensor is the low humidity of the inside humidity, and the control section detects an appropriate humidity condition that the humidity is appropriate. However, there may be cases where the humid condition is still present in the distance from the dehumidifier. The humidity mentioned here means relative humidity.

After the dehumidification cycle is completed, the controller of the dehumidifier can be set to a standby state in which the operation is stopped until the high humidity state is detected by the humidity sensor. In many cases, such uneven humidity cannot be eliminated. In particular, when the temperature near the humidity sensor provided in the dehumidifier is higher than the other regions, the humidity unevenness cannot be eliminated. In this state, it is impossible to operate according to the humidity change in the refrigerator.

Moreover, since the air around the dehumidifying device is in a low humidity state from the viewpoint of relative humidity, the dehumidifying device dehumidifies such low humidity air, and this reduces the dehumidifying efficiency too much.

Also, originally, when there is unevenness in humidity in a storage room or the like, the same problem as described above occurs, and it is determined that the humidity is appropriate even though the storage room is in a high humidity condition.
Or in the opposite case, it becomes impossible to perform reliable operation control corresponding to the humidity in the refrigerator. Then, the dehumidifying device repeats the dehumidifying cycle and the standby many times due to the above-described humidity unevenness in the refrigerator. This can have a considerable effect on the life of the device.

As described above, in the conventional dehumidifying device, it is practically impossible to keep the humidity inside the storage room in an appropriate humidity state. This invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional dehumidifier, and dehumidifies to an appropriate humidity without causing humidity unevenness in the refrigerator, and the humidity in the refrigerator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dehumidifying device capable of performing an operation corresponding to the above, and capable of keeping the inside of the refrigerator in an appropriate humidity state.

[0016]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a ventilation passage that is open to both inside and outside the casing inside a casing having an intake port and an exhaust port. A fan, a heater, and a ventilation-type hygroscopic material are formed in this air passage, and a dehumidification cycle for continuously performing moisture absorption, regeneration of the hygroscopic material and heat dissipation within a predetermined time when the humidity in the refrigerator is high, and In a dehumidification device equipped with a control unit that is set to a standby state in which it stops operating when the humidity is below the appropriate humidity, a humidity detection element is provided in the ventilation path, and the control unit further includes a humidity sensor in the dehumidification cycle. When an appropriate humidity condition is detected from the high humidity condition via the detection element, after the moisture absorption operation is completed, the operation is stopped and a temporary standby condition is set to a standby state during dehumidification, or only the fan is temporarily activated to change the atmosphere inside the refrigerator. Stir to stir It is constant, to provide a dehumidifier, characterized in that to reduce the humidity difference between the vicinity of dehumidifier a distant position than that.

Further, in the present invention, it is also one of the preferable modes to perform stirring after waiting for dehumidification and also to perform stirring during standby.

[0018]

[Operation] In the dehumidifying device of the present invention, a humidity detecting element such as a humidity sensor is arranged in the air passage, and the humidity detecting element is incorporated and integrated in the dehumidifying device. Therefore, as compared with the case where the humidity detecting element and the dehumidifying device are separately provided, it is possible to save the labor for wiring and connecting the humidity detecting element and the dehumidifying device in the storage.

Further, in the dehumidifying apparatus of the present invention, a dehumidifying cycle in which moisture absorption, regeneration of a hygroscopic material and heat dissipation are continuously performed within a predetermined time when the inside of the refrigerator is in a high humidity state, and when the inside of the refrigerator is below an appropriate humidity, it operates. When the control section that has been set to stand-by by stopping it to the standby state, and when the proper humidity state is detected from the high humidity state through the humidity detection element in the dehumidification cycle, after the moisture absorption operation ends, the operation is stopped and temporarily It is set to stand by at the time of dehumidification for a general standby state, or temporarily operate only the fan to stir the atmosphere in the refrigerator. During this dehumidifying standby or agitation, the unevenness of humidity inside the storage such as a storage can be eliminated, humidity can be detected accurately, and the inside of the storage can be uniformly dehumidified to an appropriate humidity state. It is possible to reliably respond to changes in humidity inside the refrigerator, and it is possible to reliably keep the inside of the refrigerator in an appropriate humidity state. Moreover, since the dehumidifying device does not dehumidify low-humidity air around the dehumidifying device, the dehumidifying efficiency is improved, the repetition of the dehumidifying cycle is reduced, and the life of the dehumidifying device is extended.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, and the dehumidifying device of the present invention will be described in more detail. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the dehumidifying device of the present invention. In the dehumidifier shown in the example of FIG. 1, the intake port (1) and the exhaust port (2) are provided at the left and right ends of the casing (3), as in the dehumidifier shown in FIG. Inside the casing (3), a ventilation path is formed which is open to both inside and outside the storage such as a storage where the dehumidifying device is arranged.

Further, in the dehumidifying device of this example, the fan (7) and the PTC are provided in the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3).
A heater (8) and a honeycomb-shaped silica gel (9) as a breathable moisture absorbent are sequentially arranged from the intake port (1) side provided in the casing (3) to the exhaust port (2) side. There is. Then, a circuit part (10) including a power supply part, a control part, and the like for operating and controlling the operations of these fans (7), PTC heaters (8), and small motors (6) behind the inside of the casing (3). Is provided.

Further, the exhaust port (2) has a thermistor (11) as a temperature detecting element for detecting the exhaust temperature.
Is equipped with.

In the moisture absorption operation for dehumidifying the inside of a storage room or the like, the internal ventilation passage of the casing (3) is opened to the inside of the storage room, and the fan (7) is driven to move the inside air (1
2) is taken in through the inlet port (1) and passed through the honeycomb silica gel (9). Then, the honeycomb-shaped silica gel (9) absorbs moisture in the taken-in air (12), and blows out dehumidified air (13) from the exhaust port (2) into the inside.

On the other hand, after dehumidifying, when the adsorbed water is released from the honeycomb-shaped silica gel (9) and the regeneration operation is performed to restore the moisture absorption capacity, the casing (3) is used.
Open the internal ventilation passage to the outside of the cabinet, operate the PTC heater (8) and drive the fan (7) to take in outside air (14) from the intake port (1),
After being heated by the TC heater (8) to form warm air, it is applied to the honeycomb silica gel (9) to release the adsorbed moisture, and the warm air containing moisture (15) is discharged to the outside of the refrigerator. After regeneration, the honeycomb silica gel (9) is radiated.

The moisture absorption, regeneration and heat radiation are continuously performed, and this is used as one dehumidification cycle in the circuit section (10).
It is set in the control unit provided in. This dehumidification cycle is set as one cycle in which the honeycomb silica gel (9) is regenerated and moisture is absorbed after radiating heat. Furthermore, in the dehumidifying device of this example, a humidity sensor (17) as a humidity detecting means is provided in the air passage of the intake port (1), and the control unit provided in the circuit section (10) is electrically operated. Connected to each other. The humidity sensor (17) detects the humidity of the atmosphere in the air passage near the intake port (1). Humidity here also means relative humidity. As the humidity sensor (17), a conventionally known appropriate one can be adopted. Further, there is no particular limitation on the arrangement position, and it can be provided at an appropriate position in the ventilation passage. As described above, the humidity sensor (17) is incorporated in and integrated with the dehumidifier, so that the humidity sensor (17) is different from the case where the humidity sensor (17) is provided separately.
It is possible to save the trouble of wiring the humidity sensor and the dehumidifier in the refrigerator.

Based on the humidity detected by the humidity sensor (17), the controller detects the humidity to control the start and end of the dehumidification cycle. After the inside of the refrigerator has been dehumidified to an appropriate humidity state, the dehumidifier stops its operation, the humidity inside the refrigerator becomes high, and the standby state is maintained until the next dehumidification cycle starts. This standby is also preset in the control unit.

The control unit further reduces the humidity difference between the vicinity of the dehumidifier and a position farther than the dehumidifier when the humidity sensor (17) detects an appropriate humidity condition from a high humidity condition in the dehumidification cycle. In addition, after dehumidifying operation is completed, dehumidifying standby is set in which the operation is stopped for a relatively short time and a temporary standby state is set. Further, the controller may be set to stir to temporarily operate only the fan (8) illustrated in FIG. 1 for a relatively short period of time after the end of the dehumidifying standby state to stir the inside atmosphere. Further, the control unit is set to perform stirring even in the above-described standby.

FIG. 2 is a correlation diagram showing an example of changes in humidity during operation of the dehumidifying apparatus having the control unit set as described above. In the example of FIG. 2, reproduction is performed at a predetermined time,
After repeating the dehumidification cycle in which heat dissipation and moisture absorption are continuously performed twice, the proper humidity state is detected through the humidity sensor (17) in FIG. Upon detection of this suitable humidity, the control unit puts the dehumidifying device into a standby state during dehumidification and suspends its operation for a predetermined relatively short time. The standby during dehumidification can be shorter than the dehumidification cycle, for example, and can be about 30% or less of the standby. More specifically, it can be about 30 minutes.

During the dehumidifying standby, the dehumidifying device stops its operation, so that the humidity difference between the vicinity of the dehumidifying device and the position farther than that caused by the dehumidifying cycle is reduced, that is, as illustrated in FIG. , The humidity near the dehumidifier rises, while the humidity at distant locations decreases. After the lapse of the predetermined time, the humidity around the dehumidifier exceeds the optimum humidity range,
When the high humidity state is reached, the third dehumidification cycle is started, as illustrated in FIG. Then, when the proper humidity state is detected after the end of the third dehumidification cycle, the same dehumidification standby state as described above is entered.

After the dehumidifying standby time has elapsed, when the proper humidity state is detected, stirring is performed this time. When the proper humidity condition is detected after the dehumidification standby, the humidity difference between the vicinity of the dehumidifier and its distant position is sufficiently reduced. Then, in order to further reduce the humidity unevenness in the refrigerator and detect it as a uniform humidity, stirring is provided, and only the fan (8) of the dehumidifier illustrated in FIG. 1 is operated to change the atmosphere in the refrigerator. Stir. In this stirring, the honeycomb silica gel (9) of FIG.
Is in a saturated state after absorbing moisture, and is hardly absorbed even if the inside air (12) is sucked into the ventilation passage by the operation of the fan (8). Therefore, when there is a humidity difference between the vicinity of the dehumidifier and the distant position, the humidity near the dehumidifier slightly rises as illustrated in FIG. This agitation is also set to a relatively short time as in the above-described standby during dehumidification, and the time can be set to, for example, about 30% or less of the dehumidification cycle. By stirring, the unevenness of the humidity in the refrigerator is further reduced and almost eliminated. In particular, when the airtightness of the storage is good and air flow does not occur in the storage, the humidity unevenness may not be eliminated by just waiting for dehumidification. Is extremely effective.

When the proper humidity condition is detected after the stirring is finished, the dehumidifier stops its operation and stands by. As described above, by providing the dehumidifying device with the standby during dehumidification and the stirring for the operation of the dehumidifier, it is possible to eliminate the humidity unevenness inside the refrigerator, the humidity detection becomes accurate, and the inside of the refrigerator can be dehumidified to an appropriate humidity state. Becomes It is possible to realize a preferable humidity environment for articles and the like stored in a storage such as a storage. Further, it becomes possible to control the operation of the dehumidifying device according to the humidity inside the refrigerator, and it is possible to keep the inside of the refrigerator in an appropriate humidity state. Moreover, since the relative humidity of the air taken in through the intake port (1) during the dehumidification cycle is higher than before, and low humidity air is not dehumidified,
As a result, dehumidification efficiency is improved. In addition, the inside of the refrigerator is sufficiently dehumidified to a proper humidity state and has a uniform humidity. Therefore, the repetition of the dehumidification cycle can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the life of the dehumidifier can be extended.

The above stand-by and agitation during dehumidification can be considered as loss time from the viewpoint of dehumidification, but since the dehumidification efficiency is improved as described above, the operating time of the dehumidifier is almost the same as the conventional one. In fact, the time required to dehumidify a 2000-liter storage cabinet from a high humidity condition of 80% humidity to a proper humidity condition of 40% is the same as the conventional device.
It was 0 minutes.

In the case of the dehumidifying device of the present invention, it is possible to set only the dehumidifying standby among the dehumidifying standby and the stirring and omit the stirring. On the contrary, the dehumidification standby may be omitted and only stirring may be set. In this case, only the fan (8) is operated at the time when the controller of the dehumidifying device first detects the suitable humidity state, the atmosphere in the refrigerator is stirred, and the humidity can be made uniform. Then, when the high humidity state is detected after a predetermined time, the dehumidification cycle can be further switched, and if the high humidity state remains, the standby state can be entered. When either the standby during dehumidification or the stirring is set in the control unit, it is effective when the capacity of the storage or the like is relatively small, and a sufficient effect is realized.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above examples. It goes without saying that various aspects are possible in details such as the structures and configurations of the fan, the heater, and the ventilation moisture absorbent, and the circuit configuration of the circuit unit.

[0035]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the unevenness of humidity in the refrigerator, to uniformly dehumidify to an appropriate humidity, and to keep the state stable. It is possible to realize a preferable humidity environment for various articles stored in a storage such as a storage. Moreover, the dehumidifying efficiency is improved, and the life of the dehumidifying device is extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a dehumidifying device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a correlation diagram showing changes in humidity in the vicinity of the dehumidifier and a position farther from the dehumidifier during operation of the dehumidifier of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional dehumidifying device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the dehumidifying device of FIG.

5A and 5B are side cross-sectional views of the dehumidifier of FIG. 3, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a correlation diagram showing changes in the humidity in the vicinity of the dehumidifier and in the distance from the dehumidifier during operation of the conventional dehumidifier.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inlet Port 2 Exhaust Port 3 Casing 6 Small Motor 7 Fan 8 PTC Heater 9 Honeycomb Silica Gel 10 Circuit Part 11 Thermistor 12 Inside Air 13 Dehumidified Air 14 Outside Air 15 Hot Air 16 Air Filter 17 Humidity Sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ventilation passage that is open to both inside and outside the refrigerator is formed inside a casing having an intake port and an exhaust port, and a fan, a heater, and a ventilation moisture absorbent are provided in this ventilation route. A dehumidification cycle that is installed to continuously perform moisture absorption, regeneration of the hygroscopic material and heat dissipation within a predetermined time when the inside of the refrigerator is humid, and a standby that stops the operation when the inside of the refrigerator is below the appropriate humidity and waits In a dehumidifier equipped with a control unit,
A humidity detecting element is provided in the ventilation passage, and when the humidity detecting element detects an appropriate humidity state from the high humidity state in the dehumidification cycle, the control section temporarily stops the operation after the moisture absorption operation is completed. It is characterized by a standby for dehumidification to be in a standby state, or a stirring that agitates the atmosphere in the refrigerator by temporarily operating only the fan to reduce the humidity difference between the vicinity of the dehumidifier and a position farther than that. Dehumidifier. 2. The dehumidifying device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is also set to agitate after completion of standby during dehumidification. 3. The dehumidifying device according to claim 1, wherein stirring is set in the control unit even during standby.