JPH08282255A - Heating/cooling box for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a heating/cooling box for an automobile in which cost on parts, an assembling man-hour, etc., can be reduced compared to a fluorocarbon gas type, and in which elimination of fluorocarbon can be achieved. CONSTITUTION: A Peltier element 3 is held by a heat transmission block 4 and a heat radiation fin 5, and the part of the heat transmission block 4 is installed on an aperture part 1a provided in one side wall of a heating/cooling box 1 heat-insulated by heat insulation material 2, the Peltier element 3 is connected through a changing switch 9 to a battery power source of an automobile, and the heating/cooling box 1 is cooled or heated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a warm refrigerator mounted on an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In-vehicle refrigerators are installed in some RVs, luxury cars, etc., and especially those with a refrigeration function are also used for center consoles that are frequently used by drivers.

[0003]

However, in the existing center console with a refrigerator, since the cooling mechanism is a freon gas system, it is necessary to install gas supply piping from the freon gas compressor in the front part and return piping, which is not suitable for actual vehicle assembly. The cost is high, and it is not often adopted for general-purpose cars. In addition, there are few cases where CFCs are collected when a vehicle is scrapped, which is an important problem of ozone layer depletion.

The present invention is intended to provide a warm refrigerator for an automobile, which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a Peltier element is sandwiched between a heat transfer block and a radiating fin, and the part of the heat transfer block is attached to an opening provided in one side wall of a warm / cool box. The present invention relates to a warm refrigerator for an automobile, in which a Peltier element is connected to a battery power source of the automobile through a changeover switch to cool or heat the inside of a hot / cold box.

The Peltier element is an n-type Bi ₂ Te ₃ -B
The i ₂ Se ₃ alloy and the p-type Sb ₂ Te ₃ -Bi ₂ Te ₃ alloy are generally used as cooling elements. By applying a direct current to these two different conductors, as shown in FIG. 4A for the p-type and FIG. 4B for the n-type, in the direction of the current I at the junction. In addition to Joule heat, heat Q ₂ is generated or heat Q ₁ is absorbed. This is called the Peltier effect. By applying this to the Peltier element, and arranging an n-type conductor and a p-type conductor in series as shown in FIG. 5, one side absorbs heat of Q _{1 and the} other side has Q ₂ Fever occurs.

In the present invention, a Peltier element as shown in FIG. 5 is transmitted to the inside of the hot / cold box through the heat transfer block to cool or heat the inside of the hot / cool box, and the battery of the automobile is used as a power source. By switching the positive and negative of the power source with the changeover switch, cooling and heating are switched.
The material of the hot / cold box is not particularly limited. The warm / cool box is kept warm, but for the purpose of keeping warm, it is preferable to cover the outer circumference of the warm / cool box with a heat insulating material such as urethane foam, polyolefin foam or polystyrene foam. The Peltier element is sandwiched between the heat transfer block and the radiating fin, an opening is provided on one side wall of the heating / cooling box, the heat transfer block is attached to the opening, and the inside or outside of the heating / cooling box is cooled or heated by the heat transfer block. To do. The material of the heat transfer block is preferably aluminum or the like having good thermal conductivity.

In order to prevent corrosion, the Peltier element is preferably covered with a sealing material for electronic parts such as silicone rubber or epoxy resin. The radiation fins radiate the surface of the Peltier element on the side opposite to the heat transfer block to enhance and protect the efficiency of the Peltier element, and it is preferable to enhance the radiation efficiency by using a fan or the like. The material of the radiating fin is preferably aluminum or the like having good thermal conductivity, and examples thereof include an extruded product, a product obtained by welding the fin to a metal plate, and a machined product having a fin shape. Further, in order to prevent excessive temperature rise of the Peltier element, it is preferable to provide a bimetal for temperature adjustment on the heat radiation fin. There are no particular restrictions on the location of the warm refrigerator, and it should be installed in a suitable place such as the center console in the car.

[0009]

EXAMPLES Examples of a warm refrigerator for an automobile according to the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 1 shows an assembled state of a warm refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hot / cold box 1 is made of aluminum with a thickness of 1.6 mm, and the internal volume is 160 × 20.
It is 0 × height 230 (mm). The periphery of the hot / cold box 1 was covered with a heat insulating material 2 of rigid urethane foam. Peltier element 3
Is 3.3A for DC12V with 40mm square and 4.6mm thickness
(40W) type (Thermo Module KSM-04127A manufactured by Komatsu Electronics Co., Ltd.) is used, and a silicone rubber sealant is used (KE-109 manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) on the outer periphery.
2) Sealed with 13. An opening 1a was provided on one side wall of the heating / cooling box 1. The opening 1a was sandwiched with a mounting plate 7 made of stainless steel from the inside and a heat transfer block 4 made of aluminum from the outside and screwed. The vicinity of the opening 1a of the heat transfer block 4 is surrounded by the heat insulating material 2.

Next, the Peltier element 3 was sandwiched, and the surface opposite to the opening 1a of the heat transfer block 4 and the radiation fin 5 were screwed. The radiation fins 5 are extruded products made of aluminum. A heat radiating fan 6 is arranged outside the heat radiating fins 5 in order to enhance heat radiating efficiency. Cooling fan 6 for DC12V, rated current 175 mA, the air volume 1 m ³ / min,
The maximum static pressure of 4.2 mmHg was used. As the circuit board 8, the circuit board shown in FIG. 3 was used, and it was connected to the radiating fin 5, the radiating fan 6, the hot / cold changeover switch 9 and the 12V battery via the Peltier element 3 and the bimetal 12, respectively. The bimetal 12 used is one that controls ON-OFF current-voltage at 80 ° C. (provided with a constant voltage circuit using a transistor). These assembled parts were housed in the center console 10 in the vehicle shown in FIG. 2, and were covered with the console lid 11.

When a thing to be cooled or heated is put in the hot / cold box 1, a lid (not shown) is closed, and when the changeover switch 9 is turned to the cold side for cooling, a current is supplied from the battery power source to the Peltier element 3. The flow and absorption of heat are started, and the inside of the warm / cool box 1 is cooled via the heat transfer block 4. At the same time, the heat radiation fan 6 operates to send wind toward the heat radiation fins 5 to start heat radiation. When heating, if the changeover switch 9 is turned to the warm side, heat generation starts and the inside of the hot / cold box 1 is heated.

An evaluation test was carried out on the automobile warm refrigerator assembled in the example. The temperature measurement points are: A: the part of the mounting plate 7 in the heating / cooling box 1, B: air temperature in the heating / cooling box, C:
The temperature of the liquid in the 340 ml canned juice stored in the hot / cold box was used. The progress of the temperature after the start of operation is as shown in FIG. 6, where (a) is for cooling and (b) is for heating. In the case of cooling, the temperature of part A became 0 ° C or lower after 45 minutes, and the juice temperature of part C became 8.5 ° C. In the case of heating, after 45 minutes, the temperature of the part A was about 80 ° C and the juice temperature was 56 ° C.

[0013]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The warm refrigerator for automobiles according to the present invention is reduced in costs such as parts cost and assembly man-hour as compared with the conventional chlorofluorocarbon type, and is a dechlorofluorocarbon which is a problem due to ozone depletion. It can also be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an assembly state and a component configuration of a warm refrigerator for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a storage position for a vehicle of the warm refrigerator of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an electric circuit of the warm refrigerator of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of a Peltier device, where (a) is p
Type, (b) is the case of n type.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a Peltier element.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing test results, where (a) is cooling,
(B) is the case of heating.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Heating / cooling box 1a ... Opening 2 ... Insulating material 3 ... Peltier element 4 ... Heat transfer block 5 ... Radiating fin 6 ... Radiating fan 7 ... Mounting plate 8 ... Circuit board 9 ... Changeover switch 10 ... Center console 11 ... Console lid 12 ... Bimetal 13 ... Sealing material

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A Peltier element is sandwiched between a heat transfer block and a radiation fin, and a portion of the heat transfer block is attached to an opening provided on one side wall of a warm and cool box, and a Peltier element is provided via a changeover switch. A refrigerator for automobiles, which is connected to the battery power source of the automobile to cool or heat the inside of the heating / cooling box.