JPS5849028Y2 - humid refrigeration equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] This invention is related to a refrigeration device, and the temperature inside the refrigerator is 0 to 10.
The present invention relates to a high-humidity refrigeration system that maintains the humidity of foods that belong to the relatively high temperature range of about 0.degree. C. and do not belong to the freezing zone of 0.degree.

Hitherto, as such a humid refrigerator, a humid refrigerator has been proposed in which ice produced by an ice maker is stored in the refrigerator and the ice is humidified and refrigerated using the cold air.

However, fountain-type ice cube machines were mainly used for the ice machines of the above-mentioned humid refrigerators, but since the produced ice cubes fall into the ice storage compartment at the bottom, a heavy ice machine is inevitable. It ended up being placed on top of the refrigerator, making the whole thing unstable and dangerous.

In addition, water circulation type ice makers, including fountain types, all use a cycle ice making method, so they produce less ice.
Therefore, in order to obtain the required amount of ice, the ice maker has to be large in size, and has many mechanically complex moving parts, resulting in high costs.

As an alternative to the above-mentioned ice maker, a continuous ice-making type auger ice maker has attracted attention.

This auger-type ice maker has no restrictions on where it can be installed in the refrigerator; it can also be installed at the bottom, which helps stabilize the center of gravity.

Also, the auger-type ice maker is the cheapest and produces a large amount of ice compared to the ice maker mentioned above, and the flake ice produced by it has a higher water content than ice cubes or compressed water, so it is the most suitable for ice chips in a humidifying refrigerator. Are suitable.

However, since this humid refrigerator circulates cold air by natural convection, its cooling efficiency and humidifying effect are extremely low, making it impractical.

That is, (a) natural convection has a slow cooling rate;
When the amount of water stored increases, convection stops.

(b) If convection is stopped, cooling will depend only on cold air falling from the bottom of the ice layer, and the recovery function will be slow after the temperature rises due to opening and closing of the door.

(C) When flake ice is produced and stored using an auger ice maker, although there is no shortage of humidity, the air permeability of the ice flake accumulation layer is extremely poor, and there is a risk that ventilation may become impossible.

(d) When a compressor is added to the auger ice maker and the flake ice is divided into columnar pieces and stored as chip ice, the air permeability is improved, but since the water quality is low in moisture, there remains a problem in the humidifying effect.

The above disadvantages are acceptable for commercial refrigerators whose main purpose is to store large amounts of ice and take out and use them, and whose main purpose is humidification and refrigeration. It is not suitable for refrigerators that

That is, the idea of forced circulation of air inside the refrigerator does not arise from the above-mentioned commercial refrigerator, in which the ice must not have a bad odor.

This idea was created in view of the above problems, and by taking advantage of the auger-type ice maker and the high-moisture flake ice produced by it, it is possible to greatly improve cooling efficiency and humidification effect. The main objective is to provide a high-humidity refrigeration device that also has a deodorizing effect.

Hereinafter, this invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings showing examples thereof.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a box-shaped refrigerator body made of a heat insulating wall material, etc., and the inside thereof is a storage room 2.

The back wall 3 forming the storage body has a partition wall 4 that protrudes concavely into the storage chamber at its upper central portion, and an auger ice maker 5 is installed in the chamber formed by this partition wall 4. has been done.

Inside the storage room 2, a thin lunch box-shaped ice storage compartment is formed in a space defined by the partition wall 4, the ceiling wall 6, and a front door (not shown), and the ice storage compartment is formed in a thin lunch box shape in the thin direction, that is, in the lateral direction. The wind is allowed to flow through the area.

In other words, the structure of this water storage chamber mainly consists of three parallel partition plates 7, 8.9, of which the two facing partition plates 7, 8 are mesh plates with a coarse mesh and good ventilation to the extent that flake ice does not fall off. , a punching plate, a louver, or other porous member, and the other partition plate 9 is made of a sealing plate having an opening for blowing air, and these are supported by a gutter-like bottom plate 12. A thin box-shaped space between the ventilation partition plates 7 and 8 is used as an ice storage chamber, and the pipe opening of the ice piece delivery pipe 10 of the auger-type ice maker 5 is opened in the upper part of the space.

A blower fan 11 is provided in the opening of the partition plate 9, and the blower body (not shown) is installed separately outside the storage body, so that the heat radiated by the blower body is directly radiated into the storage room. It is designed to prevent the electrical system of the main unit from being damaged by high humidity.

The gutter-like bottom plate 12 is inclined, and a drain pipe 1 is provided at the lower end thereof.
3 are connected so that water droplets falling from the bottom of the ice storage chamber made of a porous member onto the bottom plate 12 are discharged to the outside of the ice storage body through a drain pipe 13.

Equipment such as a compressor, a condenser, a fan, and a dryer necessary for the refrigeration cycle operation of the auger-type ice maker 5 are collectively arranged at an appropriate part of the storage body, but they are arranged at the bottom of the storage body. This is done from the standpoint of center of gravity stability, ease of use for the user, and to prevent hot air and oil particles filling the ceiling of the kitchen room from hitting the condenser. is also extremely advantageous.

At the mouth end of the ice chip delivery pipe 10 located above the fan 11, as shown in FIGS. The microswitch 15 cooperates with the microswitch 15, and when the ice becomes full and the top of the ice flake layer pushes up the tentacle 14,
The switch 15 is turned off, the operation of the refrigeration cycle is stopped, the ice maker drive motor 16 is stopped after a certain period of time by a delay relay (not shown), and then the ice is consumed and the contact 14 returns, and the switch is turned off. 15 is turned on, the operation of the refrigeration cycle and ice maker motor 16 is restarted.

The blower fan 11 continuously rotates at all times, and is stopped when a thermosensor 17 disposed at an appropriate location in the storage chamber 2 detects an appropriate temperature and turns off.

In the humid refrigeration system configured as described above, the auger ice maker 5 is directly connected to the water supply, and ice making operation is performed continuously. When the chamber is full and the detection switch 15 is turned off, the chamber stops.

Then, the blower fan 11 is driven to rotate, and the air in the storage chamber flows through the ice flake accumulation layer in the ice storage chamber, so that heat exchange between the ice pieces and the air is performed, and at the same time, a humidification effect is performed, and the ice is stored. Forced circulation of cooled and humidified air is created in the room.

Therefore, according to the above configuration, heat exchange between the ice chips and the air and humidification are actively performed by the aforementioned forced circulation airflow, so compared to the conventional natural convection type humid refrigerator, the cooling efficiency and humidification effect are improved. It can be seen that there is a significant increase in

In addition, the bad odor generated from stored seafood remains in conventional natural convection humid refrigerators, but in the case of a refrigerator where forced circulation airflow is formed through the ice storage compartment as described above, the bad odor adheres to the ice pieces. It is absorbed and then discharged together with the melted water to the outside of the storage body through the gutter-like bottom plate 12 and the drain pipe 13.

The melting of the ice chips creates cavities in various places in the ice chip accumulation layer, and when the ice chip layer collapses and the detection switch 15 is turned on, the auger ice maker is restarted and ice chips are supplied to the ice storage chamber.

In addition, as the cavitation phenomenon progresses, ice pieces may remain in an arched shape for an indefinite period of time, and in that case, the heat exchange rate decreases, so it is necessary to take measures to prevent this arching phenomenon from occurring.

This arching phenomenon can be prevented by forming the ice storage chamber into the thin bento box shape mentioned above and crushing the arch due to the weight of the ice chips, or by making the walls of the ice storage chamber tapered so that they widen toward the bottom, or by creating a ventilation mesh vertically. This can be prevented by means such as visualizing it.

In addition, forced ventilation by a blower fan that flows through the ice storage chamber in the thinner direction is effective in destroying arching.

Since the mechanical detection means consisting of the contact 14 and the switch 15 for detecting the amount of water in the ice storage compartment has a small operating range, the on/off cycle of operation and stop is relatively short.

Moreover, this water storage detection means is arranged at a position above the blower fan 11.

This is to prevent the heat exchange effect of ventilation from decreasing when the water volume decreases, and structurally speaking, the upper ends of the ventilation partition plates on both sides (for example, the part above level L shown in Figure 2) cannot be ventilated. It is formed from a board material of is preferable, but in that case too, it is advantageous to have a small operating range as described above.

As mentioned above, the ice pieces in the ice storage compartment melt by heat exchange, and at this time, they not only cool the circulating airflow but also have a humidifying effect, but this is especially because the ice pieces depend on the flake ice. Compared to ice cubes and compressed water, flake ice has a much higher moisture content and is suitable for use, and does not require any means such as sprinkling water to humidify it, and does not require the use of an evaporator like a regular refrigerator. Now, compared to the need for a special humidifier, it is 100% effective without taking any measures.
It is possible to humidify up to

In addition, ice chips in the water storage chamber have odors attached to them and are eventually drained, contributing greatly to the deodorizing effect, but this stored ice is not used for anything else and is consumed just by melting. A constant amount of ice chips is always stored in the ice storage compartment, and there is no unevenness in ventilation resistance.

The location of the ice storage compartment within the storage unit is not limited to the upper center, but can be set in other locations, and the blower fan may be of either the suction type or the blowout type, and the water storage detection means may also be the mechanical type described above. The detection means is not limited, and other means can be selected and used as desired.

As described above, according to this invention, a thin ice storage chamber that stores flake ice sent from an auger-type ice maker is placed in a storage body that forms a storage chamber, and a vertically long ice storage chamber is formed by two partition walls facing each other. The two partition walls of this ice storage chamber are formed of porous members that allow the air in the storage chamber to flow through the layer of flake ice stored therein, and the ice storage chamber is also formed with a porous member that allows the air in the storage chamber to flow through the layer of flake ice stored therein. A blower fan is formed on one of the two partition walls for forcibly circulating the air in the storage compartment through the ventilation part and into the ice storage compartment and the storage compartment. Water storage detection means for detecting the amount of water in the ice storage chamber and controlling the operation of the auger-type ice maker is arranged in parallel and above the blower fan. Not only does the arching phenomenon not occur, the heat exchange effect due to ventilation does not deteriorate even when the amount of water in the ice storage chamber decreases, and in addition to this, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

(a) Since a forced circulation airflow is formed by the blower fan, heat exchange between the ice in the ice storage compartment and the air in the storage compartment is actively performed, and an increase in cooling efficiency and humidification effect can be achieved at the same time.

(b) Under natural convection, the foul odor of fish and shellfish will remain and fill the air, but if forced circulation airflow is created, the foul odor will be absorbed by the ice chips and can be discharged out of the storage together with the melted water.

(C) By utilizing the good humidifying properties of flake ice, the disadvantage of poor breathability can be avoided by forming forced circulation airflow.

(d) Since the main body of the auger-type ice maker can be placed at any position in the storage unit, it can also be placed at the bottom, and the center of gravity of the storage unit can be stabilized.

(e) Auger ice makers are cheaper than other ice makers;
A large amount of ice is made.

(f) Cooling and deodorization can be accomplished with ice alone.

(g) There is no defrost cycle and continuous operation is possible.

(h) Complex humidifiers, deodorizers, etc. are not required.

(i) The inside of the storage compartment is easy to clean, and parts can be simplified.

(j) It is particularly useful as a vibration-resistant refrigerator that can be loaded onto ships, vehicles, etc.

(k) There are few failure points, and maintenance management and repair are easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a high-humidity refrigerator showing an embodiment of this invention, with the door removed; Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view; and Figure 4 is a longitudinal side view. Figures 5 and 5 are perspective views of the water amount detection mechanism, and Figures 6 and 7 are side views showing its operating state. In the drawing, 1 is the storage body, 2 is the storage room, 3 is the back wall, 4 is the partition wall, 5 is the auger type ice maker body, 6 is the ceiling wall, 7, 8.9 are the partition plates, and 10 is the ice piece delivery tube, 11 is a blower fan,
12 is a gutter-like bottom plate, 13 is a drain pipe, 14 is a tentacle, 15 is a switch, 16 is an ice maker drive motor, and 17 is a temperature sensor.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] (1) A thin water storage chamber that stores flake ice sent from an auger-type ice maker is divided vertically into two partition walls facing each other in the storage body that forms the storage room. The two partition walls are formed of porous members through which the air in the storage chamber can flow through the layer of flake ice stored therein, and the water storage chamber has a part that receives melted water from the flake ice and guides it out of the storage body. A blower fan that forcibly circulates air in the storage chamber through the ventilation portion between the water storage chamber and the storage chamber is disposed in parallel to one of the two partition walls, and A high-humidity refrigeration system, in which a water storage detection means for detecting the amount of water in the ice storage chamber and controlling the operation of the auger-type ice maker is disposed above the blower fan. (2) The high-humidity refrigeration system according to claim 1, wherein the two partition walls through which the air in the storage compartment flows are walls that define the thinnest part of the ice storage compartment.