JPS63219360A - Thawing cabinet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce water consumption, by recovering excess water sprinkled from a sprinkler and dripped from an evaporator, water dripped from an eliminator for preventing scattering of water jumping back from the evaporator and water dripped from a blower in a water collector. CONSTITUTION:An evaporator 11 of a freezing system, an eliminator 12 opposite to an air inlet surface (11A) with an interval, a blower 14 for circulating cold air opposite to an air outlet surface (11B) of the evaporator 11 and a water sprinkler 13 for sprinkling water on the air inlet surface (11A) of the evaporator 11 between the evaporator and the eliminator 12 are provided in the upper part of the interior of a housing part 3 for frozen foods 32 divided by a heat insulating box 2. Furthermore, a water collector 16 is provided opposite to the evaporator 11, eliminator 12, blower 14 and water sprinkler 13 thereunder. A water storage tank 17 for storing external tap water fed from a water feed pipe 18 and water led through a return pipe 19 and communicating with the water sprinkler 13 through a feed pipe 23 connected to a pump device 22 is provided at the bottom in the interior under the housing part 3 of the cabinet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Public Expenses The present invention relates to a thawing chamber for thawing frozen foods using forcedly circulated humid cold air.

(b) Conventional technology Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 61-205783 discloses that a partition plate is disposed inside the refrigerator which can be defined by a heat insulating box to partition the inside of the refrigerator into upper and lower sections, dividing the interior into an upper area and a lower area. The upper section includes a plate-fin type evaporator, two eliminators arranged at appropriate intervals on both sides of the evaporator, a blower fan arranged behind the air outlet surface of the evaporator, and a blower fan arranged behind the air outlet surface of the evaporator. and a water storage tank with an open upper surface located directly below both eliminators, and a water sprinkling pipe for sprinkling water from the water storage tank toward the air inlet surface of the evaporator, and a plurality of net shelves in the lower area. A thawing chamber is disclosed which is provided with a storage section for placing frozen foods.

(8) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the defrosting chamber of the prior art, the water storage tank directly collects the water dripping from the evaporator and eliminator, but during defrosting, the blower fan rotates at extremely high speed. Due to the airflow condition, a considerable amount of water is drawn by the fan and drips from the fan, and this water falls outside the water storage tank and is drained, which increases water consumption and is uneconomical. there were.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention forms a storage section for frozen foods in a refrigerator defined by a heat-insulating box, and provides an upper part of the storage section. an evaporator of the refrigeration system, and an eliminator that faces the air inlet surface of the evaporator with a gap in the upper part of the refrigerator;
a cold air circulation blower facing the air outlet surface of the evaporator;
A water sprinkler for sprinkling water on the air inlet surface of the evaporator is disposed between the evaporator and the eliminator, and a water collector is disposed facing below the evaporator, eliminator, blower, and water sprinkler;
In the lower part of the chamber below the storage, external tap water supplied from a water supply pipe and water from the water collector guided by a return pipe are stored, and the water is stored through a feed pipe with a pump device interposed therein. This thawing warehouse is provided with a water storage tank that communicates with the water sprinkler.

(*> Effect) The present invention sprinkles water from the water storage tank (17) from the water sprinkler (13) to the evaporator (11) during thawing operation, and
By rotating the evaporator (
11), the eliminator (12), and the blower (14) fall into the water collector (16) and return to the return pipe (19).
) to the water storage tank (17).

(f) Examples Examples of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. (1)
This is a thawing chamber whose main body is constituted by an insulating box (2) with an open front, and a storage section (3) for frozen food is formed within the chamber defined by the insulating box (2). In the storage section (3), trays (6) on which frozen foods are placed are arranged vertically in multiple stages and are supported by slide rails (5) attached to the shelf supports (4). The front opening is closed off by a heat insulating door (7) that can be opened and closed.

In addition, there is a humid cold air generation chamber (
8). The cold air generation chamber (8) includes a plate fin type evaporator (11) equipped with a warming heater (9) and a defrosting heater (10), and an air inlet surface (IIA) of the evaporator (11) and an interval. The eliminator (1
2) and a water sprinkler (1) disposed between the evaporator (11) and the eliminator (12) and having an injection nozzle (13A) for spraying water towards the air inlet face (IIA) of the evaporator (11).
3) and two blowers (14) facing the air outlet surface (IIB) of the evaporator (11) are arranged, and the generation chamber (8)
The front of the room is closed by a service door (15) that can be opened and closed.

Therefore, the evaporator (1) disposed in the humid cold air generation chamber (8)
1), a water collector (16) is placed oppositely below the eliminator (12), a water sprinkler (13), and a blower (14). A water storage tank (17) is provided with an opening at the top closed by a removable lid (17A), leaving an opening at the top.

The other end of a water supply pipe (18) whose one end is connected to an external water supply system and the other end of a return pipe (19) whose one end is connected to the water collector (16) face the opening of this water storage tank (17). As a result, the water storage tank (17) collects the water supplied from the water supply pipe (18) by opening the water supply electromagnetic valve (21) controlled by the water level detection device (20) installed inside. The water recovered from the vessel (16) through the return pipe (19) is stored.

Furthermore, the bottom of the water storage tank (17) and the water sprinkler (13)
are connected by a feed pipe (23) with a pump device (22) interposed therebetween. This pump device (22) is a heat insulating box (
2) is arranged in a machine room (24) defined below, and a drain pipe (25) is branched from the feed pipe (23) on the outlet side of the pump device (22).This drain pipe (25) The chamber is normally closed by the conduit opening/closing mechanism (26), and the other end passes through the machine room (24) from the drain port (27) formed in the bottom wall of the insulation box (2), and the bottom wall of the machine room (24) is It is connected to a drainage vibrator (28) that is inserted therethrough.

An electric compressor (29), a condenser (30), and a condenser cooling fan (31), which together with the evaporator (11) constitute a refrigeration system, are installed in the machine room (24).

Next, the operation of the thawing warehouse will be explained. This driving is 4
It consists of different operation modes, each mode is thawing operation, tightening operation, cold storage operation and washing operation. By pressing the thawing button, washing operation → thawing operation - washing operation → tightening operation - cold storage operation will be automatically performed. Do this in sequence.

First, in the cleaning operation, the water supply solenoid valve (21) opens and the water supply pipe (
18> to the water storage tank (17), and when a predetermined amount of water is supplied, the water level detection device (20) detects this and closes the water supply electromagnetic valve (21) to stop the water supply. At the same time, the pump device (22) operates, and the water in the water storage tank (17) is pumped through the feed pipe (
23) to the sprinkler (13) and from the injection nozzle (13A) to the air inlet face (IIA) of the evaporator (11).
Water is sprinkled towards. This water falls into a water collector (16) placed under the evaporator (11>) and is collected into a water storage tank (17) through a return pipe (19).After a predetermined watering time has elapsed, The pump device (22) stops and the watering operation ends, and at the same time, the drain pipe (25) is opened by the pipe opening/closing mechanism (26), and the water in the water storage tank (17) passes through the drain pipe (25). All water is drained from the drain vibrator (28).

This drainage operation is temporally controlled, and after a predetermined period of time, the drain pipe (25) closes and the drainage operation ends.

For the subsequent thawing operation, first the water supply solenoid valve (2
1) opens to supply water from the water supply pipe (18) to the water storage tank (17), and when a predetermined amount of water is supplied, the water supply solenoid valve (21) closes to stop the water supply. At the same time, the pump device (22) is activated, and the water in the water storage tank (17) is pumped through the feed pipe (23) to the sprinkler (13), and from the injection nozzle (13A) to the air inlet face of the evaporator (11). Water is sprinkled towards (IIA). On the other hand, the refrigeration system that starts operation upon completion of the cleaning operation controls the operation so that the temperature inside the refrigerator is maintained at, for example, 5°C, and controls the heating heater <9) and the defrosting heater (
10) is 0N-OF at a set temperature slightly lower than the set temperature in the refrigerator, in order to quickly raise the temperature inside the refrigerator, which decreases due to the influence of frozen food at the beginning of thawing operation, to the set temperature.
F. Therefore, the cold air that has undergone heat exchange in the evaporator (11) becomes humid as it contains fine particles of water sprinkled on the evaporator (11), and is sent to the evaporator (11) with high-speed airflow by the operation of the blower (14). The constant temperature and humid cold air that has passed through is circulated to the storage section (3) as shown by the white arrow (A) in FIG. 1, and thaws the frozen food (32).

By the way, the water sprinkled on the evaporator (11) during the thawing operation is not entirely contained in the cold air and circulated, but falls from the evaporator (11) to the water collector (16) as surplus water. Furthermore, the water that has bounced back from the evaporator (11) is prevented from further scattering backward by the eliminator (12).
The water falling from the eliminator (12) is collected in the water collector (16).
Furthermore, water falling from the blower (14) can also be collected in the water collector (16). Like this water collector (16)
The water that has fallen into the tank passes through the return pipe (19) to the water storage tank (
17) and reused. Although the thawing time varies depending on the type and amount of frozen food (32), the freezing device, blower (14) and pump device (22) are stopped for a preset time based on empirical data. , At the same time, open the drain pipe (25) and open the water storage tank (17).
Drain all the water and end the thawing operation.

When the thawing operation is completed, the cleaning operation is started again. This cleaning operation is carried out in exactly the same way as the above-mentioned cleaning operation that was carried out prior to the thawing operation, and the water storage tank (17
) is pumped by a pump device (22) through a feed pipe (23) to a water sprinkler (13), and from an injection nozzle (13A) of the water sprinkler (13) to an evaporator (11).
), and the water falling from the evaporator (11) is transferred to the return pipe (
After a predetermined period of water circulation to be collected through water tank (19) and water tank (17), all the water in water tank (17) is drained. This removes drips and oil that are generated during thawing operation and remain attached to water circulation circuits such as the evaporator (11), water sprinkler (13), return pipe (19), pump device (22), and feed pipe (23). Clean and maintain these water circulation circuit components clean.

When such a cleaning operation is completed, a tightening operation is subsequently started. This tightening operation is performed by controlling the operation of the refrigeration equipment so that the temperature inside the refrigerator is maintained at, for example, -3°C, which is slightly lower than O''C, and by operating the blower (14), ice is formed on the surface of the food (32). This is done in order to form a film and reduce the outflow of drips, and to eliminate temperature unevenness between the surface temperature and center temperature of the thawed food (32).In other words, it is carried out in a temperature range of 0°C or higher. By the defrosting operation,
By forming an ice film on the surface of completely thawed food, large amounts of drips are prevented from flowing out, and if there is an unthawed part in the center of the food, heat from the thawed part that is in a state of 0°C or higher is absorbed. The center part is thawed by the movement, and the surface temperature and center temperature are gradually brought into equilibrium.This tightening operation also takes place at a preset time.

When the above-mentioned tightening operation is completed, the cold storage operation is subsequently started. In this cold storage operation, the operation of the refrigeration system is controlled so that the temperature inside the refrigerator is maintained at a temperature slightly lower than 0°C and slightly higher than the above-mentioned tightening operation, for example, -1°C.
4) This is done by lowering the rotational speed and slowing down the speed of the circulating cold air. By the way, this preset temperature inside the refrigerator (-1°C) is the temperature (freezing point) at which loads of meat and fish, which are often handled as frozen foods, freeze. The freezing point is characterized by being set at a temperature slightly higher than -1.3°C, so-called freezing temperature.

As a result, the thawed food is preserved at high freshness for a long period of time by such cold storage operation until it is cooked as necessary.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides surplus water that falls from the evaporator after being sprinkled with water from the sprinkler, water that falls from the eliminator that prevents water that has bounced back from the evaporator from scattering, and water that falls from the blower. The water collector collects the water, and the water collected by the water collector is reliably returned to the water storage tank through the return pipe and recirculated, resulting in a reduction in water consumption and excellent economic effects.

In addition, since the water storage tank can be placed in the lower part of the chamber below the storage area, even in the unlikely event that a large amount of water flows from the water storage tank that stores a large amount of water, frozen foods placed in the storage area will be protected from this water. can do.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the thawing warehouse of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the
It is a BB sectional view of the figure. (2)...insulation box, (3)...storage section, (dan)...
...Evaporator, (IIA) ...Air inlet surface, (IIB
)...Air outlet surface, (12)...Eliminator,
(13)...Water sprinkler, (14)...Blower, (
16)...Water collector, (17)...Water storage tank, (
18)...Water supply pipe, (19)...Return pipe, (22)
)...Pump device, (23)...Feed pipe, (3
2)...Frozen food.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage section for frozen food is formed in a refrigerator defined by a heat insulating box, and a freezing system evaporator is installed in the upper part of the storage section above the storage section.
an eliminator facing the air inlet face of the evaporator with a gap therebetween; a cold air circulation blower facing the air outlet face of the evaporator; and water sprinkling on the air inlet face of the evaporator between the evaporator and the eliminator. A water sprinkler is disposed, and a water collector is disposed facing below the evaporator, eliminator, blower, and water sprinkler, and water is supplied from a water supply pipe to the lower part of the chamber below the storage. A water storage tank is provided to store external tap water and water from the water collector guided by a return pipe, and to communicate with the water sprinkler via a feed pipe with a pump device interposed therein. Thawing warehouse.