KR20050048482A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and by an effective installation of a vacuum insulation panel in an insulating space of a cabinet, the thermal insulation performance is greatly improved, thereby increasing the power saving effect or improving the storage volume efficiency of the storage compartment, and having a large thermal insulation effect. The cabinet can be easily manufactured, and the heat insulation space of the refrigerator cabinet 1 is provided with the vacuum insulation panels 5 and 6, which are made of glass wool mat as a core material, are stored in the gas barrier container, and the inside of the refrigerator is evacuated. It is adhered to the inner surface, and foamed filling the polyurethane foam (8) in the remaining space, characterized in that the vacuum insulation panel is installed by overlapping two or more sheets in the thickness direction of the insulation space.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which a vacuum insulation panel is pasted into an insulation space of a cabinet to form an insulation layer together with a foam insulation.

Conventionally, as a heat insulator of an insulation cabinet in a refrigerator, a polyurethane foam having low thermal conductivity and having rigidity integrated with an outer box or an inner box constituting the cabinet by foam filling has been mainstream. In order to reduce the amount of power consumption or to reduce the thickness of the insulating wall to improve the volumetric efficiency of the refrigerator by further improving the efficiency of preventing heat leakage, some of the vacuum insulating panels as the insulating material have been put to practical use.

As an example of the use of the refrigerator, the vacuum insulated panel 55 shown in the basic configuration in FIG. 7 is designed to reduce the material cost, to facilitate the maintenance of the exhaust or vacuum degree, and to operate at a relatively high internal pressure to obtain long-term reliability. The core material 55a is made of a laminated film of synthetic resin and aluminum foil, using a resin foam, an inorganic fine powder and a fiber of a continuous bubble structure which can form a micro-space and preserve the shape under atmospheric pressure. After covering with the gas-blocking container 55b of the inside, and making the inside of the container 55b into a vacuum state, the opening was heat-sealed 55c and sealed.

In addition, to maintain the degree of vacuum by suppressing the deterioration over time due to the increase in the internal pressure due to the gas generated in the core material 55a and the permeate gas penetrating into the interior from the sealing surface or surface of the gas shutoff container 55b. Metals such as titanium and magnesium, alloys such as barium and lithium, oxides such as cobalt oxide, calcium oxide and zeolite, activated carbon, and the like, and are made of a material which adsorbs air components such as moisture, carbon and nitrogen, and gases such as hydrogen It is common to enclose a getter agent 55e.

In terms of insulation performance, the fine powder of inorganic powder such as pearlite is used as the core material. The wall thickness of the fine powder solid itself is large, so that the space volume for insulation is small, and as shown in FIG. 8, the resin foam of continuous bubble is used as the core material. Since the size of the bubble cell has an intensity limit, the thermal conductivity of the vacuum insulation panel is limited to about 0.005 to 0.007 W / mK.

As a material capable of obtaining a thermal conductivity of less than that, glass wool having a fiber diameter of several μm or less, and when it is used as a core material, can form a large number of small spaces, thereby achieving a low thermal conductivity of about 0.002 W / mK. A vacuum insulation panel using the glass wool as a core material is installed on each inner surface of the refrigerator or door by fixing the tape, fixing both sides of the tape, or hot melt, and using the urethane foam together to preserve the strength of the box. It is to maintain and have high insulation performance. (See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-28562)

As shown in FIG. 9, the vacuum insulation panel 55 is installed on the surface of the heat insulating space 58 such as the outer box 52, the inner box 53, or the doors 60 and 61 of the refrigerator 51. In order to improve the thermal insulation performance of the vacuum insulation panel, there is a method of increasing the thickness of the vacuum insulation panel, but in order to increase the thickness of the panel, the glass wool mat, which is the core material, is made in the original state before the vacuum is formed. It is considerably bulky in that it is 5 to 10 times thick, and requires a large air space during the mass production process.

In order to reduce the volume, there is a method of heating and press molding using a binder. However, if the processing process is required or if the panel thickness is simply increased, the thermal conductivity increases as the thickness increases due to the heat bridge effect. The thickness of the panel was limited to about 15 mm.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and by the effective installation of the vacuum insulation panel in the insulation space of the cabinet, the insulation performance is greatly improved, and the energy saving effect is increased, or the storage volume efficiency of the storage compartment is improved. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator capable of easily manufacturing a cabinet having a large effect.

In order to solve the above problems, the refrigerator of the present invention is a glass wool mat as a core material in the gas barrier container, and the vacuum insulation panel made of a panel body by evacuating the inside in the remaining space by attaching to the inner surface of the heat insulating space of the refrigerator cabinet. In foaming and filling the polyurethane foam, the vacuum insulation panel is installed so that two or more sheets overlap each other with respect to the thickness direction of the insulation space.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of this invention is described based on drawing. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a refrigerator according to the present invention, wherein a refrigerator is provided with an insulating space between an outer box 2 made of a thin steel plate forming an outer shape of a main body and an inner box 3 made of a synthetic resin forming a storage compartment. The main body 1 is comprised.

On the inner surface of both side walls 2a of the outer box 2 forming the thermal insulation space, a vacuum insulation panel 5.6 (details will be described later) is attached to the inner surface of the outer box 2 to form an on-site foam at a distance from the inner box 3 remaining. Injecting the stock solution of the foam insulation (8) made of polyurethane foam by the method, and foaming and charging to integrally bond and solidify the inner and outer boxes (2, 3) and the vacuum insulation panel (5) to form a rigid insulating cabinet have.

The vacuum insulated panel 5 is made of a glass wool, which is a planar material of thin glass fibers as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 showing the vacuum state of the panel as the core material 5a, and formed into a mat shape. The core material 5a was inserted into a gas barrier container 5b having a thickness of 80 to 100 µm, in which a laminate film of aluminum foil and synthetic resin was encapsulated, and after the core material was inserted, the container 5b was inserted into the base 7a. After installing on a two-stage stage (7b) provided in the vacuum chamber (7) arranged on the), and vacuum evacuated to about 0.03 ~ 30Pa by the vacuum pump (7c), the opening of the container is allowed a margin of 20-50mm The inside of the container is formed into a panel shape which is preserved and kept in a vacuum depressed state by heating and bonding 5c over a width of 10 mm.

The core material 5a of the glass wool generally has a diameter of 10 µm or less, which has a good thermal insulation performance as a vacuum insulation panel, with respect to the fiber diameter. However, in the present embodiment, a diameter of 3 to 5 µm is adopted, and the fiber length is 50. Although the long fiber body of mm or more was mixed, the short fiber of about 10 mm was mainly used. In addition, the short fiber material is subjected to a needling process which is not normally performed, and utilizes good heat insulating performance and shape retaining characteristics possessed by the short fiber glass wool.

The mat-shaped core material 5a formed as described above is cut into a predetermined size or inserted into the gas barrier container 5b after overlapping an appropriate mat so as to finally have a required thickness. By processing, the thickness becomes thinner by a few. In addition, since it is difficult to bend, the insertion operation into the gas shutoff container 5b becomes easy, and the size of the gas shutoff container 5b itself can be made small compared with the bulky mat shape. The waiting space in a production process line can also be reduced, and the size of the vacuum chamber 7 itself which accommodates a mat can also be reduced.

The gas shutoff container 5b in which the core material 5a is inserted is made into a vacuum in the vacuum chamber 7 and then heat-sealed 5c of its opening, and then the chamber 7 is opened to atmospheric pressure. The core material 5a is further compressed to about a half due to the pressure difference, so that the final thickness is 10 to 15 mm.

In the present embodiment, the thickness is 12 mm, the width and the length are 500 mm and 1400 mm, respectively, and the vacuum insulation panel 5 has the hinge portion 7d as the axis, and the chamber cover 7e is upwardly arrowed. It rotates in the direction and slides out from the opening of the heated adhesive bar 7f that moves up and down in the same manner.

The vacuum insulated panel 5 formed by the above can have a thermal conductivity of 0.003 W / mK or less at the center of the panel surface, and the vacuum insulated panel 5 taken out is a thermoplastic thermoplastic resin over almost the entire surface of one side. Apply the melt adhesive 9 uniformly, supply it to the upper part of the inner wall surface of the outer box 2 in the flat state moving on the assembly line conveyor of the refrigerator, and place it by pressing to pressurize it by the adhesive force of the hot melt adhesive 9 On the insulating space side of both side walls of the outer box 2 formed in the planar shape, predetermined space | interval is attached and attached from the front, back, and upper and lower ends of an outer box.

The outer box 2, which is bonded to the vacuum insulation panel 5, and folded in an inverted U-shape so as to form an upper surface and both sides in a subsequent process, is formed into a box shape by attaching a bottom plate or a back plate, and forms a storage compartment. The inner and outer boxes (2, 3) and the vacuum insulation panel (5) by a foam filling process of the foam insulation (8) made of polyurethane foam for the remaining space between the inner and outer boxes in combination with the box (3) is carried out. ) Is integrally bonded and solidified and 50mm in the refrigerating space and 65mm in the freezing space are used to form a rigid insulating cabinet.

If a space exists between the vacuum insulated panel 5 and the outer box 2 of the refrigerator, the outer surface of the outer box dents, which causes the cabinet rigidity, not just the appearance, to weaken, and the urethane stock solution on the heat insulating space side. Since the flow of water is impeded and the unfilled portion of the urethane foam insulation 8, that is, the empty space is formed, the thermal insulation performance is reduced, so that when the vacuum insulation panel 5 is fixed to the outer box of the refrigerator, a flat outer box Care should be taken to avoid gaps inside.

At this time, since the surface of the vacuum insulated panel 5 has little unevenness or warp and is smooth, it can be surely adhered to the outer surface of the outer box 2 with the high-precision heat-melting adhesive 9 without any voids.

In addition to the inner surface of both side walls 2a of the outer box 2, the vacuum insulation panel 5 has a main body rear surface 2b, a refrigerating chamber 10, a vegetable chamber 11, and a freezing chamber as shown in the longitudinal section of the refrigerator of FIG. When it is provided on the inner surface side of the outer surface material of each door 10a, 11a, 12a of 12), etc., and is used for the surface which has a comparatively large area in flat form, installation is easy and a favorable heat insulation effect can be acquired.

Thus, the inner side of the outer box 2 or the door outer plate is made of the same structure as that of the vacuum insulation panel 5 in which the detailed configuration thereof is installed in the thickness direction of the heat insulating wall 8 as shown in FIG. The resin insulating sheet having a thickness of about 0.5 mm with respect to the vacuum insulating panel 5 which is laminated in a state where the vacuum insulating panels 6 are stacked on each other and pressed against a flat portion such as the inner surface of the side wall of the outer box 2, for example. 15) is provided, the second vacuum insulation panel 6 is placed on the outer surface of the resin sheet 15, the same as the first panel 5, and affixed with a heat-melting adhesive (9). The panel 5 is secured by applying pressure to the surface thereof.

This is the heat insulation effect by the vacuum insulation panel 5 in which the thickness of 15 mm is limited due to the relationship of the air space of the bulky mat by the thickness of the glass wool mat during the previous stage of mass production process to make a vacuum as described above. In this embodiment, the heat insulating wall is formed by overlapping two sheets of the vacuum insulation panels 5 and 6 having a thickness of 15 mm or less, and in this embodiment, a large space for the air mat in the mass production line. The amount of heat leakage in a heat insulation wall can be made small without preparation.

And even if two vacuum panels 5 and 6 are overlapped, the heat conduction from the wall panel 5 to the inner panel 6 is prevented by interposing the resin sheet 15 formed of a thermal insulator, and the outer box 5 It is possible to prevent a phenomenon in which heat on the outer surface is conducted in the thickness direction of the heat insulating wall through the circumference of the gas barrier container 5b made of the laminated film of the panel 5, that is, the heat bridge, and prevents the vacuum insulation panel. The thermal insulation effect by (5, 6) can be preserve | saved effectively.

The thermal insulation between the panels 5 and 6 is not limited to the resin sheet 15, but the heat insulating effect of the urethane foam molded article having a thickness of about 5 mm is interposed, so that the heat bridge can be more reliably eliminated. have.

According to the experiments of the present inventors, the thermal conductivity (λ) when two 12 mm thick vacuum insulation panels 5 and 6 are provided as described above is 0.0037 W / mK, which does not use a conventional vacuum insulation panel. In comparison with this, an improvement of the heat leakage prevention effect of about 18% can be obtained.

The value is improved by 20% compared to the thermal conductivity (0.0047 W / mK) in the case of forming a vacuum insulation panel with one panel at a thickness of 24 mm, and as a result, the two or more panels overlap at the same thickness. It was clear that the heat bridge was effective in thermal leakage.

Therefore, even when two 12 mm thick vacuum insulation panels with low thermal conductivity are used in an insulation space having a thickness of 50 mm, the remaining space becomes 26 mm in thickness to ensure a sufficient flow space of urethane foam, and The amount of heat leakage is also lowered, so that effective heat insulation can be obtained.

As described above, the vacuum insulation panel 5 is formed on the inner surface of the outer box 2 as shown in part A of FIG. 6 showing the adhesive pattern of the panel as well as overlapping two sheets inside the outer face plate such as the outer box 2 as described above. The panel 6 may be bonded to the heat insulating space side of the wall of the inner box 3 facing the thickness direction of the bonded panel 5, and the second panel 6 is similarly attached to the second panel 6 as shown in FIG. You may arrange | position in the heat insulation space which is located between the outer box 2 and the inner box 3, and may embed it in the urethane foam heat insulating material 8 finally injected-foamed in a heat insulation space.

In the above configuration, the two panels 5 and 6 do not come into close contact with each other, but the urethane foam insulation 8 is filled by on-site foaming between the panels, the panels are embedded in the foam insulation, and the panels become cores and thus the refrigerator As a cabinet, the rigidity can be increased, but in such a case, it is necessary to secure a gap of at least 10 mm in which urethane foam in the foaming process can flow between panels.

In addition, when the insulating panel side of the bonded panel 1 is formed so as to have no unevenness, the urethane stock solution flows more smoothly and can be filled without forming an empty space, and finally has good thermal insulation performance and foaming. The close contact between the heat insulating material 8, the inner box 3, the outer box 2, and the vacuum insulation panel 5 is also firm, and the cabinet 1 having a large rigidity can be configured.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which two vacuum insulation panels 5 and 6 are overlapped has been described. However, the number of overlapping panels is not limited to two, but of course, they may be stacked more. In the case of the refrigerator space 12, the temperature conversion chamber 13, and the installation portion of the cooler, the temperature difference from the outside air such as the side wall of the refrigerator compartment 10 is relatively small. It is effective to select and adopt an installation position, such as sticking one sheet as in part C of FIG.

In addition, the heat insulating effect of the panels 5 and 6, which are overlapped even when used in the machine room 16 or the heat dissipation pipe portion where the temperature rises on the outer box side, is effective, but the structural parts are complicated when installed in the vicinity of the machine room in the lower rear side. It should be installed in a position to avoid the buffering of the overheating, and as described above, it is necessary to consider the thermal barrier so that the thermal insulation effect is not degraded by the heat conduction through the outer box surface.

In the above embodiment, the vacuum insulation panel has been described as a constitution with a hot melt adhesive 9, but the adhesive means is not limited to the hot melt adhesive, but may be adhered to and adhered by a double-sided adhesive tape. Is bonded almost to the front side so that it is evenly adhered to the cabinet surface.

In addition, the refrigerator is not limited to the home, but the same can be applied to the construction of a heat-insulating cabinet such as for business, a show case, a vending machine, and the like.

Industrial Applicability The present invention can be used in a refrigerator provided with a vacuum insulation panel for improving heat insulation performance to reduce power consumption or to increase storage volume.

By the above configuration, the heat insulation effect of the cabinet using the vacuum insulation panel can be expressed, and it can have a significant energy saving effect as a refrigerator, and can reduce the large air space for the vacuum insulation panel in the insulation cabinet manufacturing process. have.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view at the front of a refrigerator showing a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional detail view of the vacuum insulation panel installed in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state made with a vacuum of the vacuum insulation panel of Figure 2,

4 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1 showing an installation state of a vacuum insulation panel;

5 is a cross-sectional view showing the details of the overlapping state of the vacuum insulation panel;

6 is a schematic front view of a refrigerator showing an adhesive pattern of a vacuum insulation panel;

7 is a sectional view showing the basic structure of the vacuum insulation panel;

8 is a comparative graph showing the difference between the vacuum and the thermal conductivity by the core material and

9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a refrigerator using a conventional vacuum insulation panel.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

1: refrigerator body 2: outer box

2a: Outer box side wall 2b: Back side

3: inner box 5: vacuum insulation panel

5a: core material 5b: gas barrier container

5c: heat bonding part 6: second vacuum insulation panel

7: vacuum chamber 8: urethane foam insulation

9: hot melt adhesive 10: refrigerating chamber

10a: fridge door 11: vegetable room

11a: vegetable compartment door 12: freezer

12a: freezer door 13: temperature conversion chamber

15: Resin Sheet 16: Machine Room

Claims (6)

A glass wool mat is used as a core material to be stored in a gas barrier container, and the vacuum insulation panel made of a panel body is adhered to the inner surface of the insulation space of the refrigerator cabinet by vacuum exhausting the inside, and foamed and filled with polyurethane foam in the remaining space. In And at least two vacuum insulation panels overlap each other in the thickness direction of the insulation space. The method of claim 1, A refrigerator characterized by overlapping a vacuum insulation panel and interposing a material having a low thermal conductivity between each gas barrier container. The method of claim 1, A refrigerator comprising: applying a hot melt adhesive to one side of a vacuum insulation panel or adhering double-sided adhesive tape to overlap the insulation panels. The method of claim 2 or 3. A refrigerator comprising a thin insulation board between vacuum insulation panels. The method of claim 1, One side of the vacuum insulation panel is attached to the inner surface of the outer box of the insulating space, the other side of the refrigerator, characterized in that installed in the middle portion of the outer box or the insulating space. The method of claim 1, A refrigerator, characterized in that the vacuum insulation panel is installed in an insulating space surrounding the freezer compartment.