KR20060104422A - Thawing room unit freezing room unit of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thawing room unit of a refrigerator in which a thermoelectric module is installed, wherein a thawing room unit of a refrigerator according to the present invention is directly heated or cooled through heat dissipation of a thermoelectric module, and the heated thawing plate is connected to the frozen water. Since it is in direct contact with the heat transfer, there is an effect that the thaw of the frozen product or the freezing of the contents is performed quickly.

Description

Thawing room unit freezing room unit of refrigerator

1 is a perspective view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the thawing chamber unit according to the present invention

3 is a front sectional view showing a thawing room unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

4 is an operation 1 diagram showing an operating state of a thermoelectric module according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

5 is an operation 2 diagram showing an operating state of the thermoelectric module according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a cross-sectional view showing a freezer compartment unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing a thawing room unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a freezer compartment unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: body 20: door

30: freezer 40: cold storage room

50: vegetable room 60: thawing room

62: thawing chamber door 70: thawing chamber unit

72: thawing chamber 74: thawing plate

76: temperature sensor 80: thermoelectric module

81: upper ceramic substrate 82: lower ceramic substrate

83: P type element 84: N type element

90 heating device 92 hot wire coil

94: glass tube 96: bracket

100: blower 102: fan

104: motor 105: hole

106: grill

The present invention relates to a thawing room unit of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a thawing room unit of a refrigerator for shortening a thawing time of a frozen product using a thermoelectric module.

In general, the refrigerator forms an appearance through a main body, and the inside of the main body is partitioned into a refrigerator compartment, a freezer compartment, and a machine compartment.

On the other hand, in recent years there has been proposed a thawing room for thawing not only frozen food but also frozen food.

Here, the Republic of Korea Patent Application No. 10-2002-70896 discloses the configuration of the thawing chamber through the heat pipe.

Looking at the structure of the thawing chamber of the refrigerator, the previously filed, the waste heat of the machine room is absorbed by the heat pipe and then releases heat from the thawing chamber, and the frozen water is thawed by circulating the released heat by a fan.

However, the thawing of the frozen product by the conventional air heating method can shorten the thawing time compared to thawing the frozen product by leaving it at room temperature, but there is a problem in that the frozen product cannot be thawed more quickly.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, to provide a thawing room unit and a freezer compartment unit of the refrigerator for thawing or freezing the frozen food more quickly through a thermoelectric module that generates heat and heat dissipation action by the electrical effect The purpose is.

The thawing chamber unit of the refrigerator according to the first aspect of the present invention for realizing the above object is installed in the interior of the refrigerator main body and occupies some space inside the body; It is characterized in that it is installed in the thawing chamber body and is operated by the Peltier effect to comprise a thermoelectric module for thawing or cooling the frozen matter placed in the thawing chamber body.

The freezer compartment unit of the refrigerator according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a freezer compartment body installed in the refrigerator main body and occupying some space in the body; A cooling device installed inside the freezing chamber body; The thermoelectric module may be installed in the freezing chamber body and operated by the Peltier effect to defrost or cool the frozen water placed in the freezing chamber body.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view showing a refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a thawing room unit according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a front sectional view showing a thawing room unit according to a first embodiment of the present invention 4 is an operation 1 diagram showing an operating state of a thermoelectric module according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an operation 2 diagram showing an operating state of a thermoelectric module according to a first embodiment of the present invention. to be.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator according to the present invention is formed by partitioning a main body 10 forming an external appearance, a door 20 installed on the front of the main body 10, and an inner space of the main body 10. It is comprised including the freezing chamber 30, the refrigerating chamber 40, the vegetable chamber 50, and the thawing chamber 60.

As shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, the thawing chamber 60 according to the present invention includes a thawing chamber unit 70 inserted into and installed in the main body 10 and a front side of the thawing chamber unit 70. It is assembled to include a thawing chamber door 62 to open and close the front of the thawing chamber unit 70.

The thawing chamber unit 70 has a thawing chamber body 72 installed and fixed inside the main body 10, and a thawing plate installed inside the thawing chamber body 72 to set the frozen water 1 ( 74, a heater 90 for heating the air inside the thawing chamber body 72, a blower 100 for blowing the heated air to the frozen water 1, and the thawing plate 74 It is configured to include a thermoelectric module 80 connected to the heating plate to heat or cool the thawing (74).

The thawing chamber door 62 is hinged to the front surface of the thawing chamber body 72 to have a rotatable structure.

The thawing chamber body 72 is formed of an insulating material to block heat transfer inside the thawing chamber body 72 and the outside of the thawing chamber body 72.

The thawing plate 74 is formed in a flat plate shape, is formed of a metal of a high thermal conductivity material, in this embodiment the thawing plate 74 is formed of aluminum.

In addition, a temperature sensor 76 for detecting a temperature of the frozen water 1 is installed in the thawing chamber body 72, and the temperature sensor 76 is the thawing chamber body 72 or the thawing plate 74. It is installed in).

Here, the temperature sensor 76 detects the temperature inside the thawing chamber body 72 or the temperature of the thawing plate 74 and transfers the detected temperature value to a controller (not shown) of the refrigerator.

The heating apparatus 90 fixes the hot wire coil 92 that generates heat by an applied current, the glass tube 94 surrounding the hot coil 92, and the glass tube 94 to the thawing chamber body 72. It is configured to include a bracket (96).

The blower 100 divides the fan 102, the motor 104 for driving the fan 102, and the inner space of the thawing chamber body in the transverse direction, but allows a plurality of air to flow. Grill 106 formed of two holes 105 and a bracket 108 for fixing the motor 104 to the grill 106.

Here, the fan 102 is installed in the upper center of the thawing chamber body 72 to flow the air heated by the heating device 90 to the frozen water (1).

And the bracket 108 is formed of a material capable of absorbing the vibration of the motor 104 to suppress the vibration generated in the motor 104 is transmitted to the thawing chamber body (72).

Here, in the present embodiment, the blower 100 has been described using an axial fan as an example, but is not limited thereto, and various types of blower 100 may be used.

On the other hand, the thawing chamber body 72 is presented as a separate member that is distinct from the main body 10 in the present embodiment, otherwise the thawing chamber body 72 and the main body 10 may be manufactured integrally It's okay.

Meanwhile, the thermoelectric module 80 includes two or more P-type 83 and N-type 84 thermoelectric semiconductor elements (Bi-Te series) between two ceramic substrates 81 and 82 in a solder. It has a structure that is fixed by.

When a direct current flows through the P type 83 and the N type 84 thermoelectric elements, heat absorption and heat dissipation occur at both ends of the semiconductor device due to the Peltier effect. That is, as shown in the drawing, when electrons move from the N-type element 84 side to the P-type element 84 side, heat dissipation occurs in the upper ceramic substrate 81 shown, and at the same time, the lower ceramic substrate At 82, an endothermic phenomenon appears.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, when an electric current is input as described above, an endothermic phenomenon is generated in the upper ceramic substrate 81, and a heat dissipation phenomenon is generated in the lower ceramic substrate 82.

Here, the Peltier effect was discovered by Jean Peltier in 1834 as one end of the heat generated when the DC power is applied to both ends of the dissimilar material and the other end endothermic, and the thermoelectric module using the same effect was developed and commercialized.

Hereinafter, an operation process of the refrigerator thawing room unit according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.

First, when the user opens the thawing chamber door 62 and places the frozen product 1 on the thawing plate 74 and operates the thawing chamber 60, the controller of the refrigerator controls the temperature sensor 76. Detects the temperature of the frozen matter 1 through), and detects the weight of the frozen matter 1 through a load sensor (not shown) installed under the thawing plate 74.

The controller determines the thawing time of the frozen product 1 by referring to the type of the frozen product 1 selected by the user.

Next, the operation of the heating device 90 and the blower 100 will be described.

First, the control unit of the refrigerator generates a heating current to the heating coil (92) by applying a predetermined current to the heating coil (92), the heat generated in the heating coil 92 is the inside of the thawing chamber body (72) It will heat the air.

In this case, the amount of current applied to the hot coil 92 by the control unit depends on the surface temperature and weight of the frozen product 1, and the like.

On the other hand, the blower 100 generates the convection of the air to blow the air heated by the hot coil (92) toward the frozen matter (1) side.

Next, look at the operation of the thermoelectric module 80 as follows.

The controller applies a direct current to the thermoelectric module according to the detected type and weight of the frozen water, and when defrosting the frozen water, applies a current from the N-type element 84 side to the P-type element 83 side. Heat dissipation is generated in the upper ceramic substrate 81 to heat the thawing plate 74.

The temperature sensor 76 senses the temperature of the air heated by the heating device 90 and the thermoelectric module 80 and the thawing plate 74 and transmits the temperature to the control unit. 90) and controlling the temperature of the thermoelectric module 80 to prevent the temperature of the frozen water (1) to rise rapidly.

In addition, when the thawing chamber unit 70 is operated as a freezing chamber, the control unit applies a current from the P-type element 83 to the N-type element 84 as shown in FIG. 5, and the current is applied as described above. When the heat absorbing phenomenon occurs in the upper ceramic substrate 81, the thawing plate 74 is cooled by the heat absorbing phenomenon.

At this time, the control unit stops the operation of the heating device 90 and operates only the blower device 100 to circulate the cold air in the thawing chamber body 72.

Thus, when operated in this way, the contents settled in the thawing plate 74 is cooled more quickly because the heat transfer is made in direct contact with the thawing plate 72.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing a freezer compartment unit of a second embodiment according to the present invention.

The second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that the evaporator 140 of the cooling cycle is installed instead of the heating device 90 in the first embodiment.

Therefore, the second embodiment has a more suitable structure for the freezing chamber than the thawing chamber, and instead of a heating device, an evaporator 140 is installed to cool the air inside the freezing chamber body 172 and endothermic phenomenon by the thermoelectric module 80. The cooling plate 174 is cooled to rapidly freeze the contents 2.

On the other hand, when the freezing chamber unit of the second embodiment is used as the thawing chamber unit, the thermoelectric module 80 is operated as shown in FIG. 5, and the operation process is the same as that of the first embodiment.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing a thawing chamber unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

The third embodiment is configured similarly to the first embodiment, in order to further shorten the freezing and thawing time in the thawing chamber unit 70, a cold air inflow passage 150 is formed in the thawing chamber body 72, the cold air It is the same as the first embodiment except that the opening and closing mechanism 160 for opening and closing the inflow passage 150 is installed.

The opening and closing mechanism 160 includes a plate 162 for opening and closing the cold air inflow passage 150, a rotation shaft 164 fixed to the plate 162 to rotate the plate 162, and the rotation shaft 164. It is configured to include a motor (not shown) for operating.

Here, when thawing the frozen water 1 in the thawing chamber unit 70, the cold air inflow passage 150 is closed by the opening and closing mechanism 160, the thermoelectric module 80 is operated as shown in FIG. .

On the other hand, when the thawing chamber unit 70 freezes the contents, the operation of the heating apparatus 90 is stopped, the opening and closing mechanism 160 is operated to open the cold air inflow passage 150, and the opened In addition to introducing cold air from the refrigerator through the cold air inflow passage 150, the thermoelectric module 80 is operated as shown in FIG. 5 to freeze the contents by the endothermic phenomenon generated in the upper ceramic substrate 81.

The cold air inlet passage 150 is preferably connected to the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.

In addition, since the configuration and operation process according to the third embodiment are the same as the first embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a freezer compartment unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The fourth embodiment is configured similarly to the second embodiment, the warmth inflow passage 180 is formed in the freezer compartment body 172 to shorten the freezing and thawing time in the thawing chamber unit 70, the warmth inflow passage ( The same as the second embodiment except that the opening and closing mechanism 190 for opening and closing 180 is provided.

Here, the configuration of the opening and closing mechanism 190 is the same as the third embodiment, the warmth inlet passage 180 is preferably connected to the machine room (not shown) of the refrigerator to receive the warmth.

In addition, since the configuration and operation process according to the fourth embodiment are the same as those of the second and third embodiments, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The thawing room unit of the refrigerator according to the present invention configured and operated as described above is directly thawed by the heat dissipation phenomenon of the thermoelectric module, and the thawed plate is thawed because the heated thawing plate is in direct contact with the frozen water to transfer heat. This has the advantage of being made quickly.

In addition, the thawing chamber unit of the refrigerator according to the present invention has the advantage that the frozen plate is controlled by the thermoelectric module to control the temperature of the frozen water deteriorated or damaged by a sudden temperature change.

In addition, the thawing room unit of the refrigerator according to the present invention has the advantage of implementing the thawing and freezing at the same time because the thermoelectric module is operated by the electrical interaction by the Peltier effect.

In addition, the freezer compartment of the refrigerator according to the present invention, the thawing plate is directly cooled through the endothermic phenomenon of the thermoelectric module, and because the cooled thawing plate is in direct contact with the frozen water to transfer heat, not only the contents are quickly frozen. Evaporator is installed there is an advantage that the rapid freezing of the contents.

In addition, the thawing chamber unit of the refrigerator according to the present invention has the advantage that it is possible to perform the freezing or thawing more quickly in the same place by installing the cold / warm air inflow passage and the opening and closing mechanism.

In addition, since the warmth inflow passage of the thawing room unit of the refrigerator according to the present invention is connected with the machine room of the refrigerator, the warmer is supplied, and thus, the overall efficiency of the refrigerator due to a drop in the machine room temperature is increased.

Claims (7)

A thawing chamber body installed inside the refrigerator main body and occupying some space inside the main body; The thawing chamber unit of the refrigerator comprising a thermoelectric module installed inside the thawing chamber and operated by the Peltier effect to thaw or cool the frozen water placed inside the thawing chamber body. The method of claim 1, The thawing chamber unit includes a heating device for heating the air inside the thawing chamber body; And a blower for circulating air inside the thawing chamber unit heated by the heating device. The method according to claim 1 or 2, A thawing plate unit is installed inside the thawing chamber, and the thermoelectric module is installed on the thawing plate. The method of claim 3, wherein A thawing room unit of a refrigerator, characterized in that a temperature sensor is installed on at least one of the thawing chamber body or the thawing plate. The method of claim 1, The thawing chamber body has a cold air inlet passage for guiding the cold air of the refrigerator into the thawing chamber body is formed, the thawing chamber unit of the refrigerator, characterized in that the opening and closing mechanism for regulating the flow of the cold air is installed. A freezer compartment body installed in the refrigerator main body and occupying some space in the main body; A cooling device installed inside the freezing chamber body; And a thermoelectric module installed in the freezing compartment body and operated by the Peltier effect to thaw or cool the frozen matter placed in the freezing compartment body. The method of claim 6, The freezer compartment body has a warmer inlet passage for guiding the warmth of the refrigerator machine room into the freezer compartment body, and the warmer inlet passage is provided with an opening and closing mechanism for regulating the flow of warmer unit.

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