US20230235940A1

US20230235940A1 - Quick-freezing equipment

Info

Publication number: US20230235940A1
Application number: US17/841,023
Authority: US
Inventors: Min Wu; Rongmei HE; He CUI
Original assignee: Yi Jia Sciences And Technologies Jiangmen City LLC; Wuyi University
Current assignee: Yi Jia Sciences And Technologies Jiangmen City LLC; Wuyi University
Priority date: 2022-01-27
Filing date: 2022-06-15
Publication date: 2023-07-27
Also published as: CN114322414A

Abstract

A quick-freezing equipment is disclosed, including an outdoor unit, an indoor unit and a quick-freezing device. The outdoor unit is internally provided with a compressor and a condenser, and the indoor unit is internally provided with an expansion assembly and an evaporator; the compressor, the condenser, the expansion assembly and the evaporator are successively connected by means of a refrigerant pipeline; the quick-freezing device includes a liquid storage tank and a quick-freezing box, the quick-freezing box is located inside the liquid storage tank and is connected with a circulating pipe, both ends of the circulating pipe are communicated with an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, the circulating pipe is provided with a heat exchange component located within the quick-freezing box, and the refrigerant pipeline is provided with a heat exchange pipe passing through the liquid storage tank and located between the expansion assembly and the evaporator.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure claims priority to and the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202210099357.4 filed Jan. 27, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of refrigeration, in particular to a quick-freezing equipment.

BACKGROUND

Quick-freezing of food materials such as vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat is to make frozen food by quick freezing after fresh food materials are processed, having the advantages of long-term storage, maintenance of original color, taste and various nutrients of food materials to a greater extent, and effective mediation of the supply for low and peak seasons.
In the related technology, a cold storage can be used for the quick-freezing of food materials. However, the cold store house using a cooled air circulation method results in a long freezing time and poor preservation effect. Liquid nitrogen can be also used for quick cooling, which is extremely high in the cost and not conducive to large-scale operation.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure aims to at least solve one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. To this end, the present disclosure proposes a quick-freezing equipment capable of realizing quick freezing of food materials at a low cost.
A quick-freezing equipment according to the embodiments of the present disclosure includes an outdoor unit, an indoor unit and a quick-freezing device, the outdoor unit is internally provided with a compressor and a condenser, and the indoor unit is internally provided with an expansion assembly and an evaporator; the compressor, the condenser, the expansion assembly and the evaporator are successively connected via a refrigerant pipeline; the quick-freezing device includes a liquid storage tank and a quick-freezing box, the liquid storage tank is used for storing a first salt solution, the quick-freezing box is located inside the liquid storage tank and used for storing a sodium chloride solution, the quick-freezing box is connected with a circulating pipe, both ends of the circulating pipe are communicated with an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, the circulating pipe is provided with a heat exchange component located in the quick-freezing box, and the refrigerant pipeline is provided with a heat exchange pipe, the heat exchange pipe passes through the liquid storage tank and the heat exchange pipe is located between the expansion assembly and the evaporator.
The quick-freezing equipment according to the embodiments of the present disclosure has at least the following beneficial effects: the compressor of the outdoor unit compresses a gaseous refrigerant to a state of high temperature and high pressure; then the compressed gaseous refrigerant is subjected to heat dissipation by the condenser, throttling and pressure reduction by the expansion component, and flow adjustment; then the low-temperature liquid refrigerant flows through the heat exchange pipe to cool the first salt solution in the liquid storage tank, and the first salt solution flows in the circulating tube; in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box, the first salt solution and the sodium chloride solution conduct heat exchange by means of the heat exchange component such that the sodium chloride solution in the quick-freezing box drops to a low temperature, and the sodium chloride solution may remain liquid below zero centigrade and is edible such that the contact of the sodium chloride solution and food materials is safe, the freezing of food materials is quickly realized by using the low-temperature sodium chloride solution, and a quick freezing is realized. Compared with liquid nitrogen quick freezing, the quick-freezing equipment substantially reduces the cost and meets the need of large-scale operation.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat exchange pipe is of a spiral coil structure and has several copper pipes with a diameter not greater than 6 mm.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid storage tank is connected with a stirring mechanism, the stirring mechanism includes a motor fixedly connected to the liquid storage tank, and the motor has a rotating shaft extending to the interior of the liquid storage tank and connecting with a runner.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the circulating pipe is connected with a driving pump, the driving pump is located at an inlet end of the circulating pipe.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an inlet end of the circulating pipe is communicated with the lower part of an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, an outlet end of the circulating pipe is communicated with the upper part of the inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, the inlet end and the outlet end of the circulating pipe are located at two opposite sides of the liquid storage tank.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat exchange component is configured as a heat exchange coil, the heat exchange coil is located at a lower part of an inner cavity of the quick-freezing box.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing box is connected with a liquid driving module, the liquid driving module has a propeller, and the propeller is located in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box to drive the flow of the sodium chloride solution.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing device further includes a food material box, the food material box is used for storing food materials and made from wire gauze, and the food material box can be placed in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box and has a lifting handle.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the refrigerant pipeline is provided with a bypass pipe, the heat exchange pipe is disposed on the bypass pipe, and the bypass pipe and the refrigerant pipeline are both provided with stop valves.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, further including a storehouse body, a freezing chamber is formed inside the storehouse body, the indoor unit and the quick-freezing device are both located in the freezing chamber, the storehouse body has an inner wall provided with a thermal insulation layer.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will be given partly in the following description, and the additional aspects and advantages will become apparent from the following description, or learned by practice of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In conjunction with the description of the embodiments in the following drawings, additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and readily understood, in which:

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a traditional refrigeration house;

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of the quick-freezing equipment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of the quick-freezing equipment according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of place A in FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of the quick-freezing equipment according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of the quick-freezing equipment according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below, examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which throughout the drawings the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and serve only to explain the present disclosure, and should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure.
In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that, in terms of orientation description, the indicated orientation or positional relationship, such as upper, lower, forward, backward, left, right etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, it is merely for ease of description of the present disclosure and simplification of the description, rather than indicating or implying that the indicated device or element must have a specific orientation and being constructed and operated in a specific orientation, which, therefore, cannot be construed as limit to the present disclosure.
In the description of the present disclosure, unless explicitly defined otherwise, “providing, installing, connecting” and other words should be understood broadly, and a person skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meaning of the above words in the present disclosure in combination with the specific content of the technical solution.
In the related technology, the structure of are refrigeration house is shown in FIG. 1 , including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, where the outdoor unit is internally provided with a compressor 110 and a condenser 120, the indoor unit is internally provided with an expansion assembly 210 and an evaporator 220, and the expansion assembly 210 may be a capillary tube or an electronic expansion valve; the compressor 110, the condenser 120, the expansion assembly 210 and the evaporator 220 are successively connected via a refrigerant pipeline 300; the compressor 110 of the outdoor unit compresses a gaseous refrigerant to a state of high temperature and high pressure, the compressed gaseous refrigerant is then subjected to heat dissipation of the condenser 120, throttling, pressure reduction and flow adjustment of the expansion component 210, the low-temperature liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator 220 for evaporation and heat absorption, and the evaporator 220 outputs cold air, by which the food materials in the refrigeration house is frozen. However, the heat transfer coefficient of cold air circulation is not high, the freezing process is relatively slow, and it usually takes 2-3 hours to freeze the food materials, which takes a long time and is not conducive to the preservation of food materials.
Referring to FIG. 2 , the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a quick-freezing equipment capable of transforming the refrigeration house, including an outdoor unit, an indoor unit and a quick-freezing device, wherein the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are original components of the refrigeration house, the outdoor unit is internally provided with a compressor 110 and a condenser 120, the indoor unit is internally provided with an expansion assembly 210 and an evaporator 220, and the expansion assembly 210 may use a capillary tube or an electronic expansion valve; the compressor 110, the condenser 120, the expansion assembly 210 and the evaporator 220 are successively connected by means of a refrigerant pipeline 300; the quick-freezing device includes a liquid storage tank 410 and a quick-freezing box 420, the liquid storage tank 410 is used for storing a first salt solution, the quick-freezing box 420 is located inside the liquid storage tank 410 and used for storing a sodium chloride solution, the quick-freezing box 420 is connected with a circulating pipe 430, both ends of the circulating pipe 430 are communicated with an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank 410, the circulating pipe 430 is provided with a heat exchange component 432 located within the quick-freezing box 410, and the refrigerant pipeline 300 is provided with a heat exchange pipe 310, which passes through the liquid storage tank 410 and is located between the expansion assembly 210 and the evaporator 220. Adding a quick-freezing device in the structure of the refrigeration house can accelerate the freezing process reduce the time consumption.
It is understandable that, the first salt solution may be a calcium chloride solution, which may remain unfrozen at 60 degrees below zero centigrade, and in contrast, the sodium chloride solution is frozen at 23 degrees below zero centigrade; the calcium chloride solution has a strong low-temperature resistance performance and can keep flowability at low temperature, thus it is used for the first heat exchange with the refrigerant, while the sodium chloride solution in the quick-freezing box 420 is used for contact with food materials to ensure safety and avoid affecting the cooking of food materials after thawing. Description is made below by an example in which the first salt solution is calcium chloride solution.
During the operation of the quick-freezing equipment, the compressor 110 of the outdoor unit compresses the gaseous refrigerant to a state of high temperature and high pressure, the compressed gaseous refrigerant is subjected to heat dissipation of the condenser 120, throttling and pressure reduction and flow adjustment by the expansion component 210, then the low-temperature liquid refrigerant flows through the heat exchange pipe 310, the calcium chloride solution in the liquid storage tank 410 and the liquid refrigerant are subjected to heat exchange by means of the heat exchange pipe 310 to reduce the temperature of the calcium chloride solution, then the refrigerant is subjected to heat exchange by means of the evaporator 220 to obtain cold air to cool the indoor environment, finally the air cools to normal temperature and returns back to the compressor 110 for recompression, and enters into a next refrigeration cycle. The calcium chloride solution in the liquid storage tank 410 flows in the circulating tube 430; in an inner cavity of the quick-freezing box 420, the calcium chloride solution and the sodium chloride solution are subjected to heat exchange by means of the heat exchange component 432, such that the sodium chloride solution in the quick-freezing box 420 drops to a low temperature, and the sodium chloride solution can remain liquid below zero centigrade and is edible, such that the contact of the sodium chloride solution and food materials is safe and reliable, so that the freezing of food materials is quickly realized by using the low-temperature sodium chloride solution, and quick freezing is realized. Compared with liquid nitrogen quick freezing, the quick-freezing equipment substantially reduces the cost, meets the needs of large-scale operation; in addition, the heat transfer coefficient of gas forced convection is about 20 to 300 (unit: W/(square meter*K)), the heat transfer coefficient of liquid natural convection is about 200 to 1000, the heat transfer coefficient of liquid forced convection is about 1000 to 15000, therefore, the use of the sodium chloride solution as a medium for freezing food materials, compared to an ordinary refrigeration house adopting gas freezing, increases the efficiency by dozens of times and substantially reduces the freezing time.
Referring to FIG. 1 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat exchange pipe 310 uses a spiral coil structure to increase the contact area between the heat exchange pipe 310 and the calcium chloride solution in the liquid storage tank 410, and the first heat exchange pipe 310 uses one or more copper pipes with a diameter not greater than 6 mm, the copper pipes can withstand low temperature and has a high thermal conductivity, which is conducive to accelerating heat exchange.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid storage tank 410 is connected with a stirring mechanism, the stirring mechanism includes a motor 440 fixedly connected to the liquid storage tank 410, the motor 440 has a rotating shaft extending to the interior of the liquid storage tank 410 and connecting with a runner 450, the motor 440 drives the runner 450 to rotate by means of the rotating shaft, and the rotating runner 450 stirs the calcium chloride solution in the liquid storage tank 410 to improve the efficiency of heat exchange, which is conducive to cooling the calcium chloride solution. In a height direction, the runner 450 is located between the heat exchange pipe 310 and the circulating pipe 430, and stirs the calcium chloride solution to accelerate the contact of the calcium chloride solution with the heat exchange pipe 310 and the circulating pipe 430, thereby improving the heat exchange at the two places.
Referring to FIG. 4 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in the height direction, the runner 450 is located at an upper part of the liquid storage tank 410, even a portion of the runner 450 is located outside the liquid storage tank 410, and the runner 450 stirs the calcium chloride solution, the calcium chloride solution moves in the liquid storage tank 410 in a wide range, which can also improve the heat transfer efficiency.
Referring to FIG. 3 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the circulating pipe 430 is connected with a driving pump 431, the driving pump 431 is located at an inlet end of the circulating pipe 430, by means of the driving pump 431, the calcium chloride solution in the liquid storage tank 410 is driven to flow rapidly through the circulating pipe 430, forming a forced convection, so as to increase the heat exchange efficiency and accelerate the freezing process.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an inlet end of the circulating pipe 430 is communicated with a lower part of an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank 410, an outlet end of the circulating pipe 430 is communicated with an upper part of the inner cavity of the liquid storage tank 410, the inlet end and the outlet end of the circulating pipe 430 are located at two opposite sides of the liquid storage tank 410. Since the calcium chloride solution has a temperature rise and tends to sink after the heat exchange by the heat exchange component 432, and the sunk calcium chloride solution is cooled down after the heat exchange by the heat exchange pipe 310, the inlet end of the circulating pipe 430 is disposed below, the cooled calcium chloride solution can be drawn away timely, which is conducive to heat exchange with the sodium chloride solution by means of the heat exchange component 432 to obtain a low-temperature sodium chloride solution to freeze the food materials, which is conducive to the acceleration of the freezing process, reduction of time consuming and effective preservation.
Referring to FIG. 3 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heat exchange component 432 at a middle part of the circulating pipe 430 is configured as a heat exchange coil, the heat exchange coil is located at a lower part of an inner cavity of the quick-freezing box 420, the heat exchange coil is used to increase the contact area with the sodium chloride solution and improve the efficiency of heat exchange, which is conducive to accelerating the cooling of the sodium chloride solution.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing box 420 is connected with a liquid driving module 421, the liquid driving module 421 has a driving motor and a propeller 422, the propeller 422 is located in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box 420, the driving motor drives the propeller 422 to rotate, so as to drive the sodium chloride solution to quickly flow with a flow rate above 1 m/s and reaching a turbulent state, which can substantially increase the heat transfer coefficient and accelerate the freezing. And the flow direction of the sodium chloride solution driven by the propeller 422 is opposite to the flow direction of the calcium chloride solution in the heat exchange component 432, which further improves the heat exchange efficiency.
It is understandable that, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing device further includes a food material box 600, the food material box 600 is used for storing the food materials and made from a wire gauze, the food material box 600 can be placed in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box 420 and has a lifting handle, and the sodium chloride solution can flow through the wire gauze, in combination with the driving effect of the propeller 422, the freezing is accelerated. Furthermore, the food material box 600 has a lifting handle, which is convenient for the user to put in and take away the food materials and convenient for operation. The food material box 600 also serves to protect the operation and separate the heat exchange component 432 from the propeller 422, to prevent the user from cold injury or injury due to contact with the propeller 422, thereby improving the safety.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 , according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the refrigerant pipeline 300 is provided with a bypass pipe 320, the heat exchange pipe 310 is disposed on the bypass pipe 320, the refrigerant pipeline 300 connected in parallel with the bypass pipe 320 is located outside the liquid storage tank 410, the bypass pipe 320 and the refrigerant pipeline 300 are both provided with stop valves 330. When quick freezing is required, the stop valve 330 on the refrigerant pipeline 300 is closed, and the stop valve 330 on the bypass pipe 320 is opened, so that the low-temperature refrigerant passes through the heat exchange pipe 310 to cool down the calcium chloride solution; and when the quick freezing is not required, the stop valve 330 on the bypass pipe 320 is closed, and the stop valve 330 on the refrigerant pipeline 300 is opened, so that the low-temperature refrigerant does not pass through the heat exchange pipe 310, but flows through the parallel-connected refrigerant pipeline 300 and enters into the evaporator 220, the quick-freezing device stops operating. Similar to the function of an ordinary refrigeration house, the quick-freezing equipment has more functions to satisfy more service environments.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing equipment further includes a storage body 500, a freezing chamber is formed inside the storage body 500, the indoor unit and the quick-freezing device are both located in the freezing chamber, so that the cold air output from the evaporator 220 of the indoor unit cools the freezing chamber to maintains a low temperature environment; and the storage body 500 has an inner wall provided with an thermal insulation layer to reduce cooling capacity loss and reduce energy consumption.
Referring to FIG. 6 , in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the quick-freezing equipment is an integrated whole machine, which includes an outdoor unit, an indoor unit and a quick-freezing device, the outdoor unit is internally provided with a compressor 110 and a condenser 120, the indoor unit is internally provided with an expansion assembly 210 and an evaporator 220, and the expansion assembly 210 may be a capillary tube or an electronic expansion valve; the compressor 110, the condenser 120, the expansion assembly 210 and the evaporator 220 are successively connected via are refrigerant pipeline 300; the quick-freezing device includes a liquid storage tank 410 and a quick-freezing box 420, the liquid storage tank 410 is used for storing a first salt solution, the quick-freezing box 420 is located inside the liquid storage tank 410 and used for storing a sodium chloride solution, the quick-freezing box 420 is connected with a circulating pipe 430, both ends of the circulating pipe 430 are communicated with an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank 410, the circulating pipe 430 is provided with a heat exchange component 432 located within the quick-freezing box 410, the refrigerant pipeline 300 is provided with a heat exchange pipe 310, the heat exchange pipe 310 passes through the liquid storage tank 410 and is located between the expansion assembly 210 and the evaporator 220. The indoor unit and the quick-freezing device are installed in a casing, they can be applied in places having quick-freezing requirements such as seafood markets and shopping malls. Other structures and characteristics are similar to the above-mentioned embodiments and will not be repeated here.
Embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, various changes can also be made within the scope of knowledge possessed by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A quick-freezing equipment, comprising:

an outdoor unit internally provided with a compressor and a condenser;

an indoor unit internally provided with an expansion assembly and an evaporator, wherein the compressor, the condenser, the expansion assembly and the evaporator are successively connected via a refrigerant pipeline; and

a quick-freezing device comprising a liquid storage tank and a quick-freezing box, wherein the liquid storage tank is configured to store a first salt solution, the quick-freezing box is located inside the liquid storage tank and configured to store a sodium chloride solution, the quick-freezing box is connected with a circulating pipe, both ends of the circulating pipe are communicated with an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, the circulating pipe is provided with a heat exchange component located within the quick-freezing box, and the refrigerant pipeline is provided with a heat exchange pipe, the heat exchange pipe passes through the liquid storage tank and is located between the expansion assembly and the evaporator.

2. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the heat exchange pipe is of a spiral coil structure and has at least one copper pipes with a diameter not greater than 6 mm.

3. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 2, wherein the liquid storage tank is connected with a stirring mechanism, the stirring mechanism includes a motor fixedly connected to the liquid storage tank, and the motor has a rotating shaft extending to interior of the liquid storage tank and connected with a runner.

4. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the circulating pipe is connected with a driving pump, the driving pump is located at an inlet end of the circulating pipe.

5. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 4, wherein the inlet end of the circulating pipe is communicated with a lower part of an inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, an outlet end of the circulating pipe is communicated with an upper part of the inner cavity of the liquid storage tank, the inlet end and the outlet end of the circulating pipe are respectively located on two opposite sides of the liquid storage tank.

6. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the heat exchange component is configured as a heat exchange coil, the heat exchange coil is located at a lower part of an inner cavity of the quick-freezing box.

7. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 6, wherein the quick-freezing box is connected with a liquid driving module, and the liquid driving module has a propeller, the propeller is located in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box to drive the sodium chloride solution to flow.

8. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 7, wherein the quick-freezing device further includes a food material box, the food material box is configured to store food materials and made of a wire gauze, the food material box is capable of being placed in the inner cavity of the quick-freezing box and has a lifting handle.

9. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerant pipeline is provided with a bypass pipe, the heat exchange pipe is disposed on the bypass pipe, the bypass pipe and the refrigerant pipeline are both provided with stop valves.

10. The quick-freezing equipment according to claim 1, further including a storage body, wherein a freezing chamber is formed inside the storage body, the indoor unit and the quick-freezing device are both located in the freezing chamber, the storage body has an inner wall provided with a thermal insulation layer.