JP2008292101A - Freezer refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To maintain the freshness of foodstuffs, constant temperature / low temperature environment with little temperature fluctuation and prevention of drying are important elements, but cool air cooled by a cooler is circulated using a blowing means such as a cold air circulation fan. In the cooling method, the temperature variation of the cold air is large, so the stored food is also easily affected by the temperature variation, and the food is easy to dry because the cooler takes away the moisture in the cold air as frost. The indirect cooling method in which a conventional storage chamber is simply provided with a lid is insufficient to solve these problems.
SOLUTION: A packing is disposed between a storage chamber and a lid made by partitioning in a refrigerated space cooled by cold air circulation, and the packing is contracted by closing the lid, whereby compressed air is compressed. The storage chamber is discharged from the reverse support valve, whereby the storage chamber is depressurized to an atmospheric pressure or lower so that the storage chamber can be sealed.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator-freezer equipped with a fresh food storage chamber capable of preventing drying of stored food and preventing deterioration due to temperature fluctuation suppression by a storage chamber of an indirect cooling structure whose sealing performance is improved by reducing pressure. .

  To maintain the freshness of foodstuffs, constant temperature and low temperature environment with little temperature fluctuation and drying prevention are important factors.

  Conventionally, cold air cooled by a cooler directly in a storage room is circulated by using a blowing means such as a cold air circulation fan, for example, a refrigerator room is 3 ° C., a vegetable room is 5 ° C., a chilled room is 1 ° C., and an ice greenhouse. Is controlled to a temperature suitable for each storage, such as -1 ° C and -18 ° C in the freezer, but these storage chambers are controlled by one or two coolers, and this controlled temperature is an average value. In fact, the temperature fluctuates. This temperature fluctuation was a factor that promoted deterioration for stored foods.

  In addition, the cooling system that circulates the cool air cooled by the cooler using air blowing means such as a cool air circulation fan takes away moisture in the storage chamber as frost, so the storage chamber is easy to dry and wraps food. It was necessary to take measures against drying, such as storing it.

  In order to solve these problems, an indirect cooling structure is adopted in which cold air is circulated around the storage chamber so that the cold air is not directly applied to the food.

  In particular, a chilled room for storing fresh food such as meat and fish has been conventionally provided in the lower part of the refrigerator compartment located at the top of the main body of the refrigerator-freezer so that dry cold air does not directly hit the food. In addition, by placing a lid on the top of the storage container and passing cool air to the top and side of the container and indirectly cooling the storage room, it has a structure that is resistant to temperature rise due to opening and closing of the refrigerator door In addition, the room is kept at high humidity.

  Furthermore, water absorption material was placed on a part of the ceiling surface of the ceiling surface where moisture above saturation humidity was cooled especially by passing cold air to prevent condensation from dripping onto the food surface and to control the humidity in the storage room. (See Patent Document 1).

  In addition, the defrost water of the refrigerator was supplied as humidified water, and the presence or absence of humidification and the amount of humidification were controlled in accordance with the relative humidity in the storage chamber with a humidifier such as an evaporation type, spray type, ultrasonic type and centrifugal type ( Patent Document 2).

JP-A-8-303936 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-25933

  However, the conventional structure has a gap between the container and the lid, and although the cold air does not directly hit the food, it is affected by the temperature fluctuation of the cold air due to the convection of the cold air.

  In addition, in the above water-absorbing material, the condensed and absorbed water tends to evaporate to the outside of the room through which the dry cold air passes, and since the retained water is rapidly evaporated when the humidity is lowered, When the above condition persists, the water absorbing material cannot always keep a sufficient amount of moisture to compensate for moisture and increase the humidity, and therefore it is difficult to prevent drying when there are few foods in the storage room.

  In addition, when using defrosted water as described above, there is an advantage that no water supply is required, but since defrosted water contains dust and germs, there is a problem in terms of hygiene. Requires complex mechanisms and processing.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a refrigerator according to the present invention includes a storage room that is partitioned by a cold air circulating around the storage room that is partitioned in a refrigerated space that is cooled by cold air circulation. There are packings between the branch valve, the storage chamber opening / closing door, the door opening switch, and the door and the storage chamber so that the internal pressure can be reduced below atmospheric pressure.

  Since the present invention has the configuration as described above, there is no gap between the container and the lid, and complete indirect cooling is performed, and the stored food is cooled by a cooler to cool air, etc. It is possible to suppress the influence of the temperature fluctuation of the cold air generated due to the cooling system that circulates using the air blowing means.

  In addition, by using a closed storage room, the amount of water that evaporates from the food is only the amount of water that reaches saturation in the container, and this is so small that it dries during storage regardless of the amount of food stored. There is nothing.

  Further, since no means for supplying water is required, hygiene management of water is not required, and the stored food can be easily prevented from drying.

  This provides a constant temperature / low temperature environment with little temperature fluctuation, and an environment that can prevent drying, keeps the freshness of the food during storage, and allows you to eat deliciously until the end.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the refrigerator-freezer of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the refrigerator-freezer which employ | adopts this invention with FIG. 1 is demonstrated. In FIG. 1, 1 is a refrigerator body, 2 is a refrigerator compartment, 3 is a refrigerator compartment door, 4 is a vegetable compartment, 5 is a vegetable compartment door, 6 is a refrigerator compartment fan, 7 is a refrigerator compartment cooler, 8 is a freezer compartment, 9 is a freezer cooler, 10 is a compressor, 11 is a cold air passage, 12 is a shelf that partitions the refrigerator compartment 2, and 13 is a storage room of the present invention. The refrigerator main body 1 is formed with a refrigerator compartment 1, a vegetable compartment 4 and a freezer compartment 8 constituting a storage compartment positioned vertically. A refrigerator compartment fan 6 and a refrigerator compartment cooler 7 are arranged on the back side of the vegetable compartment 4. The refrigerator compartment 1 and the vegetable compartment 4 communicate with a space having the refrigerator compartment fan 6 and the refrigerator compartment cooler 7 through the cold passage 13. The coolers 7 and 9 and the compressor 10 are connected by a pipe through which a refrigerant flows to constitute a refrigeration cycle.

  The storage chamber 13 of the present invention will be further described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 14 denotes a side component constituting the storage chamber 13 by dividing the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 and is fixed in the refrigerator compartment 2. 15 is also fixed in the refrigerator compartment 2 by the same component as 14. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, 15 is arranged at the lower stage in consideration of usability, so that the food in the storage room 13 can be seen without opening the storage room 13 if the refrigerator door 3 is opened. Is desirable. 14 and 15 may be formed integrally or may be configured by combining different parts. 16 is a packing, 17 is a tray on which food is placed, 18 is a door of the storage chamber 13, and 19 is a reverse support valve for exhausting air from the storage chamber side to the outside of the storage chamber 13. The door 18 is provided with a switch (not shown) for returning the decompressed storage chamber 13 to atmospheric pressure.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the storage chamber 13 has a structure in which the tray 17 and the door 18 move together. Therefore, when the user wants to put the food into the storage chamber 13, there is no trouble of inserting the food to the back. Here, the tray 17 on which the food is placed is effective for improving the usability, but this reduces the internal volume that can be stored in the storage chamber 13, so it may or may not be installed. Here, the case where it is installed will be described.

  When food is placed on the tray 17, the door 18 is closed so that the tray 17 slides, touches the packing 16, and is pushed in a little as it is, the packing 16 has a certain thickness, and thus contracts easily. At the same time, since the members 14 and 15 constituting the storage chamber 13 constitute the storage chamber 13 without a gap, the compressed air in the storage chamber 13 is exhausted from the reverse support valve 19 when the packing 16 contracts. Thereafter, the internal volume of the storage chamber 13 is expanded by the repulsive force of the packing 16, so that the pressure in the storage chamber 13 can be made less than atmospheric pressure. Next, when the food is taken out, the internal pressure is returned to the atmospheric pressure by taking air into the storage chamber 13 by a switch provided on the door 18, the door can be easily opened, and the food can be taken out.

  Furthermore, the detail of the attachment position of the reverse support valve 19 is demonstrated.

  Here, as described above, the tray 17 is effective in terms of usability, but the tray 17 is not always provided because there is a disadvantage that the internal volume for storing food is reduced. Therefore, an experiment was conducted without the tray 17, and the attachment position of the reversely supported valve 19 was determined as follows.

  In the refrigerator, food containing a lot of moisture is stored, so that the juice in the food may spill or the condensed water may be generated due to the uneven temperature distribution. On the other hand, when there are few stored items in the refrigerator, drying progresses, and spilled juice and food waste may be dried and remain as a fine solid. If such a liquid or solid contaminates the air inlet / outlet or the inside of the reverse support valve 19, the function as the reverse support valve cannot be exhibited. Therefore, it is necessary to install the reverse valve 19 in a place where such liquid or solid does not enter.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, the ceiling surface of the storage chamber 13 is used as a place where foodstuff is placed between the shelves 14 that partition the refrigerator compartment. Moreover, there is a possibility that the food will block the counter-support valve. In addition, if you store a lot of savory food such as leftovers, pickles, and used and ripe ingredients, you may accidentally spill the juice into the refrigerator. Therefore, as described above, since the reverse support valve 19 may be contaminated with liquid or solid, the ceiling surface of the storage chamber 13 is not suitable as a mounting position of the reverse support valve 19.

  In addition, the storage room 13 often stores meat and fish, but these are likely to generate drip during the time they are placed in the store or from purchase to storage. Usually, when storing in the storage room, there are few cases where the drip is removed and stored, and it is often left in the purchased state. Therefore, this drip deteriorates the adhesiveness of the wrap and leaks into the storage room 13. It may be spilled or spilled when food is taken out. For this reason, it is not appropriate to install a reverse valve on the bottom surface of the storage chamber 13.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the storage chamber 13 is indirectly cooled by the cool air discharged from the cool air passage 11 installed on the back surface of the refrigerating chamber 2 flowing around the storage chamber 13. As a result, moisture that evaporates from the food is prevented from escaping out of the storage chamber 13 and drying can be prevented. However, since the cool air discharge port does not come out from the entire periphery of the storage chamber 13, a temperature distribution is generated in the cool air flowing around the storage chamber 13 due to the replacement of the cool air and the heat of the storage chamber 13. When there are many foods stored by this, dew condensation may produce water droplets on the inner wall of the storage chamber 13. If such condensed water adheres to the reverse support valve 19 or is generated in the vicinity, the condensed water is discharged from the reverse support valve 19 together with the air in the storage chamber 13 simultaneously with the shrinkage of the packing 16. As a result, the reverse support valve 19 becomes wet, and the function as the reverse support valve is impaired. Then, the place where condensed water did not adhere was found by the following examination. The test load described in Section JISC9801 8.2, which closes 80% of the internal volume of the airtight container that looks like the storage chamber 13, was placed, and the airtight container was placed close to the cold air outlet, and the relationship between the cold air outlet and condensation was measured. . The test load described above has a moisture content of 76% and the thermal characteristics are almost the same as red beef. As a result of experiments, it was found that condensation was generated in a circle corresponding to 1/4 of the outer circumference from the vessel wall surface closest to the cold air outlet. It was also found that when there are two or more cold air outlets and the distance from the container wall surface is different, it is generated in a circle corresponding to 1/4 of the outer circumference of the nearest container wall surface from the cold air outlet nearest to the container. From the above results, considering the fact that the drip is spilled on the bottom surface, the position of the counter-support valve 19 is the closest to the height measured from the outlet closest to the storage chamber 13 at a height of 1/3 or less from the bottom surface of the storage chamber. It has been found that the reverse valve is contaminated with drip and condensed water when it is within 1/4 of the outer circumference from the side surface of the storage chamber 13.

  From the above, the attachment position of the reverse support valve 19 is measured from the discharge port closest to the storage chamber 13 at a height of 1/3 or less from the bottom surface of the storage chamber 13 excluding the ceiling and the bottom surface. A portion excluding a quarter of the outer periphery from the side surface of the nearest storage chamber 13 is appropriate.

  Next, the internal pressure and temperature fluctuation in the storage chamber 13 will be described. FIG. 3 shows the results of measuring the internal pressure and temperature in the sealed container corresponding to the storage chamber 13. The vertical axis represents temperature (° C.), and the horizontal axis represents elapsed time (minutes). 20 is a copper ball temperature measurement result arranged in the center of a chilled room which is an indirect cooling room installed in a conventional refrigerated room, and 21 is arranged in the center of the container when the internal pressure in the sealed container is 0.2 atm. The result of measuring the copper ball temperature, 22 shows the result of measuring the temperature of the copper ball arranged at the center in the container when the internal pressure in the sealed container is 0.9 atm. As a result of the measurement, the conventional chilled chamber 17 is affected by the temperature variation of the cold air, and the temperature fluctuates between + 1 ° C. and −2 ° C. even in the stable state, whereas the internal pressure of 21 is less than the atmospheric pressure. It can be seen that there is almost no temperature fluctuation in a stable state when the pressure is set to 0.2 atm. It was also found that there was no significant difference in atmospheric pressure. From this, it can be seen that the influence of temperature fluctuation is not due to pressure, but depends on the improvement in sealing performance by reducing the pressure in the container. Therefore, it has been found that if the internal pressure is less than atmospheric pressure, the food can be stored without being affected by the temperature fluctuation of the cold air.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator-freezer provided with this invention. It is a perspective view of the store room of the present invention. Result of measuring the internal pressure and temperature in the sealed container

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Refrigerator main body, 2 ... Cold room, 3 ... Cold room door, 4 ... Vegetable room, 4a ... Vegetable container, 4b ... Cover body, 5 ... Vegetable room door, 6 ... Cold room fan, 7 ... Cold room cooler, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 8 ... Freezer room, 8a ... Upper stage freezer room, 8b ... Lower stage freezer room, 9 ... Freezer room cooler, 10 ... Compressor, 11 ... Cold air passage, 12 ... Refrigerating room shelf, 13 ... Storage room, 14 ... Side view of storage room Members, 15 ... storage chamber constituent ceiling members, 16 ... packing, 17 ... tray, 18 ... storage chamber lid, 19 ... reverse support valve, 20 ... placed in the center of a chilled room which is an indirect cooling room installed in a conventional refrigeration room Copper ball temperature, 21 ... Temperature of copper ball placed in the center of the container when the inner pressure of the sealed container is 0.2 atm, 22 ... Center of the container when the inner pressure of the sealed container is 0.9 atm The temperature of the copper ball placed in

Claims (4)

  In a refrigerator-freezer that cools cold air cooled by a cooler by using a blowing means such as a cold air circulation fan, a back support valve, a storage chamber opening / closing door, a door opening switch, a packing between the door and the storage chamber, and atmospheric pressure A refrigerator-freezer comprising at least one storage chamber capable of reducing the internal pressure to less than one.   The packing according to claim 1 is compressed by pushing the storage chamber door, whereby a part of the air in the storage chamber is removed from the back-support valve, thereby enabling the internal pressure to be reduced below atmospheric pressure. Freezer refrigerator.   The refrigerating refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the attachment position of the reverse support valve is a side surface of the storage chamber.   The side surface of the storage chamber according to claim 4 is the closest to the surface of the storage chamber excluding the ceiling and the bottom surface, which is 1/3 or less of the height from the bottom surface and measured from the outlet closest to the storage chamber 13. A refrigerator-freezer characterized by being a portion excluding a quarter of the outer periphery from the side surface of the storage chamber 13.

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