JP2011153720A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator having a function of efficiently thawing without degrading the quality of food at the time of thawing.
A storage room having a refrigeration temperature zone is provided, and the storage room is provided with a latent heat regenerator (31) that melts at a plus temperature. In addition, the thawing chamber (8) partitioned inside or adjacent to the storage chamber, the blower (52) for circulating cold air to the thawing chamber (8), and the cold air sent by the blower (52) The latent heat regenerator (31) is provided at the bottom of the thawing chamber (8). Moreover, the high heat conductive member (32) is provided on the upper surface of the latent heat regenerator (31), and the air passage (50) is provided above the thawing chamber (8).
[Selection] Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

  Conventionally, as a refrigerator provided with a thawing function, there is one described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-57160). In Patent Document 1, a heater and a blower are provided in a temperature switching room provided in a refrigerator, and when the food is thawed, the heater is driven to send out hot air. Rapidly thaws the stored product.

JP 2007-57160 A

  However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, when hot air is sent out, the food surface is exposed to a high temperature, and there is a sanitary problem from the viewpoint of the growth of microorganisms.

  In addition, by using a heater for thawing, there is a problem that the user holds an image that cannot be thawed and the power consumption is further increased.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the refrigerator provided with the function to perform efficient thawing | decompression without degrading the quality of the food at the time of thawing | decompression.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a refrigerator according to the present invention is characterized in that in a refrigerator provided with a storage room in a refrigerated temperature zone, the storage room is provided with latent heat storage means for melting at a plus temperature.

  The thawing chamber partitioned in the storage chamber or adjacent positions, a blower that circulates cold air to the thawing chamber, and an air passage that guides the cold air sent by the blower to the thawing chamber, The latent heat storage means is provided at the bottom of the thawing chamber.

  In addition, a high heat conduction member is provided on the upper surface of the latent heat storage means.

  The air passage is provided in an upper portion of the thawing chamber, and has a plurality of cold air outlets in the lower portion of the air passage.

  Further, the present invention is characterized by comprising temperature control means for cooling the product to be thawed stored in the thawing chamber after thawing to a certain temperature and switching the temperature.

  Further, the bottom surface of the thawing chamber has a rib structure.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the refrigerator provided with the function to perform efficient thawing | decompression without degrading the quality of the food at the time of thawing | decompression can be provided.

It is a front view of the state where the door of the refrigerator concerning one embodiment of the present invention was removed. It is an AA cross-sectional enlarged view of FIG. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a thawing chamber. It is the figure which compared the defrosting speed by the difference in the defrosting method. It is the figure which compared the defrosting speed | velocity | rate by a cold air introduction path | route. It is a figure which shows the average value of the drip amount after leaving for 24 hours of a tuna. It is a figure which shows the average value of the drip amount after leaving beef for 24 hours.

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

  First, the whole structure of a refrigerator is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention with a door removed. 1 is a refrigerator main body. This refrigerator main body 1 has a refrigerator compartment 2 at the uppermost inner stage and a vegetable compartment 6 at the lowermost stage. These refrigerator compartment 2 and vegetable compartment 6 are storage compartments in a refrigerator temperature zone.

  Between the refrigerating room 2 and the vegetable room 6, a storage room partitioned from these two rooms in an adiabatic manner is disposed. These storage rooms are storage rooms in a freezing temperature zone of 0 ° C. or less, and have an ice making room 3 on the upper left side, a quick freezing room 4 on the right side, and a freezing room 5 on the lower side. The ice making chamber 3 is provided with an automatic ice making device 23a and an ice storage container 23b. The ice storage container 23b is pulled out together with the door by pulling out the drawer-type ice making chamber door 9b. The quick freezer 4 and the freezer 5 are also configured such that the front opening is closed by a drawer-type quick freezer door 9a and a freezer door 10, respectively, and an internal container is drawn by pulling out the door. Yes.

  As shown in the drawing, the freezer compartment 5 accommodates three upper and lower containers, and a lower freezer compartment container 14, an intermediate freezer compartment container 15, and an upper freezer compartment container 16 are arranged from the lower stage. The lower freezing container 14 and the middle freezing container 15 are fixed to the drawer frame of the freezing room door 10, and move in and out of the freezing room 5 in conjunction with opening and closing of the freezing room door 10. That is, it is configured such that it can be pulled out from the freezer compartment 5 using rails provided on the side surface of the inner box constituting the side wall. Further, the lower freezer compartment container 14, the middle freezer compartment container 15, and the upper freezer compartment container 16 are containers having different depth dimensions, and are suitable for storing various foods having different sizes.

  In the lowermost space of the refrigerator compartment 2, an ice making water tank 24 for supplying ice making water to the ice making tray of the ice making room 3 and a thawing chamber 8 having a function of thawing food are housed in order from the left. In the present embodiment, the thawing chamber 3 represents a dedicated chamber that can be defrosted to a certain temperature using the latent heat regenerator 31. The thawing chamber 8 is closed by a drawer door. Details of the thawing chamber 8 will be described later.

  Next, the uppermost refrigerator compartment 2 is closed by a rotary refrigerator compartment door 7. The revolving door may be a double door with double doors, or a single door that is closed by a single door. The vegetable compartment 6 is also provided with a plurality of containers, and the container is pulled out when the vegetable compartment door 11 is pulled out. A compressor 21 constituting a refrigeration cycle is disposed behind the vegetable compartment 6.

  Next, storage room cooling in the refrigeration / freezing temperature zone will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an AA cross-sectional enlarged view of FIG. A cooling chamber 17 is provided behind the storage chamber in the refrigeration temperature zone, and an evaporator 18 constituting a refrigeration cycle is installed in the cooling chamber 17. A blower fan 20 is provided above the evaporator 18. The cold air cooled by the evaporator 18 is sent by the blower fan 20 to the storage rooms of the refrigerator compartment 2, the ice making compartment 3, the quick freezer compartment 4, the freezer compartment 5 and the vegetable compartment 6. Further, a part of the cold air sent by the blower fan 20 is sent to the storage room in the refrigeration temperature zone of the refrigeration room 2 and the vegetable room 6 through the damper device 19 that can be opened and closed, and the other part is the ice making room 3. It is sent to the quick freezer 4 and the freezer 5. The opening and closing of the damper device 19 is controlled by a control device (not shown), and is opened when cold air needs to be supplied to the storage room in the refrigeration temperature zone.

  The cold air sent from the evaporator 18 to the ice making chamber 3 by the blower fan 20 cools the water stored in the ice making tray to make ice. Then, it is sent to the freezer compartment 5 below. The partition member 22 positioned on the back surface of the freezer compartment 5 is provided with a plurality of cool air discharge ports, and the cool air from the blower fan 20 is discharged from the cool air discharge port into the freezer chamber 5. The cool air that has been sent to the freezer compartment 5 and has cooled the interior is returned to the cooler chamber 17 through a cool air return passage (not shown). Note that. The partition member 22 partitions the freezer compartment 5 and the cooler compartment 17 and constitutes the back surface of the freezer compartment 5.

  The cold air sent from the evaporator 18 to the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 6 by the blower fan 20 is returned to the cooler compartment 17 through a cold air return passage (not shown) after cooling the refrigerator compartment 2 and the vegetable compartment 6. Thus, the refrigerator of the present embodiment has a cold air circulation structure, and maintains each storage room at an optimum temperature.

  Next, the thawing chamber 8 will be described. The thawing chamber 8 is a storage space that is partitioned inside the refrigerator compartment 2 or at an adjacent position. The thawing chamber 8 includes a cold air discharge port 12 for introducing cold air from the evaporator 18, an air discharge port (not shown) for discharging indoor air to the refrigeration chamber 2, and a blower 52 that circulates air into the thawing chamber 8. And an air passage 50 having a plurality of outlets 53 for injecting the air from the upper side to the lower side of the article 51 to be thawed. The air passage 50 through which the cold air is introduced is constituted by a double-structured wall surface provided in the upper part of the thawing chamber 8, and there are many on the upper inner wall 50 a (lower part of the air passage 50) of the space where the article 51 to be thawed is placed. Are provided in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 3).

  Cold air from the evaporator 18 is discharged into the thawing chamber 8 from the cold air discharge port 12, and the cold air is sent by the blower 52. The blower 52 is provided on the back surface of the thawing chamber 8, and cool air is directly jetted from the ejection port 53 toward the product to be thawed 51 through the air passage 50 on the upper surface of the storage space. As a result, the cold air is jetted over the entire thawing chamber 8, and thawing unevenness can be reduced. The cold air in the thawing chamber 8 is returned to the cooling chamber 17 via a cold air return passage (not shown).

  Next, the configuration of the thawing chamber 8 will be further described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the thawing chamber 8.

  Here, in order to thaw food in the refrigerator, it is preferable to thaw with cold air below the refrigeration temperature without using a heater from the viewpoint of maintaining the quality of the food. However, in the case of thawing only with cold air, there is a limit to the thawing speed due to the structural relationship, and it is difficult to store the food at a constant temperature after thawing to a certain temperature.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, high energy is stored in the temperature zone near the melting point by utilizing the phase change at the time of melting of the substance.

  Specifically, intensive studies were made to use a latent heat regenerator for thawing. Many of the conventional latent heat regenerators have a freezing temperature of around 0 ° C. If the freezing temperature is too low and used during thawing, condensation may be a problem, and the latent heat and specific heat are small, so the cold storage effect is not sufficient. There wasn't. Therefore, it was studied that by using a latent heat regenerator that functions at a plus temperature, it is possible to control the temperature according to the thawing state of the food by generating endotherm during melting and heat generation during solidification without condensation.

  In general, the thawing conditions affect the quality include the thawing end temperature and the thawing speed. The thawing end temperature is desirably as low as possible. In particular, if thawing is performed at a low temperature of 5 ° C. or less, bacterial growth can be suppressed. In addition, if the protein is stored at a temperature of 5 ° C. or higher after thawing, the reproduction of bacteria progresses. Therefore, it is necessary to cook immediately after thawing or to maintain a low temperature of 5 ° C. or lower.

  The speed of thawing can be reduced by rapid thawing, so that the passage time of the maximum ice crystal formation zone is short, so that the growth of ice crystals during thawing can be suppressed. If it is short and not absorbed in time, a drip is generated. About several tens of minutes are sufficient for the time required for this water absorption.

  On the other hand, slow thawing has a long passage time through the maximum ice crystal formation zone, and as a result, growth of ice crystals during thawing may cause a large amount of drip due to cell destruction. Although it takes a long time for water generated by melting to be absorbed, the microbiological reaction is likely to proceed when exposed to relatively high temperature for a long time. In particular, fish and the like whose fall of freshness is quick must be careful because freshness deteriorates when the thawing time is long.

  Further, it is necessary to control the unevenness of thawing so that the surface of the food does not become a certain temperature or higher after thawing, and to control the cold air or running water evenly when thawing.

  The structure of the thawing chamber 8 considering the above will be described. The bottom surface of the thawing chamber 8 is a rib 30, and the upper portion (the bottom portion in the thawing chamber 8) is filled with a latent heat regenerator 31 having a plus melting point, and the heat conductivity is high and the heat conductivity is high. The member 32 is stacked. In the present embodiment, the high heat conductive member 32 has a structure in which stainless steel trays that do not easily rust are stacked.

  In addition, by using the high heat conductive member 32 having a high thermal conductivity above the latent heat regenerator 31, it is possible to quickly dissipate the heat taken from the food and efficiently absorb it by the latent heat regenerator 31. In addition, since the high heat conductive member 32 is made of a stainless steel tray, it is easy to clean even when dirt such as foods adheres, and is not easily rusted.

  In addition, since the latent heat regenerator 31 in the thawing chamber 8 has a property of melting in the plus temperature region, it is possible to regenerate the regenerator capacity by a normal refrigeration operation even after the food is thawed in the refrigerator. Since the food cooled in the refrigerator is desirably cooled at a temperature that does not freeze, the melting temperature of the latent heat regenerator 31 is preferably about 0 ° C. to 10 ° C., but may be used at other temperatures.

  Since the latent heat regenerator 31 has flexibility without being hardened even when solidified like a general latent heat regenerator whose melting point is in a minus temperature zone, it has good adhesion with the high heat conductive member 32 and is more efficient. Food can be cooled.

  Further, the rib 30 on the bottom surface of the thawing chamber 8 suppresses dew condensation due to a temperature difference that occurs when food is put, and after cooling to a certain temperature, cooling can be performed at a stable temperature while suppressing external influences.

  Next, a specific thawing method will be described. When there is a thawing operation command, cool air whose air volume and temperature are adjusted is introduced via a control device such as a microcomputer based on the detected temperature of the product 51 to be thawed. In the thawing, when the food center temperature reaches a certain temperature, the operation of the blower 52 is stopped, and cool air of 0 ° C. or less is caused to flow from the air passage 50. Thereby, since the temperature of the latent heat regenerator 31 does not rise above the temperature in the atmosphere, it becomes possible to keep food at a constant temperature and preserve food.

  Here, food center temperature is controllable by detecting using a non-contact temperature detection apparatus (not shown). Since the temperature at the end of thawing differs depending on the cooking method to be performed thereafter, it is desirable that the temperature can be selected by the user in advance using the operation panel or the like.

  As an example of the thawing state, the food that is immediately put on the table and eaten raw is set to “firm thawing mode”, and is set to 0 ° C. in which half thawing and complete thawing are mixed. Moreover, about the thing which cooks immediately, since it can suppress the loss of a nutrient component by heating at a stretch in a half-thaw state, it is set as "half-thaw mode", and it sets to the melting temperature vicinity (-1 degreeC--3 degreeC). To do. In addition, the “weak thawing mode” in which the knife is inserted without applying too much force can be used at a temperature lower than the melting temperature or less depending on the scene to be used.

  Next, the decompression method will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram comparing the thawing speeds depending on the thawing method. In thawing meat and fish, the phase change of water, which is the main component, becomes a problem. In the vicinity of the melting temperature of −2 ° C. to −1 ° C. where the solid and the liquid coexist, the heat given by the phase change relationship is used as the heat of melting for melting the solid, so the thawing rate tends to be slow. . However, since this temperature zone becomes an ice crystal formation zone, it is necessary to pass through it quickly in order to suppress quality degradation during thawing.

  In the experiment, a simulated load of 100 g (simulated load of a rectangular parallelepiped for a refrigerator in JIS standard) was frozen in advance, and the product with a center temperature of −18 ° C. was used as a product to be thawed, and each was stored in a refrigerator (4 ° C.). The thawing times of the conditions were compared.

  FIG. 4 shows a case 33 when thawed by refrigeration, a case 34 thawed by only the latent heat regenerator 31, a case 35 thawed by only the blower 52, and a case 36 thawed by combining the latent heat regenerator 31 and the blower 52. The temperature change for 2 hours from the start of thawing is shown.

  From FIG. 4, when thawed by refrigeration, the thaw rate of 33 was the slowest because of less convection. When thawed with only the latent heat regenerator 31, it takes time to thaw because the heat exchange rate is slow. When thawed by only the blower 52, the temperature rapidly increased after the melting temperature was passed, and the food center temperature became a positive temperature after 2 hours. In the case where thawed by combining the latent heat regenerator 31 and the blower 52, the thaw rate was the fastest and the food center temperature could be kept at 0 ° C. or less even after 2 hours.

  Also, comparing the time to reach -3 ° C in a half-thawed state, when thawing by refrigeration 33 is 163 minutes, when thawing only with latent heat regenerator 31 is 34 minutes, and when thawing only with blower 52 35 is 89 minutes, and 36 is 31 minutes when thawed with the combination of the latent heat regenerator 31 and the blower 52, and 31 is 31 minutes, which is 5.3 times faster than the conventional refrigeration.

  As described above, by performing thawing by combining the latent heat regenerator and the blower 52, thawing with cold air can be performed in a short time, and temperature rise can be suppressed even after the thawing is completed. After the thawing is completed, when the temperature of the discharged cold air is lowered and stored, the latent heat cool storage agent becomes constant at that temperature, so that the thawing can be performed while suppressing the temperature unevenness.

  Next, comparison of the thawing speed by the cold air introduction route is performed using FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram comparing the thawing speed by the cold air introduction route. The air passage 50 for introducing cold air in this embodiment is configured on the upper surface of the thawing chamber 8 and has a structure in which the cold air directly hits the food from a large number of jets 53. Moreover, it is thought that it becomes possible to cool food uniformly by injecting cold air from several points on the upper surface, and to suppress thawing unevenness.

  FIG. 5 shows the food center temperature change in the case where cold air is injected from the rear surface and the case where cold air is injected from the upper surface 38 regarding the thawing speed. In both thawing methods, the latent heat storage agent and the blower 52 were combined to perform thawing. In the experiment, a simulated load of 100 g (simulated load of a rectangular parallelepiped for a refrigerator according to JIS standard) is frozen in advance as in FIG. 4, and a product having a center temperature of −18 ° C. is sprayed from the back of the thawing chamber. And the temperature change of 2 hours after starting thawing | decompression about the case where it sprays from an upper surface is shown.

  As can be seen from FIG. 5, thawing can be performed faster in the case where the cold air is injected from the back surface 37 and in the case where the cold air is injected from the upper surface 38 when the cold air is injected from the upper surface.

  Comparing the time to reach −3 ° C. in the half-thaw state, when cold air is injected from the back surface, 37 is 47 minutes, when cold air is injected from the top surface, 38 is 31 minutes and when cold air is injected from the top surface, It can be said that it can be thawed 1.5 times faster than 37 when the cold air is sprayed from the back side.

  This is due to the fact that when the cold air is discharged from the back side, the simulated load on the back side is cooled first, it takes time until the cold air reaches the simulated load at the center and the back, and a large amount of thawing unevenness occurs. Become. From the above, it can be said that the cold air is jetted onto the food from the upper surface, so that the thawing speed can be improved by suppressing the thawing unevenness.

  Next, the relationship between the final thawing temperature and the drip will be compared with reference to FIGS. When the thawing temperature is in the plus temperature range, the drip outflow increases. This is considered to be because the protein becomes denatured during thawing and the cells become fragile and cannot retain water.

  In the experiment, the air temperature in the thawing room was adjusted to -1 ° C and 1 ° C, and after freezing tuna and beef steak meat (each n = 3) that would easily drip by thawing, they were thawed at each temperature zone and compared. It was. In order to clarify the difference in the amount of drip depending on the temperature, thawing was performed by adjusting only the air temperature in the thawing chamber without using the latent heat regenerator and the blower 52.

  FIG. 6 shows the average value of the drip amount of tuna after standing for 24 hours. From FIG. 6, the drip amount 39 of tuna at an air temperature of −1 ° C. is 2.53 [g / 100 g], while the drip amount 40 of tuna at an air temperature of + 1 ° C. is 2.86 [g / 100 g] The drip amount 39 of the tuna having an air temperature of −1 ° C. can be suppressed more than the drip amount 40 of the tuna having an air temperature of + 1 ° C.

  FIG. 7 shows the average value of the amount of drip after 24 hours of standing beef. From FIG. 7, the beef drip amount 41 at an air temperature of −1 ° C. is 1.30 [g / 100 g], whereas the beef drip amount 42 at an air temperature of + 1 ° C. is 1.60 [g / 100 g]. The drip amount 41 of beef having a temperature of −1 ° C. can suppress the drip more than the drip amount 42 of tuna having an air temperature of + 1 ° C.

  From the above, since the drip is likely to flow out when the temperature is equal to or higher than the plus temperature, it is considered that the temperature after thawing is preferably 0 ° C. or lower due to the influence of microorganism growth / drip.

  From the above, the refrigerator according to the present embodiment is thawed in combination with a latent heat regenerator that cools frozen foods to a certain temperature and melts at a plus temperature that can maintain the temperature for a long time and cold air from the blower. By shortening the thawing time compared to conventional refrigeration and thawing, and keeping the temperature after thawing constant at a temperature of 0 ° C or less, drip spillage and thawing unevenness due to excessive growth and thawing of microorganisms are prevented. It can be said that it is possible to realize suppressed thawing. In other words, this embodiment can provide a refrigerator capable of maintaining a constant temperature of 0 ° C. or lower for a long time after thawing frozen food to a constant temperature on the assumption that a latent heat regenerator is used.

8 Defrosting chamber 12 Cold air outlet 18 Evaporator 30 Rib 31 Latent heat regenerator 32 High heat conduction member 33 When defrosted by refrigeration 34 When defrosted with only latent heat regenerator 31 35 When defrosted only with blower 52 36 With latent heat regenerator 31 When defrosting by combining the blower 52 37 When cold air is sprayed from the back 38 When cold air is sprayed from the upper surface 39 Tuna drip amount 40 at air temperature-1 ° C. Tuna drip amount 41 at air temperature + 1 ° C. Air temperature−1 Drip amount of beef at ℃ 42 Air drip amount of beef at + 1 ℃ 50 Air channel 50a Upper inner wall 51 Product to be thawed 52 Blower 53 Spout

Claims (6)

  A refrigerator comprising a storage room in a refrigerated temperature zone, wherein the storage room is provided with latent heat storage means for melting at a plus temperature.   A thawing chamber partitioned inside or adjacent to the storage chamber; a blower that circulates cold air to the thawing chamber; and an air passage that guides the cool air sent by the blower to the thawing chamber; 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the means is provided at the bottom of the thawing chamber.   The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a high heat conduction member is provided on the upper surface of the latent heat storage means.   The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the air passage is provided in an upper portion of the thawing chamber, and has a plurality of cold air outlets in a lower portion of the air passage.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising temperature control means for cooling the product to be thawed stored in the thawing chamber after thawing to a certain temperature and switching the temperature.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a bottom surface of the thawing chamber has a rib structure.

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