JPH05168855A - Deodorizer such as refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To enhance the decomposition efficiency of odorous components in a product using an adsorbent and a catalyst, and to exert a sufficient deodorizing effect. [Structure] A tubular deodorizer 25 is provided so as to surround a heater 24 that also functions as a defrost heater. The deodorizer 25 has a double structure of an adsorbent 26 made of alumina and a catalyst 27 made of platinum. The adsorbent 26 and the catalyst 27 are
The deodorizing temperature of the odorous component of No. 2 is equal to or higher than the oxidative decomposition temperature of the odorous component of the catalyst 27. Accordingly, when the odorous component adsorbed by the adsorbent 26 is desorbed during heating by the heater 24, the catalyst 27 has already exerted a function of oxidizing and decomposing the odorous component, and the odorous component desorbed from the adsorbent 26 is not decomposed. It can be eliminated that it is released as it is.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator for removing odorous components contained in the air in a refrigerator or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator,
For example, an adsorbent such as activated carbon is used to adsorb and remove odorous components contained in the air inside the compartment, or an ozone generator and a catalyst are provided, and ozone generated from the ozone generator is included. Is reacted with the odorous components contained in the air inside the chamber, the odorous components are oxidatively decomposed and removed, and the residual ozone is decomposed and removed by the catalyst.

However, among these, the one using an adsorbent only adsorbs the odorous component by the adsorbent, and when the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent becomes saturated, the odorous component cannot be adsorbed any more, and therefore the deodorizing function It has a short life. On the other hand, the one using the ozone generator is
In addition to the need for an ozone generator, there is the disadvantage that the rest of the ozone that is harmful to the human body must be decomposed, and the structure as a whole is complicated.

On the other hand, as a means for solving these drawbacks, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-275277 discloses the following structure.

As shown in FIG. 4, this heater has a deodorizing body 2 formed by mixing a platinum group catalyst in an adsorbent around a defrosting heater 1 used for defrosting a cooler. 1
Is provided so as to surround the odor component, and the odor component contained in the air contacting the deodorant body 2 is adsorbed by the adsorbent, and the odor component is oxidatively decomposed by the action of the catalyst due to the heating by the heater 1 during defrosting of the cooler. It has the function of

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned publications, the heater 1 has a structure in which the deodorizing body 2 is mixed with a catalyst in the adsorbent and the catalyst is scattered.
When heated by, the catalyst outside the deodorizer 2 reaches the temperature at which the odor component is oxidatively decomposed, and the odor component desorbed from the adsorbent is easily released without being decomposed.
It has a drawback that the efficiency of decomposing odorous components is poor and the deodorizing effect is not sufficiently exerted.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a deodorizing device such as a refrigerator which can enhance the efficiency of decomposing odorous components and can sufficiently exert the deodorizing effect.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a heater which is arranged in a circulation path through which air in a refrigerator or the like circulates and is controlled to switch on and off, and this heater. An adsorbent that is provided to surround the adsorbent that adsorbs the odorous component contained in the air passing through the circulation path and desorbs the odorous component that is adsorbed by being heated by the heater, and the outer surface of the adsorbent. It is provided so as to cover this, and comprises a catalyst that oxidizes and decomposes the odorous component as it is heated by the heater, and the adsorbent and the catalyst are such that the desorption temperature of the odorous component of the adsorbent is the odorous component of the catalyst. It is characterized by combining those having characteristics that are equal to or higher than the oxidative decomposition temperature.

[0009]

[Function] By combining the adsorbent and the catalyst having the above-mentioned temperature characteristics, when the odor component adsorbed by the adsorbent is desorbed during heating by the heater, the catalyst already exhibits the function of oxidatively decomposing the odor component. As a result, it is possible to minimize that the odorous component desorbed from the adsorbent is released without being decomposed.

Moreover, since the catalyst is provided on the outer surface of the adsorbent so as to cover it, the odorous components desorbed from the adsorbent can be efficiently decomposed by the catalyst without being released as undecomposed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, referring to FIG. 3 showing the upper part of the refrigerator, a freezer compartment 12 and a refrigerating compartment 13 are formed inside the refrigerator main body 11, and doors 14 and 1 are provided on the front portions thereof.
5 are provided. A cooler 17 is provided in a cooler chamber 16 formed at the back of the freezer compartment 12.
A fan 18 for circulating the air in the refrigerator is arranged above the air conditioner 7.

When the fan 18 is driven, the cooler 1
Part of the air cooled by 7 is supplied from the supply port 19 into the freezer compartment 12, and the air in the freezer compartment 12 is circulated such that it is returned to the cooler compartment 16 through the return duct 20, Therefore, the inside of the freezer compartment 12 is cooled.

A part of the air cooled by the cooler 17 is supplied into the refrigerating chamber 13 through the supply duct 21, and the air in the refrigerating chamber 13 passes through the return duct 22 and inside the cooler chamber 16. It is circulated such that it is returned to
Therefore, the inside of the refrigerating room 13 is cooled.

In this case, therefore, the cooler chamber 16 and the freezing chamber 1
2 and the return duct 20 constitute a circulation path for circulating the air in the freezer compartment 12, and the cooler compartment 16, the supply duct 21, the refrigerating compartment 13, and the return duct 22 circulate the air in the refrigerating compartment 13. The road is made up.

A deodorizing device 23 according to the present invention is provided in the lower part of the cooler chamber 16 in the circulation path. The deodorizing device 23 will be described.

A heater 24 also serving as a defrost heater is provided below the cooler 17. In this case, the heater 24 is composed of a heater wire itself made of a nichrome wire or the like, is arranged so as to extend in the left-right direction in the cooler chamber 16 when viewed from the front, and is energized when the cooler 17 is defrosted, Otherwise, the power is cut off and controlled so that the power is cut off.

A tubular deodorizer 25 is provided so as to surround the heater 24. This deodorant body 25 is
As shown in FIG. 1, it has a porous structure and has a double structure of an adsorbent 26 and a catalyst 27. Of these, the adsorbent 26 is arranged on the inner side close to the heater 24, and the catalyst 27 is An outer surface of the adsorbent 26 is arranged outside so as to cover the adsorbent 26.

Here, in this embodiment, as is apparent from the reason described later, alumina is used as the adsorbent 26 and platinum is used as the catalyst 27.

In FIG. 3, 28 is a cover provided so as to cover the heater 24 and the deodorizer 25 from above.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. During the cooling operation of the refrigerator, the air in the refrigerator (in the freezing compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 13) is circulated through the circulation path by the blowing action of the fan 18.

In this process, the air passing through the inside of the cooler chamber 16 comes into contact with the deodorizing body 25, and the odorous component contained in the air is adsorbed by the adsorbing body 26 and removed. Then, the air from which the odorous components have been removed is cooled by the cooler 17 and is again supplied to the freezing compartment 12 and the refrigerating compartment 13.

On the other hand, when the cumulative operating time of the compressor (not shown) reaches a predetermined value, the compressor and the fan 18 are cut off, while the heater 24 is energized to generate heat.

The heat generated by the heater 24 heats the deodorizing body 25 around the heater 24 and the cooler 1
7 is also heated. By heating the cooler 17,
This is defrosted.

As the deodorizer 25 is heated by the heater 24, the odorous components adsorbed on the adsorbent 26 are desorbed, and the deodorized odorous components are transferred to the catalyst 2.
In step 7, it becomes oxidatively decomposed.

Here, the alumina used for the adsorbent 26 is
As shown in FIG. 2, it has a function of adsorbing odorous components at a temperature of about 200 ° C. or less, and beyond that, the adsorption rate gradually decreases, so that the adsorbed odorous components gradually desorb. It has a temperature characteristic that

Further, as shown in the figure, the platinum used in the catalyst 27 does not have a function of oxidizing and decomposing odorous components at a temperature of about 150 ° C. or lower, and beyond that, the reaction rate rises sharply to give rise to odorous substances. It has a temperature characteristic of exhibiting the function of oxidatively decomposing components.

Therefore, in this case, when the heater 24 is heated,
When desorbing the odorous components adsorbed by the adsorbent 26, the catalyst 27 has already exerted the function of oxidatively decomposing the odorous components, and most of the odorous components desorbed from the adsorbent 26 are decomposed by the catalyst 27. Therefore, it is possible to minimize that the odorous component is released without being decomposed.

Moreover, since the catalyst 27 is provided on the outer surface of the adsorbent body 26 so as to cover it, the odorous component desorbed from the adsorbent body 26 is not decomposed but released without being decomposed.
In 7, it can be decomposed efficiently.

Of the deodorizer 25, the adsorbent 26 regenerates its adsorbing function, that is, the deodorizing function by desorbing the odorous components by heating with the heater 24.

When the temperature of the cooler 17 reaches a predetermined defrosting end temperature, the heater 24 is turned off and the defrosting operation is terminated. After that, the compressor and the fan 18 are energized to restart the cooling operation. Be started. Along with this, the adsorbent 2
The temperature of 5 also gradually decreases, and the adsorbent 26 again adsorbs the odorous component in the same manner as described above.

According to this embodiment as described above, the deodorizer 25
Alumina is used as the adsorbent 26 constituting
Using platinum as the catalyst 27, the adsorbent 26 and the catalyst 27
Has a configuration in which the desorption temperature of the odorous component of the adsorbent 26 is equal to or higher than the oxidative decomposition temperature of the odorous component of the catalyst 27 or higher, so that the adsorbent 26 is heated by the heater 24 when heated. When desorbing the adsorbed odor component, the catalyst 27 has already exerted the function of oxidatively decomposing the odor component, and the odor component desorbed from the adsorbent 26 can be almost decomposed in the catalyst 27, Therefore, it is possible to minimize that the odorous component is released without being decomposed.

By the way, for example, when silica is used as an adsorbent and a deodorizer is formed by using a metal oxide (NiO or CuO) as a catalyst, silica is adsorbed as shown in the temperature characteristics of FIG. Even if the odorous components that have been used have been desorbed (even if the adsorption rate has decreased), the state in which the metal oxide catalyst has not yet exerted the function of oxidatively decomposing the odorous components (reaction Since the temperature range in which the rate is almost 0) is large, a problem arises in that many odorous components are released without being decomposed.

In this respect, according to this embodiment, such a problem can be eliminated.

Moreover, since the catalyst 27 is provided on the outer surface of the adsorbent 26 so as to cover it, the odorous component desorbed from the adsorbent 26 is not decomposed and released without being decomposed.
In 7, it can be decomposed efficiently.

In the above embodiment, the heater 24 is composed of the heater wire itself and the tubular deodorizer 25 is provided so as to surround the heater 24. However, the heater wire is a glass tube. It is also possible to use a so-called glass tube heater which is surrounded by the above, and to provide the deodorizer 25 on the outer surface of the glass tube so as to surround the heater.

In addition, as the heater 24, a dedicated heater which does not serve also as a defrost heater may be used.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the adsorbent and the catalyst have a desorption temperature of the odorous component of the adsorbent equal to or higher than the oxidative decomposition temperature of the odorous component of the catalyst. By combining the substances having the following characteristics, most of the odorous components desorbed from the adsorbent can be decomposed in the catalyst, so that the odorous components can be released without being decomposed as much as possible.

Moreover, since the catalyst is provided on the outer surface of the adsorbent so as to cover it, the odorous components desorbed from the adsorbent can be efficiently decomposed in the catalyst without being released undecomposed. Thereby, the excellent effect that the efficiency of decomposing odorous components is enhanced and the deodorizing effect can be sufficiently exerted is exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged vertical side view of an essential part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Temperature characteristic diagram of adsorbent and catalyst

[Fig. 3] Vertical side view of the upper part of the refrigerator

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 11 is a refrigerator main body, 16 is a cooler room (circulation path), 23 is a deodorizing device, 24 is a heater, 25 is a deodorizing body, 26 is an adsorbent, and 27 is a catalyst.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location F25D 23/00 302 M 7380-3L

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heater, which is disposed in a circulation path in which air in a refrigerator or the like circulates, is controlled to turn on and off, and a heater which is provided so as to surround the heater and is included in the air passing through the circulation path. An adsorbent that adsorbs the odorous components that have been absorbed and that desorbs the odorous components that have been adsorbed as it is heated by the heater, and that is provided on the outer surface of the adsorbent so as to cover it Accompanied by a catalyst for oxidatively decomposing odorous components, the adsorbent and the catalyst, a combination of the characteristics that the desorption temperature of the odorous components of the adsorbent is equal to or higher than the oxidative decomposition temperature of the odorous components of the catalyst A deodorizing device such as a refrigerator characterized by that.