CN116745566A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator includes a storage container provided in a fresh food compartment, a high thermal conductive member provided in the storage container, and a cool air discharge unit discharging cool air to the high thermal conductive member. Therefore, the sealing degree of the storage container arranged in the fresh-keeping chamber can be ensured, and the problem of condensation in the storage container can be properly solved.

Description

refrigerator Technical field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

Background technique

The humidity in a fresh-keeping room used to store vegetables that are important for preservation is kept higher than the humidity in other storage rooms such as refrigerators and freezers. When the cold air used to cool the refrigerator passes through the high-humidity fresh-keeping room, condensation will occur in the storage container provided in the fresh-keeping room. Therefore, the fresh-keeping room needs to maintain the humidity required to keep vegetables fresh, and also needs to deal with the problem of condensation. For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a refrigerator for solving such problems.

[Prior art documents]

[Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-132296

The refrigerator disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a structure including: a storage room for storing items; a storage container that is accommodated in the storage room and can be pulled out to the front side, and has an upper portion opening to accommodate storage items; and a lid. It is arranged to cover the opening of the storage container, a communication hole is formed on the cover to communicate with the inside and outside of the storage compartment, and a resin fiber component is provided on the lower surface of the cover. The moisture in the storage compartment is absorbed by the resin fiber component, and the absorbed moisture is absorbed by the resin fiber component. Moisture is discharged to the outside of the storage room through the communication holes.

However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, the resin fiber member attached to the cover overlaps the communication hole. According to Patent Document 1, a resin fiber member is a braided fabric made of resin fibers such as PET fiber, and is a member that intercepts liquid and allows air to pass through it. That is, the air in the fresh-keeping room (inside the storage container) can flow out from the overlapping portion between the resin fiber member and the communication hole. Therefore, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem with the airtightness of the storage container, and the humidity in the storage room may decrease unexpectedly.

In view of this, it is necessary to improve the existing refrigerator to solve the above problems.

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that can maintain the airtightness of a storage container installed in a fresh-keeping compartment and appropriately improve the problem of condensation in the storage container.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator including: a storage container disposed in a fresh-keeping compartment; a highly thermally conductive component disposed in the storage container; and a cold air discharge unit discharging cold air to the highly thermally conductive component. .

Further, the high thermal conductivity member is installed to block the opening formed on the back of the storage container, and the cold air discharge unit includes: a cooler; and a guide flow path provided with the storage container on the The high thermal conductivity components are arranged on opposite sides, and the cold air cooled by the cooler is guided to the high thermal conductivity components.

Furthermore, the refrigerator further has a refrigerating chamber arranged one above and below the fresh-keeping compartment, a first light-transmitting part is provided on the upper surface of the storage container, and a bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber is provided with the first transparent part. The second light-transmitting part is arranged opposite to the light part.

Further, the refrigerator further includes a water absorbing portion installed on the storage container to absorb condensation generated on highly thermally conductive components, and the water absorbing portion is provided in an area where cold air from the cold air discharge unit can reach. .

Furthermore, the front surface of the high thermal conductivity member faces the inside of the storage container, and the guide flow path is provided on the back side of the high thermal conductivity member.

Further, the cold air discharge unit further includes a valve that controls the flow of cold air into the guide flow path and a fan disposed above the cooler.

Further, the valve includes a first valve and a second valve. The first valve is arranged opposite the inlet of the guide flow path. As the first valve is opened, cold air from the cooler flows in. The cold air flowing into the guide flow path is discharged to the high thermal conductivity component after passing through the guide flow path.

Further, the refrigerator also has an inner cover and an outer cover installed at the rear of the storage container, the high thermal conductivity component is sandwiched between the inner cover and the outer cover, and the inner cover is installed inside the storage container. , the outer cover is installed on the outside of the storage container.

Further, the inner cover body includes a gap, a first window and a second window, the gap is located above the first window and the second window, and the width of the gap is wider than the first window and the second window. The width of the window must be large, and the storage container is also provided with a switch with the same width as the first window or the second window to open and close it.

Furthermore, the refrigerator also has a cover installed on the storage container to close the upper opening of the storage container.

The beneficial effects of the present invention are that the refrigerator of the present invention can concentrate the condensation generation area in the storage container on the high thermal conductivity member. In addition, even if the combination of the resin fiber member and the communication hole disclosed in Patent Document 1 is not always provided, Connecting the inside and outside of the storage container can also solve the problem of condensation generated in the storage container. Therefore, the airtightness of the storage container installed in the freshness compartment can be maintained. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the inside of the storage container can be cooled using a highly thermally conductive member. Therefore, when the sealing degree of the storage container is increased, even if the normal circulating cold air supplied to the freshness compartment is cut off, the inside of the storage container can be cooled to a desired temperature range.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the highly thermally conductive member is mounted on the back surface of the storage container, and the cold air cooled by the cooler can be guided to the highly thermally conductive member through the guide flow path provided behind the highly thermally conductive member, so that it can be directed to the highly thermally conductive member. By discharging the cold air close to the high thermal conductivity component, the structure of the cold air discharge unit that discharges the cold air to the high thermal conductivity component can be simplified, and the cold air can reliably reach the high thermal conductivity component.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the highly thermally conductive member is mounted on the back of the storage container, condensation hardly adheres to the first light-transmitting portion provided on the upper surface of the storage container (freshness compartment), and therefore does not hinder the first light-transmitting portion. Translucency of the translucent part. In this way, the state in which the inside of the freshness compartment (storage container) can be observed from the refrigerator compartment including the second light-transmitting part facing the first light-transmitting part can be maintained.

At the same time, the present invention allows the cold air from the cold air discharge unit to reach the water absorption part, and therefore the condensation from the highly thermally conductive member absorbed by the water absorption part can be dried using this cold air. In this way, condensation adhering to the inside of the highly thermally conductive member can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the storage container.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a front view of the refrigerator of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator of the present invention taken along line AA' in Figure 1 .

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the storage container in the fresh-keeping compartment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the storage container in the fresh-keeping compartment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

Hereinafter, the refrigerator 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that when describing the refrigerator 1 of this embodiment, the "up and down" direction corresponds to the height direction of the refrigerator 1, the "left and right" direction corresponds to the width direction of the refrigerator 1, and the "front and back" direction corresponds to the depth of the refrigerator 1. direction corresponds.

First, an overview of the structure of the refrigerator 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 . Here, FIG. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator 1. As shown in FIG. 1 , the refrigerator 1 of the present invention includes a heat-insulating box 2 as the main body of the refrigerator. In addition, the heat-insulating box 2 includes a plurality of storage chambers 3, 4, and 5. The plurality of storage compartments correspond to the refrigerator compartment 3, the fresh-keeping compartment 4, and the freezing compartment 5 from top to bottom. However, the order in which the storage compartments are arranged is not limited to this (for example, they may also be arranged as a refrigerator compartment, a freezing compartment, and a fresh-keeping compartment in order from top to bottom).

Openings are formed on the front surfaces of each storage compartment provided in the heat insulating box 2, and the refrigerator 1 is provided with insulating doors 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d that can open and close these openings. The insulating doors 6a, 6b are rotatably supported on the insulating box 2 at the upper and lower ends on the right and left sides of the refrigerator to block the opening on the front surface of the refrigerator compartment 3. In addition, the insulating door 6 c is configured to be pullable in the front-rear direction relative to the heat insulating box 2 so as to block the opening on the front surface of the fresh-keeping compartment 4 . Likewise, the insulating door 6d is configured to be pullable in the front-rear direction relative to the insulating box 2 to block the opening on the front surface of the freezing chamber 5.

Next, the internal structure of the refrigerator 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator 1 taken along line AA' in FIG. 1 . As shown in Figure 2, the heat-insulating box 2 includes an outer box 2a made of steel plates, an inner box 2b made of synthetic resin, and foamed polyurethane (polyurethane foam) filled in the gap formed between the outer box 2a and the inner box 2b. ) insulation material 2c.

The refrigerator 1 of the present invention further includes: a storage container 10 provided in the fresh-keeping compartment 4 for storing vegetables and the like; and a cold air discharge unit 40 for discharging cold air to the highly thermally conductive component 13 described below. In addition, preferably, the refrigerator 1 of the present invention further includes a lid 20 for improving the sealing performance of the storage container 10 . It should be noted that when the lid 20 is installed on the storage container 10 , the upper surface of the storage container 10 corresponds to the lid 20 .

First, the storage container 10 of this embodiment will be described. The storage container 10 is a container having an opening 11 on its upper surface, and the opening 11 is closed by the lid 20 , thereby improving the sealing degree inside the storage container 10 . Furthermore, the first light-transmitting part 21 (for example, glass, acrylic plate, etc.) is provided on the front side of the lid 20 so that the inside of the storage container 10 can be observed from above.

In addition, a second light-transmitting part 32 (for example, glass, acrylic plate, etc.) is provided on the bottom surface 31 of the refrigerator compartment 3 provided directly above the fresh-keeping compartment 4 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the second light-transmitting part 32 is arranged opposite to the first light-transmitting part 21 . In this way, when the insulating door of the refrigerating compartment 3 is opened, the inside of the freshness compartment 4 (storage container 10) can be observed from the refrigerating compartment 3.

As shown in FIG. 2 , a highly thermally conductive member 13 is attached to the opening 121 of the back surface 12 of the storage container 10 . That is, the front surface 131 of the high thermal conductivity member 13 faces the inside of the storage container 10 , and the back surface 132 of the high thermal conductivity member 13 faces the outside of the storage container 10 .

In this embodiment, the high thermal conductivity component 13 is an aluminum plate, but it is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the high thermal conductivity component 13 , in addition to copper, stainless steel and other metals with high thermal conductivity, In addition to parts made of metal compounds and parts made of metal compounds, they may also be parts made of thermally conductive plastics, etc. In addition, the form of the highly thermally conductive member 13 is not limited to the plate shape. In other embodiments other than the plate shape, in order to increase the contact area with the air, uneven shapes are formed on the front surface 131 and other parts.

Next, the cold air discharge unit 40 of this embodiment will be described. The cold air discharge unit 40 includes a cooler (evaporator) 41 and a guide flow path 421 which is provided on opposite sides of the high thermal conductivity member 13 to the storage container 10 and is provided by the cooler 41 The cooled air is guided to the highly thermally conductive member 13 , and the guide flow path 421 is provided on the back side of the highly thermally conductive member 13 . In addition, the cold air discharge unit 40 may further include valves 43 and 45 (for example, baffles, switches, etc. that are opened and closed by a stepping motor) that control the flow of cold air into the guide flow path 421 and are disposed above the cooler 41 fan 44.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2 , the cooler 41 of this embodiment is installed in the back area of the freezer compartment 5 and passes the refrigerant that exchanges heat with the cold air that cools each storage compartment and returns. In addition, the guide flow path 421 is provided in the cold air conveyance duct 42 which is provided on the back side of the storage container 10 (the back area of the refrigerator compartment 3 and the freshness compartment 4).

In addition, the cold air conveying duct 42 of this embodiment includes the main flow path 422 extending to the refrigerating compartment 3 side. The main flow path 422 is provided on the rear side of the guide flow path 421 . That is, the guide flow path 421 and the main flow path 422 are arranged front and back in the cold air delivery duct 42, but the position of the guide flow path 421 is not limited to this.

The valve includes a first valve 43 and a second valve 45. The first valve 43 is arranged opposite the inlet 4211 of the guide flow path 421. As the first valve 43 opens, the cold air from the cooler 41 flows into the The cold air flowing into the guide flow path 421 is discharged to the high thermal conductivity component 13 after passing through the guide flow path 421 . At this time, it is preferable to close the second valve 45 (eg, a damper) that controls the opening and closing of the main flow path 422 . On the other hand, as the first valve 43 is closed, the cold air flowing to the guide flow path 421 is blocked, and the cold air discharged to the high thermal conductivity member 13 stops flowing.

According to this embodiment, cold air can be discharged to the highly thermally conductive member 13 via the guide flow path 421 . In other words, cold air can be discharged to a position close to the high thermal conductivity member 13 , so the structure of the cold air discharge unit 40 can be simplified, and the cold air can reliably reach the high thermal conductivity member 13 .

Next, the flow of cold air in the refrigerator 1 will be described. As the fan 44 of the cold air discharge unit 40 rotates, the cold air cooled by the cooler 41 rises, and part of the rising cold air flows into the cold air delivery duct 42 . At this time, when the first valve 43 is open and the second valve 45 is closed, the cold air flows through the guide flow path 421 of the cold air delivery duct 42 . Then, the cold air is discharged to the back surface 132 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 . Finally, the temperature of the back surface 132 receiving the cold wind is transferred to the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13, and the overall temperature of the highly thermally conductive member 13 decreases.

As described above, the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 faces the inside of the storage container 10 . In addition, the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 that transmits cold air is lower than the temperature inside the storage container 10 . Therefore, the air containing moisture in the storage container 10 condenses on the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 , and condensation adheres to the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 . On the other hand, since the temperature of the storage container 10 other than the mounting portion for mounting the high thermal conductivity member 13 is higher than that of the high thermal conductivity member 13, condensation hardly adheres to it. Therefore, it is possible to use high thermal conductivity Condensation collects on the front 131 of the component 13 .

On the contrary, when the first valve 43 is closed and the second valve 45 is opened, the cold air flowing into the cold air duct 42 flows in the main flow path 422 of the cold air duct 42 . Thereafter, the cold air is sent to the refrigerating compartment 3 via a plurality of air outlets formed along the height direction of the refrigerating compartment 3 (only the lowest air outlet 33 is shown in FIG. 2 ).

Then, after passing through the refrigerating compartment 3 , the cold air passes through the vent provided on the bottom surface 31 of the refrigerating compartment 3 and reaches the fresh-keeping compartment 4 . Then, the cold air flowing into the fresh food compartment 4 passes through the fresh food compartment 4 , reaches a cold air return duct (not shown), and returns to the cooler 41 . In the following, cold air that is cooled by heat exchange with the cooler 41 and then returns to the vicinity of the cooler 41 through the cold air delivery duct 42 (main flow path 422), the refrigerator compartment 3, the freshness compartment 4, and the cold air return duct will be referred to as It is "circulating cold air".

However, in order to improve the sealing degree of the storage container 10 , the opening 11 on the upper surface of the storage container 10 is blocked by the lid 20 . Therefore, the cold air (circulated cold air) that reaches the freshness compartment 4 from the refrigerator compartment 3 does not flow into the storage container 10 . Therefore, it is conceivable that there may be cases in which the inside of the storage container 10 cannot be cooled to a desired temperature range using only circulating cold air. However, according to this embodiment, the cold air discharged from the cold air discharge unit 40 can be used to cool the highly thermally conductive member 13 , and the cold air from the cooled highly thermally conductive member 13 can be used to lower the temperature inside the storage container 10 .

Next, the storage container 10 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 . Here, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the storage container 10 and the lid 20 in a separated state. In addition, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the storage container 10 .

As shown in FIG. 3 , the storage container 10 of the present invention includes an opening 121 for installing (or embedding) the high thermal conductivity member 13 . The position of the opening 121 is not particularly limited. It is formed on the storage container. Just 12 on the back of 10. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4 , the high thermal conductivity member 13 in the present invention is sandwiched between an inner cover 14 installed inside the storage container 10 and an outer cover 15 installed inside the storage container 10 . outside of container 10. In addition, including the back surface 12, the inner cover body 14, and the outer cover body 15, it may be collectively called "the back surface of a storage container."

The inner cover 14 includes a notch 141 , a first window 142 and a second window 143 . The notch 141 is located above the first window 142 and the second window 143 , and the width of the notch 141 is larger than the width of the first window 142 and the second window 143 . In addition, the first window 142 and the second window 143 are arranged side by side along the width direction of the inner cover 14 .

Regarding the storage container 10 having such a structure, when the back surface 12 is viewed from the inside, the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive member 13 is exposed in the area of the notch 141 . The storage container 10 is also provided with a switch 16 whose width is substantially the same as that of the first window 142 (or the second window 143). The switch 16 is provided between the first window 142 (or the second window 143) and the high thermal conductivity component 13. The switch 16 can slide along the width direction of the inner cover 14 to block one of the first window 142 and the second window 143.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the slot 133 provided on the high thermal conductivity component 13 is formed at a position opposite to the second window 143 . When the switch 16 is located at a position opposite to the first window 142, the slot 133 on the side of the high thermal conductivity component 13 is in an open state. On the other hand, when the switch 16 is located at a position opposite to the second window 143, the slot 133 on the high thermal conductivity component 13 side is in a closed state.

That is, the switch 16 can open and close the slot 133 on the high thermal conductive member 13 side. When the switch 16 moves to be opposite to the first window 142, the second window 143 and the slot 133 of the high thermal conductivity component 13 are opened, and the inside and outside of the storage container 10 are connected, so that the storage container 10 can be stored. Humidity is controlled inside the container 10 .

It should be noted that in this embodiment, the slot 133 on the high thermal conductivity component 13 is disposed at a position opposite to the second window 143 . In other embodiments, it may also be disposed at a position opposite to the first window 142. In this case, when the switch 16 is at a position opposite to the second window 143, the high thermal conductivity component 13 The slot 133 on the high thermal conductivity component 13 is in an open state. When the switch 16 is in a position opposite to the first window 142 , the slot 133 on the high thermal conductivity component 13 is in a closed state.

Preferably, the inner cover 14 further includes a water absorbing portion 17 that absorbs condensation generated on the front surface 131 of the highly thermally conductive component 13 . In this embodiment, the water absorbing portion 17 is located below the opening 121 . Furthermore, the water absorbing portion 17 penetrates the inner cover 14 and extends to the outside of the storage container 10 . The shape of the water absorbing portion 17 is not limited as long as it can absorb condensation generated on the front surface 131 of the high thermal conductive member 13 . For example, the water absorbing part 17 may be a fibrous filter.

The water absorbing portion 17 extends to the outside of the storage container 10 and is exposed to an area where the cold air from the cold air discharge unit 40 can reach. In this way, the cold air discharged to cool the highly thermally conductive member 13 can also reach the water absorbing portion 17 , thereby drying the condensation absorbed by the water absorbing portion 17 , and further allowing the condensation adhering to the highly thermally conductive component to be dried. The condensation inside 13 is efficiently discharged to the outside of the storage container 10 .

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not limiting. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the technical solutions of the present invention can be modified or equivalently substituted. without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A refrigerator, comprising:

   a storage container provided in the fresh food compartment;

   a high thermal conductivity member provided in the storage container; and

   and a cool air discharge unit that discharges cool air to the high thermal conductive member.
2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the high thermal conductive member is installed to block an opening formed at a rear surface of the storage container, and the cool air discharging unit includes:

   a cooler; and

   and a guide flow path which is provided on both sides of the storage container, which are provided to face the high thermal conductive member, and which guides the cold air cooled by the cooler to the high thermal conductive member.
3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising a refrigerating chamber provided in order from the fresh food compartment, wherein a first light-transmitting portion is provided on an upper surface of the storage container, and a second light-transmitting portion provided opposite to the first light-transmitting portion is provided on a bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber.
4. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a water absorbing part installed at the storage container to absorb condensation generated at the high thermal conductive member, the water absorbing part being provided at a region where cold air from the cold air discharging unit can reach.
5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a front surface of the high thermal conductive member faces the inside of the storage container, and the guide flow path is provided on a rear surface side of the high thermal conductive member.
6. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein the cool air discharging unit further includes a valve controlling inflow of cool air into the guide flow path and a fan disposed above the cooler.
7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the valve includes a first valve and a second valve, the first valve is disposed opposite to an inflow port of the guide flow path, cold air from the cooler flows into the guide flow path as the first valve is opened, and the cold air flowing into the guide flow path is discharged to the high thermal conductive member after passing through the guide flow path.
8. The refrigerator of claim 2, further comprising inner and outer covers mounted at the rear of the storage container, the high thermal conductive member being sandwiched by the inner cover and the outer cover, the inner cover being mounted inside the storage container, and the outer cover being mounted outside the storage container.
9. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein the inner cover includes a notch, a first window and a second window, the notch is located above the first window and the second window, the notch has a width larger than that of the first window and the second window, and the storage container is further provided with a switch having the same width as the first window or the second window to open and close the first window or the second window.
10. The refrigerator of claim 3, further comprising a cover body mounted on the storage container to close an upper side opening of the storage container, wherein the first light-transmitting portion is disposed at a front side of the cover body.