JPH02233978A - Deodorizing device for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prolong the life for a deodorizing function, to simplify the structure, and to improve the efficiency of decomposition of a smell component by a method where in teh surface, except a surface forming the rear side to a heater, of a deodorizing substance is formed in a shape in which a radiant heat from a heater is directly imparted. CONSTITUTION:When defrosting operation is started, operation of a cooler 6 and a fan 8 is stopped and meanwhile, a defrost heater 13 is energized to generate heat. By generating heat by the defrost heater 13, a cooler 6 is heated to perform defrosting, and a deodorizing substance 15, simultaneously, is heated. In this case, since an under surface 15b and side surfaces 15c and 15c, exposed to the heater 13, of the surface of the deodorizing substance 15 are heated in a way to directly impart radiant heat from the heater 13 thereon, especially said part is heated extremely uniformly and to a high temperature. In the heated deodorizing substance 15, a small component in which the absorbent of an absorbent layer 16 is absorbed is removed, and simultaneously, in a catalyst layer 17, the smell component thereof is oxidized and decomposed for removal. Defrosting operation is completed and cooling operation is restarted, and when the temperature of the deodorizing substance 15 is decreased, a smell component contained in air in a chamber is absorbed by the deodorizing substance 15 for removal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Eleventh aspect of the invention] (Field of application for industry kings) The present invention relates to a deodorizing device for a refrigerator or the like for removing odor components contained in the air inside the refrigerator or the like.

(Prior Art) In general, refrigerators have a problem in that when odor is generated from food stored in the refrigerator, the odor fills the interior of the refrigerator or adheres to other foods.

Conventionally, the following methods have been used to solve such problems. That is, for example, using an absorbent such as activated carbon,
It uses a suction agent to adsorb and remove odor components contained in the air inside the refrigerator, or it is equipped with an ozone generator and catalyst to generate ozone! There is a system in which the ozone generated from the container is reacted with the odor components of the air inside the refrigerator, the odor components are removed by oxidative decomposition, and the remaining ozone is decomposed and removed by a catalyst.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, among the above-mentioned items, the first name f2 only uses an adsorbent to adsorb odor components, and the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent is limited, so the deodorizing machine is not suitable. The disadvantage is that it has a short lifespan. On the other hand, the latter method requires an ozone generator as well as a catalyst to decompose the remaining ozone that is harmful to the human body, so it has the disadvantage of a complicated structure as a whole.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a deodorizing device for a refrigerator or the like that has a long deodorizing function, has a simple structure, and can improve the decomposition efficiency of odor components.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a system that is provided in a circulation path through which air inside a refrigerator or the like circulates, absorbs odor components, and oxidizes the odor components by being heated. The deodorizing body is equipped with a deodorizing body that decomposes, and a heater that is provided near the deodorizing body so as to face the deodorizing body and is turned on and off to heat the deodorizing body, and the deodorizing body is connected to the heater of the deodorizing body. The surface other than the surface that becomes the back side of λ4L is formed in a shape 113 to directly receive the radiant heat of the heater.

(Function) When the air passing through the circulation path comes into contact with the deodorizing body, odor components contained in the air are adsorbed by the deodorizing body. Then, when the heater is energized and the deodorizing body is heated by the heater, the adsorbed odor components are desorbed and oxidized and decomposed and removed. At this time, the surface of the deodorizing body other than the surface on the back side of the heater is directly heated by the radiant heat of the heater, so the area directly heated by the radiant heat of the heater is large, and the deodorizing body is heated as much as possible. It will be heated evenly.

Therefore, in this case, the suction pipe function is regenerated by the heating of the heater during the non-deodorizing process, so the life of the deodorizing function is long, unlike the case where the deodorizing function is simply rejuvenated. In addition, the deodorizing body has a large area that is directly heated by the radiant heat of the heater, and the exposed surface is heated as uniformly and at high temperatures as possible, so that the desorption and oxidative decomposition of odor components is carried out efficiently. . Furthermore, the overall structure is simpler than that using an ozone generator.

(Example) An example in which the present invention is applied to a refrigerator will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

First, in Fig. 4, 1 is the refrigerator body, 2 and 3
are a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment formed therein, and 4 and 5 are doors, respectively. 6 is a cooler disposed in a cooler chamber 7 at the back of the freezer compartment 2, and 8 is a fan disposed above the cooler 6. When the fan 8 is driven, a part of the air cooled by the cooler 6 is supplied into the freezer compartment 2 from the supply port 9, and the air inside the freezer compartment 2 is transferred to the return duct 10.
A part of the air cooled by the cooler 6 is returned to the cooling room 3 through the air supply duct 11, thereby cooling the inside of the freezer compartment 2. The air inside the refrigerator compartment 3 is then returned to the cooler compartment 7 via the return duct 12, thereby cooling the interior of the refrigerator compartment 3. The refrigerator compartment 7, the freezer compartment 2, and the return duct 10 constitute a circulation path in which the air in the freezer compartment 2 circulates, and the cooler compartment 7, the supply duct 11, the refrigerator compartment 3, and the return duct 1
2 constitutes a circulation path through which air within the refrigerator compartment 3 circulates.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a defrosting heater which is a heater disposed below the cooler 6 in the lower part of the cooler chamber 7. As shown in FIG. It consists of a glass tube heater, and is controlled to be energized so that it is energized only when defrosting the cooler 6, and is turned off at other times. Reference numeral 14 denotes a cover provided on the defrosting heater 13 so as to cover it from above, and this is formed in the shape of a shallow container with the lower side open and made of a heat-resistant and water-resistant metal material such as aluminum. This prevents defrosting water from leaking into the defrosting heater 13 when the cooler 6 is defrosted.

Now, 15 is a deodorizing body, which, as shown in FIG. The defrosting heater 13 The defrosting heater 13 is provided near the upper side of the defrosting heater 13 . This deodorizing body 15 is produced by, for example, forming a plate-shaped adsorption layer 16 by sintering an adsorbent, and after immersing this adsorbent layer 16 in a catalyst solution to adhere the catalyst to the surface, heat treatment is performed. Adsorbent layer 1 by
A catalyst layer 17 is formed on the surface of the adsorbent layer 16, and each of the adsorbent layer 16 and the catalyst layer 17 is porous so that air can flow inside. Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the deodorizing body 15 has a surface 15a that is the back side with respect to the heater 13 and a lower surface 15b that faces the heater 13, which are parallel to each other.
Side parts 15c, 15c on both front and rear sides (left and right sides in Figure 1)
has an inclined shape, and its cross-sectional shape is formed into a trapezoidal shape with the C side shorter than the upper side. And the above side 15c
is formed so as to form an angle α with respect to the upper surface 15a along a straight line A connecting the end of the body 15a and a point on the upper side of the outer circumferential surface of the heater 13. The angle α is the upper surface 1
The straight line B connecting the end of the heater 13 and another point on the lower side of the outer circumferential surface of the heater 13 is set to be smaller than the angle β formed with the body 15a (α × β).

Therefore, the deodorizing body 15 has surfaces other than the upper surface 15a (the lower surface 15b and the side surfaces 15b, 1
5b) is formed in a shape that directly receives radiant heat from the heater 13.

Now, in the above configuration, during the cooling operation, the air inside the refrigerator is circulated through the cooler chamber 7, the freezing chamber 2, and the return duct 10 by the blowing action of the fan 8, and 11, is circulated through the refrigerator compartment 3 and the return duct 12. At this time, the air passing through the cooler chamber 7 comes into contact with the deodorizing body 15, and the odor components contained in the air are absorbed by the neck-sucking agent layer 16 of the deodorizing body 15 and removed.

On the other hand, when the defrosting operation is started, the cooler 6 and the fan 8
While the operation of the defrosting heater 13 is stopped, the defrosting heater 13 is energized and generates heat. Due to the heat generated by this unboxing heater 13, the cooler 6
is heated to perform defrosting, and at the same time, the deodorizing body 15 is heated. At this time, the heater 1 on the surface of the deodorizing body 15
The surface other than the body 15a that is the back side of the heater 13, that is, the exposed lower surface 15b and the side surfaces 15c, 15c
Since it is heated by directly receiving radiant heat, the area (A) in particular is heated as uniformly as possible and at a high temperature.

The heated deodorizing body 15 decolorizes the odor components adsorbed by the adsorbent in the youth absorbing agent layer 16, and at the same time, the odor components are oxidized and decomposed in the catalyst layer 17 and removed. become. By heating the deodorizing body 15 in this manner, the adsorption function, that is, the deodorizing function is regenerated. At this time, the cover 14 plays a role of efficiently heating the deodorizing body 15 by confining the heat from the defrosting heater 13 downward, and also plays the role of efficiently heating the deodorizing body 15 and the defrosting heater 13 from the defrosting body 15 and the defrosting heater 13. Prevents water from splashing on it.

In addition, the heat insulating material] 8 prevents the heat of the deodorizing body 15 from being radiated from the cover 14, and prevents the deodorizing body 15 from being radiated from the cover 14 by defrosting water dropping onto the cover 14 and rapidly cooling the cover 14.
prevents heat shock.

Then, when the defrosting operation is finished and the cooling operation is restarted, and the temperature of the deodorizing body 15 decreases, the odor components contained in the air in the refrigerator are absorbed and removed by the deodorizing body 15 in the same way as described above. It becomes like this.

According to the embodiment described above, the deodorizing body 15 is the defrosting heater 13
The deodorizing function is regenerated by heating, so the 6-absorbing agent can be used to deodorize. Unlike those that only absorb blue, the deodorizing function has a long lifespan. In addition, the deodorizing body 5 is heated by directly receiving the radiation and heat from the heater 13 on the exposed surfaces other than the upper body 15a (lower body 15b and side surfaces 15c, 15c) which is the back side of the heater 13. , when heated by the heater 13, the area that directly receives the radiant heat of the heater 13 is large, and the exposed area is heated as uniformly as possible to a high temperature, so that the dejuvenation and oxidative decomposition of odor components is efficient. Well done. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the deodorizing device of the present invention has a simpler structure than one using an ozone generator. Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the defrosting heater 13 is used as a heater for heating the deodorizing body 15, there is also the advantage that there is no need to separately provide a dedicated heater.

In the above-described embodiment, the deodorizing body 15 has a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape, but as shown in FIG.
may be formed into an arcuate shape. In addition, although the defrosting heater 13 was used as a heating heater, it is preferable to provide a dedicated heater and use this heater as the defrosting heater 13.
The power on/off control may be performed in synchronization with the above. moreover,
The deodorizing body 15 does not have a two-layer structure, but may have a single-layer structure in which an adsorbent and a catalyst are mixed together and bonded and solidified.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a deodorizing body that absorbs odor components and oxidizes and decomposes the odor components by being heated, and a deodorizing body that heats the deodorizing body under power-on/off control. The deodorizing body has a long lifespan of the deodorizing function because its suction function is regenerated by heating the heat, and the structure is simple. In addition, by forming the deodorizing body in such a shape that the surface other than the surface facing the heater directly receives the radiant heat of the heater, the area directly heated by the radiant heat of the heater can be increased. Since the exposed surface can be heated as uniformly as possible to a high temperature, it has the excellent effect of improving the decomposition efficiency of odor components.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the main part, FIG. 2 is a cutaway view of the same, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the upper part of the refrigerator. Further, FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a different embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, 1 is the refrigerator body, 6 is a cooler, 13 is a defrosting heater (heater), 14 is a cover, 15 is a deodorizing body, 15a is the top surface (becomes the back side of the heater), 15b is the bottom surface, 15c
indicates the side surface, 16 indicates the adsorbent layer, 17 indicates the catalyst layer, 1 indicates the deodorizing body, and IQa indicates the bottom surface. Applicant Toshiba Corporation Agent Patent Attorney Tsuyoshi Sato Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A deodorizing body installed in a circulation path through which air circulates inside a refrigerator or the like, adsorbs odor components, and oxidizes and decomposes the odor components by being heated; the deodorizing body has a shape in which a surface other than a surface that is a back side with respect to the heater directly receives radiant heat from the heater; A deodorizing device for a refrigerator, etc., characterized by being formed in.