JPS6059502B2 - refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of application of the invention] The present invention relates to providing a refrigerator with a cold water tank.

[Background of the invention] FIG. 1 corresponds to the prior art.

The refrigerator 1 consists of a freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerator compartment 3. The desired temperature is maintained by a cooler 7 and a fan 8 for circulating cold air around the cooler 7. Further, the temperature inside the refrigerator compartment 3 is maintained at an appropriate temperature by appropriately blowing cold air through a cold air blowing hole 9' provided in a partition wall 9 between the freezing compartment 2 and the refrigerator compartment 3. Here, cold air blowout hole 9'
is equipped with a simple valve (not shown), and the amount of cold air blown out can be controlled by controlling the opening degree of this valve. Freezer compartment 2 is usually about -18℃, refrigerator compartment 3 is usually about +2℃
is maintained. By the way, in the summer, even if you put beer, canned juice, or fruit into the refrigerator compartment 3 and try to cool it quickly, the problem is that the convection heat transfer of cold air takes a long time. A water tank 10 containing water 11 is provided at the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 3,
It is also good to put beam or canned juice into the cold water 11, but if you do this, the water 10 in the aquarium 10 will evaporate,
The evaporated steam enters the freezer compartment 2 by the circulating flow of cold air and is deposited on the cooler 7. As a result, the heat transfer performance of the cooler 7 deteriorates, and the number of times the mist scatters increases. Also aquarium 10
It takes time to cool the water 11 inside to a desired temperature, and if the volume of the water tank 10 is reduced to shorten the time, cooling of beer, canned juice, etc. will be insufficient due to insufficient heat capacity. [Object of the invention] The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks.

[Summary of the invention]

The key point of the present invention is to provide a heat flow control heat transfer device that utilizes the boiling and condensing action of an evaporative liquid between a water tank and a cooler in a refrigerator, so that the water in the water tank can be quickly controlled to a desired temperature. It is something to do.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

This means that there is 1 water in the cold water tank room 12 which can be protected independently from the refrigerator room 3.
1 is provided with an aquarium 10 containing a water tank 1.
An evaporator 13, which is part of a heat transfer device that has a heat flow control function, is installed at the bottom of the water tank 10, and the water 11 in the water tank 10 is cooled to a desired temperature by this evaporator 13. It is something that will be done. The water tank 10 is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, contacts the evaporator 13, and is cooled by the evaporator 13. The water tank 10 can be fixedly installed in the cold water tank chamber 12, but it can also be simply placed on the evaporator 13 to make it removable as shown. In any case, the cold water tank chamber 12 can be used by opening the door 3''. This door 3'' can also be integrated with the refrigerator compartment door 3''. The device will be explained.It is schematically shown in Fig. 2, but its detailed diagram is shown in Fig. 3.The condenser 15 attached to the cooler 7 in the freezer compartment 2 and the cold water tank The evaporator 13 installed in the chamber 12 is connected by a vapor riser pipe 19 and a liquid downcomer pipe 18 to form a closed circulation loop. The liquid downcomer pipe 18 after exiting the liquid storage tank 22 is raised in an inverted U-shape to form the riser pipe section 16. Also, within this closed circulation loop, there is a liquid storage tank. An amount of evaporative liquid 720 (for example, Freon or alcohol) that can be stored in the liquid storage tank 22 is sealed. The liquid level is set higher than the liquid level to be created.When input is applied, for example, electricity is applied to the heater 17 provided at the lower part of the riser pipe 16, the liquid 20 in the lower part of the riser pipe 16 receives the heat. When it boils, the bubbles generated at that time rise toward the top of the riser pipe 16 due to buoyancy, but at this time, the surrounding liquid 20 is also pumped up. and flows into the evaporator 13.The pressure short-circuit pipe 21 connecting the top of the riser pipe 16 and the condenser 15 is connected to the riser pipe 1.
The air bubbles (steam) rising in the condenser 6 are separated from the liquid pumped up by the bubbles and released into the condenser 15. Also, by doing this, when the input to the heater 17 is turned off, the liquid level in the liquid storage tank 22 and the riser pipe 16
When the input to the heater 17 is turned off, the liquid 20 will not leak over the riser pipe 16 into the evaporator 13. Liquid 20 flowing into the evaporator 13
receives heat from the water tank 10 and evaporates, and the steam generated at this time rises in the steam rising pipe 19 due to the steam pressure difference and reaches the condenser 15'', where it is cooled and becomes liquid 20.
This liquid 20 descends down the liquid downcomer pipe 18 and enters the liquid storage tank 22 to repeat the same cycle again. On the other hand, the heat of condensation released in the condenser 15 is absorbed from the condenser 15 into the cooler 7. When the input to the heater 17 is turned off, the liquid 20 will no longer flow into the evaporator 13, so the heat removal action from the water tank 10 will stop. By providing a temperature sensor (for example, a thermistor) at an appropriate location in the water tank 10 and feeding back this signal to the heater 17, the temperature of the water 11 in the water tank 10 can be controlled to be constant. A cooler 7 contained in the freezer compartment 2 is connected to a compressor 4 installed outside the refrigerator 1.

The cooler 7 and compressor 4 also contain evaporative liquid (such as Freon) or its vapor, but the vapor compressed by the compressor 4 enters the radiator 5 and condenses there. .
The high pressure liquid condensed here is passed through an expansion valve or capillary.
The temperature decreases due to adiabatic expansion through the tube 6, and the temperature decreases as the temperature decreases.
to cool down. The cooler 7 and the condenser 15 do not necessarily need to be provided in contact with each other, and may be provided separately within the freezer compartment 2. In this case, the condenser 15 will be indirectly cooled by the cold air circulating within the freezer compartment 2. Although not shown, the evaporative liquid 20 in the cooler 7 is directly transferred to the tank 22.
The vapor generated in the evaporator 13 may be returned to the cooler 7 and the condenser 15 may be omitted. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a heat transfer device having a heat flow control function that is slightly different from that of FIG. 3, although the purpose is the same.

The liquid downcomer pipe 18 after coming out of the condenser 15 is connected at the lower part of the liquid storage tank 22, and the liquid storage tank 22 is provided with a heater 17. When input is applied to the heater 17, the vapor pressure inside the liquid storage tank 22 increases, and the level of the liquid 20 contained therein is pushed down, and a portion of the liquid 20 reaches the top of the riser pipe 16. It overflows and flows into the evaporator 13. When the input to the heater 17 is turned off, the liquid storage tank 22 is cooled from its outer surface by air convection or other suitable heat removal means, so that the vapor pressure within the liquid storage tank 22 decreases and the liquid level rises. Therefore, the liquid 20 no longer flows into the evaporator 13. Although the purpose of FIG. 5 is the same, the configuration is slightly different from that of FIGS. 3 and 4.

This type does not have a liquid storage tank 22 and a riser pipe 16, and a heater 17 is provided in a portion of the liquid descending pipe 18. When input is applied to the heater 17, the liquid downcomer 18
The liquid 20 descending therein receives the heat and boils, and the bubbles generated at this time rise against the direction in which the liquid 20 is descending due to buoyancy. Therefore, the amount of descent of the liquid 20 is reduced. When the input to the heater 17 increases beyond a certain level and the amount of bubbles generated increases, the liquid 20 no longer descends quickly. Also, if the input to the heater 17 is turned off, the liquid 20
falls smoothly and flows into the evaporator 13. In this configuration, in order to reduce the input to the heater 17, it is preferable that the inner diameter of the liquid downcomer pipe 18 be small. It is preferable that it be at least thinner than the steam riser pipe 19. FIG. 6 shows a modified example.

This figure is seen from the front side of the refrigerator 1, that is, from the freezer compartment door 2'' and refrigerator compartment door 3'' sides. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the water tank 10 is provided at the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 3, but in this embodiment, it is provided on the side surface of the refrigerator compartment 3. The upper part of the water tank 10 may be left open, and when the cold water 11 is not needed, such as in winter, the water 11 may be drained and used as a storage area for fruits and vegetables. Of course, in this case, the input to the heater 17 is turned off (however, when the heat transfer device shown in FIG. 5 is used, the input is turned on). Also, the space above the water tank 10 is wasted space, so it is better to make good use of it. In this embodiment, the heat generated from the radiator 5 is used as a place to apply heat to the object 34. The heat radiator 5 is provided in the lower part of the heating chamber housing 30, and a container or shelf 31 is provided above the heat radiator 5. Objects 34 to be heated (for example, side dishes, bento boxes, towels, food for defrosting, butter, etc.) are placed on the shelf 31. An air inflow slit 32 is provided at the bottom of the heating chamber housing 30, and an air outflow slit 33 is provided at the top thereof, so that the amount of air passing through the radiator 5 can be adjusted. Further, in some cases, an auxiliary heater may be provided in the heating chamber housing 30 to enable powerful heating of foods and the like. FIG. 7 shows another embodiment.

This is an application of the present invention to a large refrigerator having three doors, and one of the three compartments is used as a cold water tank compartment 12. An evaporator 13 is provided on the inner wall of the cold water tank chamber 12, and the water tank 1 is brought into contact with the inside of the evaporator 13.
0 has been inserted. Water 11 in the tank 10 is cooled from the bottom and sides of the tank 10. If the water tank 10 is removed, it can be used as a refrigerator. FIG. 8 also shows a modified example. This has an evaporator 13 suspended in a cold water tank chamber 12 and immersed in water 11 contained in a water tank 10. In addition, the liquid descending pipe 18 and vapor rising pipe 19 connected to the evaporator 13 are made of flexible material (for example, bellows), as shown in FIG. When necessary, the water tank 10 is removed and the evaporator 13 is installed on the ceiling of the cold water tank chamber 12 to facilitate cooling of the air inside the cold water tank chamber 12 (see FIG. 10). FIG. 11 also shows a modified example of a three-door refrigerator, and FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line AN in FIG. 11.

This allows the water tank 10 to be omitted, and the partition plate 42 (indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 11) and the packing 4
1, the cold water tank chamber 12 itself can be used as a water tank. If the partition plate 42 is removed, it can be used as a refrigerating room. [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to install a conventional refrigerator and water cooler, and it becomes possible to rapidly cool beer, canned juice, etc., and the temperature can also be easily controlled. It became.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 shows a conventional refrigerator, Fig. 2 shows a refrigerator of the present invention, and Fig. 3 shows a conventional refrigerator.
5 to 5 show the heat flow control heat transfer device used in this refrigerator, and FIGS. 6 to 12 show modified examples. 7...Cooler, 10...Water tank, 11.
...Water, 12...Cold water tank room, 13...
...Evaporator, 15...Condenser, 16...
...rise pipe, 17... heater, 18...
Liquid descending pipe, 19...Steam rising pipe, 20...Liquid.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A water tank was installed in the refrigerator, and an evaporator, a condenser, a steam riser pipe and a liquid downpipe were connected to form a closed circulation loop, and a part of the liquid downpipe was set up in an inverted U-shape. A heat transfer device is provided, comprising a riser pipe, a heater provided at the base of the riser pipe closer to the condenser, and an evaporative liquid sealed in the closed circulation loop, A refrigerator is provided in the water tank, the condenser is thermally coupled to a cooler in the refrigerator, and the temperature of the water tank can be controlled by controlling the heating amount of the riser pipe with the heater. .