JPS6334389B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention provides a refrigerator for cooling or freezing;
In particular, it relates to those equipped with humidification means.

In a refrigerator that circulates cold air for cooling or freezing inside the storage unit to maintain the internal temperature at a predetermined low temperature, the cold air circulating inside the storage unit passes through a cooler or a freezer for heat exchange. When the refrigerator is heated, it is dehumidified, and as a result, the inside of the refrigerator inevitably becomes dry. Therefore, if you store fresh sweets such as Western sweets and Japanese sweets, or so-called raw foods such as fresh fish ingredients and fresh fruits and vegetables in a regular refrigerator, the dry atmosphere inside the refrigerator will cause the raw foods to dry out. It may lose its freshness or deteriorate. In order to prevent this, the inside of the refrigerator must be properly humidified, but the problem is that the saturated vapor pressure inside the refrigerator is low, so it cannot be easily humidified using normal humidification methods. It was hot. Commonly used humidifying means are those that eject heated steam or those that eject water in the form of a spray. The former heats the inside of the refrigerator with the condensation heat of the ejected water vapor, significantly reducing the cooling or freezing efficiency of the refrigerator, and also heats raw food in the refrigerator, causing loss of freshness or deterioration of quality. There is a risk of Further, condensed water may adhere to the surface of raw food stored in the refrigerator, or if the refrigerator has a see-through window, the window may fog up. In the latter case, most of the sprayed water does not volatilize into the air inside the refrigerator, but instead adheres to the food inside the refrigerator or the inner wall surface. In many cases, the problem is simply to wet the inside of the refrigerator. In addition, in refrigerator-freezers, the sprayed water adheres as ice or frost inside the refrigerator, which not only reduces the refrigeration efficiency but also requires a great deal of effort to remove the ice or frost afterwards. It becomes a thing. Due to the above circumstances, conventionally,
Despite the extremely strong need to do so, it has not been possible to properly humidify the inside of the refrigerator.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional background, and its purpose is to reduce the humidity inside a refrigerator for cooling or freezing by using relatively simple construction means. To sufficiently humidify the inside of a refrigerator without reducing cooling efficiency or attaching water droplets to items stored in the refrigerator, and to easily control the degree of humidification. The purpose is to provide a refrigerator.

In order to achieve the above object, a refrigerator according to the present invention circulates cold air for cooling or freezing inside the refrigerator to maintain the temperature inside the refrigerator at a predetermined low temperature. a first air blower that circulates in a laminar manner along the inner wall surface;
a humidifying means consisting of a water tank installed in the storage body and containing water without scattering; and a humidification means comprising a water tank installed in the storage body to accommodate water without scattering; It is characterized by comprising a second blower means for circulating the inside of the flow in a laminar flow manner.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the present invention. The refrigerator shown in the figure is mainly for cooling purposes, and includes a storage body 10, a cooler 16, and a humidifier 2.
It has 0 etc. The storage body 10 has a door 1 consisting of a window glass and a sliding door to allow the interior to be seen through.
4. Shelf 15 etc. are provided. The cooler 16 has a cooling coil 18 in which a refrigerant circulates. The humidifier 20 has a water tank 22 half-filled with water 24. The air in the storage body 10 is circulated by the blower 26, passes through the cooler 16 from the first intake port 36, and is discharged into the storage body 10 from the first discharge port 30 and circulates. Thereby, the inside of the storage body 10 is maintained at a predetermined low temperature. Arrow A indicates the movement of the cold air flow. The humidifier 20 can function as a humidifier when used together with the second blower 28. In this case, the air in the storage body 10 is circulated by the second blower 28 and guided into the water tank 22 of the humidifier 20 from the second suction port 38.
The second discharge port 3 passes through the water surface in the water tank 22.
2 and is discharged into the storage body 10 and circulated. At this time, the air passing through the humidifier 20 comes into contact with the water surface of the water 24 in the water tank 22, so that the humidity of the air blown into the storage body 10 increases reliably. Arrow B shows the movement of the humidified flow. Here, in this invention, the cold air cooled by the cooler 16 and the humidified air humidified by the humidifier 20 are directed to the inner wall surface of the storage body 10 as shown by arrows A and B in FIG. It is blown out in a laminar flow along the flow and circulated. At this time, the cold air flow is circulated in a laminar flow just inside the inner wall surface of the storage body 10, and the humidified air is circulated in a laminar flow inside the cool air flow. For this purpose, the first
The inlet port 36 and the second inlet port 38 and the first outlet port 30 and the second outlet port 32 are respectively arranged adjacent to each other, but the first outlet port and the first inlet port 36 are arranged adjacent to each other. It is located outside the second discharge port 32 and the second suction port 38 . In order to blow out cool air and humidified air in a laminar flow, the blow nozzles may each have a slit shape. At this time, if necessary, a current plate 34 may be provided at each blowout nozzle in order to obtain a stable laminar flow.

As described above, the humidifier 20 includes a water tank 22 filled with water 24, and the empty space in the storage body 10 is introduced into the water tank 22 and passed through while contacting the water surface in the water tank 22, and then returned to the steam storage. A second blower 28 discharges air into the body 10 in a laminar flow.
In this case, the water placed in the water tank 22 does not need to be particularly heated or cooled, and water at the ambient temperature, that is, room temperature water, is used. By using room temperature water, the configuration of the humidifier 20 can be greatly simplified, and by keeping the temperature at room temperature, the air passing through the water tank 22 can be appropriately humidified. When the water 24 in the tank 22 is actively heated, the air passing through the tank 22 can contain a large amount of moisture at once, but the air passing through the tank 22 may be heated unnecessarily. This reduces the cooling efficiency of the refrigerator, and also causes problems such as moisture that has been impregnated due to the temperature difference between the humidifier 20 and the storage body 10 condensing inside the storage body 10. easy. Therefore, it is most desirable that the water 24 placed in the water tank 22 be room temperature water that is not actively heated or heated. In order to increase the humidification efficiency of the humidifier 20,
It is more effective to increase the chances of contact between the air passing through the water tank 22 and the water 24 than to increase the temperature of the water tank 24. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable to provide an excitation means 44 that causes the water surface in the water tank 22 to have a wavy shape. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the excitation means 44 includes a stirring blade 42 disposed in the water tank 22 so as to be partially submerged in the water 24, and a motor 40 connected to the stirring blade 42 from the outside.
It is designed to be rotationally driven. As a result, the surface of the water 24 dances little by little, providing more opportunities for contact with the air passing through the water tank 22, thereby significantly increasing the humidification efficiency. In other words, the area of the water 24 that comes into contact with the air is expanded. In order to increase the humidification efficiency by increasing the contact area between the water 24 and the air, the air flow sucked into the water tank 22 may also excite small waves on the surface of the water 24. In this case, a suitable nozzle for generating a jet of air may be provided on the air introduction side of the water tank 22. In order to further enhance the contact effect between the water 24 and air, the stirring blade 42 shown in FIG.
be constructed of wire mesh or punched metal. As a result, water is actively evaporated from the surface of the stirring blade 42, and the humidification efficiency can be further greatly increased.

Now, in the refrigerator configured as described above, the humidified air blown out in a laminar flow along the inner wall surface of the storage body 10 flows into the storage body along with the cold air blown out in a laminar flow on the outside. During the circulation, it is gradually diffused and the entire inside of the storage body 10 is evenly and uniformly humidified. Also, cooler 1
Although the cold air that has passed through the storage chamber 6 is in a dry state, it is gradually humidified while circulating inside the storage body 10 together with the humidified air. In this way, the humidity of the air inside the storage body 10 can be gradually increased, but what should be noted here is that the humidification is not done by ejecting heated steam, as was conventionally done. It is not caused by water spray. As a result, the inside of the storage body 10 will not be heated and the cooling efficiency will not be reduced, and moisture will not condense and adhere to food etc. Furthermore, in the refrigerator having the window glass 12, The window glass 12 is also prevented from fogging up. Furthermore, if the respective discharge ports 30 and 32 for cold air and humidified air are provided on the side where the door 14 of the refrigerator is located, as shown in FIG. It can function as a curtain, and can prevent the cold air inside the storage body 10 from flowing out to the outside when the door 14 is opened. Furthermore, since the cold air flow is located outside the humidified air flow, the anti-fogging effect on the window glass 12 can be made even better than in the case of a refrigerator without humidification means. moreover,
The humidification of the air inside the storage body 10 can be easily controlled by simply controlling the amount of air circulated by the second blower 28, and moreover, it can be easily controlled from a dry state to a relative humidity close to 100%. This can be easily obtained by controlling the second blower 28. Therefore, for example, when it is desired to keep the humidity inside the storage body 10 constant, as shown in FIG. The second blower 28 may be feedback-controlled in accordance with the detection output of the sensor 48. In this case, the control may be as simple as simply turning on and off the second blower 28 in accordance with the detection output of the humidity sensor 48.

Note that it is desirable that the inner wall surface of the storage body 10 has a curved corner or a corner in order to facilitate the flow of cool air and humidified air in a laminar flow.

As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention can reliably keep the humidity inside the refrigerator at a predetermined state even with relatively simple configuration means, and there is no fear that the cooling effect will be reduced. It also has various advantages such as there is no risk of water droplets adhering to preserved items such as food.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the refrigerator according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an extracted portion of the discharge port for cold air and humidified air, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a part of the humidifier. It is a diagram. 10... Storage body, 12... Window glass, 16... Cooler, 18... Cooling coil, 20... Humidifier, 2
2... Water tank, 24... Water, 26, 28... Air blower, 30, 32... Discharge port, 34... Current plate, 3
6, 38... Intake port, A... Cold air flow, B... Humidified air flow.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a refrigerator that circulates cold air for cooling or freezing inside the storage body to maintain the temperature inside the storage body at a predetermined low temperature, a refrigerator that circulates the cold air in a laminar flow along the inner wall surface of the storage body a humidifying means consisting of the air blowing means of 1, a water tank installed in the container and containing water without scattering it, and the air inside the container being introduced into the water tank and passing through it while being in contact with the water surface in the tank. and second blowing means for circulating the cool air in a laminar flow inside the laminar flow.