JPS645229B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a refrigerator that forcibly circulates cold air from a cooler to a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment using a blower, and is equipped with an ice tray, so that transparent ice can be obtained with a simple configuration. .

Generally, in a forced convection type refrigerator-freezer, the ice produced in the ice tray in the freezer compartment is white and cloudy. The reason for this decrease in the transparency of ice is that when water crystallizes to form ice, air molecules dissolved in the water separate and remain in the ice as fine air bubbles. The reason why air bubbles remain in the ice is that freezing begins at the water surface before the center of the ice cube tray, forming a film of ice on the upper layer of the water surface, and this film traps the air bubbles. Ta. To address this problem, rotate the ice cube tray,
It has been proposed to generate transparent ice using vibration or running water, but these methods have been unfeasible due to problems such as increasing the size of the ice-making device and generating noise and vibration.

In addition, if ice is made very slowly, the air bubbles in the ice will become large and relatively transparent ice will be obtained.Therefore, various methods have been proposed to suppress the ice making speed; This was contrary to the demands of customers, and since large air bubbles remained, completely transparent ice could not be provided.

Furthermore, a heater is provided above the opening side of the top surface of the ice tray to raise the temperature higher than the freezing temperature of the bottom side of the ice tray, and the ice formation is configured so that the top opening of the ice tray is the last to form. He was trying not to confine himself inside the Hyōkai. However, this configuration requires a heater and causes a heat load on the freezer compartment, which is not preferable.

The present invention takes the above points into consideration and provides transparent ice by using cold air from the freezer and refrigerator compartments in the air flowing through the passages on the upper and lower surfaces of the ice tray to provide a temperature difference.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of the refrigerator, and an insulating box 2 with an open opening is divided by a partition wall 3 to form a refrigerating compartment 4 on the top and a freezing compartment 5 on the bottom. The partition wall 3 includes a top plate 6 forming the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 4, a bottom plate 7 forming the top of the freezing compartment 5, and both plates 6, 7.
It is composed of heat insulating blocks 8 and 9 which are provided in between and form a cooling chamber 8a between them, and a ventilation hole 10 communicating with each of the chambers 4 and 5 is formed at the tip of the heat insulating block 8. 11 is an evaporator of a cooling cycle provided in the cooling chamber 8a of the partition wall 3; 12 is a suction port provided in the insulation block 8 and the bottom plate 7, which communicates the suction side of the cooling chamber 8a with the freezing chamber 5; and 13 is a suction port provided in the cooling chamber 8a. A duct 14 is connected at one end to the discharge side of the cooler 8a, and the other end is connected to the freezer compartment 5 and the refrigerator compartment 4, and 14 is a blower installed on the discharge side of the cooler 8a. As shown in FIG.
The cold air returned from the freezer compartment 5 is discharged to the suction port 1.
2, the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment 4 is made to return to the suction side of the cooling compartment 8a from the suction port 12 through the ventilation hole 10. Reference numeral 15 denotes a U-shaped shelf extending between the ventilation hole 10 and the suction port 12 and having both upper ends fixed to the bottom plate 7, with an opening 15a on the front side and a rear end opening on the stepped portion 7a of the bottom plate 7. Fixed and closed, ice making compartment 16
Configure. Reference numeral 17 denotes a synthetic resin ice making tray having a number of independent small chambers 18 for cooling water stored through the upper opening and forming small ice cubes, with a space 18a between them. ice making compartment 1.
A flange 18a is formed so as to be able to go in and out of the storage shelf 6, and a lid 18b that closes the front opening 15a of the loading shelf 15 is integrally formed on the front surface. Reference numeral 19 denotes a contact part hanging down from the bottom plate 7 on the side of the freezer compartment 5 of the vent 10, and when the lid 18b comes into contact with it, the vent 10
A ventilation passage 20 communicating between the ice tray 17 and the suction port 12 is formed above the ice tray 17. Reference numeral 21 denotes a notch formed at the lower end of the lid 18b, which communicates the freezing chamber 5 with the suction port 12 via a ventilation passage 22 formed below the ice tray 17.

In the above embodiment, the cold air that has undergone heat exchange in the evaporator 11 is discharged by the blower 14 through the duct 13 to the freezer compartment 4 and the refrigerator compartment 5, thereby cooling each compartment to a predetermined temperature. The returned cold air that has exchanged heat with the stored items in each compartment 4 and 5 is the one on the refrigerator compartment 4 side indicated by the arrow B in Figure 3.
As shown in FIG. As shown by arrow A, the cooling chamber 8a
It returns to the suction side.

On the other hand, the ice tray 17 in the ice making compartment 16 is
Each small compartment 18 is cooled by the return cold air (approximately -18°C or less) (also referred to as first wind) from the freezer compartment 5 that passes through the
Further, the upper opening side of the small chamber 18 is cooled by the return cold air (also referred to as second air) from the refrigerator compartment 4 that is higher than the return cold air from the freezer compartment 5 and passes through the ventilation path 20 .

Therefore, the water contained in the small chamber 18 of the ice tray 17 is maintained gradually upward from the bottom of the small chamber 18, and the upper layer freezes most slowly. Air bubbles generated during the freezing process can be discharged from the upper unfrozen layer of the ice-making water, and highly transparent ice can be produced. Further, since the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment is used as the second air whose temperature is higher than that of the first air, the configuration can be significantly simplified, unlike the case where the second air is generated by special means.

In addition, the cold air discharged to the freezer compartment 5 as the first wind in the above embodiment and the cold air discharged to the refrigerator compartment 4 as the second wind may be used, and the blower 14 for circulating cold air inside the refrigerator may be used as the ventilation means. This simplifies the configuration, but a special fan may also be provided separately.

In this way, the present invention forms ventilation channels on the upper and lower surfaces of an ice tray installed in the refrigerator, and allows the first air at freezing temperature to flow through the lower ventilation path, and the second air at refrigeration temperature to flow through the upper ventilation path. Therefore, ice with a high degree of transparency can be reliably produced with an extremely simple structure by utilizing cold air in the refrigerator compartment without using any special heater means as in the prior art.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 2. 4... Refrigerator room, 5... Freezer room, 14... Blower, 17... Ice tray, 20, 22... Ventilation duct.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1.Equipped with a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment, a blower that circulates cold air to both compartments, and an ice tray with an open top and containing water, with ventilation passages formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the ice tray, and A refrigerator with an ice-making device in which a first air flow at a freezing temperature flows through the ventilation passage, and a second air flow at a refrigerating temperature flows through the upper ventilation passage.