JPS646386B2 - - 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 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 making tray to make the water making tray have a higher temperature than the freezing temperature of the lower side, and ice formation is configured so that the opening of the top surface of the ice making tray is the last to open. This was done to prevent air bubbles from getting trapped inside the ice block. 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 FIGS. 1 to 4, 1 is a heat insulating box body, and a freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerator compartment 3 are partitioned by a partition wall 4 extending vertically in the middle. Reference numeral 5 denotes a cooler disposed approximately in the center of the back wall of the freezer compartment 2, and a partition plate 6 is installed in front of the cooler to form the freezer compartment 2 and the cooling compartment F. A blower 7 for circulating cold air is installed above the cooler 5 in the cooling chamber F, a cold air discharge port 8 to the freezer compartment 2 is provided in the blower cover 9, and a cold air suction port 10 from the freezer compartment 2 is provided. It is composed of the lower end of the partition plate 6 and the front upper end of the defrosting water tray 11. On the other hand, a cold air discharge port 12 to the refrigerator compartment 3 is provided in the upper part of the partition wall 4, and a cold air suction port 13 from the refrigerator compartment 3 is provided in the lower part. Further, at the bottom of the freezer compartment 2 and slightly above the cold air suction port 13 from the refrigerator compartment 3, a shelf board 14 is placed in close contact with the partition wall 4, the inner box 15 of the insulation box body 1, and the partition plate 6. Installed, ice making room C
is configured. An ice making device is installed in this ice making room C. That is, the ice trays 16 and 17 and the inner box 1 are arranged in parallel slightly below the cold air suction port 13 and in the middle of the cold air suction port 10 from the freezer compartment 2.
Storage rail A18 rail B19 provided in 5.
Rail C20 is installed.

In addition, the heat insulating material 21 installed on the back side of the shelf board 14 is
This is to thermally isolate the cold air from the freezer compartment and the cold air returning from the refrigerator compartment to prevent dew condensation on the back surface of the shelf board 14, and to enhance the heating effect of the water surface by the cold air returning from the refrigerator compartment. Through hole 22 of rail 19,
23 and 24 are for supplying cold air returned from the refrigerator compartment 3 to the ice tray 17. 25 is a compressor. With this configuration, the ice tray 16,1
7 is stored, the ice trays 16, 17 and shelf board 1
4, Rail A18, Rail B19, Rail C20
As a result, a passage 25 is formed above the ice trays 6 and 17 for the cold air returning to the refrigerator room, and the water surface of the ice trays 16 and 17 is at 0° C. or higher.

In the above embodiment, the cold air that has undergone heat exchange in the cooler 5 is discharged from the cold air outlet 8 to the freezer compartment 2 by the blower 7 as indicated by the arrow in the drawing, and after freezing the food, the returned cold air is sent to the ice trays 16, 17. Enter the passage 27 formed below the ice cube trays 16, 17 again.
The lower bottom of the cooling air is cooled and the air is circulated back to the cooling chamber F through the cold air suction port 10. On the other hand, the cold air discharged from the cold air discharge port 12 to the refrigerator compartment 12 exchanges heat with the food, and then enters the passage 26 above the ice trays 16, 17 from the cold air suction port 13, and then passes through the cold air suction port 10 to the cooling compartment F.
Return to Therefore, the water surface of the ice cube trays 16 and 17 is heated by the high-temperature cold air returned from the refrigerator compartment, and the water surface temperature is always higher than the internal temperature.
Freezing occurs from the bottom of the ice tray, and the water surface freezes the slowest, so air bubbles generated during freezing gradually escape from the water surface, making it possible to produce transparent ice.

In this way, the present invention forms ventilation passages on the upper and lower surfaces of the ice tray provided in the refrigerator, and allows the return cold air from the freezer compartment to flow through the lower passage, and the cold return air from the refrigerator compartment to flow through the upper passage. Therefore, ice with a high degree of transparency can be reliably produced with a very simple structure by utilizing the cold air in the refrigerator compartment without using any special heater means as in the prior art. Furthermore, since the return cold air from the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment is used, the configuration for guiding the cold air to the passages above and below the ice tray can be made extremely simple by utilizing the cold air passage configuration of an existing refrigerator.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the freezer compartment thereof. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part taken along the line A-A' in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part taken along the line BB' in FIG. 2... Freezer room, 3... Refrigerator room, 7... Blower,
16, 17...Ice tray, 26, 27...Aisle.

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 making tray with an open top and containing water, passages are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the water tray, and passages are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the water tray, Flow the return cold air from the freezer compartment into the aisle,
A refrigerator with an ice-making device that allows return cold air from the refrigerator compartment to flow through the upper aisle.