JPH0358249B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is directed to controlling the temperature of an aquarium installed close to the outer surface of the aquarium, which is applied as, for example, a fish tank for storing live fish. This relates to a control device.

[Prior Art] In general, in order to maintain the freshness of an aquarium in which live fish are kept, it is important to always maintain the water temperature within the aquarium at an optimal temperature.

Conventionally, temperature control devices for this type of aquarium have been designed to control cooling by forcibly sending the seawater in the aquarium to a cooler using a circulation pump, and using an electric heater to control the temperature of the seawater in the aquarium. It is known that heating can be controlled by raising the temperature.

There is also a heat pump that heats water in an aquarium using a land-based unit consisting of a compressor, etc., and an underwater unit consisting of a condenser, etc., as disclosed in JP-A-58-60923. This is where I am.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] By the way, cooling is controlled by the above circulation method,
In aquarium temperature control devices that use electric heaters to control heating, a cooling device and a heating device are installed separately to control the operation, which not only makes the device itself complicated, large and expensive, but also limits the installation space. This makes safe management and construction of the aquarium difficult, and as for the heating device, the electric heater made of nichrome wire is placed directly into the aquarium, so there is a high risk of electrical leakage, etc. The heating operation may be performed at the same time, which poses problems such as wasted energy consumption for cooling and heating.

In addition, heat pumps that heat the water in the aquarium cannot cool the water, and are insufficient for temperature control.

This invention was made under the above circumstances, and its purpose is to use a heat pump type reversible cycle to maintain both cooling and heating temperatures for water in an aquarium with a simple structure. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive temperature control device for an aquarium that can perform control.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a temperature control device installed close to the outer surface of a water tank, which includes an in-tank coil inserted into the water tank. and,
A compressor that compresses a working fluid, a heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the working fluid, an expansion valve that expands the working fluid, and a compressor that transports the working fluid from the compressor through the heat exchanger and the expansion valve. A cooling control circuit that supplies water to the tank coil to cool the water in the water tank and returns it to the compressor, and conversely supplies working fluid from the compressor to the tank coil in piping that forms the cooling control circuit. a heating control circuit formed to heat the water in the water tank and return it to the compressor through the expansion valve and the heat exchanger; and switching control between the two circuits so as to perform a heat pump action reversibly. This paper proposes an aquarium temperature control device consisting of a four-way switching valve.

[Function] That is, by having the above configuration, the present invention cools the water in the tank by using the tank coil inserted into the tank as an evaporator, and also uses the tank coil to condense the water in the tank. The cooling control circuit and heating control circuit are appropriately switched and controlled using a four-way switching valve to heat water as a heat pump, so the structure is simple and even a heat pump type reversible cycle can
It is possible to control the temperature of both heating and cooling of the water in the aquarium, making it possible to safely and economically maintain the water temperature in the aquarium at the optimum temperature at all times with the minimum amount of energy. This enables a compact control device that does not require separate installation of large cooling or heating devices.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an illustrated example.

In FIG. 1, 1 is an aquarium containing seawater W for raising live fish, and a temperature control device 10 having a heat pump function according to the present invention is installed close to one side of the tank. Inside the water tank 1, an in-tank coil 11 that constitutes a part of the temperature control device 10 is inserted and arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, when controlling the cooling of the seawater W in the water tank 1, the temperature control device 10 controls the refrigerant, which is the working fluid compressed by the compressor 12, as shown by the solid arrow in FIG. The working fluid is introduced through the four-way switching valve 13 into a heat exchanger 15 equipped with a cooling fan 14 and configured to exchange heat with the working fluid, and then cooled. By using the inner coil 11 as an evaporator, the seawater W in the water tank 1 is cooled, and the working fluid passing through the inner coil 11 is returned to the compressor 12 through the four-way switching valve 13 and the accumulator 18. It is equipped with a cooling control circuit A that returns and closes.

On the other hand, when controlling the heating of seawater W in the water tank 1, the working fluid from the compressor 12 is switched in the four directions in the piping forming the cooling control circuit A, as shown by the broken line arrow in FIG. After heating the seawater W in the tank 1 by supplying it to the tank coil 11 via the valve 13 and using the tank coil 11 as a condenser, the working fluid passing through the tank coil 11 is transferred to the receiver 17 and into the heat exchanger 15 through the expansion valve 16, and then the four-way switching valve 1.
3 and an accumulator 18, and returns to the compressor 12 again to close the heating control circuit B.

By operating the four-way switching valve 13 and controlling the switching to the cooling control circuit A or the heating control circuit B, the cooling control circuit A operates as a cooling cycle, and the heating control circuit B operates as a heating cycle. , performs heat pump action reversibly,
The seawater W in the water tank 1 can be cooled or heated to constantly maintain the water temperature at an optimal set temperature. Further, a water temperature detection sensor (not shown) is installed in the water tank 1, and when this water temperature detection sensor detects a water temperature higher than a set temperature, a four-way switching valve 13 is activated to close the cooling control circuit A. On the other hand, it is also possible to configure the four-way switching valve 13 to automatically operate so as to close the heating control circuit B when the water temperature detection sensor detects a water temperature below a set temperature. It is.

By the way, the temperature control device 10 described above has a third
As shown in the figure, a compressor 12, a four-way switching valve 13, a cooling fan 14, a heat exchanger 1 as described above,
5. A casing 21 is attached to a frame 22 that supports the main body 20 so as to cover the main body 20 of the device, which includes the expansion valve 16, the receiver 17, the accumulator 18, etc. It is composed of left and right side panels 26, 27 that are integrally formed with a front panel 23, a rear panel 24, and a top plate 25 that face operation switches or indicator lamps, etc., and can be assembled in a disassembly manner. A notch 28 is provided at the top of one of the left and right side panels 26, 27, with one end open and extending to approximately the center in the horizontal direction. A holder 30 that holds the flexible base portion 11a of the in-tank coil 11 extending from the upper surface of the device main body 20 is inserted and mounted so that it can be positioned at a predetermined position.

This holder 30 can be freely divided into upper and lower halves so that it can hold the base 11a of the coil 11 in the tank. As shown by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 3, the base 11a of the tank coil 11 is twisted horizontally and moved from one side to the other side to the installation position on the outer side of the water tank 1. After bending to the right or left side depending on
The base 11a of the in-tank coil 11 is held in place and fixed to the upper right or left side of the frame 22 at a predetermined position with screws or the like via the fixing plate 31, and the mounting position of the holder 30, i.e. Depending on the bending position corresponding to the installation position of the in-tank coil 11 in the aquarium 1, the assembled state of the left and right side panels 26, 27 to the frame 22 is shown in FIG. 3 by a solid line or a two-dot chain line. By reversing the front and back as shown in FIG.
Insert and attach the fixing plate 31 of this holder 3.
The notch 28 is closed by the fixing plate 31 of 0.
This makes it possible to completely block the

This allows the in-tank coil 11 to be inserted from the right side of the aquarium 1, as shown in FIG. 1, or from the left side of the aquarium 1, as shown in FIG. The device body 20, ie, the temperature control device 10, can be positioned to the left or right of the casing 21 in accordance with the installation position with respect to the water tank 1.

Note that this invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the temperature control device for a water tank according to the present invention includes an in-tank coil inserted into the water tank, a compressor that compresses the working fluid, and a temperature control device for controlling the temperature of the working fluid. A heat exchanger that performs exchange, an expansion valve that expands the working fluid, and a working fluid from the compressor that is supplied to the coil in the tank through the heat exchanger and the expansion valve to cool the water in the water tank. Then, a cooling control circuit returns to the compressor, and piping forming the cooling control circuit supplies working fluid from the compressor to the coil in the tank to heat the water in the tank and connect the expansion valve and the piping that forms the cooling control circuit. A heating control circuit configured to return the heat to the compressor through the heat exchanger, and a four-way switching valve that switches and controls both circuits so as to reversibly perform the heat pump action, and thereby,
The cooling control circuit uses a four-way switching valve so that the tank coil inserted into the tank is used as an evaporator to cool the water in the tank, and the tank coil is used as a condenser to heat the water. The structure is simple and the heating control circuit is switched and controlled as appropriate.
Even with a heat pump type reversible cycle, the temperature of the water in the aquarium can be controlled not only for heating and cooling, but also for both.This allows the water temperature in the aquarium to always be safely and optimally maintained at the optimum temperature with the minimum amount of energy. It has excellent effects, such as being able to be maintained economically and enabling a compact control device that does not require separate installation of large cooling devices and heating devices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of the temperature control device for an aquarium according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a temperature control circuit of the temperature control device, and Fig. 3 is an assembly of the temperature control device. A schematic exploded perspective view showing the state, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another state of installing the temperature control device in the water tank. 1...Aquarium, 10...Temperature control device, 11...
In-tank coil, 12... Compressor, 13... Four-way switching valve, 15... Heat exchanger, 16... Expansion valve, 17
... Receiver, 18 ... Accumulator, 20
...Device body, W...Seawater, A...Cooling control circuit, B...Heating control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A temperature control device installed close to the outer surface of the aquarium, including an in-tank coil inserted into the aquarium;
A compressor that compresses a working fluid, a heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the working fluid, an expansion valve that expands the working fluid, and a compressor that transports the working fluid from the compressor through the heat exchanger and the expansion valve. A cooling control circuit that supplies water to the tank coil to cool the water in the water tank and returns it to the compressor, and conversely supplies working fluid from the compressor to the tank coil in piping that forms the cooling control circuit. a heating control circuit formed to heat the water in the water tank and return it to the compressor through the expansion valve and the heat exchanger; and switching control between the two circuits so as to perform a heat pump action reversibly. A water tank temperature control device characterized by comprising a four-way switching valve.