JP7117355B2 - insulated cabinet - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to insulated cabinets.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, refrigerators for domestic use tend to have a large capacity, and in order to achieve this while suppressing an increase in external dimensions, the thickness of the peripheral wall of a heat insulating cabinet is being reduced. In this case, it is necessary to ensure sufficient insulation performance for the cabinet even with the peripheral wall having a small thickness. In addition, there are some cabinets that are constructed by simply filling the peripheral wall of a cabinet with vacuum insulation panels (see Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example).

A vacuum insulation panel is made of, for example, a core made of glass wool, which is a cotton-like material made of thin glass fibers, and is inserted into a gas barrier container made of a laminated film of aluminum foil and synthetic resin. It is a panel that keeps the inside of the container in a vacuum and decompressed state by evacuating and closing the opening. High heat insulation performance can be obtained while reducing the thickness of the peripheral wall of the cabinet.

Japanese Patent No. 2728318 JP-A-6-147744

The peripheral wall of the heat-insulating cabinet described above has a bent portion, and the bent portion is a portion where two walls are in contact, such as a portion where a ceiling wall portion and a back wall portion are in contact with each other. If the vacuum insulation panel is arranged in this bent portion, it becomes necessary to bend the vacuum insulation panel, and the bending damages the gas barrier container of the vacuum insulation panel, thereby reducing the reliability of the insulation performance. Moreover, the bending of the vacuum insulation panel increases the number of man-hours, resulting in an increase in cost.

Therefore, the present invention provides a heat insulating cabinet that eliminates the need to bend the vacuum heat insulating panel at the bent portion of the peripheral wall portion, thereby obtaining highly reliable heat insulating performance and avoiding an increase in cost.

In the heat insulating cabinet of the embodiment, a vacuum heat insulating panel is disposed on the surrounding wall for heat insulation. A wall portion adjacent to the wall is provided with a vacuum insulation panel, and one end of the vacuum insulation panel extends to a corner portion on the back wall side to form an extension portion, and the extension portion is attached to the wall. The volume of the space sandwiched between the extension part and the inner skin, which is arranged in a state of having a part that is not in contact with the inner skin and the outer skin of the part, and is filled with the foam insulation material diverted by the extension part 2, a portion having a large volume of space sandwiched between the vacuum insulation panel filled with the foam insulation material and the outer skin is provided.

Vertical side view of the entire heat insulation cabinet showing the first embodiment Enlarged view of part II in Fig. 1 Enlarged view of part III in Fig. 1 Perspective view of the entire insulated cabinet Perspective exploded view of the wall unit of the entire insulation cabinet FIG. 2 equivalent view showing the second embodiment

A first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.
First, FIG. 4 schematically shows an insulated cabinet, in particular an insulated cabinet 1 of a refrigerator, which in this case, as shown in FIG. A portion 1a, a bottom wall portion 1b, a left side wall portion 1c, a right side wall portion 1d, and a rear wall portion 1e are separately formed and formed by joining them. As shown, it has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape with an opening 2 on the front, and has a storage chamber 3 connected to the opening inside. The storage compartment 3 serves as a refrigerating compartment, a vegetable compartment, an ice-making compartment, a freezing compartment, etc. in a refrigerator, and each compartment is partitioned.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ceiling wall portion 1a basically has a vacuum insulation panel 6 attached to the outer surface of the inner skin 5 of the outer skin 4 and the inner skin 5. It is arranged between the inner skin 5 and the outer skin 4 and is constructed by filling the remaining outer space between the inner skin 5 and the outer skin 4 with a foamed heat insulating material 7 .

The bottom wall portion 1b also has a vacuum insulation panel 10 adhered to the outer surface of the inner skin 9 of the outer skin 8 and the inner skin 9, and the vacuum insulation panel 10 is arranged between the inner skin 9 and the outer skin 8. In addition, the remaining outer space between the inner skin 9 and the outer skin 8 is filled with a foamed heat insulating material 7 .
In other words, the ceiling wall portion 1a and the bottom wall portion 1b are configured by using substantially only the vacuum heat insulating panel as the heat insulating material to be filled.

On the other hand, the inner wall portion 1e is constructed by simply arranging the vacuum heat insulating panel 13 between the outer skin 11 and the inner skin 12 thereof. In other words, the inner wall portion 1e is configured with only the vacuum heat insulating panel as the heat insulating material to be filled.
Although not shown, the left wall portion 1c has the same structure as the inner wall portion 1e, and the right wall portion 1d also has the same structure as the inner wall portion 1e.

The outer skins (4, 8, 11) corresponding to the outer plates of the wall portions 1a to 1e are made of metal such as steel plates, and the inner skins (5, 9, 12) corresponding to the inner plates are made of plastic, for example. is. Furthermore, the inner skins (5, 9) of the ceiling wall portion 1a, the bottom wall portion 1b, the left wall portion 1c, and the right wall portion 1d are molded products, and the inner skin 12 of the inner wall portion 1e is a sheet. .

The vacuum insulation panels (6, 10, 13) are made of a matted glass wool, which is a cotton-like material of fine glass fibers, as a core material, and this core material is made of a laminated film of aluminum foil and synthetic resin. It is a panel in which the inside of the container is kept in a vacuum and decompressed state by inserting it into a bagged gas barrier container, evacuating the inside and closing the opening.

Based on the above construction, the heat insulating cabinet 1 is composed by joining the walls 1a to 1e at their respective ends. As a result, bent portions are formed at portions where the wall portions 1a to 1e are in contact with each other.
Here, FIG. 2 shows in detail the bent portion 14 formed at the portion where the ceiling wall portion 1a and the inner wall portion 1e are in contact with each other. It is not provided, and is filled with the foamed heat insulating material 7 . That is, the bent portion 14 is filled with only the foamed heat insulating material 7 _, and its thicknesses t1 and t2 _{are equal} to the thickness t3 of the ceiling wall portion 1a and the thickness t3 of the inner wall portion 1e. As representatively shown by comparison with the _height t4, it is made larger than the other wall portions 1a to 1e.

In this case, the rear wall portion 1a is lowered by one step, and the rear wall portion 1e is made lower in height than the ceiling wall portion 1a. A recessed portion 15 is formed which opens to.
Reference numeral 16 denotes an injection port for injecting the foamed heat insulating material. This injection port 16 is formed in the outer skin 4 above the bent portion 14 (upper portion of the front portion of the recess 15) corresponding to the rear portion of the ceiling wall portion 1a. From here, the insulating foam material 7 is injected from the injection head H of the injection machine as indicated by the arrow A, thereby filling the insulating foam material 7 from the bent portion 14 to the ceiling wall portion 1a.

On the other hand, reference numeral 17 denotes a rectifying member, which is provided in the inner skin 5 at a position facing the injection port 16, and the flow of the foamed heat insulating material 7 injected from the injection port 16 is regulated. By being separated and advancing against the rectifying member 17, it is oriented as indicated by the arrow _A1 and oriented as indicated by the arrow _A2 . It reaches between the heat insulating panel 6 and the outer skin 4 and reaches the inside of the bent portion 14, and is filled efficiently and completely.
Further, in this case, the vacuum insulation panel 6 is arranged within the range L1 where it does not extend into the bent portion ₁₄ in the ceiling wall portion 1a.

Furthermore, a protruding portion 18 is formed at the end of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14 . The protruding portion 18 extends obliquely rearward and downward from the end portion of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14 , and further extends a tip portion 18 a thereof upward. It is attached to the back wall portion 1e which is the portion. Specifically, the tip portion 18a is brought into surface contact with the inner skin 12 of the inner wall portion 1e via a thin sealing member (not shown), and this portion is fastened with a fastening part such as a screw (not shown).

The outer skin 4 of the bent portion 14 and the outer skin 11 of the inner wall portion 1e are joined together by attaching the edge portion 4a of the outer skin 4 of the bent portion 14 to the end bent portion 11a of the outer skin 11 of the inner wall portion 1e with a thin seal. It is carried out by stacking via a member (not shown) and fastening this portion with a fastening part (not shown) such as a screw.

A suction pipe 19 of a refrigerating cycle is also installed in the bent portion 14, for example, in a meandering manner. This suction pipe 19 connects an evaporator (evaporator/cooler) of the refrigeration cycle and a compressor (compressor) 23 described below. In FIG. 1, the left side wall portion 1c, the ceiling wall portion 1a (bending portion 14), the bottom wall portion 1b (bending portion 24 to be described later), and the connector 20 used for joining the inner wall portion 1e, 21 and 22, each of which extends over the entire length of the joint portion, and the other portion of the suction pipe 19 is placed inside the connector 22 used for joining the left side wall portion 1c and the inner wall portion 1e. are arranged.

The right side wall portion 1d also has a connector similar to them, and a conductive wire is disposed inside the connector used for joining the right side wall portion 1d and the inner wall portion 1e. there is This conductive wire connects a control device (not shown) that controls the overall operation of the refrigerator and electrical equipment such as a cooling fan that is driven by receiving signals from this control device.

A compressor 23 of a refrigerating cycle is placed and arranged in the concave portion 15 . More specifically, the compressor 23 is arranged so that its center 23o is positioned forward of the center 15o of the recess 15, and the moment generated by the compressor 23 is applied to the end of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14 as described above. The rear wall portion 1e, which is a wall portion that continues to the bent portion 14, receives the bent portion 14 via.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows in detail the bent portion 24 formed at the portion where the bottom wall portion 1b and the inner wall portion 1e are in contact with each other. The foam insulation material 7 is filled instead. In other words, this bent portion 24 is also filled with the foamed heat insulating material 7 only, and its thicknesses t ₅ and t ₆ are equal to the thickness t 7 of the bottom wall portion 1b and the thickness t ₇ of the inner wall portion 1e. As representatively shown by comparison with the _height t4, it is made larger than the other wall portions 1a to 1e.

In this case, the rear end of the bottom wall 1b is raised one step, and the bottom wall 1e is made higher than the bottom wall 1b. , a recess 25 opening downward and rearward. This recess 25 is smaller than the recess 15 of the bent portion 14 .
Reference numeral 26 denotes an injection port for injecting the foamed heat insulating material, and this injection port 26 is formed in the outer skin 8 at the lower portion (front portion of the recess 25) of the bent portion 24 corresponding to the rear portion of the bottom wall portion 1b. From here, the foamed heat insulating material 7 is injected from the injection head H of the injection machine as indicated by the arrow B, thereby filling the foamed heat insulating material 7 from the bent portion 24 to the bottom wall portion 1b.

On the other hand, in the bottom wall portion 1b, the vacuum insulation panel ₁₀ is arranged with a length of L2 extending into the bent portion 24, and the extension _dimension is L3. A portion 10a of the vacuum insulation panel 10 extending into the bent portion 24 is opposed to the injection port 26 described above, whereby the flow of the foam insulation material 7 injected from the injection port 26 extends. By splitting against the portion 10a, it is oriented as indicated by arrow _B1 and oriented as indicated by arrow B2, whereby the injected foam insulation material 7 is vacuum _- insulated in the bottom wall portion 1b. It reaches between the panel 10 and the outer skin 8, and reaches between the extended portion 10a in the bent portion 14 and the inner skin 9, so that they are efficiently and completely filled. Accordingly, the portion 10a of the vacuum insulation panel 10 extending into the bent portion 24 functions as a rectifying member like the rectifying member 17 described above.
The inner skin 9 of the bottom wall portion 1b has a plurality of steps at the bent portion 24. As shown in FIG.

A projecting portion 27 is formed at the end of the inner skin 9 of the bent portion 24 . The projecting portion 27 extends obliquely upward and rearward from the end of the inner skin 9 of the bent portion 24 , and further extends downward at its tip portion 27 a. It is attached to the back wall portion 1e which is the portion. Specifically, similarly to the projecting portion 18 of the bent portion 14, the tip portion 27a is brought into surface contact with the inner skin 12 of the inner wall portion 1e via a thin sealing member (not shown), and this portion is fastened with a screw or the like. It is fastened with parts (not shown).

As with the outer skin 4 of the bent portion 14, the outer skin 8 of the bent portion 24 and the outer skin 11 of the inner wall portion 1e are connected by connecting the outer skin 8 of the bent portion 24 to the end portion 8a of the outer skin 8 of the inner wall portion 1e. The end bent portions 11b of the two are similarly overlapped via a thin sealing member (not shown), and this portion is fastened with a fastening part such as a screw (not shown).

As described above, the heat insulation cabinet 1 of this embodiment is heat-insulated by arranging the vacuum heat insulation panels (6, 10, 13) on the surrounding walls 1a to 1e. The bent portions 14 and 24 of 1a to 1e are filled with a foamed heat insulating material 7. As shown in FIG. As a result, there is no need to bend the vacuum insulation panel at the bent portions 14 and 24, and the problem of breakage of the vacuum insulation panel due to the bending is eliminated, so that the reliability of the insulation performance of the vacuum insulation panel can be highly obtained. can be done. Also, since the number of man-hours required for bending the vacuum insulation panel does not increase, an increase in cost can be avoided.

In addition, in the heat insulation cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, the bent portion 14 has an injection port 16 for injecting the foamed heat insulating material 7, and the flow of the foamed heat insulating material 7 is directed to a position facing the pouring port 16. Vacuum insulation as a rectifying member that has a rectifying member 17, has an injection port 26 for injecting the foamed heat insulating material 7 in the bent portion 24, and directs the flow of the foamed heat insulating material 7 to a position facing the injection port 26. The member 10 has an extended portion 10a. The former allows the foamed heat insulating material 7 to reach between the vacuum heat insulating panel 6 of the ceiling wall portion 1a and the outer skin 4, and to reach the inside of the bent portion 14, so that both can be filled efficiently and completely. can. On the other hand, the latter causes the foamed heat insulating material 7 to extend between the vacuum insulation panel 10 of the bottom wall portion 1b and the outer skin 8, and between the extended portion 10a in the bent portion 14 and the inner skin 9, It can be filled efficiently and completely.

Further, in the bent portion 14 of the heat insulation cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, the vacuum insulation panel 6 is arranged within _a range L1 that does not extend into the bent portion 14 . As a result, the vacuum insulation panel 6 does not block the flow of the foam insulation material 7 injected into the bent portion 14, and the foam insulation material 7 is separated from the vacuum insulation panel 6 of the ceiling wall portion 1a and the outer skin 4. It is also possible to efficiently fill the space between and the bent portion 14 without waste.

On the other hand, at the bent portion 24 of the heat insulation cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, the vacuum heat insulation panel 10 is arranged to extend into the bent portion 24 . As a result, as described above, the extension portion 10a of the vacuum insulation panel 10 can function as a straightening member that directs the flow of the foam heat insulating material 7 injected from the injection port 26, so it is necessary to provide a separate straightening member. There is no problem, and the increase in cost can be further avoided. In this case, a recessed corner portion 28 (see FIG. 3) is formed between the extended portion 10a of the vacuum insulation panel 10 and the inner skin 9 of the bottom wall portion 1b. It can be divided by the extended portion 10a of the panel 10 and filled completely.

Furthermore, in the heat insulating cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, protrusions 18 and 27 are formed at the ends of the inner skins 5 and 9 of the bends 14 and 24 respectively. It is attached to the back wall portion 1e, which is a wall portion that continues to the . As a result, the bent portions 14 and 24 can be supported by the protruding portions 18 and 27 and can be strongly coupled to the inner wall portion 1e. Further, in this case, the protrusions are also used to hold the coupling of the adjacent wall portions such as the ceiling wall portion 1a and the inner wall portion 1e and the bottom wall portion 1b and the inner wall portion 1e at a predetermined angle (in this case, a right angle). 18 and 27 function, i.e. they also function as a means of holding the joining of adjacent walls at a predetermined angle (in this case a right angle).

In addition, in the heat insulating cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, the inner skins 5 and 9 of the bent portions 14 and 24 are molded products, whereas the inner skin of the inner wall portion 1e, which is the wall portion connected to the bent portions 14 and 24, is molded. 12 is a sheet. As a result, the molded product is easy to produce and the sheet is inexpensive, so that cost increases can be further avoided.

Further, in the heat insulation cabinet 1 of this embodiment, the bent portions 14, 24 are made thicker than the other wall portions 1a to 1e. Thereby, high strength of the bent portions 14 and 24 can be ensured.
In the heat insulation cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, a suction pipe 19 of a refrigerating cycle is further installed in the bent portion 14 . The suction pipe 19 of the refrigerating cycle connects the evaporator of the refrigerating cycle and the compressor 23, as described above, through which a low-temperature refrigerant flows. By installing the suction pipe 19 through which the low-temperature refrigerant flows in the bent portion 14 filled with the foamed heat insulating material 7, the problem of condensation on the surface of the suction pipe 19 can be eliminated. In addition, since the bent portion 14 can be used as an internal location for the suction pipe 19, and there is no need to secure another location, it is possible to avoid increasing the thickness of other locations.

Furthermore, in the heat insulating cabinet 1 of the present embodiment, the bent portion 14 has the recess 15, and the compressor 23 of the refrigerating cycle is placed in the recess 15 so that the center 23o thereof is located forward of the center 15o of the recess 15. The inner wall portion 1e, which is a wall portion connected to the bent portion 14, receives the moment caused by the moment through the protruding portion 18 formed at the end portion of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14. As a result, the bent portion 14 can be kept strong against the moment caused by the arrangement of the compressor 23 .

In contrast to the above, FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted, and only the different parts will be described.
In this embodiment, the compressor 23 of the refrigerating cycle is arranged in the concave portion 15 of the bent portion 14 so that its center 23o is located behind the center 15o of the concave portion 15, and the end portion of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14 is arranged. As in the first embodiment, the protruding portion 18 formed on the curved portion 14 is attached to the rear wall portion 1e, which is the wall portion connected to the bent portion 14, in surface contact with the tip portion 18a. As a result, the load due to the weight of the compressor 23 is received by the back wall portion 1e via the protruding portion 18 formed at the end of the inner skin 5 of the bent portion 14, so that the bent portion 14 can be kept strong.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings. For example, the bent portion 14 may be provided with a thin vacuum insulation panel that can be bent without being damaged and is inexpensive. can be
The left side wall portion 1c, the right side wall portion 1d, and the inner wall portion 1e are configured to be filled with a vacuum panel and a foamed heat insulating material, and the ceiling wall portion 1a and the bottom wall portion 1b are filled with a heat insulating material. may be composed of only the vacuum heat insulating panel. Further, the bent portions formed between the left side wall portion 1c and the right side wall portion 1d and the inner wall portion 1e due to these may be configured similarly to the bent portion 24 or the bent portion 14 of the above-described embodiment.

In addition, the following inventions are described in the embodiments.
A heat-insulating cabinet, wherein a portion of a vacuum heat-insulating panel provided on the bottom wall portion, which extends into the bent portion, faces the injection port.

Additionally, while several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments are provided by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

In the drawings, 1 is a heat insulating cabinet, 1a is a ceiling wall portion, 1b is a bottom wall portion, 1c is a left wall portion, 1d is a right side wall portion, 1e is a rear wall portion, 5 is an inner skin, 6 is a vacuum insulation panel, and 7 is a vacuum insulation panel. Foam insulation material, 9 inner skin, 10 vacuum insulation panel, 12 inner skin, 13 vacuum insulation panel, 14 bent portion, 15 concave portion, 15o center of concave portion, 16 injection port, 17 rectifying member, 18 19 is the suction pipe, 23 is the compressor, _23o is the center of the compressor, 24 is the bent portion, 26 is the injection port, 27 is the protrusion, L1 is the _installation range of the vacuum insulation panel, and L2 is the vacuum insulation. Panel dimensions, t ₁ and t ₂ are the thickness of the bent portion, t ₃ is the thickness of the ceiling wall portion, t ₄ is the thickness of the inner wall portion, t ₅ and t ₆ are the thickness of the bent portion, and t ₇ indicates the thickness of the bottom wall.

Claims (1)

In a heat insulating cabinet in which vacuum heat insulating panels are arranged on the surrounding walls for heat insulation,
A part of the surrounding wall is a back wall,
A vacuum insulation panel is provided on a wall portion adjacent to the back wall which is the peripheral wall portion,
The vacuum insulation panel is attached to the inner skin of the wall, and one end of the vacuum insulation panel is extended to the corner of the inner wall to form an extension, and the extension is the extension of the wall. arranged with a portion not in contact with the endothelium and the epidermis,
The back wall is provided with an injection port for injecting the foamed heat insulating material, and the space larger than the volume of the space sandwiched between the extension portion and the inner skin is the extension in the flow direction of the foamed heat insulating material. It is provided on the upstream side from the entry part,
The space sandwiched between the vacuum insulation panel and the outer skin of the wall portion is larger than the volume of the space sandwiched between the inner skin and the extended portion filled with the foam insulation material split by the extended portion. A heat insulating cabinet in which the volume of the space filled with the foam heat insulating material is increased.

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