JPS63259370A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a refrigerator that deodorizes a sterilization chamber inside the refrigerator compartment using cooled ozonized air.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, refrigerators have been proposed in which an ozone generator is installed in a refrigerator compartment or a freezer compartment to deodorize the interior of the refrigerator.

An example of the conventionally proposed refrigerator mentioned above will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a conventional refrigerator. Reference numeral 1 denotes a three-door refrigerator body, which is composed of an outer box 2, an inner box 3, and a urethane foam insulation material 4 formed in the gap between the two, and has three doors 6° 6.7 at the front opening of the refrigerator main body 1. is installed.

Each of the three doors above is a door panel! a, 6a, 7a
and urethane foam insulation materials 5b, eb, 7b and door annular
Ends 5c, 6c.

7C, and the respective doors 5, 6, and 7 are arranged corresponding to the openings of the freezer compartment 8, refrigerator compartment 9, and vegetable compartment 10 of the refrigerator main body 1. The door 5 of the freezer compartment 8 and the door 6 of the refrigerator compartment 9 have an inner frame sd.

6d and a shelf 5e attached to the inner frames sd and ad.

6e is arranged. The door 7 of the vegetable compartment 1o is of a pull-out type, and a vegetable container 7d is attached thereto.

Inside the partition wall surrounded by the bottom plate 11 of the freezer compartment 8 and the top plate 12 of the refrigerator compartment 9, there is an evaporator 13 and an internal fan 14 behind it.
have. Furthermore, ventilation passages 15 and 16 are formed at the back of the freezer compartment 8 and at the upper part of the back of the refrigerator compartment 9 for introducing cooling air from the evaporator 13 into each compartment. 17
18, 19, 20 are the mesh shelves of the refrigerator compartment 9, 21 is the meat tray, and 22 is the compressor.

A deodorizing device 23 is installed at the rear of the mesh shelf 20 of the refrigerator compartment 9.
is installed. Next, the configuration of the deodorizing device 23 will be explained.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the deodorizing device 23.

In FIG. 6, 24 is a case, and 26 and 26 are air holes A (including odor) in the case 24, respectively.
An ozone generator 27, an ozone reaction chamber 28, and an ozone decomposition catalyst 29 are arranged in order from the inflow hole 26 side at the manhole and the deodorized air discharge hole 26, and a power source for controlling the operation/stop of the ozone generator 27. A switch (not shown) is provided to operate synchronously with the compressor 22.

The ozone generator 27 includes a flat high-voltage electrode 32 made of a stainless steel metal 30 and a borosilicate glass dielectric 31 bonded with a silicone adhesive, and a flat low-voltage electrode 33 made of a stainless steel metal. , an air gap 34 interposed between the dielectric 31 of the high voltage electrode 32 and the low voltage electrode 33, and a support frame 35 that supports both electrodes.
It is composed of. And the ozone generator 2
7. A high voltage generator 3 for use in the ozone generator is installed at a location separated by the ozone decomposition filter 29 and the partition plate 36. 38 is a connection cord that connects the ozone generator 27 and the high voltage generator 3.

The operation of the refrigerator configured as described above will be explained below. Said freezer compartment 8, refrigerator compartment 9, vegetable compartment 1
Various types of food are stored in the compartments, each of which is maintained at an appropriate temperature. However, if the temperature in each compartment rises approximately 1 to 2 degrees Celsius above the set temperature due to opening or closing of the refrigerator door, etc., the thermostat set inside the refrigerator will be activated. The compressor 22 is operated by a switch (not shown), and the evaporator 13 is cooled by circulating the fluorocarbon gas refrigerant, and the cold air is sent to the freezer compartment 8 and the refrigerator compartment by the internal fan 14 through the ventilation passages 15 and 16, respectively. 9. The ozone generator 27 is
In synchronization with the operation of the compressor 22, the circulating cold air (including odor) flowing into the refrigerator compartment 9 from the ventilation passage 16, that is, the indoor air A, flows into the deodorizing device 23 through its inflow hole 25.
from the high voltage generator 37 to the high voltage electrode 32.
When a pulsed high voltage is applied between the low-voltage electrode 33 and the low-voltage electrode 33, a silent discharge is generated between the two electrodes, and the oxygen contained in the passing chamber air A is changed to ozone, resulting in highly concentrated ozonized air. The odor components are decomposed in the ozone reaction chamber 28. Here, the unreacted ozone was decomposed into oxygen by the ozone decomposition filter 29 and discharged from the exhaust hole to the refrigerator compartment 9 as indicated by arrow B in FIG. 6.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above configuration, the ozone generator 2
The deodorizing device 23 equipped with 7 is installed as a separate component on the mesh shelf 2o of the refrigerator compartment 9, and has the disadvantage that the effective internal volume of the refrigerator compartment 9 becomes small and the amount of food stored therein decreases. Ta. That is, since the ozone generator 27 is located in the refrigerator compartment 9 where food is stored, the humidity is relatively high (40 to 50% RH) due to the moisture coming out of the food.
Ozone production efficiency is not very good because it is used in the same condition. Therefore, an ozone generator with a relatively large capacity is required, and it is also necessary to increase the capacity of the high voltage generator 37. Moreover, before the deodorizing device 23 discharges the ozonized air into the refrigerator compartment, the ozonized air is decomposed by the ozone decomposition catalyst 29 and returned to the original oxygen. Therefore, there was no ability to sterilize the surfaces of the dirty inner walls of the refrigerator, the surfaces of the stored foods and containers, and to clean the interior of the refrigerator. Furthermore, regarding the deodorizing effect, since the ozonized air is immediately returned to the original oxygen by the ozone decomposition catalyst 29, the contact reaction time with the odor is short and the reaction is insufficient, resulting in no deodorizing effect. As a result, conventional refrigerators have had various problems as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator that can sterilize the inside of the refrigerator compartment without reducing the effective internal volume of the refrigerator compartment, and can also effectively deodorize the refrigerator compartment.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the refrigerator of the present invention is provided with an ozone generator and a catalyst for accelerating the decomposition of odor substances in the air outlet leading to the food storage compartment. A high voltage generating device and a control device of the generator are arranged outside the food storage room, and the cooling air ozonized by the ozone generator is circulated into the food storage room by an internal fan.

Function The present invention has the above-described configuration, and since ozonated cooling air is circulated into the food storage room, the inside of the storage room contaminated with food-derived bacteria and mold is sterilized, that is, cleaned, and the sterilization effect is effective. By preventing secondary contamination of stored food by bacteria and mold, it is possible to maintain and improve the freshness of food.

In addition, the deodorizing effect of ozone can be enhanced by a non-nicam catalyst that promotes the decomposition of odorous substances. Furthermore, since the ozone generator is located outside the food storage room, the effective internal volume of the food storage room will not be reduced.At the same time, since the high-pressure generator is located outside the food storage room, the heat generated by the ozone generator will not increase the temperature inside the food storage room. This can be prevented.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, a refrigerator according to an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Components that are the same as those in the conventional example are given the same numbers, and their explanations will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a refrigerator in an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 39 denotes a refrigerator main body of the present invention, in which a flat ozone generator 40 is fixed to the inner box 3 with a support frame 40a and is disposed within the ventilation path 1θ leading to the refrigerator compartment 9. 41 is a honeycomb catalyst.

More specifically, it is a honeycomb catalyst formed from a titania-silica solid acid, and does not have the ability to decompose ozone. 41
A is a spacer made of soft foam wrapped around the periphery of the honeycomb catalyst 41.

42 is a high voltage generator, and 43 is a control means for controlling ozone generation, which is disposed in an electrical equipment box 44 embedded in the urethane foam insulation material 4 above the back surface of the refrigerator 39. 45 is a wire coated with silicone, vinyl chloride, etc.
The ozone generator 40 and a high voltage generator 42 are connected. Next, according to FIGS. 2 and 3, the ozone generator 40
The configuration of is explained. 46 is a flat induction electrode made of stainless steel metal, and a borosilicate glass dielectric material 47 is applied around the periphery. On one surface of the borosilicate glass dielectric 47 is a thin wire discharge electrode 48 made of tungsten metal.
is provided. Both electrodes 46148 are connected to the covered wire 46 by solder 49. 6o is a silicone molding material that prevents corrosion of the solder 49 by ozone.

The operation of the refrigerator configured as above will be explained. The ozone generator 40 is a creeping discharge type ozone generator (the conventional example is a silent discharge type), and when a high frequency high voltage is applied to both the electrodes 46 and 48 by the high voltage generator 42, the discharge electrode 48 A more powerful high-frequency creeping streamer discharge occurs, producing ozone in the surrounding area. The generated ozone is transferred to the honeycomb catalyst 41 by the internal fan 14.
where it reacts with odors and deodorizes them. This honeycomb catalyst 41 has a high adsorption power against odors, and quickly adsorbs odors inside the refrigerator to make the inside of the refrigerator odorless. Then, the odor adsorbed on the honeycomb catalyst 41 reacts with high-concentration ozone that has not yet diffused in the ventilation passages, is decomposed, and turns into an odorless substance. By continuously performing the above steps, an unprecedented deodorizing effect can be obtained.

In addition, ozone that does not contribute to the reaction is removed from the refrigerator compartment 9 and vegetable compartment 1.
It is forced to circulate to Q, where it sterilizes the internal walls and food surfaces. Further, the ozone generator 40 is operated intermittently for a predetermined period of time only at night when the door remains closed by the timer mechanism of the control means 43 to maintain the concentration in the refrigerator compartment 9 and the like at a predetermined concentration. Here, the relationship between the ozone generation ability of the ozone generator 4o and humidity will be explained using FIG. 4. Point A in Figure 4 indicates that the ozone concentration is low under conditions of relatively high absolute humidity, as in the conventional example, and point B indicates that the ozone concentration is high under conditions of relatively low absolute humidity, as in the embodiment of the present invention. It shows what will happen. Therefore, since the ozone generator 40 is installed in an atmosphere with low absolute humidity in the ventilation passage 16, its ozone generation ability is high.

As described above, the ozone generator 40 is provided in the ventilation passage 16, the high voltage generator 42 and the control means are arranged outside the warehouse, and the ozone generator 40 supplies the ozonated cooling air to the warehouse. Since the internal fan 14 circulates the air through the nicum catalyst 41 to the refrigerator compartment 9, the effective internal volume of the refrigerator compartment 9 is not reduced unlike in the conventional example, and the refrigerator compartment 9 and It not only deodorizes the odor components in the vegetable compartment 10, but also sterilizes or cleans the interior of the cabinet that is contaminated with bacteria and mold, thereby preventing secondary contamination of stored fresh food inside the cabinet. can be stored hygienically. Furthermore, since the ozone generator 4o is disposed within the ventilation passage 16 where the absolute humidity is low, the ozone generation efficiency is superior to that of the prior art. Therefore, the ozone generator 4 is smaller than the conventional one.
ozone generator 40 can be used, and the operation time of the ozone generator 40 can be shortened to save power.

Note that the same effect as described above can be obtained even if the ozone generator 4o is disposed within the ventilation path 16 leading to the freezing chamber. Further, the high voltage generator 42 and the control means 43 may be provided in a machine room in which the compressor 22 is installed.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides an ozone generator and an odorous substance generator in a ventilation path for ventilating cooled air to a food storage room by an internal fan, in order from upwind according to the flow of cold air. A high-voltage generator and a control means are installed outside the refrigerator to supply electricity to the ozone generator. Since this refrigerator is characterized by circulating air to the storage room, the effective internal volume inside the refrigerator is not reduced as in conventional refrigerators, and due to the relatively high concentration of ozone in the ventilation duct, Rapid and effective deodorization can be achieved by decomposing the odorants adsorbed on the catalyst. The ozone that did not contribute to the reaction is then blown into the refrigerator, which can sterilize or clean the interior of the refrigerator contaminated with bacteria and mold, thereby preventing secondary contamination of stored fresh food inside the refrigerator. food can be stored hygienically. In addition, since the ozone generator is placed in the ventilation passage where the absolute humidity is low, the ozone generation efficiency is better than before, so a smaller ozone generator can be used than before, and the ozone generator You can save electricity by shortening driving time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the ozone generator in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the ozone generator, and FIG. 4 is the same. A characteristic diagram showing the ozone generation efficiency of an ozone generator, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional refrigerator, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the deodorizing device in FIG. 5. 9... Refrigerator compartment, 14... Internal fan,
16... Ventilation passage, 26... Ozone generator, 26... Honeycomb catalyst, 42...
High voltage generator, 43... Control means. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 4
figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ozone generator and a catalyst that promotes the decomposition of odor substances are arranged in the ventilation path that ventilates the cooled air to the food storage room by an internal fan, starting from the windward following the flow of the cold air. A refrigerator characterized in that a high voltage generator for feeding power to the ozone generator and a control means are arranged outside the refrigerator.