Refrigerator and low-temperature and high-humidity unfreezing device thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a refrigerator and a low-temperature and high-humidity unfreezing device thereof.The low-temperature and high-humidity unfreezing device comprises an unfreezing box provided with an unfreezing chamber, and an unfreezing area used for containing objects to be unfrozen is defined in the unfreezing chamber; and the humidifying assembly is configured to controllably supply humidifying airflow to the unfreezing area, so that a wetting angle formed between liquid drops carried in the humidifying airflow blown to the unfreezing area and the surface of the to-be-unfrozen object is smaller than 90 degrees. The unfreezing device has the advantages that the unfreezing speed and the unfreezing quality of the to-be-unfrozen object can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of food thawing, and in particular to a refrigerator and a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device thereof. Background Art

[0002] At present, the thawing method of food is usually natural thawing, which means placing the frozen food in a room temperature environment and relying on the ambient temperature to thaw. However, this thawing method has the problems of slow thawing speed and incomplete thawing. Since the food is exposed to the air, it is easy to be contaminated by bacteria and rot.

[0003] In order to improve the thawing speed and thawing quality, many thawing methods have emerged in the prior art, such as electric heating thawing, hot water thawing, running water thawing, air thawing, and refrigerated thawing. However, the above thawing methods all have certain disadvantages and thus produce certain adverse consequences, such as: local ripening caused by uneven heating, loss of juice caused by water immersion, and poor user experience caused by long thawing time. Summary of the invention

[0004] An object of the first aspect of the present invention is to improve the thawing speed and thawing quality of the material to be thawed.

[0005] A further object of the first aspect of the present invention is to increase the utilization rate of the humidified air flow.

[0006] A second aspect of the present invention aims to provide a refrigerator.

[0007] In particular, according to a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device, comprising:

[0008] A thawing box having a thawing compartment, wherein a thawing area for placing objects to be thawed is defined in the thawing compartment; and

[0009] The humidification component is configured to supply a humidified air flow to the thawing area in a controlled manner so that a wetting angle formed between liquid droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area and the surface of the object to be thawed is less than 90°.

[0010] Optionally, the humidification component is further configured to make the particle size of the droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area be 1 um to 15 um.

[0011] Optionally, the humidification component includes an atomizer head, which is selected to be a microporous atomizer head with an operating frequency less than or equal to 120KHz, or a solid-hole atomizer head with an operating frequency greater than 1.7MHz, and the atomization volume of the atomizer head is less than 150ml / h.

[0012] Optionally, the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device further comprises:

[0013] The flow promotion component is configured to controllably form a thawing airflow passing through the thawing area in the thawing room, and the atomizing head is arranged toward the air supply path between the flow promotion component and the thawing area.

[0014] Optionally, the flow promotion component includes an axial flow fan, which is arranged toward the thawing area, and the length of the air supply path between the axial flow fan and the thawing area is 5 cm to 40 cm.

[0015] Optionally, the distance between the atomizing head and the axial flow fan is 10 mm to 300 mm.

[0016] Optionally, the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device further comprises:

[0017] The heating component is arranged on the air inlet side or the air supply side of the flow promotion component, and the distance between the heating component and the flow promotion component is 1mm to 100mm.

[0018] Optionally, the heating component is a heating tube, and the heating tube is bent into a polygonal ring shape or a coil shape on the air inlet side or the air outlet side of the flow-promoting component; or

[0019] The heating component is a heating plate, which is covered and buckled on the air inlet side or the air outlet side of the flow-promoting component and is provided with grille holes for the thawing airflow to pass through.

[0020] Optionally, the intersection of the humidified airflow blown by the atomizing component and the thawing airflow blown by the flow promoting component is located at the front side of the heating component.

[0021] According to a second aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising any one of the above-mentioned low-temperature and high-humidity thawing devices.

[0022] The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device of the present invention has a humidifying component that can supply a humidified airflow to the thawing area. When the object to be thawed is placed in the thawing area, the droplets carried in the humidified airflow can adhere to the surface of the object to be thawed. Since the wetting angle formed between the droplets and the surface of the object to be thawed is less than 90°, the droplets can spread on the surface of the object to be thawed, and the object to be thawed is thawed by latent heat after being vaporized, thereby accelerating the thawing speed. In addition, the droplets can also maintain the humidity of the surface of the object to be thawed, preventing the object to be thawed from being air-dried during the thawing process, which is beneficial to improving the thawing quality of the object to be thawed.

[0023] Furthermore, in the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device of the present invention, the intersection point of the humidified airflow blown by the atomizing component and the thawing airflow blown by the flow-promoting component is located on the front side of the heating component. That is to say, after the thawing airflow is heated, the humidified airflow is mixed with the thawing airflow, which is conducive to improving the utilization rate of the humidified airflow. If the humidified airflow is mixed with the thawing airflow first, and then the thawing airflow is heated, it is easy to cause the droplets carried in the thawing airflow to be directly vaporized and volatilize to the surrounding area, and cannot be carried to the thawing area.

[0024] Based on the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will become more aware of the above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments below. The accompanying drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be considered as limiting the present invention. Moreover, the same reference symbols are used throughout the accompanying drawings to represent the same components. In the accompanying drawings:

[0026] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 2 It is a state diagram showing the liquid droplets attached to the surface of the object to be thawed at different wetting angles;

[0028] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 4 is a structural diagram of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a thawing box according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 7 is a structural diagram of a connection between a water storage box and an atomizing head according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 8 is a structural diagram of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] Reference numerals:

[0035] 1. Refrigerator;

[0036] 10. Low temperature and high humidity thawing device; 20. Box body; 30. Door body;

[0037] 110. Flow-promoting component;

[0038] 120. Heating assembly; 121. Heating tube;

[0039] 130, humidification component; 131, water storage box; 131a, cover plate; 131b, observation window; 132, atomizing head; 133, connecting pipe;

[0040] 140, thawing box; 141, thawing chamber; 142, mounting frame; 142a, air supply port; 142b, humidification port; 142c, ventilation port; 143, mounting slot; 144, return air duct; 145, air guide structure; 145a, air guide bottom plate; 145b, air guide side plate; 145c, air guide gap;

[0041] 150. Defrosting drawer; 151. Air inlet; 152. Moisture inlet; 153. Air return outlet. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0043] As mentioned above, the existing technologies of electric heating thawing, hot water thawing, running water thawing, air thawing, refrigerated thawing, etc. all have certain adverse consequences due to their own drawbacks, such as local ripening caused by uneven heating, juice loss caused by water immersion, and poor user experience caused by long thawing time.

[0044] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a low temperature and high humidity thawing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figure 1 The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 at least includes a thawing box 140 and a humidifying component 130, wherein the thawing box 140 has a thawing chamber 141, and the thawing chamber 141 defines a thawing area for placing the to-be-thawed object. The humidifying component 130 is configured to supply a humidified air flow to the thawing area in a controlled manner, so that the wetting angle formed between the droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area and the surface of the to-be-thawed object is less than 90°.

[0045] The inventors found that due to the high humidity of the humidified airflow, some suspended droplets will be carried in the humidified airflow, and will adhere to the surface of the object to be thawed after being blown to the thawing area by the humidified airflow. There are two main forms of droplet attachment: the first is that the droplets are spherical on the surface of the object to be thawed, and the wetting angle formed between the droplets and the surface of the object to be thawed is greater than 90°; the second is that the droplets are spread out on the surface of the object to be thawed, and the wetting angle formed between the droplets and the surface of the object to be thawed is less than 90°.

[0046] It has been found that the first type of droplets attached will hinder the contact area between the humidified airflow and the surface of the object to be thawed, which is not conducive to the smooth thawing of the object to be thawed. Moreover, the long-term attachment of the droplets will also cause the surface of the object to be thawed to wrinkle and swell, seriously affecting the thawing quality of the object to be thawed. The second type of droplets attached is easier to vaporize, which can play a role in latent heat thawing of the object to be thawed. Moreover, after vaporization, it is beneficial to increase the surface humidity of the object to be thawed and prevent the surface of the object to be thawed from being dried by air. Therefore, the present invention requires that the wetting angle formed between the droplets and the surface of the object to be thawed should be less than 90°.

[0047] Figure 2 It is a diagram showing the state of droplets adhering to the surface of the object to be thawed at different wetting angles. Figure 2 The wetting angle refers to the angle between the liquid-solid interface and the tangent line of the droplet surface at the contact point between the droplet and the surface of the object to be thawed. It is an important parameter to characterize the interaction between the droplet and the surface of the object to be thawed. If the wetting angle is less than 90°, the surface of the object to be thawed is hydrophilic, and the droplet can easily wet the object to be thawed. If the wetting angle is greater than 90°, the surface of the object to be thawed is hydrophobic, the droplet cannot easily wet the object to be thawed, and can easily move on the surface to be thawed.

[0048] Specifically, the calculation formula of the wetting angle is: cosθ=(γSV-γSL) / γLV.

[0049] Wherein, θ: wetting angle; γSV: tension between solid surface and gas surface; γSL: tension between liquid surface and solid surface; γLV: tension between liquid surface and gas surface.

[0050] It can be seen from the above wetting angle calculation formula that the greater the surface tension of the droplet, the smaller the wetting angle formed between the droplet and the surface of the object to be thawed.

[0051] In fact, the surface tension of a droplet is closely related to the particle size of the droplet. The surface tension of a droplet is the result of the molecular interaction force on the surface of the droplet, and is usually expressed in terms of surface energy per unit length. The particle size of a droplet is an important parameter of the droplet morphology. The surface tension of a droplet increases as the particle size of the droplet decreases. This is because in small droplets, the intermolecular interaction is more significant, resulting in an increase in surface tension. When the particle size of the droplet increases, the distance between the molecules of the droplet increases, and the surface tension decreases accordingly.

[0052] Therefore, in the present invention, the humidifying component 130 can also be configured so that the particle size of the droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area is 1um to 15um, such as 1mm, 2mm, 3um, 4um, 5um, 8um, 10um, 12um, 15um, etc. It can be understood that the droplets within this particle size range are small and have a large surface tension. When they are attached to the surface of the object to be thawed, the wetting angle formed with the surface of the object to be thawed can be guaranteed to be less than 90°, so that the object to be thawed is latently thawed during the gasification process, the surface humidity of the object to be thawed is maintained, and the thawing quality of the object to be thawed is improved.

[0053] The humidification component 130 may include an atomizer head 132. The atomizer head 132 in this embodiment may be selected as a microporous atomizer head 132 with an operating frequency less than or equal to 120KHz, or may be selected as a solid hole atomizer head 132 with an operating frequency greater than 1.7MHz. However, the atomization volume of the atomizer head 132 is required to be less than 150ml / h to meet the thawing requirements.

[0054] In actual application, it was found that if the atomizing head 132 is set too close to the thawing area, a large number of spherical droplets will adhere to the surface of the object to be thawed. Only when the atomizing head 132 is set farther away from the thawing area can the wetting angle formed between the droplets blown to the thawing area and the surface to be thawed be less than 90°. However, the blowing force of the humidified airflow is relatively small at this time, and some droplets in the blowing process are vaporized to the surrounding area, reducing the effect on the object to be thawed.

[0055] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a low temperature and high humidity thawing device 10 according to another embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figure 3 The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 of the embodiment of the present invention may further include a flow promotion component 110, which is configured to controllably form a thawing airflow flowing through the thawing area in the thawing chamber 141, and the atomizing head 132 is arranged toward the air supply path between the flow promotion component 110 and the thawing area.

[0056] In this way, when the flow promotion component 110 is started, the thawing airflow generated by the flow promotion component 110 has a relatively large airflow velocity, and can carry the humidified airflow to the surface of the object to be thawed. Due to the influence of the airflow velocity, some droplets are not easy to diffuse to the surrounding area after vaporization, while the remaining droplets can meet the particle size requirements and adhere to the surface of the object to be thawed at a wetting angle of less than 90°.

[0057] In the embodiment shown in the drawings of the present invention, the flow promotion component 110 may include an axial flow fan, which is arranged toward the thawing area, that is, the axial flow fan directly blows the thawing airflow toward the thawing area, and the length of the air supply path between the flow promotion component 110 and the thawing area is 5 cm to 40 cm, such as 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, etc. The air supply path should not be too short or too long. If it is too short, a large number of spherical droplets will be attached to the surface of the thawed object. If it is too long, the loss of the droplets after vaporization will be large or even completely lost.

[0058] The distance between the atomizing head 132 and the axial flow fan can be 10 mm to 300 mm. For example, 10 mm, 20 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 80 mm, 100 mm, etc. In this way, it can be ensured that the humidified airflow generated by the atomizing head 132 can be fully supplied to the thawing airflow and mixed with the thawing airflow. If the distance between the atomizing head 132 and the axial flow fan is too large, part of the humidified airflow generated by the atomizing head 132 may diffuse to the surrounding area and cannot reach the air supply path of the flow promotion component 110.

[0059] In practical applications, it was further discovered that the latent heat of droplets has a very significant effect on improving the thawing speed and thawing quality. Ideally, it is hoped that all droplets can be vaporized when blown to the thawing area, but this is difficult to achieve in practice.

[0060] To this end, the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 of the embodiment of the present invention further includes a heating component 120, which can be arranged on the air inlet side or the air supply side of the flow promotion component 110, and is used to heat the thawing airflow, thereby increasing the temperature of the thawing airflow. In this way, when the humidified airflow is mixed with the thawing airflow, the droplets in the humidified airflow will be vaporized under the high temperature of the thawing airflow, so that as many droplets as possible are vaporized and blown to the thawing area.

[0061] The wind speed of the flow promotion component 110 can be 0.2m / s~3m / s. Since the wind speed at the proximal end of the flow promotion component 110 is slightly higher than that at the distal end, in actual process, it can be configured in a targeted manner according to the air supply path between the flow promotion component 110 and the thawing area. The longer the air supply path, the greater the wind speed of the flow promotion component 110. The purpose is to make the thawing airflow blown to the thawing area have an appropriate blowing force, which helps to increase the thawing speed inside the thawed object.

[0062] Furthermore, the distance between the heating component 120 and the flow promotion component 110 can be 1 mm to 100 mm, for example, 3 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 100 mm, etc. The distance between the heating component 120 and the flow promotion component 110 should not be too far, so that the heat generated by the heating component 120 can be directly carried by the thawing airflow to the object to be thawed, which is beneficial to reduce heat loss and improve the heating efficiency of the heating component 120.

[0063] The intersection of the humidified airflow blown by the atomizing component and the thawing airflow blown by the flow promoting component 110 should be located in front of the heating component 120. That is, after the thawing airflow is heated, the humidified airflow and the thawing airflow are mixed. If they are mixed first and then heated, it is easy to directly vaporize and volatilize the droplets in the humidified airflow.

[0064] It should be noted that when arranging the positions of the atomizing component and the heating component 120, it should be noted that the heated airflow generated by the atomizing component cannot be blown directly onto the heating component 120, so as to prevent the droplets in the humidified airflow from being directly evaporated, and the humidified airflow cannot humidify the material to be thawed.

[0065] Figure 4 is a structural diagram of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the thawing box 140 according to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figures 4 to 6 The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 may include a thawing box 140 , a thawing drawer 150 , a flow promotion component 110 , a heating component 120 and a humidification component 130 .

[0066] Specifically, the thawing box 140 is defined with a thawing chamber 141 with a forward opening, and the thawing drawer 150 is push-pullably arranged in the thawing chamber 141 through the forward opening. The objects to be thawed can be placed in the thawing drawer 150. When the objects to be thawed need to be taken out, the user can pull the thawing drawer 150 forward.

[0067] The flow promotion component 110 can be arranged at the rear of the thawing chamber 141, and the wind speed can be set to 0.2m / s~3m / s. The thawing area is located in the thawing drawer 150. Since the wind speed at the proximal end of the flow promotion component 110 is larger and the wind speed at the distal end is smaller, in actual applications, the wind speed of the flow promotion component 110 and the length of the air supply path between the flow promotion component 110 and the thawing area should be reasonably configured to ensure that the airflow velocity of the thawing airflow blown to the thawing area meets the requirements.

[0068] An installation frame 142 is provided at the rear of the thawing chamber 141, and an air supply port 142a is defined in the middle of the installation frame 142. The flow promotion component 110 is fixed in the air supply port 142a. An air inlet 151 is provided on the rear wall of the thawing drawer 150. When the thawing drawer 150 is fully pushed into the thawing chamber 141, the rear end of the thawing drawer 150 abuts against the front end of the installation frame 142, so that the flow promotion component 110 faces the air inlet 151.

[0069] Although the flow promotion component 110 shown in the present invention is an axial flow fan that blows the thawing airflow directly toward the thawing area, without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, those skilled in the art may replace the axial flow fan with a centrifugal fan and use a specific air duct structure to blow the thawing airflow to the thawing area, which should also fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0070] The heating assembly 120 may include a heating tube 121, which is arranged at a preset interval on the front side of the flow-promoting assembly 110. In this way, the heat generated by the heating tube 121 can be directly carried by the thawing airflow to the object to be thawed, which is beneficial to reduce heat loss and improve the heating efficiency of the heating assembly 120.

[0071] The heating tube 121 can be bent into a polygonal ring or a coil, thereby increasing its contact area with the thawing airflow, improving heating efficiency and heating uniformity, while reducing obstruction to the thawing airflow and maintaining smooth flow of the thawing airflow.

[0072] The air outlet 142a has a certain length in the front-to-back direction of the thawing chamber 141, and the heating pipe 121 can be fixed on the inner periphery of the air outlet 142a. The power of the heating pipe 121 can be 10W to 200W, such as 10W, 20W, 50W, 80W, 100W, 200W, etc., which can be selected specifically according to actual needs, in order to ensure that the temperature of the thawing airflow after heating can meet the thawing requirements.

[0073] The heating assembly 120 may also include a heating plate, which is buckled on the front side of the flow-promoting assembly 110. The heating plate is provided with grille holes for the thawing airflow to pass through, which can also increase the contact area with the thawing airflow, improve the heating efficiency and the uniformity of heating. For example, the heating plate includes a hollow plate body and a heating wire arranged in the plate body, and the direction of the heating wire is arranged based on the grille holes to prevent the heating wire from being exposed.

[0074] It should be noted that there may be various ways to connect the flow promotion component 110 and the power supply, and the heating component 120 and the power supply, and those skilled in the art may arrange them by themselves without any creativity.

[0075] The humidification assembly 130 may include an atomizing head 132, which is mainly used to quickly convert humidification water into humidified airflow to ensure that the thawing process can continue. The atomizing head 132 can be selected as a microporous atomizing head 132 with an operating frequency less than or equal to 120KHz, or a solid hole atomizing head 132 with an operating frequency greater than 1.7MHz, and the atomization amount of the atomizing head 132 is less than 150ml / h to meet the thawing requirements.

[0076] The mounting frame 142 further defines a humidification port 142b, and the atomizing head 132 can be mounted in the humidification port 142b and extend downwardly from the back to the front. The rear wall of the thawing drawer 150 is provided with a moisture inlet 152. When the thawing drawer 150 is fully pushed into the thawing chamber 141, the rear end of the thawing drawer 150 abuts against the front end of the mounting frame 142, and the atomizing head 132 faces the moisture inlet 152, so that the humidified airflow can be mixed with the thawing airflow in the thawing drawer 150.

[0077] The humidifying assembly 130 may further include a water storage box 131. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the connection structure between the water storage box 131 and the atomizing head 132 according to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figure 7 The water storage box 131 is mainly used to store humidification water, and the atomizing head 132 is connected to the inside of the water storage box 131, so as to continuously convert the humidification water into humidification airflow. The water storage box 131 can be set on the thawing box 140 or the thawing drawer 150, and connected to the atomizing head 132 through an intermediate connecting piece such as a connecting pipe 133.

[0078] The top of the water storage box 131 may be provided with a water inlet, and a cover plate 131a may be provided at the water inlet. The cover plate 131a may be flipped open, rotated open, pulled open, etc., and the specific connection method may be various, and the present invention does not limit this. When the cover plate 131a is opened, the water inlet may be exposed, which is convenient for the user to add humidification water to the water storage box 131; when the cover plate 131a is closed, the water inlet may be blocked to prevent foreign matter from entering the water storage box 131.

[0079] The side wall of the water storage box 131 may be provided with an observation window 131b, and the observation window 131b is used for the user to see the water level of the humidification water in the water storage box 131. The observation window 131b may be made of a transparent material, and extends from top to bottom along the height direction of the water storage box 131 to the bottom of the water storage box 131. When the user finds that the humidification water in the water storage box 131 is insufficient through the observation window 131b, the user can open the cover plate 131a in time to add humidification water to the water storage box 131.

[0080] Reference Figure 6The top front end of the thawing box 140 is provided with a mounting groove 143, the water storage box 131 is mounted in the mounting groove 143, and the front end surface of the thawing box 140 is provided with an observation port at a position opposite to the observation window 131b. When the user pulls out the thawing drawer 150, the water level of the humidification water can be observed from the observation port.

[0081] The atomizing head 132 is located at the rear end of the thawing box 140, the water storage box 131 is located at the front end of the thawing box 140, and a connecting pipe 133 is provided between the atomizing head 132 and the water storage box 131. The bottom wall of the water storage box 131 can be higher than the atomizing head 132, and the connecting pipe 133 can be inserted into the thawing box 140, and can gradually extend downward from one end of the water storage box 131 to one end of the atomizing head 132. In this way, the humidification water in the water storage box 131 can flow quickly to the atomizing head 132.

[0082] In some other embodiments, the water storage box 131 may be arranged at the top rear end of the thawing box 140, and the atomizing head 132 may be directly fixed to the water storage box 131 and extend into the thawing chamber 141. Alternatively, the water storage box 131 may be slidably plugged into the thawing box 140, and the water storage box 131 may have a water outlet. When the water storage box 131 is plugged into place, the atomizing head 132 may also be plugged into place with the water outlet, so that the atomizing head 132 is connected to the inside of the water storage box 131. Alternatively, the water storage box 131 and the atomizing head 132 may be fixed above the thawing drawer 150, and move with the thawing drawer 150. When water needs to be added, the thawing drawer 150 is pulled forward.

[0083] During the actual thawing process, it was found that the rear end of the object to be thawed (the end adjacent to the flow promotion component 110) would be continuously affected by the thawing airflow, while the front end would only be affected by a small amount of thawing airflow, resulting in uneven thawing at the front and back. The rear half might have been completely thawed while the front half was still frozen, resulting in low thawing efficiency, which is not conducive to energy saving and consumption reduction.

[0084] To this end, the present invention is provided with a return air duct 144 between the top wall of the thawing chamber 141 and the thawing drawer 150, and the airflow blown into the thawing drawer 150 by the flow promotion component 110 flows back to the flow promotion component 110 through the return air duct 144. In other words, the thawing airflow can circulate through the thawing drawer 150. This is conducive to improving the flow smoothness of the thawing airflow, and can reduce the loss of wind speed, humidity, temperature, etc. of the thawing airflow during the flow process. The thawing airflow flowing through the object to be thawed may still have a certain temperature and humidity and can be recycled.

[0085] Reference Figure 5 and Figure 6In the embodiment shown in the drawings of the present invention, the two side walls of the thawing drawer 150 are lower than the top wall of the thawing compartment 141, so that the above-mentioned return air duct 144 is formed between the top wall of the thawing compartment 141 and the thawing drawer 150. When the flow promotion component 110 blows air toward the inside of the thawing drawer 150, the air flow in the thawing drawer 150 can be squeezed to flow upward, and flows back to the flow promotion component 110 from the rear side of the flow promotion component 110 through the return air duct 144.

[0086] Furthermore, an air guide structure 145 may be provided at the top rear end of the thawing chamber 141, and the air guide structure 145 may include an air guide bottom plate 145a and a plurality of air guide side plates 145b. The air guide bottom plate 145a may be parallel to the top wall of the thawing chamber 141, and may be arranged below the top wall of the thawing chamber 141 at preset intervals. A plurality of air guide side plates 145b may be arranged between the air guide bottom plate 145a and the top wall of the thawing chamber 141 at intervals along the lateral direction of the thawing chamber 141, and connect the air guide bottom plate 145a and the top wall of the thawing chamber 141. Each air guide side plate 145b extends along the longitudinal direction of the thawing chamber 141, and an air guide gap 145c for the thawing airflow to pass through is formed between adjacent air guide side plates 145b.

[0087] After the flow promotion component 110 is turned on, the thawing airflow first flows toward the front end of the thawing drawer 150, and then is blocked by the front end of the thawing drawer 150, climbs to the top of the thawing drawer 150, and then flows backward from the upper front end of the thawing drawer 150. When flowing through the air guide structure 145, the air guide side plate 145b can guide the thawing airflow to flow back to the flow promotion component 110 from front to back, and the air guide bottom plate 145a can prevent the thawing airflow from sinking and re-entering the thawing drawer 150, which is beneficial to improving the circulation effect and circulation smoothness of the thawing airflow.

[0088] The width of the thawing drawer 150 can be smaller than the width of the thawing chamber 141. Return air ports are provided on both sides of the thawing drawer 150. Part of the thawing airflow blown into the thawing drawer 150 by the flow promotion component 110 can flow back to the flow promotion component 110 through the return air ports from between the side walls of the thawing drawer 150 and the side walls of the thawing chamber 141.

[0089] The air guide structure 145 can be integrated with the installation frame 142, and the air guide gap 145c is connected to the space behind the flow promotion component 110. Ventilation holes 142c are provided on both sides of the installation frame 142, and the thawing airflow flowing back from the return air port of the thawing drawer 150 can enter the space behind the flow promotion component 110 after ventilation, and then be blown back to the thawing drawer 150 by the flow promotion component 110.

[0090] Furthermore, a fence frame or a tray or other components may be provided in the thawing drawer 150 so that the bottom of the object to be thawed can also come into contact with the thawing airflow. Alternatively, the object to be thawed can be suspended in the thawing drawer 150. In this way, during the thawing process, the periphery of the object to be thawed can effectively come into contact with the thawing airflow, which is beneficial to improving the utilization rate of the thawing airflow, accelerating the thawing speed, and improving the thawing quality.

[0091] A large number of experiments have confirmed that by controlling the air flow velocity of the thawing air flow blown to the thawing area at 1.0m / s~2.5m / s, the air flow temperature at 18℃~30℃, the relative humidity at 60%~85%, and the particle size of the droplets at 5um~8um, the thawing speed and thawing quality of the thawed objects can be greatly improved, especially for the thawed objects with lower freezing temperature and larger volume, the loss of juice after thawing is very small, the freshness is high, and it has almost no effect on the subsequent taste.

[0092] The present invention also provides a refrigerator 1, Figure 8 is a structural diagram of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to Figure 8 The refrigerator 1 may generally include a body 20 and a door 30. The body 20 defines a storage compartment inside. The storage compartment may be configured as a refrigeration compartment, a freezing compartment, a variable temperature compartment, etc. according to the refrigeration temperature. Specifically, the number, function, layout, etc. of the storage compartment may be configured in a targeted manner according to demand, and the present invention does not impose any limitation on this.

[0093] The refrigerator 1 also includes a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10, which is arranged inside the storage compartment. In order to ensure the normal use of the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 and avoid quality problems such as condensation, the compartment temperature of the storage compartment can be configured to -5°C to 40°C, such as 5°C, 10°C, 15°C, etc. A shelf can be provided in the storage compartment, and the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 is arranged on the shelf. Or the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 is arranged on the inner side of the door body 30 of the refrigerator 1, for example, it is placed on the bottle seat of the door body 30, or the low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device 10 is arranged on the outer side of the door body 30 of the refrigerator 1, the outer side of the box body 20 or the top of the box body 20, so that it can be used independently.

[0094] Those skilled in the art should understand that, unless otherwise specified, the terms used to indicate orientation or positional relationship in the embodiments of the present invention are based on the actual use status of the refrigerator 1. These terms are only used to facilitate the description and understanding of the technical solution of the present invention, and do not indicate or imply that the device or component referred to must have a specific orientation. Therefore, they cannot be understood as limitations on the present invention.

[0095] Unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. A person skilled in the art should be able to understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0096] In the description of the present embodiment, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "illustrative embodiments", "examples", "specific examples", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representation of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner.

[0097] At this point, those skilled in the art should recognize that, although multiple exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, many other variations or modifications that conform to the principles of the present invention can still be directly determined or derived based on the content disclosed in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be understood and recognized as covering all these other variations or modifications.

Claims

1. A low temperature and high humidity thawing device, characterized in that: include: A thawing box, which has a thawing compartment, wherein the thawing compartment defines a thawing area for placing objects to be thawed; as well as The humidifying assembly is configured to supply a humidified air flow to the thawing area in a controlled manner so that a wetting angle formed between liquid droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area and the surface of the object to be thawed is less than 90°.

2. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The humidification component is further configured to ensure that the particle size of the droplets carried in the humidified air flow blown to the thawing area is 1 um to 15 um.

3. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The humidifying component includes an atomizing head, which is selected to be a microporous atomizing head with an operating frequency less than or equal to 120KHz, or a solid-hole atomizing head with an operating frequency greater than 1.7MHz, and the atomization volume of the atomizing head is less than 150ml / h.

4. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 3, characterized in that: Also includes: The flow promotion component is configured to controllably form a thawing airflow in the thawing room that flows through the thawing area, and the atomizing head is arranged toward an air supply path between the flow promotion component and the thawing area.

5. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The flow promotion component includes an axial flow fan, which is arranged toward the thawing area, and a length of an air supply path between the axial flow fan and the thawing area is 5 cm to 40 cm.

6. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The distance between the atomizing head and the axial flow fan is 10 mm to 300 mm.

7. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 4, characterized in that: Also includes: The heating component is arranged on the air inlet side or the air supply side of the flow promotion component, and the distance between the heating component and the flow promotion component is 1mm to 100mm.

8. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The heating component is a heating tube, and the heating tube is bent into a polygonal ring shape or a coil shape on the air inlet side or the air outlet side of the flow promotion component; or The heating component is a heating plate, and the heating plate cover is buckled on the air inlet side or the air outlet side of the flow promotion component, and is provided with grille holes for the thawing airflow to pass through.

9. The low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The intersection of the humidified airflow blown by the atomizing component and the thawing airflow blown by the flow promoting component is located at the front side of the heating component.

10. A refrigerator, characterized in that: It comprises a low-temperature and high-humidity thawing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

Images