Cooling storage and granule

Abstract

To provide a storage which can quickly freeze and thaw stored objects, and is easy to be handled.SOLUTION: A storage includes a housing having a storage room, a case accommodated in the storage room to be allowed to be taken out of and put in the storage room, and a plurality of granules filled in the case and having flexibility.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator and a granular material. [Background technology]

[0002] When quick freezing unfrozen food in the freezer compartment of a household refrigerator, the cooling method using cold air (air-cooling method) was the mainstream. For commercial freezers, liquid freezing methods, which have a faster cooling speed than air-cooling methods, are well known.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for cooling an object to be cooled, characterized in that at least a portion of the object to be cooled is placed in a container filled with a large number of metal balls and surrounded by the metal balls, or the object to be cooled is placed on top of the large number of metal balls and cooled air is passed through the gaps formed between adjacent metal balls, thereby cooling the object to be cooled via the metal balls. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-203706 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The air-cooling method uses heat exchange through convection of air, which has low thermal conductivity, so the cooling speed is slow. On the other hand, the liquid freezing method has a fast freezing speed, but there is a possibility that the freezing liquid may leak outside the case or into the food, and there is a problem that the freezing liquid (ice pack) is difficult to handle.

[0006] In addition, with the method described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to immerse the stored item (item to be cooled) in the numerous metal balls filled in the container, and it is difficult to rapidly cool the stored item if it is placed on top of the numerous metal balls.

[0007] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a storage cabinet that can rapidly freeze, thaw, etc. stored items and is easy to handle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A repository according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a housing having a storage chamber; a case that is removably stored in the storage room; and a plurality of flexible granular materials filled in the case. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a storage unit that can rapidly freeze, thaw, etc. stored items and is easy to handle. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a front view of a storage cabinet (cooling cabinet) according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a perspective view showing the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 with the doors of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment open. FIG. [Figure 3] 2 is a perspective view showing the freezer compartment of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is a side view showing the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 with the door of the freezer compartment closed. FIG. [Figure 5] 2 is a side view showing the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 with the door of the freezer compartment open. FIG. [Figure 6] 6 is a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 taken along line VI-VI. [Figure 7] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an item is stored in a case filled with granular material in an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a granular body according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] 10A and 10B are schematic diagrams for explaining the effects of the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and their names and functions are also the same.

[0012] <Storage> The storage facility of this embodiment is a housing having a storage room (internal space); a case that is removably stored in the storage room; and a plurality of flexible granular materials filled in the case.

[0013] An example of the storage facility is a cooling facility. A "cooling cabinet" generally refers to a cabinet that has a storage compartment (such as a cooling compartment) that is kept at a lower temperature than the outside air temperature and can lower the temperature of stored items. The cooling compartment may be, for example, a refrigerator compartment or a freezer compartment. The cooling cabinet may be, for example, a refrigerator or a freezer. The cooling cabinet may have only one cooling compartment (storage compartment) or multiple cooling compartments. When the cooling cabinet has multiple cooling compartments, the multiple cooling compartments may include at least two of a refrigerator compartment, a freezer compartment, a vegetable compartment, a chilled compartment, a partial compartment, etc. The storage facility may include a storage chamber (such as a thawing chamber or a heat-retaining chamber) that is kept at a temperature higher than the outside air temperature and can raise the temperature of the stored items. The granular material of the present disclosure can also be applied to such a storage chamber. Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the granular material of the present disclosure is applied to a refrigerator having a freezer compartment will be described.

[0014] In this specification, the surface on which the door is provided is referred to as the front or front face of the refrigerator 1. Then, based on the arrangement of the refrigerator 1 when installed in a normal state with the front face as the reference, the respective faces of the refrigerator 1 are referred to as the back, top, bottom, and side faces. Furthermore, the direction perpendicular to the front and back faces is referred to as the front-to-back direction, the direction perpendicular to the top and bottom faces is referred to as the height direction H (see Figure 1), and the direction perpendicular to both side faces is referred to as the width direction (left-to-right direction) W (see Figure 1). Note that the orientation of each storage space and each component that constitutes the refrigerator 1 may also be expressed based on the arrangement of the refrigerator 1.

[0015] [Overall configuration of the cooling cabinet (storage cabinet)] First, the overall configuration of a refrigerator 1 according to the first embodiment will be described. Fig. 1 shows the exterior of the refrigerator 1 as seen from the front. Fig. 2 shows the interior of the refrigerator 1 (specifically, the interior of the refrigerator compartment 11 and the freezer compartment 13).

[0016] The refrigerator 1 is provided with a housing 5 (insulated box) as an insulating structure for insulating each storage space from the surroundings. The housing 5 is composed of an insulating layer, an outer box that forms the outer shape of the refrigerator 1, an inner box that forms the storage space of the refrigerator 1, etc. The insulating layer includes foam insulation material, vacuum insulation material, etc.

[0017] The storage space of refrigerator 1 is formed by housing 5. The storage space formed by housing 5 is divided by a plurality of horizontally extending partitions into, for example, from the top down, refrigerator compartment 11, vegetable compartment, ice-making compartment and second freezer compartment, and freezer compartment (drawer-type storage compartment) 13. The refrigerator compartment 11 is provided with left and right divided double doors 11a and 11b. The vegetable compartment is provided with a drawer door 12a. The freezer compartment 13 is provided with a drawer door 13a. The ice making compartment is provided with a drawer door 14a. The second freezer compartment is provided with a drawer door 15a. A plurality of shelves 4 are arranged in the refrigerating compartment 11 (FIG. 2), thereby dividing the interior of the refrigerating compartment 11 into a plurality of storage spaces.

[0018] As described above, the refrigerator 1 according to this embodiment is divided into a plurality of storage spaces, and includes the refrigerator compartment 11, the freezer compartment 13, etc. However, the location of each storage space is not limited to this. Furthermore, the configuration of the doors provided in each storage space is not limited to the above.

[0019] [Configuration of freezer compartment] Next, the configuration of the freezing compartment 13 will be described in more detail. Fig. 3 shows the interior of freezer compartment 13. Fig. 3 shows a state in which door 13a provided in freezer compartment 13 is pulled out. Figs. 4 and 5 show the configuration of the side of freezer compartment 13. Fig. 6 shows a cross-sectional configuration of freezer compartment 13. Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section of freezer compartment 13 taken along line VI-VI in Fig. 1, and shows a state in which door 13a and the like are pulled out to the front.

[0020] The freezer compartment 13 includes a drawer-type door 13a, a main case 3, a case support portion 31, an auxiliary case 7, and the like. Door 13a is arranged at the front of freezer compartment 13 and is configured to be able to be pulled out towards the front.

[0021] 〔case〕 In the refrigerator of this embodiment, items can be stored in the cases (main case 3, auxiliary case 7, etc.) arranged in each of the storage spaces. These cases are filled with a plurality of granular materials 6 (see FIGS. 7 to 10; not shown in FIGS. 2 to 6).

[0022] In this embodiment, the case filled with the granular material may be any case that is placed in each of the storage spaces. The case may be placed in a drawer-type storage compartment such as the freezer compartment 13, the second freezer compartment, or the vegetable compartment. Examples of the case include the main case 3 and auxiliary case 7 that are placed in the freezer compartment 13 (drawer-type storage compartment).

[0023] The case has, for example, an opening at the top, so that items can be placed into the case from above and items can be removed from the case from above.

[0024] (Main unit case) The main body case 3 is disposed on the rear surface of the door 13a. More specifically, the main body case 3 is supported by a case support portion 31 attached to the rear surface of the door 13a.

[0025] The case support part 31 is made of a rigid material such as metal. The case support part 31 is attached to the back surface of the door 13a and extends in the front-to-rear direction along the side of the refrigerator 1. In this embodiment, two case support parts 31 are provided, one attached near the right end of the back surface of the door 13a and the other attached near the left end of the back surface of the door 13a.

[0026] A movable roller (sliding portion) 32 is provided at the rear end of the case support portion 31. When the door 13a is housed in the refrigerator 1, the movable roller 32 abuts against a rail (not shown) formed on the inner wall of the housing 5. When the door 13a is pulled out from the refrigerator 1, the movable roller 32 slides on the rail while abutting against the bottom surface of the rail.

[0027] With the above configuration, when door 13a is pulled out toward the front and opened, as shown in Fig. 5, the main body case 3 supported by case support portion 31 is also pulled out along with door 13a. This allows the user to remove items stored in main body case 3 of freezer compartment 13. In this way, freezer compartment 13, which is an example of a drawer-type storage compartment, is mainly formed by drawer-type door 13a and main body case 3.

[0028] (auxiliary case) An auxiliary case 7 may be provided inside freezer compartment 13. When door 13a is pulled out, auxiliary case 7 does not move in conjunction with the movement of door 13a and remains inside the freezer. It should be noted that the auxiliary case 7 does not necessarily have to be provided in the freezing compartment 13.

[0029] The auxiliary case 7 is disposed on the upper side of the freezer compartment 13. The auxiliary case 7 has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from above, and has a size (plan area) that is approximately the same as the size (plan area) of the upper part of the main case 3. In other words, when the door 13a is closed, the auxiliary case 7 covers the entire upper part of the main case 3.

[0030] Auxiliary case 7 has sliding parts 71 on both the left and right side surfaces. When auxiliary case 7 is housed in refrigerator 1, sliding parts 71 abut against second rails (not shown) formed on the inner wall of housing 5. In this way, auxiliary case 7 has sliding parts 71 that slide on a rail (second rail) separate from the rail on which moving rollers 32 of case support part 31 slide. Therefore, auxiliary case 7 is not pulled out toward you in conjunction with the pulling-out operation of door 13a, but for example, by placing a hand on the front part of auxiliary case 7 and pulling it toward you, sliding parts 71 slide on the second rail and are pulled out toward you.

[0031] When the auxiliary case 7 is provided, for example, a marking line 34 may be provided on the side wall inside the main case 3 at a height position that coincides with the bottom surface 7a of the auxiliary case 7 (see FIG. 3). When storing items in the main case 3 in the freezer compartment 13, the user of the refrigerator 1 positions the items so that they do not exceed this marking line 34, thereby preventing the items placed on the main case 3 from hitting the auxiliary case 7 when the door 13a is returned to the inside of the refrigerator.

[0032] [Granular material] Hereinafter, the detailed structure of the granular material 6 filled in the case 2 in the above-mentioned storage will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0033] The granular material 6 is preferably a granular material (beads) having a higher thermal conductivity and a larger heat capacity than air. The shape of the granular material 6 is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, spherical.

[0034] Freezing is divided into two processes: quick freezing and frozen storage. In quick freezing, for example, it is important to freeze as quickly as possible (for example, passing through the maximum ice crystal formation temperature range of -1°C to -5°C within 30 minutes) in order to maintain the quality of the stored items 8 (cooled items), such as food. In this embodiment, the granular material 6, which has a higher thermal conductivity than air, comes into contact with the stored item 8, thereby efficiently carrying out heat exchange (cooling of the stored item 8), making it possible to perform freezing more quickly than with air-cooling methods.

[0035] Furthermore, in frozen storage, suppressing temperature fluctuations during storage at low temperatures is important for maintaining the quality of stored items 8 (refrigerated items) such as food. Detrimental factors during frozen storage include temperature rises when defrosting the evaporator, etc., or when opening and closing the door. Temperature rises can deteriorate the quality of stored items 8, so it is desirable to suppress such temperature rises. In this embodiment, since the heat capacity of the granular material 6 is greater than that of air, by burying the stored items 8 in multiple granular materials 6, it is possible to suppress temperature rise when defrosting during frozen storage, opening and closing the door, etc., compared to the air-cooling method.

[0036] Although the description here concerns freezing, the storage facility and granular material 6 of this embodiment can also be applied to heating, such as thawing, and as with freezing, it is possible to efficiently and rapidly heat the material, thereby suppressing temperature changes during storage.

[0037] Furthermore, by using the multiple granular bodies 6 of this embodiment (covering the ice pack (freezing liquid) with a shell), it is possible to eliminate problems such as leakage of freezing liquid to the outside of the case or into the inside of the food, which occurs in conventional liquid-freezing freezers that use freezing liquid.

[0038] Furthermore, since the granular material 6 is flexible, deformation of the stored item due to contact with the surrounding granular material is suppressed. Because the granular material 6 is flexible, the stored item can be easily buried in a large number of granular materials 6, and the storage capacity is also excellent. If the granular material 6 is substantially spherical, deformation of the stored items is further suppressed, and the fluidity of the numerous granular materials packed therein is high, thereby improving storage properties.

[0039] When storing the stored item 8 in a supercooled state, there is a possibility that the supercooling of the stored item 8 may be released due to vibrations such as when opening and closing the drawer door on which the case 2 is installed. The flexibility of the granular material 6 allows it to absorb such vibrations, thereby preventing the stored item 8 from being released from supercooling.

[0040] If granular materials with a high specific gravity such as the metal balls described in Patent Document 1 are used, it becomes difficult to sink the stored item 8 into the case filled with a plurality of granular materials. For this reason, it is preferable that the granular material 6 is an object having a relatively light specific gravity. For example, it is preferable that the granular material 6 is an object having a specific gravity lighter than that of metal, etc., and more preferably an object having a specific gravity similar to that of the stored item 8 (for example, 50 to 150% of the specific gravity of the stored item 8). In this case, the stored item 8 can be frozen and stored while surrounded by a plurality of granular materials 6, and the stored item 8 can be easily taken in and out of the case filled with a plurality of granular materials 6.

[0041] The granular material 6 preferably contains a cooling agent. The granular material 6 may contain a heat storage agent or the like instead of a cooling agent. Referring to FIG. 8, granular material 6 has, for example, ice pack 6a and shell 6b (coating layer) that accommodates ice pack 6a.

[0042] The ice pack 6a is preferably a liquid, a sol or a gel, and more preferably a liquid (liquid ice pack). The shell 6b is preferably flexible. The ice pack 6a is a liquid, sol or gel, and the shell 6b is flexible, so that the granules 6 can be made flexible.

[0043] The ice pack 6a preferably has a higher heat capacity than the shell 6b. The shell 6b preferably has a higher thermal conductivity than the ice pack 6a. If ice pack 6a has a higher heat capacity than shell 6b and shell 6b has a higher thermal conductivity than ice pack 6a, the heat of stored items 8 absorbed by ice pack 6a is less likely to be released, but the heat of ice pack 6a is efficiently released upward by shell 6b (heat exchanged with the cold air in the freezer compartment above), which can improve the freezing speed (see dotted arrow in Figure 9).

[0044] Examples of materials for the shell 6b having high thermal conductivity include metals (such as aluminum), silicone resins, and resins containing metal fillers.

[0045] The freezing point of each of the ice pack 6a and the shell 6b is preferably below 0°C. In this case, the flexibility of the granular material 6 can be maintained even when the stored item 8 is frozen. When the ice pack 6a is a liquid, sol, gel, or the like, the freezing point of the ice pack 6a is preferably below 0°C, and more preferably below -10°C. Such a cooling agent (liquid cooling agent) may be, for example, a liquid containing less than 60% by mass of alcohol (such as ethanol) and water. The liquid cooling agent may also contain ammonium chloride, sodium chloride, or the like.

[0046] The outer surface of the shell 6b is preferably hydrophobic (water-repellent). Water-repellency can be measured by the contact angle of a water droplet on the surface. The contact angle of the outer surface of the shell 6b is preferably large. The contact angle of the outer surface of the shell 6b may be 90° or more, or may be 150° or more. In this case, wetting of the outer surface of the granular material 6 is suppressed inside the case 2, which can be a high-humidity environment, and therefore, the stored item 8 can be prevented from getting wet.

[0047] The average particle size (D50) of the granules 6 is preferably 0.1 mm to 5 cm, more preferably 0.5 mm to 3 cm, even more preferably 1 mm to 2 cm, and even more preferably 5 mm to 1.5 cm.

[0048] In this embodiment, the plurality of granules 6 may include a plurality of types of granules having different particle diameters. 10, the case 2 may be filled with both the granular material 6 and particles 61 having a smaller particle diameter than the granular material 6. The particles 61 may be particles having the same structure as the granular material 6 but different in particle diameter, or may be particles having a different structure from the granular material 6. There is a possibility that the granular materials 6 may stick together due to condensation inside the case 2. When the case is filled with the granular materials 6 and particles 61, the particles 61 are present in the gaps between the plurality of granular materials 6, thereby reducing the amount of condensed water in the gaps between the plurality of granular materials 6, and this is expected to have the effect of suppressing the granular materials 6 from sticking together. Furthermore, if the expansion rate of the particles 61 at low temperatures is greater than that of the granular material 6, it is expected that the bonds between the granular material 6 will be destroyed from the inside. Examples of materials that have a large expansion rate when frozen include invar alloy, saline solution, and ethanol water. After the granules 6 have solidified together due to the freezing of condensed water present between them, the particles 61 expand over time, destroying the bonds between the granules 6 from the inside and preventing the granules 6 from clumping together. For this reason, staggering the timing of the expansion of the granules 6 and the particles 61 when the stored item 8 freezes, rather than relying on the difference in expansion rates between them, is more effective in preventing the granules 6 from solidifying together.

[0049] In order to prevent the case from being destroyed by horizontal stress inside the case when the granular material 6 freezes and expands, the corners of the bottom surface of the case 2 (areas surrounded by dotted lines in Figure 7) may be curved with an R (radius of curvature) that is 1.5 times or more the radius of the granular material 6. In this case, the expansion of the granular material 6 when frozen changes the direction of the stress that the case 2 receives from the inside, thereby preventing the case 2 from breaking.

[0050] The particles 61 preferably have a higher thermal conductivity than the granular material 6. Examples of the particles 61 having a high thermal conductivity include metal particles. In this case, by filling the spaces between the numerous granular materials 6 with particles 61 having high thermal conductivity instead of air, heat can be efficiently dissipated from inside the numerous granular materials 6 filled in the case 2, which can contribute to improving the freezing rate (see the dotted arrow in Figure 10).

[0051] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims, not by the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims. Furthermore, configurations obtained by combining the configurations of the different embodiments described in this specification are also included in the scope of the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0052] 1: Refrigerator 2: Case 3: Main body case (case) 6: Granules 6a: Ice pack 6b: Shell 61: Particle 7: Auxiliary case (case)

Claims

1. a housing having a storage chamber; a case that is accommodated in the storage room so as to be removable; a plurality of flexible granular bodies filled in the case; A storage facility equipped with:

2. The storage facility according to claim 1 , wherein the granular material includes a cooling agent.

3. The ice pack is a liquid, The storage container according to claim 1 , wherein the granular material comprises the ice pack and a flexible shell that contains the ice pack.

4. the ice pack has a higher heat capacity than the shell; The storage container of claim 3 , wherein the shell has a higher thermal conductivity than the ice pack.

5. The storage container according to claim 3, wherein the freezing point of each of the ice pack and the shell is below 0°C.

6. The repository of claim 3 , wherein the outer surface of the shell is hydrophobic.

7. The storage facility according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of granular materials include a plurality of types of granular materials having mutually different particle diameters.

8. The storage facility according to claim 1 , further comprising particles having a particle size smaller than that of the granular material, the particles being packed in the case together with the granular material.

9. The repository of claim 8 , wherein the particles have a higher thermal conductivity than the granular material.

10. The granular material filled in the case in the storage facility according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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