CN112747540B - Refrigerator with a door - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a refrigerator which connects air ducts of a master machine and a slave machine with each other, wherein the heat leakage from the air duct connecting part to the surface of the refrigerator is inhibited, thereby the dew condensation on the surface of the refrigerator can be inhibited. A refrigerator is assembled by connecting an air duct exposed part (53) of a mother machine (1) and an air duct exposed part (53a) of a subsidiary machine (1a), wherein the mother machine is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour, an inner box forming a storage chamber, a heat insulator for inhibiting heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, a cooler for generating cold air, and an air duct for circulating the cold air from the cooler, the subsidiary machine is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour, an inner box forming a storage chamber, a heat insulator for inhibiting heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, and an air duct for circulating the cold air from the mother machine, and the mother machine and the subsidiary machine are both provided with a heat bridge inhibiting part between the air duct exposed part and the outer box, wherein the heat bridge inhibiting part is longer in surface distance than the straight line distance from the air duct exposed part to the outer box.

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator configured by connecting a master unit and a slave unit.

Background

A general refrigerator has a cooler for generating cool air and an air duct for circulating the cool air, which are integrally formed in a heat insulator. Such an integrated refrigerator may not be carried into a desired installation location due to interference with a carrying-in path, weight, and the like because of an increase in the external size and weight of the refrigerator accompanying an increase in capacity.

Therefore, the following split and assembled refrigerators have been proposed: the refrigerator can be divided into a plurality of sections and assembled after being carried into a desired installation location. In such a refrigerator that can be divided and assembled, the refrigerator that can be divided into a base unit having a cooler and an air duct and a slave unit having an air duct into which cool air from the base unit is fed is configured such that the air ducts are connected to each other in a communicating manner, and the cool air is fed from the base unit having the cooler to the slave unit, whereby both the units can be cooled. In the refrigerator having such a configuration, since it is not necessary to provide a cooler to the slave unit, it is easy to increase the capacity and reduce the weight.

However, although the air duct is provided in the heat insulator in the integrated refrigerator, in the case of the assembled refrigerator, the air duct connecting portion is exposed to the outside of the heat insulator, and there is a possibility that the cool air leaks from the air duct connecting portion and the heat leaks from the air duct connecting portion due to heat conduction or the like. If heat leakage occurs from the air duct, dew condensation may occur due to the relationship between the temperature in the box, the outside air temperature, and the outside air humidity. Therefore, a structure for suppressing the leakage of cold air from the air duct connection portion and the heat conduction is required.

In order to solve this problem, patent document 1 discloses, in the [ claim ], a "refrigerator including a refrigerator having a freezing cycle, a cold air outlet provided in a wall surface of the refrigerator, and a heat insulating box body connected to the cold air outlet and configured to introduce cold air from the refrigerator, wherein the cold air outlet is provided in a fitting recess provided in the wall surface of the refrigerator, and a heat insulating material is detachably provided in the fitting recess". Further, according to the [ object of the invention ] column of patent document 1, it is described that "when used as a single independent refrigerator, the refrigerator has a highly finished appearance design in appearance, and can have a plurality of storage compartments by appropriately combining a plurality of independent heat insulating boxes purchased when necessary".

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2-272278

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

The refrigerator of patent document 1 can be divided into a refrigerator (mother machine) having a cooler and an air duct, and a heat insulating box (child machine) having an air duct, wherein the heat insulating box is fixed to an upper surface of the refrigerator, and a fitting recess is protrudingly provided on the upper surface of the refrigerator to form the air duct. The fitting recess on the upper surface of the refrigerator is provided with a screw hole for fixing the heat insulation box body to the rear surface side. The vicinity of the screw hole of the refrigerator side having the cooler is formed integrally with the cold air outlet and the cold air return port, and no heat insulating material is provided between the air duct and the back surface of the refrigerator inside the vicinity of the screw hole. Therefore, a heat bridge is formed below the screw hole of the refrigerator side, and heat leakage occurs to the back surface of the refrigerator due to heat conduction from the air duct. Further, since no heat insulating material is provided between the air duct and the back surface of the refrigerator near the screw hole on the side of the refrigerator having the cooler, the heat insulating material on the back surface side of the fitting recess is thinner than the surrounding area, and the heat is easily transmitted from the air duct to the back surface of the refrigerator. As a result, there is a problem that condensation occurs on the rear surface of the refrigerator near the fitting recess due to the temperature inside the refrigerator, the outside air temperature, and the humidity.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator in which air ducts of a master unit and a slave unit are connected to each other in a communicating manner, in which heat leakage from an air duct connection portion to a surface of the refrigerator is suppressed, and condensation on the surface of the refrigerator can be suppressed.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above problems, a refrigerator according to the present invention is a refrigerator in which an air duct exposed portion of a base unit and an air duct exposed portion of a slave unit are connected and assembled, wherein the base unit includes an outer box forming an outer contour, an inner box forming a storage compartment, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, a cooler generating cool air, and an air duct circulating the cool air from the cooler, the slave unit includes an outer box forming an outer contour, an inner box forming a storage compartment, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, and an air duct circulating the cool air from the base unit, and each of the base unit and the slave unit includes a heat bridge suppressing portion having a longer creepage distance than a straight distance from the air duct exposed portion to the outer box.

The effects of the invention are as follows.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a refrigerator capable of suppressing dew condensation on the surface of the refrigerator by suppressing heat leakage transmitted from the air duct connecting portion between the master unit and the slave unit to the surface of the refrigerator by heat conduction.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the front of the refrigerator of embodiment 1 viewed from obliquely right above.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the refrigerator of embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the rear of the refrigerator of embodiment 1 viewed from obliquely right above.

Fig. 4 is a right side view showing the internal configuration of the mother machine of embodiment 1.

Fig. 5 is a right side view showing an internal structure of the slave unit of embodiment 1.

Fig. 6 is a front perspective view of the duct according to example 1, viewed from obliquely above right.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing air passage control of the refrigerator of embodiment 1.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the air duct connecting portion of embodiment 1 viewed from obliquely right above.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a thermal bridge suppression unit according to example 1.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of a thermal bridge suppression unit according to example 2.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view of a thermal bridge suppression unit according to example 3.

In the figure:

1-parent machine, 1 a-child machine, 2-door, 2 a-drawer, 3 a-leg, 4 a-connecting surface, 5 f-front side fixing member, 5 b-rear side fixing member, 6-upper side fixing member, 6a, 6 b-fixing hole, 10 a-outer box, 11 a-insulator, 12 a-vacuum heat insulating material, 13 a-inner box, 14-parent machine storage chamber, 14 a-child machine storage chamber, 15-shelf, 15 a-drawer, 16-door shelf, 17 a-base plate, 18 a-base plate cover, 19-outside box temperature sensor, 20-outside box humidity sensor, 21 a-inside box illumination, 22-operating part, 23-fan, 24-cooler, 25-air door, 26-compressor, 27-mechanical chamber, 28-dew suppressor, 29-defrosting heater, 29 a-water guide pipe, 29 b-drain hole, 29 c-an evaporation pan, 30 a-an air duct, 31-a cooler storage chamber, 32-a parent machine storage chamber duct, 32 a-a child machine storage chamber duct, 33-a parent machine storage chamber duct return port, 34-a parent machine transport air duct, 34 a-a child machine transport air duct, 35-a parent machine return air duct, 35 a-a child machine return air duct, 36-a parent machine return air duct outlet, 36 a-a child machine return air duct inlet, 37-a partition, 38-a cold air discharge port, 39 a-an in-box temperature sensor, 50 a-an outer box opening portion, 51 a-an outer box opening edge, 52 a-an air duct connecting portion, 53 a-an air duct exposing portion, 54 a-a transport port, 55 a-a return port, 56 a-a heat bridge inhibiting portion, 57 a-an air chamber, 58-a sealing member, 60 a-heat bridge inhibiting portion, 61-sandwich structure, 62-concave portion, 62 a-convex part, 70 a-thermal bridge suppression part.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(example 1)

A refrigerator according to embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 9.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the front of the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment viewed from obliquely right above. As shown in the drawing, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment is a refrigerator capable of connecting the left base unit 1 and the right slave unit 1a to each other at the connection surface 4 of the base unit 1 and the connection surface 4a of the slave unit 1 a. In fig. 1, the side surfaces are used as connection surfaces for the case where the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are arranged on the left and right, but the upper and lower surfaces may be used as connection surfaces for the case where the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are arranged on the upper and lower sides. The master unit 1 has a door 2 for taking out and putting in the stored items, and the slave unit 1a has a plurality of drawers 2a for taking out and putting in the stored items. An outer box opening 50 for circulating cool air to the slave unit 1a is provided on the connection surface 4 of the master unit 1, and when the master unit 1 is used alone, the outer box opening 50 is covered with a heat insulating cover (not shown). Hereinafter, a portion visible from the outside after the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are coupled is referred to as a front surface of the refrigerator 100. For example, the rear surface of the main unit 1 corresponds to the surface of the refrigerator 100. The refrigerator 100, the base unit 1, and the slave unit 1a are referred to as an inner direction, and an outer direction is referred to as an outer direction.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the refrigerator 100 in a state where the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are coupled to each other, and shows an enlarged view of the front side (B portion) of the bottom surface of the coupling portion between the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a on the upper right. As shown in the figure, four legs 3, 3a for supporting the respective weights of the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are provided at four corners of the bottom surfaces thereof. As shown in the enlarged view of the part B, front fixing members 5f are provided on the legs 3 and 3a in the vicinity of the connection surfaces 4 and 4a where the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are connected. The front fixing member 5f has an insertion portion formed along a part or the entire periphery of the outer edge portions of the legs 3 and 3a, and engages the leg 3 of the base unit 1 and the leg 3a of the slave unit 1a in the insertion portion to lock the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1 a. A rear fixing member 5b having the same structure and function as the front fixing member 5f is provided on the rear side of the connection surfaces 4 and 4a, and the two pairs of front and rear legs 3 and 3a can be fixed to the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1 a.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the back surface of the refrigerator 100 in a state where the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are coupled to each other as viewed from obliquely upper right, and shows an enlarged view of the upper side (C portion) of the back surface in the coupling portion between the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a on the upper right. As shown in the drawing, an upper fixing member 6 is provided on the upper portion of the rear surface of the refrigerator 100 so as to extend across the connection surfaces 4 and 4 a. The upper fixing member 6 has, for example, a fixing hole 6a on the base unit 1 side and a fixing hole 6b on the slave unit 1a side, and the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are connected and fixed by using a screw or the like passed through both the fixing holes.

< mother machine 1 >

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the parent machine 1, and the flow of cold air is indicated by arrows. Hereinafter, the starting point side of the arrow is referred to as upstream, and the other end is referred to as downstream.

The outer box 10 forming the outer contour of the base unit 1 is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, for example, from a thin metal plate so as to be easily connected to the slave unit 1 a. A heat insulator 11 having a sufficiently lower thermal conductivity than the outer case 10 is provided inside the outer case 10. The heat insulator 11 is filled with, for example, foamed polyurethane or foamed polystyrene, and a vacuum heat insulating material 12 is provided on a part of or all of the surfaces. An inner box 13 forming a storage room of the main unit 1 is provided at a position inside the heat insulator 11. The main machine storage room 14 enclosed by the inner box 13 and the door 2 has a plurality of shelves 15 and a plurality of door shelves 16.

A substrate 17 for controlling the operation of the main unit 1 is positioned on the upper surface of the casing 10 and covered by a detachable substrate cover 18. An outside-case temperature sensor 19 and an outside-case humidity sensor 20 are provided in the substrate cover 18. The inner box 13 is provided with an in-box temperature sensor 39, in-box illumination 21, and an operation unit 22 operable to display the operation status of the base unit 1 or the operation status of both the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a, and is electrically connected to the board 17.

An air duct 30 for circulating cool air to the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a is provided on the back surface side of the inner case 13 of the base unit 1. The air duct 30 includes a cooler storage chamber 31, a parent machine storage chamber duct 32 for supplying cold air to the parent machine storage chamber 14, a parent machine storage chamber duct return port 33 for circulating air in the parent machine storage chamber 14, a parent machine supply air duct 34 for supplying cold air to the slave machine 1a, a parent machine return air duct 35 for circulating air in the slave machine 1a, and a parent machine return air duct outlet 36. The above members are preferably integrally formed as shown in fig. 4 in order to improve space efficiency by using the walls of the respective air paths at the same time, but the walls of the air paths may be formed of different parts. Further, the main unit reservoir duct 32 and the main unit return air duct 35 are arranged in the front-rear direction, but the same effect can be obtained even if they are arranged in the left-right direction or in the up-down direction.

The cooler storage chamber 31 is a space surrounded by the partition 37, the heat insulator 11, the main unit storage chamber pipe return port 33, and the fan 23, and air can be sucked from the main unit storage chamber pipe return port 33 by driving the fan 23. The cooler housing chamber 31 has therein a cooler 24 for cooling air taken in by the fan 23 to a predetermined temperature. The main storage chamber duct 32 located downstream of the cooler 24 is provided with one or more cold air discharge ports 38 for supplying cold air to the main storage chamber 14.

The air duct 30 branches into a main machine storage room line 32 and a main machine conveyance air duct 34 on the downstream side of the fan 23. At least one damper 25 is provided downstream of the main unit conveyance duct 34, and by controlling the opening/closing or opening/closing angle of the damper 25, the cold air can be conveyed to either or both of the main unit 1 and the slave unit 1 a. Hereinafter, the state of the damper 25 capable of blowing air to the base unit 1 is referred to as a base unit mode, and the state of the damper 25 capable of blowing air to the slave unit 1a is referred to as a slave unit mode. In the present embodiment, only the damper 25 is described for the sake of explanation, but may be provided in each of the master unit 1 and the slave unit 1 a. Then, both the master mode and the slave mode are established at the same time.

The base unit return duct outlet 36 is provided downstream of the base unit return duct 35, and the air returned from the slave unit 1a merges with the air flowing through the base unit storage chamber line return port 33 and then flows into the cooler storage chamber 31.

The compressor 26 is disposed in the machine room 27 between the outer case 10 and the heat insulator 11. The refrigerant discharged from the compressor 26 flows through a pipe buried in the heat insulator 11, and then passes through the dew condensation suppressor 28. Accordingly, the condensation of the opening portion that comes into contact with the outside air after the outer box 10 comes into contact with the door 2 and the door 2 is opened can be suppressed by the heat radiation generated from the refrigerant passing through the condensation suppressor 28. In the present embodiment, a refrigeration cycle using the compressor 26 is employed, but a stirling refrigerator may be employed.

The refrigerant having passed through the condensation suppressor 28 radiates heat at the side surface or the back surface of the outer case 10, and then flows into the cooler 24 to exchange heat. The cooler 24 is located in a cooler accommodating chamber 31 enclosed by the partition 37 and the heat insulator 11. A defrosting heater 29 for melting and removing frost generated in the cooler 24 is provided below the cooler 24. The drain water generated during defrosting flows down the water guide pipe 29a once and is then discharged to the evaporation pan 29c provided above the compressor 26 through the drain hole 29 b.

< sub-machine 1a >

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the handset 1a, and the flow of the cold air is indicated by arrows.

The outer box 10a forming the outer contour of the slave unit 1a is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape so as to be easily connected to the master unit 1, and is made of, for example, a thin metal plate. The insulator 11a having a sufficiently lower thermal conductivity than the outer case 10a is provided inside the outer case 10 a. The heat insulator 11a is filled with, for example, foamed polyurethane or foamed polystyrene, and a vacuum heat insulating material 12a is provided on a part of or all of the surfaces. An inner box 13a forming a storage room of the slave unit 1a is provided inside the heat insulator 11 a. The child machine storage room 14a enclosed by the inner box 13a and the drawer 2a has a plurality of drawers 15 a.

The substrate 17a that controls the operation of the slave unit 1a is positioned on the upper surface of the housing 10a and is covered with a detachable substrate cover 18 a. An in-box temperature sensor 39a and in-box illumination 21a are provided in the inner box 13a, and are electrically connected to the substrate 17 a. The board 17a of the slave unit 1a can also be electrically connected to the board 17 of the master unit 1, and the slave unit 1a is controlled in accordance with an instruction from the board 17 of the master unit 1.

An air duct 30a is provided on the back side of the inner case 13a of the slave unit 1a, and the air duct 30a circulates the cold air sucked from the master unit 1a in the slave unit 1a and then returns the air to the master unit 1. The duct 30a includes a slave machine storage room duct 32a for sending cold air to the slave machine storage room 14a, a slave machine sending duct 34a for sucking cold air from the master machine 1, a slave machine return duct 35a for circulating air to the master machine 1, and a slave machine return duct inlet 36 a. The slave storage room duct 32a is provided with one or more cold air outlets 38a for delivering cold air to the slave storage room 14 a.

< flow of cold air after connecting the master unit 1 and the slave unit 1a >

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the communicating air duct formed by connecting the master unit 1 and the slave unit 1a, as viewed from the front side and from the top, of the air duct 30 of the master unit 1 and the air duct 30a of the slave unit 1 a. In fig. 6, solid arrows indicate the flow of the cold air before passing through the sub-machine storage room 14a, and dotted arrows indicate the flow of the cold air after passing through the sub-machine storage room 14 a.

As shown in the drawing, the cold air flowing out of the cooler storage chamber 31 of the main unit 1 flows through either one or both of the main unit storage chamber duct 32 and the main unit conveyance duct 34 depending on the state of the damper 25, not shown. The cold air flowing through the main unit supply duct 34 passes through the sub unit supply duct 34a, flows into the sub unit storage room duct 32a, and is supplied from the cold air outlet 38a to the sub unit storage room 14 a. The air delivered to the slave unit storage room 14a flows into the slave unit return duct 35a from the slave unit return duct inlet 36a, passes through the master unit return duct 35, and is then ejected to the master unit storage room 14 from the master unit return duct outlet 36. The air flowing out of the main unit return duct outlet 36 flows into the cooler accommodating chamber 31 again together with the air in the main unit storage chamber 14, and becomes a circulation system.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating air passage control of the refrigerator. When the operation of the refrigerator is started, the compressor 26 and the fan 23 of the main unit 1 are driven to generate cold air. Since the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are not necessarily connected to each other, the board 17 of the base unit 1 controls the damper 25 to an angle at which the cold air is supplied to the base unit storage chamber 14 in step S1 (base unit mode).

In step S2, the board 17 of the base unit 1 acquires information such as whether the sub unit 1a is connected or the number of connected units, and the temperature of the sub unit storage room 14a based on the connection state with the board 17a of the sub unit 1a and the input from the board 17 a. In step S3, the board 17 of the base unit 1 displays information of the slave unit 1a on the operation unit 22 of the base unit 1, the smartphone application, or the like.

In step S4, the board 17 of the base unit 1 determines whether or not there is a connected slave unit 1a, and when it is determined that the slave unit 1a is connected to the base unit 1, the dew condensation inhibitor 28a of the slave unit 1a is operated as necessary, and then the damper 25 is controlled to an angle (slave unit mode) for feeding the air to the slave unit 1a in step S5, thereby feeding the cold air to the slave unit 1 a.

In step S6, when the temperature T1 in the slave unit storage room 14a obtained by the in-box temperature sensor 39a of the slave unit 1a is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value, the board 17 of the master unit 1 holds the damper 25 in the slave unit mode, and intensively cools the slave unit storage room 14 a. Conversely, when the temperature T1 is lower than the threshold value, it is determined that the slave storage room 14a is sufficiently cooled, and the process returns to step S1 to set the damper 25 to the master mode.

< thermal bridge suppression part 56 >

Here, the thermal bridge suppression unit 56 of the present embodiment provided to suppress condensation near the connection surfaces 4 and 4a will be described in detail with reference to fig. 8 and 9.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the heat bridge suppressing portion 56 formed in the outer box opening portion 50 of the base unit 1 shown in fig. 1, as viewed from obliquely right above. The same heat bridge suppressing portion 56a is also provided in the case opening portion 50a of the slave unit 1a, but the master unit 1 side will be described below, and the redundant description of the slave unit 1a side will be omitted.

As shown in fig. 8, an outer box opening portion 50 having a substantially rectangular shape is opened on the connection surface 4 of the base unit 1 inside an outer box opening edge 51, and an air duct connection portion 52, an air duct exposure portion 53, a delivery port 54, a return port 55, and a heat bridge suppression portion 56 are exposed here. The size of the external box opening 50 on the master unit 1 side is preferably substantially the same as the size of the external box opening 50a on the slave unit 1a side. This is because: if the opening areas of the two are different, the smaller opening areas of the outer box openings 50, 50a are closer to the air ducts 30, 30a and become thermal bridges for transferring heat between the outer box 10 and the air duct 30 or between the outer box 10a and the air duct 30a, but if the opening areas are substantially the same, it is possible to suppress the heat bridge from being formed in either one of them. For the same reason, the outer box opening edges 51 and 51a are also preferably substantially the same shape.

The duct connecting portion 52 is an end portion of the duct 30 of the base unit 1 and is a portion that substantially abuts against the duct 30a of the slave unit 1 a. The duct connecting portion 52 has a delivery port 54 and a return port 55, the delivery port 54 being an end portion of the main unit delivery duct 34 for delivering the cold air from the main unit 1 to the slave unit 1a, and the return port 55 being an end portion of the main unit return duct 35 for circulating the air from the slave unit 1a to the main unit 1. The opening sizes of the delivery port 54 and the return port 55 are substantially the same as the delivery port 54a and the return port 55a provided in the duct connecting portion 52a of the handset 1 a. Further, most of the air duct connecting portion 52 is covered with the insulator 11, but the tip of the air duct connecting portion 52 is exposed from the insulator 11. Hereinafter, the exposed portion at the end of the air duct connecting portion 52 is particularly referred to as an air duct exposed portion 53.

In the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment, since the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are connected to each other as necessary in the structure, a part of the air duct 30 (the air duct exposing portion 53) of the base unit 1 is exposed from the heat insulator 11, but when the air duct exposing portion 53 at the cool air temperature and the metal outer box 10 at the outside air temperature are brought close to each other and heat exchange is performed therebetween, dew condensation may occur on the surface of the outer box 10 after cooling.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to suppress heat conduction (thermal bridge) between the air duct exposure portion 53 and the outer box 10 outside the heat insulator 11, the outer surface of the heat insulator 11 located inside the outer box opening portion 50 and outside the air duct exposure portion 53 is covered with the thermal bridge suppression portion 56. This can prevent the outer box 10 from condensation due to heat exchange and cooling with the duct exposure portion 53.

Fig. 9 is an example of a cross-sectional view of the thermal bridge suppression unit 56 of the base unit 1 and the thermal bridge suppression unit 56a of the slave unit 1a facing the base unit. In order to avoid redundant description, the configuration of the master unit 1 will be described below, and the configuration of the slave unit 1a will not be described. The heat bridge suppression unit 56 of the base unit 1 and the heat bridge suppression unit 56a of the slave unit 1a do not necessarily have the same shape.

The thermal bridge suppression unit 56 of the present embodiment is a mechanism for increasing a creeping distance (a shortest distance along the surface) which is a heat transfer path from the outer case opening edge 51 of the outer case 10 to the air duct exposure portion 53 of the air duct 30, and by increasing the creeping distance between the two, heat transfer from the high-temperature outer case opening edge 51 to the low-temperature air duct exposure portion 53 (i.e., cooling in the vicinity of the outer case opening edge 51 of the outer case 10) is suppressed, thereby preventing the occurrence of dew condensation.

Specifically, by configuring the cross-sectional shape of the heat-bridge suppressing portion 56 as a housing structure including a plurality of bent portions, the creepage distance of the heat-bridge suppressing portion 56 is made longer than the linear distance between the duct exposing portion 53 and the outer box opening edge 51. In fig. 9, the heat insulator 11 filled with a heat insulating material such as foamed urethane is formed between the heat bridge suppressing portion 56 and the inner box 13, and heat is sufficiently insulated, so that heat leakage between the outer box opening edge 51 and the duct exposing portion 53 is generated by heat conduction along the outer contour surface of the heat bridge suppressing portion 56. By providing the thermal bridge suppression portion 56 of the present embodiment, the distance (creepage distance) for heat conduction is longer than the shortest distance between the air duct exposure portion 53 and the outer box opening edge 51, so that heat conduction can be suppressed and the temperature difference between the air duct exposure portion 53 and the outer box 10 can be maintained large, as compared with a structure in which the air duct exposure portion 53 and the outer box opening edge 51 are brought close to each other. That is, the outer case 10 can be prevented from being cooled by heat leakage generated from the air duct 30 and from being condensed.

In order to further suppress heat leakage, it is preferable that the thermal bridge suppression portion 56 be formed of a resin material having a lower thermal conductivity than the outer case 10, and have a small plate thickness. In the present embodiment, the heat bridge suppressing portion 56 is provided substantially concentrically with the air duct exposing portion 53 so as to surround the air duct exposing portion 53 located substantially at the center of the outer box opening portion 50, but may be provided at least in the direction of the surface where dew condensation is likely to occur. That is, in the present embodiment, the thermal bridge suppression portion 56 may be located on the rear side of the outer case 10. Accordingly, the opening area of the outer box opening 50 can be made smaller, and the strength can be easily ensured.

In the heat-bridge suppressing portion 56 of the present embodiment, one or more air insulating chambers 57 are formed between the duct exposed portion 53 of the duct 30 and the outer box opening edge 51 by the plurality of bent portions. The air insulation chamber 57 shares a space filled with air with the air insulation chamber 57a on the handset 1a side. The thermal conductivity of the air in this space is close to that of the heat insulator 11, and the amount of heat that permeates through the air insulation chambers 57, 57a from the duct exposure portions 53, 53a is small. That is, heat leakage from the duct exposure portions 53 and 53a is transmitted between the heat bridge suppression portions 56 and 56a by heat conduction, so that heat leakage can be suppressed and dew condensation can be prevented. In other words, the air insulation chambers 57 and 57a can suppress thermal bridges other than the thermal bridge suppression portions 56 and 56 a.

A seal member 58 is provided inside the heat bridge suppression portion 56. The sealing member 58 has two holes for passing air therethrough, and seals the air duct connecting portion 52 of the base unit 1 and the air duct connecting portion 52a of the slave unit 1a in a sealed manner to prevent leakage of cold air. That is, if the upstream side of the heat leak is the surface of the refrigerator 100 which comes into contact with the cold air and the downstream side is the surface of the refrigerator 100 which comes into contact with the outside air after the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are connected and assembled, the sealing member 58, the heat bridge suppressing portion 56, and the outer box opening edge 51 are arranged in this order from the upstream side. Further, since the sealing member 58 is inserted into the duct connecting portions 52 and 52a in a fitted manner, a positioning effect is also obtained when the base unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are connected.

Condensation inhibitors 28, 28a are provided in the vicinity of the heat bridge inhibitors 56, 56 a. Accordingly, even under conditions where the temperature of the cold air flowing through the air ducts 30, 30a is low and dew condensation is likely to occur, dew condensation can be stably suppressed. Further, condensation in the air-insulated chambers 57, 57a can also be suppressed. The dew condensation suppressors 28 and 28a may be electric heaters or flow paths through which a high-temperature refrigerant flows.

As described above, in the refrigerator of the present embodiment, by providing the heat bridge suppressing portion 56 in the air duct connecting portion 52, the heat bridge suppressing portion 56 actively conducts heat while suppressing the heat bridge of other components, so that the heat leakage from the air duct exposing portion 53 can be suppressed, and the condensation of the outer box 10 can be suppressed. Even if the linear distance between outer box opening edges 51 and 51a and air duct 30 is shortened, by providing heat- bridge suppression portions 56 and 56a, the path (creeping distance) of heat leakage from air ducts 30 and 30a can be made longer than the shortest distance, and air duct 30 can be disposed at a position closer to the surface of refrigerator 100. That is, when the master unit 1 and the slave unit 1a are assembled, since the master unit is easily recognized and easily reached by hand, there is an effect that the refrigerator 100 can be easily divided and assembled.

In the present embodiment, the slave unit 1a is connected to the right side of the master unit 1, but the thermal bridge suppression unit 56 is provided on either the left, right, upper, and lower sides, thereby obtaining the same effect. Further, even when the base unit 1 is connected to the plurality of slave units 1a or when the plurality of base units 1 are connected to the plurality of slave units 1a, the same effect is obtained because a thermal bridge structure is provided.

(example 2)

Next, a refrigerator 100 of embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described using fig. 10. Note that a repeated explanation of common points with embodiment 1 is omitted.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the thermal bridge suppression parts 60 and 60a in example 2. As shown in the drawing, the cross-sectional shape of the heat bridge suppression portions 60 and 60a of the present embodiment is a case structure including a plurality of bent portions, and the creeping distance is longer than the shortest distance between the duct exposure portion 53 of the duct 30 and the outer box opening edge 51, as in embodiment 1. In addition, the heat bridge suppression portions 60 and 60a of the present embodiment have a sandwich structure 61 sandwiched between the heat insulators 11 and 11a between the air duct exposure portion 53 and the surface of the refrigerator 100. The sandwich structure 61 is configured by fitting a concave portion 62 and a convex portion 62a, wherein the concave portion 62 is a concave portion in which the heat bridge suppression portion 60 of the base unit 1 is depressed from the connection surface 4 toward the inside of the heat insulator 11, and the convex portion 62a is a convex portion in which the heat bridge suppression portion 60a of the handset 1a is projected from the connection surface 4 toward the outside of the heat insulator 11. In order to further suppress condensation between the heat- bridge suppression portions 60 and 60a, the heat- bridge suppression portions 60 and 60a are preferably in close contact.

According to the structure of the present embodiment, the heat leakage except for the heat bridge suppressing portions 60 and 60a can be suppressed because the periphery of the heat bridge suppressing portions 60 and 60a is surrounded by the heat insulating material having low thermal conductivity between the air duct 30 and the surface of the refrigerator 100. Further, the concave portion 62 and the convex portion 62a also facilitate positioning of the air duct connecting portions 52, 52 a. Further, by providing the base unit 1 side having the cooler 24 with the recess 62, when the base unit 1 is used alone, it is possible to suppress the air duct connecting portion 52 from protruding from the outer box 10 and the outer dimension from being unnecessarily large, but the arrangement of the irregularities may be reversed.

Further, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the dew condensation suppressor 28 can be brought closer to the dew condensation surface, so that dew condensation can be reduced as compared with the configuration of embodiment 1.

(example 3)

Next, a refrigerator 100 according to embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 11. In addition, a duplicate description of points common to the above embodiments is omitted.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the thermal bridge suppression parts 70 and 70a in example 3. In examples 1 and 2, the thermal bridge suppression portions 56 and 60 and the like formed of a resin material or the like are used, but in the present embodiment, the arrangement of such objects is omitted. That is, in the heat bridge suppression portions 70 and 70a of the present embodiment, the heat insulators 11 and 11a are exposed between the air duct exposure portion 53 and the surface of the refrigerator 100. Air or a heat insulating material is filled between the duct exposure portions 53 and 53a and the outer box opening edges 51 and 51a, and the heat conduction is low. Since the heat insulating material is, for example, a foamed resin which is difficult to be hydrolyzed, even if dew condensation occurs on the surface of the heat insulating material, the problem is not so great, and the surface of the foamed resin may be thinly coated with another resin. The heat bridge suppression portions 70 and 70a need not be integral with the heat insulators 11 and 11a, and may be formed of expanded polystyrene separately from the heat insulators 11 and 11a and inserted around the duct exposure portion 53.

According to the structure of the present embodiment, the thermal bridge suppression portions 70 and 70a themselves are portions having low thermal conductivity between the air duct 30 and the surface of the refrigerator 100, and therefore dew condensation due to heat leakage can be suppressed. Moreover, condensation of the heat bridge suppression portions 70 and 70a themselves can be suppressed.

Claims (6)

1. A refrigerator is formed by connecting and assembling an air duct exposed part arranged on a connecting surface of a mother machine and an air duct exposed part arranged on a connecting surface of a son machine,

the main unit is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour including a connection surface of the main unit, an inner box forming a storage chamber, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, a cooler generating cool air, and an air duct for circulating the cool air from the cooler,

the slave unit is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour including a connection surface of the slave unit, an inner box forming a storage compartment, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, and an air duct for circulating cool air from the master unit,

the master unit and the slave unit are each provided with a heat bridge suppressing portion between the air duct exposed portion and the outer box, the creeping distance of the heat bridge suppressing portion is longer than the straight distance between the air duct exposed portion and the outer box,

the heat bridge suppressing portion suppresses the occurrence of dew condensation on the outer box of the base unit and the occurrence of dew condensation on the outer box of the slave unit when the air duct exposing portion of the base unit and the air duct exposing portion of the slave unit are connected.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1,

the heat bridge suppressing portion is a housing structure having a plurality of bent portions between the duct exposed portion and the outer box.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2,

the thermal bridge suppression section is made of a resin material having a lower thermal conductivity than the outer case.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 2,

the thermal bridge suppression section forms an air insulation chamber by the plurality of bent sections.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 2,

a concave portion which is concave toward the inner side is formed on the heat bridge suppressing portion of the mother machine,

a convex portion protruding outward is formed on the heat bridge suppressing portion of the slave unit,

the air duct exposure portion of the master unit is connected to the air duct exposure portion of the slave unit by fitting the convex portion of the slave unit into the concave portion of the master unit.

6. A refrigerator is formed by connecting and assembling an air duct exposed part arranged on a connecting surface of a mother machine and an air duct exposed part arranged on a connecting surface of a son machine,

the main unit is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour including a connection surface of the main unit, an inner box forming a storage chamber, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, a cooler generating cool air, and an air duct for circulating the cool air from the cooler,

the slave unit is provided with an outer box forming an outer contour including a connection surface of the slave unit, an inner box forming a storage chamber, a heat insulator suppressing heat leakage from the inner box to the outer box, and an air duct for circulating cool air from the master unit,

the master unit and the slave unit are each provided with a heat bridge suppressing portion between the air duct exposing portion and the outer box, the heat bridge suppressing portion exposing a part of the heat insulator,

the heat bridge suppressing portion suppresses occurrence of dew condensation on the outer box of the base unit and dew condensation on the outer box of the slave unit when the air duct exposing portion of the base unit and the air duct exposing portion of the slave unit are connected.

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