Patent Grant
8230696
The present invention relates to a device equipped with a cooling mechanism in which a cooling mechanism and an electric component box for accommodating various electric components which control the cooling mechanism are disposed in a machine room defined inside a housing.
In an ice making machine, a refrigerator or the like, an ice making section or a cooling mechanism for cooling the interior of the refrigerator is disposed in a machine room defined inside a housing. The cooling mechanism basically includes a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, and an evaporator, and the condenser in use is of an air cooling type which executes compulsive cooling with a cooling fan disposed in the machine room to perform heat exchange with a coolant.
The structure that relates to the heat exchange of the air cooling type condenser will be described briefly. A large opening is formed in the front portion of the housing which is the main body of the ice making machine, refrigerator or the like at a position corresponding to the machine room defined inside, and is sealed in such a way as to be opened and closed by a front panel. The front panel has an air inlet port and an air discharge port provided therein, so that outside air sucked through the air inlet port by rotating the cooling fan disposed in the machine room contacts the condenser for heat exchange, and is then discharged outside through the air discharge port. In this case, various kinds of dust are sucked through the air inlet port along with the air, and a part of the dust adheres to and is deposited on the outer surface of the condenser with elapse of time. This results in a reduction in the heat exchange efficiency in the condenser, which may lead to overheating or the like thereof to cause malfunction thereof.
In this respect, a structure is employed which adapts the front panel in such a way that a filter for collecting dust is detachably mounted to the front panel at a position corresponding to the air inlet port, and removes dust contained in air with a filter mounted to the front panel before the dust contacts the condenser (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the cooling mechanism equipped-device, an electric component box accommodating various electric components which control the cooling mechanism is disposed in the machine room (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In the device described in Patent Document 2, a display section which displays the temperature in the refrigerator and an operation panel or the like for inputting a set temperature are provided at the front surface of the electric component box, and the front surface of the electric component box is structured in such a way that the operation panel or the like faces a window portion opened in the front panel to be easily operated.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-304414
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-156096
Operational members which are not operated during normal operation, such as a main power switch and a switch for effecting services like repair and maintenance, are also disposed in the electric component box. With the structure where the front surface of the electric component box is exposed as in the Patent Document 2, a worker who is doing another work in front of the device or an object may contact the operational members, so that the operational members are operated accidentally. To prevent an unintentional operation, it is therefore necessary to provide an open/close door to close the window portion opened in the front panel in an openable/closable manner so that the front surface of the electric component box is covered normally. That is, in addition to the work of mounting the filter in the aforementioned manner, the front panel should be worked to provide the open/close door, thus complicating the structure of the panel and increasing the number of working processes. This brings about the problem of increasing the manufacturing cost.
Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed to solve the inherent problem of the cooling mechanism equipped-device according to the related art, and it is an object of the invention to provide a device equipped with a cooling mechanism which can prevent an erroneous operation of operational members provided in an electric component box without making complex working to the front panel.
To overcome the problem and achieve the desired object, a device equipped with a cooling mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the cooling mechanism includes a condenser or the like disposed in a machine room defined inside a housing, and a suction part provided at a front panel sealing an opening formed in a front portion of the housing which corresponds to the machine room, so that outside air sucked into the machine room through the suction part contacts the condenser for heat exchange, characterized in that
an electric component box accommodating an electric part for controlling the cooling mechanism is disposed in the machine room in such a way that an operational member provided at a front surface of the electric component box faces a rear side of an inserting/withdrawing opening formed in the front panel at a portion upper than a forming location of the suction part and penetrating in a to-and-fro direction, and
a base portion closing the inserting/withdrawing opening to cover a front side of the operational member, is provided at a filter insertable in and withdrawable from the inserting/withdrawing opening and covering a rear side of the suction part when inserted in the front panel rearward from a front side thereof.
According to the subject matter of claim 1, an erroneous operation of the operational member can be prevented as the front side of the operational member in the electric component box which faces the rear side of the inserting/withdrawing opening for mounting the filter to the front panel is covered with the base portion of the filter mounted to the front panel. That is, it is unnecessary to provide an opening or an open/close door for operating the operational member, thus making it possible to simplify the structure of the panel and to lower the manufacturing cost.
The gist of the subject matter of claim 2 is that an eaves extending frontward is provided at the front side of the electric component box in a predetermined length in a widthwise direction and above the operational member, and an upper surface of the eaves is inclined upward in a frontward direction of the upper surface.
According to the subject matter of claim 2, dew condensation or the like falling down to the front surface of the electric component box can be inhibited from reaching the portion of layout of the operational member with the eaves, thus preventing moisture from entering the box from the layout portion and causing corrosion of electric components, electric leakage or the like.
The gist of the subject matter of claim 3 is that a recess having substantially a same width as that of the inserting/withdrawing opening, recessed rearward, and open upward, downward and frontward is provided at a front portion of an upper wall of the front panel.
According to the subject matter of claim 3, as the recess is formed on the front side of the upper portion of the inserting/withdrawing opening, the filter can be easily inserted into the inserting/withdrawing opening from obliquely above, and pulled out obliquely upward therefrom.
The gist of the subject matter of claim 4 is that the filter is formed in an arcuate shape with a front side being an inner peripheral side, and a preventing piece protruding in such a way as to be inclined frontward in an upward direction from a lower end of the front side of the filter is provided at the lower end of the front side of the filter.
According to the subject matter of claim 4, at the time the filter is inserted through the inserting/withdrawing opening, the preventing piece can prevent the lower end of the filter from being hooked, thus achieving smooth insertion.
The device equipped with a cooling mechanism according to the present invention can prevent an erroneous operation of the operational member provided in the electric component box without making complex working to the front panel.
Next, a device equipped with a cooling mechanism according to the present invention will be described below by way of a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the description of the embodiment will be given of an ice making machine as an example of a device equipped with a cooling mechanism, it is not limited to an ice making machine, and can be any devices equipped with a cooling mechanism, such as a refrigerator or a freezer. The terms “front”, “rear”, “left”, and “right” are used herein when viewing an ice making machine from the front side as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The front panel 20 is formed in a rectangular box shape open rearward, and has an outside diameter set to the size which can cover the opening 11a of the housing 11. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
An engagement claw 29b elastically deformable in the up and down direction is provided on the top surface of the upper wall 29 of the front panel 20 at a position corresponding to each engagement hole 15c provided at the front cover member 15 (see
As shown in
As shown in
A base portion 38 protruding frontward is formed at a portion of the filter 34 above the forming portion of the opening 35a in the main body 35, and a dent portion 38a recessed rearward is formed at approximately the vertical center of the base portion 38. The outer size and shape of the base portion 38 are set in such a way that the base portion 38 can be inserted into the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 of the front panel 20 to close the inserting/withdrawing opening 28, and with the main body 35 inserted into the rear side of the front panel 20, as the base portion 38 is fitted into the inserting/withdrawing opening 28, the filter 34 is positioned and held at the front panel 20. With the filter 34 mounted to the front panel 20, the upper end of the base portion 38 faces downward from the top surface of the front panel 20, and the upper portion of the base portion 38 faces the interior of the recess 29a formed in the upper wall 29 of the front panel 20. As shown in
As shown in
The electric component box 42 accommodating electric components, such as a microcomputer board to control the operation of the cooling mechanism 13 is disposed on the front plate 22 of the housing 11. A power switch 43 and a service switch 44 as operational members for operating the internal electric components are provided at the front surface of the electric component box 42, so that the power switch 43 and the service switch 44 can be operated from the front side. As shown in
As shown in
[Operation of Embodiment]
The operation of the ice making machine according to the embodiment will be described below.
First, procedures of mounting and dismounting the front panel 20 and the filter 34 will be described.
As shown in
The filter 34 is inserted in the front panel 20 mounted to the housing 11 from the lower end side of the main body 35 through the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 from the front side of the front panel 20. At this time, the lower ends of both widthwise sides of the filter 34 abut on the first guide parts 31, 31, and are surely guided downward, so that the filter 34 is not inserted in the machine room. The left and right side portions of the filter 34 which is guided downward by the first guide parts 31, 31 are guided to abut on the second guide parts 32, 32, so that the filter 34 is surely inserted to the position covering the entire suction louvers 25 on the rear side of the front panel 20. What is more, as the main body 35 of the filter 34 is curved and elastically deformable, the work of inserting the main body 35 into the rear side of the front panel 20 can be carried out smoothly. Then, as the base portion 38 is fitted in the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 (see
When the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 is open only frontward, the insertion angle defined by the filter 34 and the front surface of the front cover member 15 needs to be increased at the time the filter 34 is inserted into the inserting/withdrawing opening 28, increasing the resistance at the time the lower ends of the filter 34 abuts on the first guide parts 31 and is guided downward. Because the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 is also open upward through the recess 29a formed in the upper wall 29, as shown in
In the work of inserting the filter 34 into the front panel 20, the lower end of the filter 34, whose main body 35 is curved so that its front surface becomes the inner peripheral side to facilitate the inserting work, move frontward and thus can enter the suction port between the upper and lower slats 27, 27 during the insertion of the filter 34. In this case, because the preventing pieces 41, 41 are formed at the front surfaces of the lower ends of the left and right sides of the filter 34 in the embodiment, when the filter's lower end moves frontward, the inclined surfaces 41a, 41a of the preventing pieces 41, 41 abut on the rear ends of the slats 27. As the filter 34 is inserted further in this situation, the lower end of the filter 34 moves rearward while the inclined surfaces 41a, 41a of the preventing pieces 41, 41 are in abutment on the rear ends of the slats 27. That is, in the work of inserting the filter 34, the preventing pieces 41, 41 prevent the lower end of the filter 34 from entering the suction ports, thus achieving smooth insertion.
As the cooling fan disposed in the machine room 14 is rotated, the outside air is sucked into the machine room 14 through the suction louver 25 and the filter 34. The air is sucked into the condenser 17 from the air suction side to be subjected to heat exchange, is ejected toward the compressor 18 from the cooling fan to be subjected to heat exchange with the compressor 18, and is then discharged outside from the discharge louver 26.
The power switch 43 and the service switch 44 in the electric component box 42 disposed in the machine room 14 have their front sides covered with the base portion 38 of the filter 34, they are not touched by a worker performing a needed work in front of the ice making machine 10 or an object and are not erroneously operated. When the operation of the power switch 43 or the service switch 44 is necessary, pulling the filter 34 out of the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 releases the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 to expose the power switch 43 and the service switch 44 frontward, thus making it possible to easily operate the power switch 43 or the service switch 44 through the inserting/withdrawing opening 28.
That is, in the ice making machine 10 according to the embodiment, the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 for mounting the filter 34 is also used as an opening for operating the power switch 43 and the service switch 44, and the base portion 38 of the filter 34 is used as an open/close door to open/close the operational opening. Therefore, the front panel 20 need not be provided with an exclusive opening and an exclusive open/close door for permitting the operation of the power switch 43 and the service switch 44, thus making it possible to simplify the structure and lower the manufacturing cost.
At the time the power switch 43 or the service switch 44 is operated, or when dust adheres to the filter 34 over time as the condenser 17 is used, causing clogging, or the filter 34 needs to be cleaned or replaced to meet a demand for a predetermined inspection, the filter 34 can be detached from the front panel 20 very easily by holding the hand holding part 38b of the filter 34 with fingers and pulling the filter 34 out of the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 obliquely upward. In this case, because the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 is also open upward through the recess 29a of the upper wall 29, it is easy to pull the filter 34 out of the inserting/withdrawing opening 28. That is, when the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 is open only frontward, for example, the base portion 38 alone needs to be elastically deformed significantly to pull the base portion 38, fitted in the inserting/withdrawing opening 28, out thereof, so that excessive force is applied to the joint portion of the base portion 38 and the main body 35. Because the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 is also open upward through the recess 29a in the embodiment, however, the filter 34 can be pulled out of the inserting/withdrawing opening 28 without causing significant elastic deformation of the base portion 38. Note that because the work of inserting and pulling the filter 34 into and out of the front panel 20 is easy as mentioned above, the work of removing the filter 34 which is needed to operate the power switch 43 or the service switch 44 is not troublesome.
Dew condensation produced on the front surface of the front cover member 15 by the operation of the ice making machine 10 falls down to the lower end of the front cover member 15, reaches the front plate 22 of the housing 11 along the bottom surface, and then flows down to the layout position of the electric component box 42. Further, dew condensation produced directly on the front plate 22 also flows down to the layout position of the electric component box 42. In this case, as shown in
It is to be noted that to dismount the front panel 20 from the housing 11 at the time of performing maintenance of the cooling mechanism 13 or the like disposed in the machine room 14, a tool like a minus driver is inserted between the front panel 20 and the front cover member 15 through the clearance S to disengage the engagement claws 29b from the respective engagement holes 15c. Then, the upper portion of the front panel 20 is inclined until it comes frontward of the front cover member 15, after which the front panel 20 is lifted up to pull the engagement pieces 23a of the support plate 23 out of the engagement holes 33a of the lower wall 33. As a result, the front panel 20 can be dismounted from the housing 11, releasing the opening 11a. The embodiment is structured in such a way that in this case, the mounting/dismounting of the front panel 20 to/from the housing 11 can be done without using fixing means, such as a screw. It is to be noted however that as the vertical size of the clearance S is set so that fingers do not enter the clearance S, the front panel 20 cannot be dismounted unless a tool which can be inserted into the clearance S is used, thus suppressing unnecessary accesses to the interior of the machine room.
[Modifications]
The present application is not limited to the structure of the foregoing embodiment, and other structures can be adopted as needed.
1. Although the power switch and service switch are mentioned as operational members to be disposed in the electric component box in the embodiment, which are not restrictive, and may be a setting dial, a fuse or the like for setting various other conditions, such as the ice making time and the number of cycles to entirely discharge ice making water.
2. Although the description of the embodiment has been given of the case where the suction louver as the suction part and the discharge louver as a discharge part are provided in line at the front panel, only the suction part needs to be provided at the front panel, while the discharge part may be provided at the side plate, the rear plate, the base plate or the like of the housing or at any other portion.
3. While a louver is employed as an outside air suction part in the embodiment, a plurality of through holes may be formed instead.
4. While preventing pieces are provided on both left and right sides of the film in the embodiment, the number of the preventing pieces provided and the layout positions thereof are not limited to those of the embodiment, the preventing pieces may be provided at the lower frame members constituting the main body and extending horizontally.
5. Although the foregoing description of the embodiment has been given of a device having a machine room defined on the lower side of the housing, the embodiment is applicable to a device having the machine room defined on the upper side of the housing.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2006/319076 | 9/26/2006 | WO | 00 | 11/14/2008 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008/038341 | 4/3/2008 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6096177 | Kamitani et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| H2-38017 | Mar 1990 | JP |
| 2000-304413 | Nov 2000 | JP |
| 2000-304414 | Nov 2000 | JP |
| 2002-243347 | Aug 2002 | JP |
| 2006-156096 | Jun 2005 | JP |
| 2006-105433 | Apr 2006 | JP |
| 2006-153336 | Jun 2006 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090126383 A1 | May 2009 | US |
