The present invention relates to a supercooling apparatus which can maintain an object in a supercooled state, and more particularly, to a supercooling apparatus which can maintain water in a supercooled state, wherein, when a user imparts an impact to a container containing water, water in the container is phase-transited into a slush state where ice crystals and liquid coexist.
In addition, the present invention relates to a supercooling apparatus applied to a freezing chamber of a general refrigerator so as to maintain water in a supercooled state.
Supercooling means a phenomenon where a molten object or a solid cooled to below a phase transition temperature in a balanced state is not changed. A material has stable states by temperatures. In a case where a temperature is slowly changed, elements composing the material keep pace with the temperature variations, maintaining stable states at each temperature. However, in a case where the temperature is sharply changed, the elements can not enter stable states at each temperature. Therefore, the elements maintain a stable state of a start point temperature, or some of the elements fail to enter a state of a final point temperature.
For example, when water is slowly cooled, it is not frozen temporarily below 0° C. However, when an object enters a supercooled state, it has a kind of quasi-stable state. Since such an unstable balanced state is easily broken by slight stimulation, the object tends to be transited into a more stable state. That is, if a small piece of material is put into the supercooled liquid, or if the liquid is suddenly shaken, the liquid is frozen at once, so that a temperature of the liquid reaches a freezing point. The liquid maintains a stable balanced state at the temperature.
Normally, in a state where an electrostatic field atmosphere is made in a refrigerator, meat and fish are thawed at a minus temperature in the refrigerator. Moreover, fruit is freshly maintained in the refrigerator.
This technology adopts the supercooling phenomenon. According to the supercooling phenomenon, although a molten object or a solid is cooled below a phase transition temperature in a balanced state, it is not changed.
Examples using the technology include an electrostatic field processing method, an electrostatic field processing apparatus, and electrodes therefor in Korean Laid-Open Patent 2000-0011081.
When a user opens a door 6 installed at the front of the heat insulation apparatus 1, a safety switch 13 (not shown; refer to
The applied voltage is regulated by an regulation knob 15a on a secondary side of the voltage regulation transformer 15. The regulated voltage value is displayed on a voltmeter. The regulation knob 15a is connected from the secondary side of the voltage regulation transformer 15 to a primary side of a boosting transformer 17. For example, the boosting transformer 17 boosts a voltage at a ratio of 1:50. If 60 V of voltage is applied, the voltage is boosted to 3000 V.
One end O1 of an output on the secondary side of the boosting transformer 17 is connected to the metal shelf 7 insulated from the heat insulation apparatus 1 through the high voltage cable 4, and the other end O2 of the output is grounded. Since the cuter wall 5 is grounded as well, even if the user touches the cuter wall 5 of the heat insulation apparatus 1, he/she does not get an electric shock. In addition, when the metal shelf 7 is exposed in the apparatus 1 as shown in
In the conventional art, an electric or magnetic field is applied to a stored cooled object so that the object can enter a supercooled state. A complicate apparatus for generating the electric or magnetic field is required to maintain the object in the supercooled state. In addition, power consumption considerably increases in the generation of the electric or magnetic field. Moreover, the apparatus for generating the electric or magnetic field further needs a user safety device (e.g., an electric or magnetic field shielding structure, a cutoff device, etc.) in the generation or cutoff of the electric field or magnetic field the to high power.
An object of the present invention is to provide a supercooling apparatus which can prevent liquid from being frozen at a temperature below a freezing point.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a supercooling apparatus which can be applied to a structure of a general refrigerator so as to maintain liquid contained in food or liquid in a supercooled state in the refrigerator.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a supercooling apparatus which can maintain an object (or food) in a supercooled state in a refrigeration apparatus with a simple configuration and low power.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a supercooling apparatus which can maintain an entire object in a supercooled state by locally heating a freezing portion of the object in a process of freezing the object in a container.
According to the present invention, there is provided a supercooling apparatus, including: a cooling chamber supplied with cool air; and a heating device for preventing freezing of water by heating air over a container storing an object mostly composed of liquid or liquid and cooled in the cooling chamber. In this configuration, the air over the container where ice crystals are easily formed is heated to prevent freezing of the liquid stored in the container and store the liquid in a supercooled state. Particularly, food containing a large amount of moisture, such as kimchi or watery radish kimchi can be freshly maintained for an extended period of time.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the heating device includes a main body formed in the shape of a cylinder with at least one open face. In this configuration, the heating device can be easily coupled to an upper portion of the water storage container mostly formed in a circular shape.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the heating device includes a heating wire to heat the container or the air which is in contact with the main body. In this configuration, the heating device can safely heat only the air over the storage container.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the heating device includes an inductor spaced apart from an upper portion of the main body, and the main body is made of metal.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the heating device is attached and detached to/from the container. In this configuration, a user can maintain an object or liquid of a target container in a supercooled state.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the main body is formed to surround a top and/or a side surface of the container.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the heating device includes a sealing member positioned at a lower portion of the cylinder-shaped main body to seal up the container and the heating device. In this configuration, cooling efficiency of the supercooling apparatus can be improved and power consumption for maintaining the supercooling can be reduced by intercepting the air of the heating device with a relatively high temperature and the air of the cooling chamber with a relatively low temperature.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the sealing member is an adhesive pad. In this configuration, the sealing member can reliably seal up the heating device and the container and can be recycled a few times.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the supercooling apparatus includes: a door for opening and closing the cooling chamber; and a separate room, which is a part of the cooling chamber, positioned on the door and opened and closed by a portion of the door. In this configuration, the user can take cut an object stored in the separate room of the cooling chamber to the outside of the cooling chamber without opening the door.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the heating device is positioned in the separate room. In this configuration, in a state where the cooling chamber is rarely affected by the heating device, the user can conveniently take out liquid and food stored in a supercooled state from the cooling chamber.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the cooling chamber includes a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and the heating device is positioned in the freezing chamber. In this configuration, liquid stored in the container can be stored at a temperature lower than a temperature of a maximum ice crystal formation zone without defining a separate cool air passage.
In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a supercooling apparatus, including: a cooling chamber for maintaining a cooling state at a temperature below zero; a container for storing an object mostly composed of liquid or liquid in the cooling chamber; and a heating device for preventing freezing of the liquid in at least a portion contacting the container containing the object or liquid.
Moreover, according to the present invention, there is provided a supercooling apparatus, including: a cooling chamber for maintaining a cooling state at a temperature below zero; a container for storing an object mostly composed of liquid or liquid in the cooling chamber; a heating device for preventing freezing of the liquid in the container; and a control device for controlling a temperature of the heating device to be over zero.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the supercooling apparatus further includes: a door for opening and closing the cooling chamber; and a separate room, which is a part of the cooling chamber, positioned on the door and opened and closed by a portion of the door, wherein the container and the heating device are positioned in the separate room. In this configuration, a user can take cut food or liquid stored in a supercooled state without opening the door of the cooling chamber.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the heating device is attached and detached to/from the container. In this configuration, the user can separate the heating device and take cut the container, selectively attach the heating device to the container, and decide whether to maintain foods stored in the respective containers in the supercooled state.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the heating device further includes a sealing member formed at a lower portion of the heating device to seal up a gap between the container and the heating device, when the heating device is attached to the container. In this configuration, heated air can be prevented from being transferred to the cooling chamber that should be maintained at a temperature below zero.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a supercooling apparatus, including: a first storage space maintained in a temperature range below zero; a second storage space maintained in a temperature range higher than the temperature range of the first storage space; and a container positioned over the first and second storage spaces to store an object mostly composed of liquid or liquid. In this configuration, the supercooling apparatus maintains the object or liquid of the container in a supercooled state.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the second storage space is maintained in a temperature range higher than a temperature range of a maximum ice crystal formation zone, or maintained in a normal temperature range. In this configuration, heat energy is applied to easily maintain the liquid and object in the supercooled state.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the second storage space is positioned in the first storage space, and sealed up with respect to the first storage space. As the second storage space is hermetically sealed to keep a constant temperature of maintaining the object and liquid in the supercooled state, the supercooled state can be provided with minium energy and high reliability.
According to the present invention, a supercooling apparatus can be easily applied to a general refrigerator without changing a structure of the refrigerator.
In addition, according to the present invention, a supercooling apparatus can store water in a supercooled state below a phase transition temperature without freezing water.
Moreover, according to the present invention, a supercooling apparatus can transit water stored in a supercooled state into a slush state by slight physical stimulation of a user.
Further, according to the present invention, a supercooling apparatus can improve power efficiency.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in
For example, it is assumed that a cooling temperature of the cooling space S is lowered from a normal temperature to a temperature below 0° C. (a phase transition temperature of water) or a phase transition temperature of the liquid L. While the cooling is carried cut, it is intended to maintain the water or liquid L in a supercooled state below a temperature (−1 to −5° C.) of a maximum ice crystal formation zone of water where ice crystal formation is maximized, or below a temperature of a maximum ice crystal formation zone of the liquid L.
The liquid L is evaporated during the cooling, so that vapor W1 flows into gas Lg (or space) in the container C. In a case where the container C is closed by a cover Ck, the gas Cg may be supersaturated the to the evaporated vapor W1. In this embodiment, the container C may selectively include the cover Ck. If the container C includes the cover Ck, it is possible to prevent direct inflow of cool air from the cooling space S, or to prevent a temperature of a surface Ls of the liquid L or a temperature of the gas Lg on the surface Ls of the liquid L from being lowered die to cool air.
When the cooling temperature reaches or exceeds the temperature of the maximum ice crystal formation zone of the liquid L, the liquid L forms ice crystal cores F1 in the gas Lg or ice crystal cores F2 on an inner wall of the container C. Otherwise, the liquid L is condensed in a contact portion between the surface Ls of the liquid L and the inner wall of the container C (almost same as the cooling temperature of the cooling space S). The condensed liquid L may form ice crystal cores F3.
For example, when the ice crystal cores F1 in the gas Lg are lowered and infiltrated into the liquid L through the surface Ls of the liquid L, the liquid L is released from the supercooled state and caused to be frozen.
In addition, since the ice crystal cores F3 are in contact with the surface Ls of the liquid L, the liquid L is released from the supercooled state and caused to be frozen.
As described above, according to the process of forming the ice crystal cores F1 to F3, when the liquid L is maintained below the temperature of the maximum ice crystal formation zone thereof, the liquid L is released from the supercooled state die to freezing of the vapor evaporated from the liquid L and existing on the surface Ls of the liquid L and freezing on the inner wall of the container C adjacent to the surface Ls of the liquid L.
In
Accordingly, the liquid L in the container C maintains the supercooled state below the phase transition temperature or the maximum ice crystal formation zone temperature thereof.
In
As shown in
A heating wire fixing member 122 for helping the heating wire 120 to be attached and fixed to the main body 110 is further provided at an upper portion of the main body 110. The main body 110 may be formed in various sizes. The supercooling apparatus may include a plurality of heating devices 100, e.g., a heating device 100 having a main body 110 with a small inner diameter according to a size of a container 200 storing liquid, and a heating device 100 having a main body 110 with a large inner diameter according to a size of a container 200 storing kimchi containing a large amount of liquid, etc. The container 200 accommodates liquid, and an object mostly composed of liquid or containing liquid at a high rate. The liquid and object are maintained in a supercooled state due to a heating operation of the heating device 100 and a cooling operation of the cooling chamber.
The heating device 100 heats the air existing in an inner space 140 of the heating device 100, i.e., in a space over the container 200. As set forth above, the heating device 100 can prevent freezing of vapor on a surface of the liquid and freezing on an inner wall of the container adjacent to the surface of the liquid. Accordingly, the heating device 100 can be installed in a cooling chamber of a general refrigerator to maintain liquid in a supercooled state without modifying a structure of the refrigerator.
The main body 110 should be sufficiently deep to surround the container 200 so as to heat at least an upper portion of the container 200. The depth of the main body 110 is set to heat the air over the object or liquid contained in the container 200, i.e., to apply most or entire heat energy to the upper portion of the object or liquid. Here, even if heat transfer occurs due to a convection or the like in the object or liquid, in a case where the container 200 is continuously cooled below a temperature range of a maximum ice crystal formation zone, a temperature of the object or liquid (e.g., an average temperature or a central point temperature of the object or liquid) can be maintained below the temperature range of the maximum ice crystal formation zone.
In a case where the main body 110 surrounds the entire container 200, heating may be stronger than cooling in the container 200. Therefore, the main body 110 preferably applies heat energy through a top of the container 200 and a side surface adjacent to the top. For example, the depth of the main body 110 is preferably set to be equivalent to a depth of an air layer on the object or liquid in the container 200, or a depth of a top surface of the object or liquid. The depth of the main body 110 surrounding the container 200 may be actively varied according to a height of the object or liquid in the container 200. Otherwise, a height of an object or liquid that can be contained in the general container 200 is estimated, and the main body 100 has a depth equivalent to the estimated height, i.e., a fixed depth.
Meanwhile, in a case where hot air of the inner space 140 and cool air of the cooling chamber are mixed, since a temperature of the upper portion of the container 200 is not sufficiently raised, ice crystals may be formed. In addition, as a temperature inside the cooling chamber is raised, cooling efficiency may be degraded. Therefore, the heating device 100 includes the sealing member 130 positioned at a lower portion of the main body 110, i.e., a portion being in contact with the container 200, thereby sealing up the inner space 140 from the cooling chamber. The sealing member 130 may be an adhesive pad (e.g., a rubber pad) with an excellent adhesion property. In the first embodiment of the present invention of
The main body 110 can be attached and detached to/from the top and side surface of the container 200. When the main body 110 is attached to the container 200, the inner space 140 surrounded by the main body 110 is sealed up by the sealing member 140.
The supercooling apparatus 1000 including the home bar has been explained by way of example. However, the present invention can be implemented into a supercooling apparatus 1000, wherein a heating device 100 is not positioned on the side of a freezing chamber door 1310 but in a cooling chamber.
In case of an object or liquid in the container 200 maintained in a supercooled state, when the user separates the container 200 from the heating device 100 and releases the supercooled state of the object or liquid by external force (e.g., external impact, shaking or taping of the container, electric impact, stimulation, etc.) the object or liquid is transited into a slush state. The user can drink the slush-state object or liquid.
The heating device 100 of
The configuration for controlling the heating device 100 and the power device by means of the microcomputer and the configuration for applying power from the power device to the heating device 100 are easily understood by those skilled in the art.
The scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and the drawings, but defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2007-0093894 | Sep 2007 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/KR2008/001376 | 3/11/2008 | WO | 00 | 4/7/2010 |