Drug refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10101073-B2
Application number	US-201414479005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2012
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

A drug refrigerator capable of temperature control with a small fluctuation range in interior temperature is provided. This is the drug refrigerator in which cold air in a cooling chamber partitioned by a vertical partition plate in the back of an interior is circulated into the interior by a fan. A cold air inlet is formed above the center of the vertical partition plate. At right and left positions lower than a cooler in the cooling chamber, forward-facing cold air outlets are provided. A downward-facing cold air outlet for blowing out cold air toward a bottom part of the interior is provided at a position lower than the forward-facing cold air outlets. The circulation amount of cold air blown out through the forward-facing cold air outlet is made larger than the circulation amount of cold air blown out through the downward-facing cold air outlet.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A drug refrigerator comprising:
a refrigerator body with an approximately rectangular parallelepiped shape having an opening on a front face thereof and having a heat insulating property;
a door capable of opening and closing the opening;
a vertical partition plate for forming a cooling chamber extending in a vertical direction along a back wall of the refrigerator body in a back part of an interior of the refrigerator body;
a cooler housed in the cooling chamber; and
a cold air circulation fan provided at a position higher than the cooler in the cooling chamber, the cold air circulation fan circulating cold air cooled by the cooler into the interior, wherein:
the vertical partition plate is provided with:
a cold air inlet disposed at a position facing the cold air circulation fan, the cold air being sucked in through the cold air inlet in the interior by the cold air circulation fan; and
two forward-facing cold air outlets disposed at right and left positions lower than the cooler, the cold air being blown out through the forward-facing cold air outlets toward a front part of the interior,

the cooling chamber includes a downward-facing cold air outlet disposed at a position lower than the forward-facing cold air outlets, the cold air being blown out through the downward-facing cold air outlet toward a bottom part of the interior from a lower part of the cooling chamber, and
the forward-facing cold air outlets are formed larger than the downward-facing cold air outlet such that a circulation amount of the cold air blown out through the forward-facing cold air outlets is greater than a circulation amount of the cold air blown out through the downward-facing cold air outlet,
the drug refrigerator further comprises an outlet member attached to each of the forward-facing cold air outlets and having a plurality of wind-directing plates for controlling the cold air blown out through each of the forward-facing cold air outlets,
at least a part of each of the forward-facing cold air outlets is provided at a position lower than a center of the interior in a vertical direction, and
the plurality of wind-directing plates are inclined at a predetermined angle toward a range from a center to an upper part of the door in the vertical direction such that a direction of the blown-out cold air is directed obliquely upward.

2. The drug refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the downward-facing cold air outlet is formed such that a portion corresponding to an area under each of the forward-facing cold air outlets has a larger area and a portion corresponding to an area between the forward-facing cold air outlets has a narrower area in order to make an amount of cold air blown out from an entire horizontal width thereof approximately balanced across a horizontal width of the interior.

3. The drug refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of wind-directing plates are formed such that upper wind-directing plates are incrementally projected more toward the interior side than lower wind-directing plates.

4. The drug refrigerator according to claim 2 , further comprising an angle changing member to be provided between each of the forward-facing cold air outlets and the outlet member,
wherein the angle changing member is attached to each of the forward-facing cold air outlets such that an entire perimeter of the angle changing member abuts against a rim of the each of the forward-facing cold air outlets with the inclination angle of the plurality of wind-directing plates being kept at an angle changed more downward than the predetermined angle.

5. The drug refrigerator according to claim 2 , wherein:
the forward-facing cold air outlets are formed at the right and left positions outside an area directly under the cold air inlet,
the downward-facing cold air outlet includes:
a central outlet part corresponding to the area directly under the cold air inlet; and
right and left outlet parts corresponding to the areas under the forward-facing cold air outlets, and

the forward-facing cold air outlets and the downward-facing cold air outlet are disposed in a third area, which is a third quarter from a top when a vertical dimension of the interior is quartered.

6. The drug refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of wind-directing plates are formed such that upper wind-directing plates are incrementally projected more toward the interior side than lower wind-directing plates.

7. The drug refrigerator according to claim 1 , further comprising an angle changing member to be provided between each of the forward-facing cold air outlets and the outlet member,
wherein the angle changing member is attached to each of the forward-facing cold air outlets such that an entire perimeter of the angle changing member abuts against a rim of the each of the forward-facing cold air outlets with the inclination angle of the plurality of wind-directing plates being kept at an angle changed more downward than the predetermined angle.

Assignees

• Panasonic Healthcare Co Ltd
• Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co Ltd

Inventors

• Otsuki Takao
• Mizumoto Kenichi

Classifications

• F25D2317/0661

  from the bottom · CPC title

• F25D2317/0655

  through the top · CPC title

• F25D17/06

  by forced circulation · CPC title

• F25D2317/0672

  Outlet ducts · CPC title

• F25D17/062 Primary

  in household refrigerators · CPC title