JPH027538Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention is a low-temperature treatment used for local low-temperature treatment that aims to alleviate pain and spasticity in the affected area and improve blood circulation by applying cold air at the affected area. Regarding equipment.

Prior art The prior art technology shown in Utility Model Application No. 130718/1987 consists of a refrigerant condensing unit and a cold air generation unit, and the cold air generation unit is provided with two cooling chambers.
Outside air is taken into the first cooling chamber and cold air is taken out from the second cooling chamber. During continuous use, it has a mechanism that switches between an air inlet pipe and an air outlet pipe so that outside air is taken into the second cooling chamber and cold air is taken out from the first cooling chamber as necessary.

Problems that the invention attempts to solve In the technology shown in Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-130718,
In order to obtain the temperature and amount of low-temperature air required for treatment, outside air is cooled all at once to an extremely low temperature below zero within a single insulated case. Therefore, the air cooler inside the heat insulating case is prone to frost, making it difficult to operate this device continuously for long periods of time to extract low-temperature air. That is, when frost forms on the air cooler of the first cooling chamber to which the outlet pipe is connected, the cooling function decreases and the air temperature rises rapidly. At this time, even if the outlet pipe is switched to the second cooler, it will take some time for the frost in the first cooling chamber to be removed and the cooling function to be restored in order to obtain low-temperature air at the desired temperature from the second cooler. Temporary devices will have reduced functionality.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is an attempt to solve the difficulties of conventional devices, and its purpose is to provide a two-cooler type cryotherapy device that can be operated efficiently and continuously while avoiding cooling interference caused by frost. There is.

That is, the present invention provides a device comprising a cooling section 1 that cools air, a refrigerant supply section 4 that supplies refrigerant to the cooling section 1, and a blowing section 10 that blows air to the cooling section 1. One cooler 2a housing one evaporator 3a and the other cooler 2b housing one evaporator 3b are connected in series, and the refrigerant supply section 4 is provided with one evaporator 3a or the other evaporator 3b.
A refrigerant switching valve 9 is provided to switch the supply of refrigerant to either of the two, and the blower section 10 is further provided with an air path switching valve 12 for reversing the ventilation path within the cooling section 1.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

The cooling unit 1 that cools the incoming outside air has a cooler 2a on the one hand.
The evaporator 3a and the other evaporator 2b are respectively housed inside the two coolers. On the other hand, the discharge port 1 of the cooler 2a
3a and the discharge port 13b of the other cooler 2b are connected through a communication pipe 14.

A refrigerant supply section 4 that supplies refrigerant to one evaporator 3a and the other evaporator 3b of the cooling section 1 includes a compressor 5 that compresses the refrigerant, a condenser 6 that cools the compressed refrigerant with air and liquefies it, and a liquefied refrigerant. Receiver 7 that collects
and an expansion valve 8 that reduces the pressure of the liquid high-pressure refrigerant.
and a refrigerant switching valve 9 that alternately selects and supplies the depressurized refrigerant to either one of the coolers 2a or the other cooler 2b.

The blower unit 10 that takes out cold air for treatment includes a blower 11 that takes outside air into the device, and a blower 11 that sends air from the blower 11 to either a cooler 2a or a cooler 2 on the other side.
b selectively supplied to one of the coolers 2b and at the same time the other cooler 2b.
or an air path switching valve 12 for selectively extracting cooled air from either the cooler 2a.

In the figure, 15 is a thermometer that measures and indicates the temperature of the therapeutic cold air taken out from the air path switching valve 12;
6a and 16b are cooler 2a on one side and cooler 2b on the other side
This is a drain valve that drains the water generated in the water.

Function A refrigerant is circulated through either the one evaporator 3a or the other evaporator 3b housed in the one cooler 2a or the other cooler 2b. On the other hand, cooler 2
A or the other air in the cooler 2b is cooled.

Describing the mode of refrigerant circulation, the vaporized refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 5, the compressed refrigerant is liquefied by the condenser 6, the liquefied refrigerant is stored in the liquid receiver 7, and the pressurized refrigerant is sent out from the liquid receiver 7. The pressure of the refrigerant is lowered by the expansion valve 8, and the refrigerant at a lower pressure is selectively supplied to either the evaporator 3a or the evaporator 3b using the refrigerant switching valve 9.

When refrigerant is injected into one evaporator 3a or the other evaporator 3b, the refrigerant evaporates and absorbs the heat of vaporization, and the air in the one cooler 2a or the other cooler 2b is cooled. The vaporized refrigerant returns to the compressor 5 and is compressed again. As described above, the refrigerant is circulated and moved.

The function of the blower section 10 is as follows: First, the blower 11 takes in outside air and blows it toward the air path switching valve 12 . The air passage switching valve 12 sends this outside air to either the cooler 2a or the cooler 2b. If the refrigerant is flowing through the other evaporator 3b of the other cooler 2b and the cooling operation is performed, the blown outside air is sent to the cooler 2a while the cooling operation is suspended,
This outside air passes through one cooler 2a and then is led to the communication pipe 14 to reach the other cooler 2b, where the outside air is cooled and turned into cold air and discharged from the other cooler 2b. The air path of this cold air is controlled by the air path switching valve 12 and is taken out to the cold air outlet pipe 17 as cold air for treatment.

The refrigerant switching valve 9 and the air path switching valve 12 are operated synchronously. That is, as described above, when the refrigerant switching valve 9 is operated to supply refrigerant to the other evaporator 3b of the other cooler 2b, the air path switching valve 12
is operated so as to supply blown outside air to the cooler 2a. Conversely, when the refrigerant switching valve 9 is operated to supply refrigerant to the evaporator 3a of the cooler 2a, the air path switching valve 12 is operated so that the outside air is supplied to the cooler 2b.

The timing to switch the refrigerant switching valve 9 is determined by the operator of this device when the temperature of the cold air is rising as determined by the thermometer 15 or the like. This temperature rise is caused by frost adhering to the evaporator and reducing cooling efficiency. Therefore, if it is assumed that frost has adhered to the evaporator, refrigerant supply to the evaporator is temporarily stopped to melt the frost. When the cooling operation of one evaporator 3a is temporarily stopped, that is, when the operation is stopped, the other evaporator 3a
A refrigerant is supplied to b for cooling operation, and one of the evaporators is always operated for cooling.

The air path switching valve 12 is operated in synchronization with the refrigerant switching valve 9, and as described above, while the other evaporator 3b of the other cooler 2b is in cooling operation, outside air is blown to one cooler 2a and from the other cooler 2b. The discharged cold air is selectively connected to the cold air outlet pipe 17 by the air path switching valve 12 . Conversely, when one cooler 2a is in the cooling operation, the air path switching valve 12 blows the outside air to the other cooler 2b, and at the same time blows the cold air discharged from the one cooler 2a to the cold air outlet pipe 17.

The blown outside air is always selected and blown to the cooler on the side where the cooling operation is stopped, and works to quickly melt the frost that has adhered to the evaporator.

Water stored in one cooler 2a and the other cooler 2b is appropriately drained by drain valves 16a and 16b.

Although not shown, it is also possible to measure the temperature of the therapeutic cold air and use this measurement signal to automatically switch the refrigerant switching valve 9 and the air path switching valve 12 in response to the temperature of the cold air.

Further, the refrigerant switching valve 9 and the air path switching valve 12 may be automatically switched and operated at arbitrarily set times.

Effects of the invention: Because we installed a refrigerant switching valve that alternately supplies refrigerant to two coolers with the same function, one cooler and the other cooler, frost builds up on the evaporator of one cooler during cooling operation. When the cooling capacity decreases, the refrigerant switching valve can be operated to supply refrigerant to the evaporator of the other cooler and stop the refrigerant supply to the evaporator of one cooler. In this way, by alternately operating one of the two coolers, it is possible to melt the frost on the evaporator while the evaporator is not cooling, thereby avoiding cooling interference caused by frost. can.

In addition, an air path switching valve that operates in synchronization with the refrigerant switching valve is installed so that the outside air always comes into contact with the evaporator when refrigerant supply is suspended, so it adheres to the evaporator due to heat from the outside temperature. It can quickly thaw frost. Therefore, the idle cooler can return to normal function in a short time and stand by, and when the cooling operation is alternately switched using two coolers, frost remains on the idle cooler. This eliminates the inconvenience that the cooler is switched to cooling operation and used with poor cooling efficiency. Therefore, when the device is used continuously for a long period of time, it is possible to avoid interference with the cooling effect due to frost and to efficiently and stably generate low-temperature air.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The accompanying drawings show a piping system diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Cooling section, 2a...One side cooler, 2b...
Other cooler, 3a... One evaporator, 3b... Other evaporator, 4... Refrigerant switching valve, 10... Air blower, 1
2... Air path switching valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a device consisting of a cooling unit 1 that cools air, a refrigerant supply unit 4 that supplies refrigerant to the cooling unit 1, and a blower unit 10 that blows air to the cooling unit 1, the cooling unit 1 has an evaporator 3a on one side. One cooler 2a, which is a container housing an evaporator 3b, and the other cooler 2b, which is a container housing an evaporator 3b, are connected in series. A refrigerant switching valve 9 for switching the supply of refrigerant is provided in the air blowing section 10, and an air path switching valve 1 for reversing the ventilation path in the cooling section 1.
2 is provided, and when the refrigerant switching valve 9 is switched to supply refrigerant to the evaporator 3b, the outside air blown from the blower section 10 is injected into the cooler 3a on the one hand and taken out from the cooler 3b on the other hand. When the air passage switching valve 12 is switched and the refrigerant switching valve 9 is switched to supply refrigerant to the evaporator 3a, the blown outside air is injected into the cooler 3b on the one hand and taken out from the cooler 3a on the other hand. A two-cooler type low temperature treatment device characterized in that the air path switching valve 12 is switched, and the refrigerant switching valve 9 and the air path switching valve 12 are configured to operate synchronously in the above-described manner.