Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Nihon Taishin Sekkei Co., Ltd.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Akihiro Noguchi

Takashi Doi

Koji Kashima

Tsutomu Sakuma

Masato Tago

Satoru Yamauchi

A simple shelter for flood evacuation that is lightweight and easy to carry, compact in storage, and low in cost includes a substantially cylindrical floating body formed by a plurality of floats stacked in a vertical direction, where vertically adjacent floats are connected to each other; and two partition plates provided on the inner peripheral side of the uppermost and lowermost floats, respectively, of the plurality of floats, the inner peripheral surface of the floating body and the two partition plates form a closed accommodation space for accommodating evacuees by preventing water from entering from the outside, and a door for evacuees to enter and exit the accommodation space is provided in the two partition plates.

Simple shelter for flood evacuation

A refrigerator has a refrigerant circuit that is comprised of; a power-variable two-stage compressor, a variable throttler, which are computer controlled; and a first evaporator for fresh food compartments and a second evaporator for freezer compartments. Temperatures in the first and second evaporators are controlled independently from each other, by controlling throttling extent of the variable throttler. Temperature in the first evaporator is kept in a range not causing frost formation on surface of the first evaporator, for example in a range from &minus;2&deg; C. to 2&deg; C., by controlling the throttling extent as well as the power of the compressor. In a preferred embodiment, the variable throttler is a pulse motor valve at downstream of a condenser and at upstream of the first evaporator.

Two-evaporator refrigerator having a controlled variable throttler

A refrigerator has a two-stage compressor and means for switching refrigerant flow between a primary channel and a bypassing channel at downstream of a condenser that is connected with an outlet of the two-stage compressor. The primary channel extends from a first exit of the means for switching, through a first capillary tube and a first evaporator, to a gas-liquid separator, a gas-exit of which is connected with a second evaporator through a second capillary tube. The bypassing channel extends from a second exit of the means for switching, through a bypass capillary, to the gas-liquid separator. When flow of refrigerant in the second evaporator is substantially interrupted and so detected, refrigerant flow is switched to the bypassing channel, by means for controlling.

Two-evaporator refrigerator having a bypass and channel-switching means for refrigerant

A refrigerator having a refrigerator evaporator and a freezer evaporator, capable of controlling the refrigerant circulation correctly and reducing the delay in the refrigerant behaviors. When freezer mode is to be switched to refrigerator mode, at the end of the freezer mode, a refrigerant recovery run recovers the refrigerant from the freezer evaporator and feeds it to a condenser before the refrigerator mode by running a compressor while blocking the refrigerant to the freezer evaporator and by running a compressor fan.

Refrigerator

A refrigerator includes a first compartment, a second compartment, a compressor compressing and discharging refrigerant, a first evaporator connected to the compressor to cool the first compartment, the first evaporator having an outlet, a second evaporator connected to the compressor in parallel with the first evaporator to cool the second compartment, the second evaporator having an outlet, a check valve connected between the outlets of the first and second evaporators to prevent the refrigerant out of the first evaporator from entering the second evaporator, a flow-path switching element for switching a cooling mode between a first cooling mode in which the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is caused to flow through the first evaporator to thereby cool the first compartment and a second cooling mode in which the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is caused to flow through the second evaporator to thereby cool the second compartment, and a control device provided for controlling the compressor and the switching element so that the first and second cooling modes are switched alternately and so that the compressor is stopped under the first cooling mode with drop of the temperature in the either compartment.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Akihiro Noguchi