Matsushita Refrigeration Company

Panasonic Corporation

Takeda Chemical Industries, Inc.

Yasuaki Tanimoto

Chie Hirai

Akiko Yuasa

Noriyuki Miyaji

Kazutaka Uekado

Tomohisa Tenra

Kiyohiro Yuge

Yoshihide Hirai

Hitoshi Muramatsu

Masayuki Nakanishi

Yukako Akeyama

Keisuke Tsunetsugu

Hiroto Nakama

Kenji Takaichi

Yasuto Masuda

Vacuum heat insulating material having core material consisting of inorganic fibers and exterior covering material for storing the core material. The inorganic fibers include silicon oxide as a main component. The surface of the inorganic fibers has Si&#x2014;OH/Si&#x2014;O ratio equal to or higher than 0.1 and equal to or lower than 20. The vacuum heat insulating material has intersecting points at which the fibers are adhered to one another by an intermolecular interaction due to Si&#x2014;OH groups.

Vacuum heat insulating material and refrigerating apparatus including the same

A vacuum heat insulator according to the present invention includes a core molded to be plate-shaped with the use of a binding agent. The vacuum heat insulator assumes any one of the following configurations. A) The core is formed by curing a fiber aggregate by means of a binding agent. The fibers have an average fiber diameter of at least 0.1 &#x3bc;m but at most 10 &#x3bc;m, and voids defined by fibers have a void diameter of at most 40 &#x3bc;m. The core has a percentage of the voids of at least 80%. B) The binding agent is varied in concentration in a through-thickness direction of the core. C) A cured layer solidified by the binding agent is formed on at least one side surface of the core. D) The core contains fibers having a length of at most 100 &#x3bc;m. The fibers are oriented perpendicular to a direction of heat transmission. Such vacuum heat insulator is excellent in adiabatic property. Refrigerators, to which such a vacuum heat insulator is applied, are made small in size, or have a large inner volume, or contribute to energy saving.

Vacuum heat insulator, method of manufacturing the same, and refrigerator using the same

A heat insulating box of a refrigerator includes a non-flammable heat-insulator particularly a vacuum heat-insulator made of a board-shape molded inorganic fiber. Therewith non-flammability of the heat insulator is ensured and a refrigerator box prevented from catching an outside caused fire is achieved, thus a refrigerator which is safe even when a flammable refrigerant is used and which is high in energy-saving is provided.

Refrigerator

By using a core made of laminated sheets of inorganic fibers having a particular shape and composition as part of a vacuum heat insulator for a heat insulation box, a heat insulation box excellent in long-term heat insulating properties and productivity can be provided. The vacuum heat insulator can be shaped easily. Therefore, a vacuum heat insulator suitable for a required heat insulation portion can be produced easily and applied to a heat insulation box. This property can increase coverage of the vacuum heat insulator on the heat insulation box, thus improving heat insulating properties of the heat insulation box. This can improve heat insulating properties and productivity of a refrigerator, thermal storage box, cold storage box, or vending machine, and contribute to energy savings.

Vacuum heat insulator comprising a laminated core made of a plurality of sheets of inorganic fibers having 10 &#x3bc;m or smaller in diameter and a certain composition including SiOas a main component, AlO, CaO, and MgO, a gas barrier enveloping member, and an absorbent. The vacuum heat insulator is characterized by having at least one groove formed therein after fabrication of the vacuum heat insulator. Further, the vacuum heat insulator is characterized by using inorganic fiber core of which a peak of distribution in fiber diameter lies between 1 &#x3bc;m or smaller and 0.1 &#x3bc;m or larger, and not containing binding material for binding the fiber material. Electronic apparatuses use the vacuum heat insulator. With use of the vacuum heat insulator, electronic and electric apparatuses superior in energy saving and not to present uncomfortable feeling to the user can be provided.

Vacuum insulating material and device using the same

A portable information device such as a notebook type computer is provided with a highly efficient thermal insulator capable of blocking transfer of heat between an internal heating component and a device enclosure, so as to reduce temperature rise on a surface of the device. The portable information device is also provided with a highly efficient thermal insulator to block transfer of heat between the heating component and an expansion unit mounting case, thereby reducing temperature rise and preventing malfunction of an external expansion unit. The information device includes the thermal insulator to separate between the internal heating component and the device enclosure, another thermal insulator to separate between the heating component and the expansion unit mounting case, and a heat sink. The thermal insulator is a vacuum thermal insulator including inorganic fiber as a core member.

Portable information appliance

A vacuum thermal insulating material of the present invention and a thermally insulating case using the vacuum thermal insulating material are used as thermal insulation in, for example, refrigerators and freezers. The vacuum thermal insulating material has a core material including two or more different powders and an adsorbent. The vacuum thermal insulating material of the present invention has excellent performance of thermal insulation and is light in weight and manufactured at a low cost. The thermally insulating case of the present invention enables the performance of thermal insulation to be practically maintained over a long time period.

Vacuum thermal insulating material and thermally insulating case using

A vacuum heat insulation panel for refrigerators and freezers comprises a thin-box shaped enclosure (4) for controlling permeation of the open air, and therein a core member (2) with thermal insulating properties and a barium-lithium alloy getter (3) which has long life time as getter.

Vacuum heat insulation panel

A method of producing an open cell rigid polyurethane foam which comprises reacting a polyol with a polymethylene polyphenyl polyisocyanate prepolymer with a monool exemplified by diethylene glycol monomethyl ether by use of a substitute such as 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane or methylene chloride as a volatile blowing agent, or a mixture of the volatile blowing agent with water, for trichlorofluoromethane as a blowing agent in the presence of a catalyst, a foam stabilizer and a cell opening agent. The resultant open cell rigid polyurethane foam has a cell size of about 200-250 microns, and is suitable for use, for example, as a core material in a vacuum heat insulating material. The foam may be enclosed in a container under a vacuum of 0.1-0.01 mmHg readily attainable to provide a vacuum heat insulating material of a high heat insulating performance.

Growing community of inventors

Hyogo, Japan

Yasuaki Tanimoto