AU762033B2

AU762033B2 - Cooling fan guide in refrigerator

Info

Publication number: AU762033B2
Application number: AU43516/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kwang Hwa Kang; Yong Suck Park
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 1998-08-13
Filing date: 1999-08-12
Publication date: 2003-06-19
Anticipated expiration: 2019-08-12
Also published as: KR20000004692U; KR200226089Y1; AU4351699A; CN1105898C; CN1248690A

Description

IL

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION NAME OF APPLICANT(S): LG Electronics Inc.

ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE Patent Attorneys 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

INVENTION TITLE: Cooling fan guide in refrigerator The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator, for guiding air from a cooling fan toward a condenser.

Background of the Related Art In general, the refrigerator is an appliance which maintains an inside of the refrigerator below a preset temperature by employing a refrigerating cycle for conserving food and the like fresh. Major elements in the refrigerating cycle are a compressor, an evaporator, an expansion 10 valve, a condenser and a cooling fan, all of which are mounted in a machine room at a rear part of the refrigerator.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a section of a related art machine room in the refrigerator, •referring to which a configuration of the related art machine room in the refrigerator and a related art cooling fan guide will be explained. The machine room 10 is provided with a compressor 12 for compressing refrigerant vaporized as the refrigerant passes through an evaporator(not shown), and a condenser 14 for condensing the refrigerant compressed in the compressor 12. The condenser 14 produces much heat in the process of liquefying the refrigerant, and the compressor 12 also produces heat in a process of compressing the refrigerant. Therefore, there is a cooling fan 16 mounted in the machine room for cooling down the condenser 14 and the compressor 12.

And, there is a guide 18 for guiding an air flow produced from the cooling fan 16. In detail, the guide 18 has an opening at a center, and a cylindrical guide member 18a around the opening for guiding the air. The guide member 18 has a diameter becoming smaller as it goes inwardly (toward a condenser direction).

A function of the related art cooling fan guide will be explained with reference to FIG.

1.

As the cooling fan is driven, an air flow is initiated. The air flow from the cooling fan 16 is guided by the guide member 18a in the guide 18 toward the condenser 14, to cool the condenser 14. And, the air passed through the condenser 14 cools down the compressor 12.

However, the aforementioned related art cooling fan guide in a refrigerator has the following problems.

i As shown in arrows in FIG. 1,the air from the cooling fan 16 spreads in a radial direction while it passes through the guide member 18a. In this instance, the air converges toward a center to a certain extent by the guide member 18a. However, when the air passes beyond a restricted zone by the guide member 18a, the air spreads in the radial direction, again. Therefore, the air Sis wasted in top, bottom, left, and right sides of the condenser 14, only to allow a portion of the S. ""air flow from a central portion of the cooling fan 16 to pass through the condenser 14. That is, since an amount of air passing through the condenser is small, a heat dissipation efficiency of the condenser 14 drops, and the heat dissipation efficiency of the compressor also drops as an amount of air passing through the condenser 14 toward the compressor 12 is also small. In the meantime, a condenser 14 efficiency is mostly dependent on an efficient dissipation of a heat produced in the condenser 14, and the condenser 14 efficiency is closely related to an overall efficiency of the refrigerating cycle; efficient cooling down of the condenser 14 and the compressor 12 improves a freezing and a refrigerating efficiencies of the refrigerator, directly.

Therefore, in order to solve the foregoing problems of poor heat dissipation efficiency of the condenser and the compressor, a size of the fan has been made smaller for reducing an amount of the air going around the condenser. However, in order to produce an air flow more than a P:\OPER\IL\43516-99 wpowsdocO9/04103 -4certain amount using a relatively small sized cooling fan, a number of revolution per minute of the cooling fan should be increased. However, the increase of the number of revolution per minute of the cooling fan results in generation of unnecessary noise, that in turn increases a refrigerator noise.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

Embodiments of the invention provide a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator which can cool down heat generating components in a refrigerator, efficiently.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator having a condenser for condensing a refrigerant, and a cooling fan for producing an air flow, comprising: a partition wall between the condenser and the cooling fan and having an opening; and air guide means fitted in the opening of the partition wall for making a uniform air ooooo flow such that the air flow from the cooling fan is concentrated onto the condenser, •wherein the air guide means includes a frame of a predetermined length, and a plurality of 20 guide passages of a honeycomb form fitted inside of the frame.

Embodiments of cooling fan guide of the present invention may improve a heat dissipation efficiency of the condenser together with an efficiency of the refrigerator, with an energy saving, because the air from the cooling fan can be concentrated onto the condenser.

.00 25 It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following odetailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further ••explanation of the invention as claimed.

oo o 6o BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate P:OPER\KL\43516-99 responsedoc-09/04/03 embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings: FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a section of a related art machine room in a refrigerator; FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a section of a machine room in a refrigerator having a cooling fan guide in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention applied thereto; FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 illustrates section across I-I line in FIG. 3; and, FIG. 5 illustrates a front view of a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a section of a machine room in a refrigerator having a cooling fan guide in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention applied thereto, referring to which the cooling fan guide in a refrigerator of the present invention will be explained. Components identical to the related art will be given the same name and reference symbols, and detailed explanations for those components will be omitted.

i ~Identical to the related art, the machine room 10 in a refrigerator ofthe present invention also has a compressor 12, a condenser 14 and a cooling fan 16 provided therein. And, there is 10 a cooling fan guide 20 in a refrigerator of the present invention between the condenser 14 and the cooling fan 16.

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 illustrates section across I-I line in FIG.

3, referring to which the cooling fan guide 20 of the present invention will be explained.

The cooling fan guide 20 includes a partition wall 28 having an opening on a central portion thereof substantially for flow of air from the cooling fan 16, and an air guide means mounted in the opening in the partition wall 28 for, not leaving the air flow to spread in a radial direction, but guiding the air flow toward the condenser 14 directly. The partition wall 28 separates the machine room 10 into a portion the condenser 14 is fitted and a portion the cooling fan 16 is fitted.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the air guide means 25 will be explained in detail.

The air guide means 25 includes a cylindrical frame 25a fitted substantially perpendicular to the opening in the partition wall 28, and a plurality of guide passages 25b of a honeycomb form in the frame 25a. The guide passage 25b preferably has a length P greater than a predetermined value for efficient supply of air from the cooling fan toward the condenser 14.

In the embodiment shown, though the frame 25a having a cylindrical shape is shown and explained, the present invention is not limited to that. That is, the frame 25a may vary in shape, such as rectangular form and the like. And, though it is shown and explained that the guide passage 25b in the guide means 25 in this embodiment has a circular section, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, whatever shape that can guide the air flow from the il! cooling fan 16 toward a position at which the condenser 14 is fitted can be used. For example, a honeycomb form with a rectangular section holes may be used. Of course, other sections, such 00:"10 as triangular section, may also be used. The frame 25a and the guide passage 25b may be fabricated separately for assembly to the partition wall 28 later or may be fabricated together with the partition wall 28.

The guiding action of the cooling fan guide in a refrigerator of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 4.

Upon driving the cooling fan 16, air starts to flow. Since the air guide means is fitted at a required position for the cooling fan 16 and the condenser 14, the air flows toward the condenser 14 through the guide passage 25b in the air guide means 25. In this instance, even if the air flow from the cooling fan 16 toward the condenser 14 is not horizontal, once the air flows into an inside of the guide passage 25b, a direction of the air flow is changed into the horizontal direction during the air passes through the guide passage 25b, thereby being guided concentrated onto the condenser 14. Since the air from the cooling fan 16 is made to flow out of all surface of the honeycomb form of the guide passages 25 evenly as the air passes through the guide passages 25b, most of the air passes through the condenser 14 and the compressor 12. Therefore, since the cooling fan guide in a refrigerator of the present invention can guide the air flow to be concentrated onto the condenser 14, the condenser 14 can be cooled down, effectively. And, since much of the air passed through the condenser 14 is supplied to the compressor 12, the compressor 12 can also be cooled down, effectively.

The advantages of the cooling fan guide in a refrigerator of the present invention will be explained.

First, the concentration of air flow from the cooling fan 16 onto the condenser 14 and the i compressor 12 by the air guide means 25 can improve a heat dissipation efficiency. The efficient cooling of the condenser 14 and the compressor 12 can eventually improve a refrigerator power consumption.

.Second, if higher heat dissipation rates of the condenser and the compressor are required, sizes of the cooling fan 16 and a diameter of the air guide means 25 may be made greater. That is, because the same air amount can be provided even if RPM of the cooling fan 16 is not increased higher, a noise coming from increased RPM of the cooling fan 16 can be prevented.

5 It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in a cooling fan guide in a refrigerator of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

P:AOPERKL\43516-99 rsponsedoc-09/04/03 -9- The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that that prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.

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Claims

1. A cooling fan guide in a refrigerator having a condenser for condensing a refrigerant, and a cooling fan for producing an air flow, comprising: a partition wall between the condenser and the cooling fan and having an opening; and air guide means fitted in the opening of the partition wall for making a uniform air flow such that the air flow from the cooling fan is concentrated onto the condenser, wherein the air guide means includes a frame of a predetermined length, and a plurality of guide passages of a honeycomb form fitted inside of the frame.

2. The cooling fan guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein each guide passage has a circular cross-section.

3. The cooling fan guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein each guide passage has a rectangular cross-section. i:

4. A cooling fan guide substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the drawings and/or Examples. DATED this 9 th day of April, 2003 LG ELECTRONICS INC. By its Patent Attorneys Davies Collison Cave *coo *go•