CN101726147B

CN101726147B - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN101726147B
Application number: CN2008102348235A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 鲁松涛; 章礼生; 朱启武
Original assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Current assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-10-31
Filing date: 2008-10-31
Publication date: 2013-07-31
Anticipated expiration: 2028-10-31
Also published as: EP2344817B1; WO2010049472A3; RU2011117644A; CN101726147A; EP2344817A2; WO2010049472A2; ES2389601T3

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigerator. The refrigerator (1) comprises a store chamber (2), a door (3) for opening or closing at least part of the store chamber (2), and an ice storage unit (5) comprising an ice storage space (6) for storing ice and a front portion (10), wherein the door (3) comprises an inner surface (4) facing to the store chamber (2) when the door (3) is closed, the ice storage unit (5) is contained inside the store chamber (2), and the store chamber (2) comprises a first space (8) above the ice storage unit (5) and a second space (9) below the ice storage unit (5). According to the invention, the front portion (10) is provided with at least an air channel (11a) which is communicated with the first space (8) and the second space (9).

Description

Refrigerator with a door

[ technical field ]

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a home or commercial refrigerator having an ice storage unit to store ice.

[ background art ]

The prior art has disclosed such a refrigerator: the refrigerator has a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber partitioned by a partition wall, the freezing chamber being located above the refrigerating chamber. An ice maker and an ice storage unit for storing ice cubes made by the ice maker are disposed in the freezing chamber. The ice storage unit includes an accommodating space to store ice cubes and a pushing system to push the ice cubes located in the accommodating space to a discharge port located on a bottom wall of the ice storage unit. The ice cubes discharged from the discharge port of the ice storage unit are transferred to an ice outlet located at the refrigerator door through an inclined passage. A partition board is arranged in the freezing chamber, the partition board divides the freezing chamber into a space which is arranged side by side left and right, and the ice maker and the ice storage unit are accommodated in a smaller space at the rear side. The ice storage unit is placed on the bottom wall of the freezing chamber, and a larger distance is formed between the front end face of the ice storage unit and the front end face of the bottom wall of the freezing chamber. Such an ice storage unit can store only a small amount of ice cubes.

US patent US5, 526, 854 discloses a side by side refrigerator comprising an ice maker disposed in a freezer compartment and an ice storage unit located below the ice maker. The ice storage unit divides the freezing chamber into an upper space above the ice storage unit and a lower space below the ice storage unit. A predetermined distance must be maintained between the front end surface of the ice storage unit and the front end surface of the side wall of the freezing chamber such that the ice storage unit maintains a predetermined distance from the inner surface of the door when the door is closed, so that the cold air blown from the rear wall of the freezing chamber flows from the upper space to the lower space through the gap/channel formed between the front end surface of the ice storage unit and the inner surface of the door. In order to obtain such a gap, the size and position of the ice storage unit must be limited.

[ summary of the invention ]

In order to overcome at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator that can significantly reduce the influence of an ice storage unit on air circulation within a storage compartment, which can be achieved without sacrificing the size and/or location of the ice storage unit.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a refrigerator, comprising: a storage chamber; a door to open or close at least a portion of the storage compartment, wherein the door includes an inner surface facing the storage compartment when the door is closed; and an ice storage unit including an ice storage space to store ice and a front, wherein the ice storage unit is received in the storage compartment, and the storage compartment includes a first space above the ice storage unit and a second space below the ice storage unit; characterized in that the front part is provided with at least one air flow channel, which is in fluid communication with the first space and the second space.

Therefore, the air in the first space can flow to the second space through the air flow channel arranged on the ice storage unit, and the conditions of uneven temperature distribution and slow heat exchange of the storage chamber, particularly the vicinity of the ice storage unit, can be avoided. In addition, since at least a portion of the air from behind the storage compartment may flow through the entire or almost the entire ice storage unit and then exit the first space via the air flow passage provided at the front of the ice storage unit, the temperature distribution in the first space may be more uniform. These advantages are obtained without having to leave a gap between the front wall of the ice storage unit and the inner surface of the door, and thus, a designer has more choice in designing the size and/or position of the ice storage unit.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention, individually or in combination with other features, are set forth in the following appended claims.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ice storage unit includes a front wall facing the inner surface when the door is closed, the ice storage unit being provided such that: the front wall is proximate the inner surface when the door is closed. This can increase the length of the ice storage unit in the front-rear direction, thereby increasing the capacity of the ice storage unit.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the distance between the front surface of the front wall and the inner surface is not more than 1 cm, preferably not more than 0.5 cm, when the door is closed. Particularly preferably, the front wall extends at least partially into the plane of the opening of the storage compartment. This offers the possibility of: diversification of the refrigerator can be achieved by using a variation of the front wall of the ice storage unit by properly arranging the front surface of the ice storage unit, for example, printing a pattern, a mark on the front surface.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the air flow passage is formed by a groove formed on an outer surface of the ice storage unit.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front portion includes a second wall that forms a gap extending in the longitudinal direction at a predetermined distance from the front wall in the front-rear direction, the gap constituting at least a part of the airflow passage.

Particularly preferably, the ice storage space has a front side wall, and the second wall is located between the front side wall and the front wall. In another embodiment, the second wall may also be formed by the front side wall.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an inlet of the air flow passage is located on a top wall of the ice storage unit. Particularly advantageously, the inlet is divided into several elongated openings.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ice storing unit includes an ice crushing device, the front portion has an ice crushing chamber in fluid communication with the ice storing space, and the ice crushing device is received in the ice crushing chamber.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the air flow passage is located beside the ice crushing chamber and is isolated from the ice crushing chamber. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the air flow channel is arranged at least one side end of the front portion.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a top wall of the ice storage unit covers at least half of the length of the ice storage space from front to rear to support the items to be cooled. In this way, the space utilization of the refrigerator can be improved.

In order to prevent the items to be cooled from sliding off the rear end of the top wall, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a blocking element is further included near the rear end of the top wall, said blocking element protruding upwards from the top wall.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the blocking element comprises a viewing door for viewing an ice maker located behind the ice storage unit. Therefore, the user can observe the ice making system through the observation door, and in addition, can directly hold the cooled article in a predetermined area using the observation door. It is possible to display the blocking function without adding an additional element.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, further comprising an ice maker received in the storage compartment, the ice maker and the ice storage unit constituting a pre-assembled unit connected together to the storage compartment. Thus, not only can the modularization of the ice making and storing system of the refrigerator be realized, but also the installation steps of the ice making and storing system on the box body can be simplified.

The construction of the present invention and other objects and advantages thereof will be more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[ 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 embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Wherein,

fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an ice making and ice storing module according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic partial perspective view of an ice storing unit according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic partial perspective view of an ice storing unit according to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[ description of the preferred embodiments ]

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the refrigerator 1 includes a cabinet 22, and the cabinet 22 defines a freezing chamber 2 and a refrigerating chamber 23 disposed side by side. The cabinet 22 includes a partition wall 24 extending over the entire longitudinal length of the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 23. The door 3 of the freezing chamber 2 and the door (not identified) of the refrigerating chamber 23 are pivotally mounted to respective sides of the cabinet 22. The door 3 is normally closed, and when the door 6 is closed, the inner surface 6 of the door 3 faces the freezing chamber 2. When necessary, the user can open the door 3 to perform corresponding operations, such as taking and putting food.

An ice storage unit 5 and an ice maker 20 are provided in the freezing chamber 2, and ice cubes made by the ice maker 20 are transferred and stored in the ice storage unit 5. The ice in the ice storing unit 5 is transferred through the ice transfer passage 25 provided on the door 3 and penetrating the door 3, so that the user can obtain the ice without opening the door 3.

The ice storage unit 5 is received in the freezing chamber 2 and divides the freezing chamber 2 into a first space 8 located above the ice storage unit 5 and a second space 9 located below the ice storage unit 5. The rear wall of the freezing chamber 2 is provided with a plurality of cold air inlets, and cold air is blown toward the ice maker 20 located in the first space 8 to make water ice. After the ice making is completed, the ice cubes located in the ice maker 20 are transferred to the ice storage unit 5.

The ice storage unit 5 includes an ice storage space 6 to receive and store ice cubes made by the ice maker 20. The ice storage unit 5 further includes a front 10, and the front 10 is located in front of the ice storage space 6. The ice storage unit 5 is provided with a discharge port 26 to discharge ice. The discharge opening 26 is located at the bottom of the front portion 10 and opens downward. The discharge opening 26 is in fluid communication with the ice storage space 6 through the front 10.

The ice storage unit 5 has a pushing device 27 to push the ice cubes stored in the ice storage space 6 toward the front 10. The pushing device 27 includes an auger 28 located within the ice storage space 6 and a motor 29 for driving the auger 28. When the user desires ice, the motor 29 is turned on so that the auger 28 rotates to push the ice toward the front 10, and then the ice enters the ice conveying passage 25 through the discharge opening 26 of the front 10.

The front 10 includes an ice crushing chamber 17 communicating with the ice storage space 6 and the discharge opening 26. An ice crushing device 31 for crushing ice is provided in the ice crushing chamber 17. The ice crushing device 31 is preferably attached to the end of the pushing device 27. When the user selects the crushed ice through one input unit, the ice crushing device 31 processes the ice cubes from the ice storage space 6 to make the user obtain the crushed ice.

Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic perspective view of an ice making and storing module 40 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The ice making and storing module 40 includes an ice storing unit 5 and an ice maker 20 positioned behind the ice storing unit 5

20. The ice storage unit 5 and the ice maker 20 are preassembled before being mounted on the case 22, and thus, the ice making and storing module 40 is mounted in the form of a preassembled unit into the freezing chamber 2.

As shown in fig. 3, the ice storage unit 5 includes a top wall 18 covering the ice storage space 6. The top wall 18 includes a first portion 18a covering the ice storage space 6 and a second portion 18b constituting an upper wall of the front 10. The first portion 18a extends rearward from the front end of the ice storage space 6 to more than half of the length of the ice storage space 18. In this embodiment, the first portion 18a and the second portion 18b of the top wall 18 are both flat and lie in the same plane. In this way, the top wall 18 constitutes a support wall suitable for placing the items to be cooled, for example food. Smaller items to be cooled can thus be placed in the first space 8, which increases the storage space of the refrigerator 1.

The ice making and storing module 40 includes a viewing door 19 to view the ice maker 20. The viewing door 19 is pivotally mounted for rotation between a first position and a second position. Typically, the viewing door 19 is in a first position, with the viewing door 19 substantially perpendicular to the horizontal, with the ice maker 20 substantially concealed. As shown in fig. 2, the upper end of the viewing door 19 is adjacent to the upper sidewall of the freezing chamber 2. In the second position, the upper and lower ends of the observation door 19 form a large distance with the upper sidewall and the top wall 18 of the freezing chamber 2, respectively, so that the user can observe the ice maker 20 through the distance. The viewing door 19 has a plurality of openings therein to allow cool air to enter a small storage compartment defined by the top wall 18, the upper side wall of the freezer compartment 2, and the viewing door 19.

The observation door 19 is located near the rear end of the top wall 18, and therefore, when items such as food or beverage are stored in the small storage compartment, the observation door 19 constitutes a blocking member that restricts the backward movement of the stored items, for example, which prevents the stored items from sliding backward to fall into the ice storage space 6 or the ice maker 20.

Although in the above embodiment, the blocking member is implemented as the observation door 19 for observing the ice maker 20. The invention should not be limited thereto, however, and for example, in another embodiment, the blocking member may be constituted by a projection projecting upward from the rear end of the top wall 18.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the front wall 7 of the ice storage unit 5 faces the inner surface 4 of the door 3 when the door 3 is closed. In the present embodiment, the front wall 7 approaches the inner surface 4 when the door 3 is closed, which allows the length of the ice storage unit 5 to be appropriately increased to increase the capacity of the ice storage space 6. Preferably, the distance between the front surface 12 of the front wall 7 and the inner surface 4 is not more than 1 cm, preferably not more than 0.5 cm. In one embodiment, the front surface 12 of the front wall 7 extends in the plane of the opening of the freezer compartment 2.

In order to enable good circulation of air within the freezing chamber 2, the ice storage unit 5 is provided with an air flow passage 11a fluidly communicating the first space 8 and the second space 9. The air flow path 11a is provided on the front portion 10, so that the cool air from behind the first space 8 can flow toward the front portion 10 after being blown through the ice maker 20, and finally toward the second space 9 via the air flow path 11. This allows a good circulation of the air in the first space 8 and the situation of relatively high local temperatures is avoided.

As shown in fig. 3, the front portion 10 includes a second wall 13 spaced apart from the front wall 7 in the front-rear direction. Thus, a longitudinally extending gap 14 is formed between the second wall 13 and the front wall 7, the gap 14 constituting a part of the air flow channel 11. In the present embodiment, the gap 14 is perpendicular to the horizontal plane. In the present embodiment, one gap 14 is provided on each side of the ice crushing chamber 17. The gaps 14 are symmetrically distributed with respect to the ice crushing chamber 17.

The second portion 18b of the top wall 18 is provided with an inlet 16a of the air flow channel 11a at a location corresponding to each gap 14. The inlet 16a has a closed-loop edge.

In the present embodiment, the inlet 16a is divided into a plurality of side-by-side elongated openings. On the one hand, this is advantageous for aesthetic reasons, and on the other hand, when a small deposit is placed on the top wall 18, the possibility of the deposit falling into the air flow channel 11a is greatly reduced, since the inlet 16a is divided.

Preferably, the front portion 7 and the body portion constituting the ice storage space 6 are separately provided and then assembled together, so as to facilitate the assembly of the ice crushing device 31. The second wall 13 of the front 7 is located between a front sidewall (not shown) of the ice storage space 6 and the front wall 7 of the ice storage unit 5. However, in an alternative embodiment, the second wall 13 may also be directly formed by the front sidewall of the ice storage space 6.

Fig. 4 is a schematic partial perspective view of an ice storing unit 5 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, both sides of the front portion 10 are provided with air flow passages 11b communicating the first space 8 and the second space 9. The inlet 16b of the airflow passage 11b has an open-loop edge. The air flow channel 11b is substantially perpendicular to the horizontal plane and has a cross section conforming to the shape of the inlet 16 b.

Fig. 5 is a schematic partial perspective view of an ice storing unit 5 according to still another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the air flow passage 11c is constituted by a plurality of recesses formed on the front wall 7 of the ice storage unit 5. These grooves extend in the longitudinal direction over the entire height of the ice storage unit 5, so that the first space 8 and the second space 9 communicate through these air flow passages 11c when the ice storage unit 5 is mounted in the freezing chamber 2.

Claims

1. A refrigerator (1) comprising:

a storage chamber (2);

a door (3) to open or close at least a portion of the storage compartment (2), wherein the door (3) comprises an inner surface (4) facing the storage compartment (2) when the door (3) is closed; and an ice storage unit (5) including an ice storage space (6) to store ice and a front (10), wherein the ice storage unit (5) is received within the storage compartment (2), the storage compartment (2) including a first space (8) above the ice storage unit (5) and a second space (9) below the ice storage unit (5);

characterized in that the front portion (10) is provided with at least one air flow channel (11a, 11b, 11c), the air flow channel (11a, 11b, 11c) being in fluid communication with the first space (8) and the second space (9).

2. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 1, characterized by the ice storage unit (5) comprising a front wall (7) facing the inner surface (4) when the door (3) is closed, the ice storage unit (5) being arranged: the front wall (7) is proximate to the inner surface (4) when the door (3) is closed.

3. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 2, characterized by the fact that the distance between the front surface (12) of the front wall (7) and the inner surface (4) is not greater than 1 cm when the door (3) is closed.

4. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 2, characterized by the front wall (7) extending at least partially into the plane of the opening of the storage compartment (2).

5. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 3, characterized by the front wall (7) extending at least partially into the plane of the opening of the storage compartment (2).

6. A refrigerator (1) as defined in claim 1 wherein the air flow passage (11c) is formed by a groove formed on an outer surface of the ice storage unit (5).

7. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 2, characterized by the front portion (10) comprising a second wall (13), the second wall (13) forming a gap (14) extending in the longitudinal direction at a predetermined distance from the front wall (7) in the front-rear direction, the gap (14) constituting at least a part of the air flow channel (11a, 11b, 11 c).

8. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 7, characterized by the ice storage space (6) having a front side wall, the second wall (13) being located between the front side wall and the front wall (7).

9. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 7, characterized by the ice storage space (6) having a front side wall, the second wall (13) being formed by the front side wall.

10. A refrigerator (1) as in any one of the above claims, characterized by the inlet (16a, 16b, 16c) of the air flow channel (11a, 11b, 11c) being located on the top wall (18) of the ice storage unit (5).

11. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 10, characterized by the inlet (16a) being divided into several elongated openings.

12. A refrigerator (1) as in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by the ice storage unit (5) comprising an ice crushing device (31), the front portion (10) having an ice crushing chamber (17) in fluid communication with the ice storage space (6), the ice crushing device (31) being housed within the ice crushing chamber (17).

13. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 12, characterized by the air flow channel (11a, 11b, 11c) located beside the ice crushing chamber (17) and isolated from the ice crushing chamber (17).

14. A refrigerator (1) as in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by the air flow channel (11a, 11b) being provided at least one side end of the front portion (10).

15. A refrigerator (1) as in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by the top wall (18) of the ice storage unit (5) covering at least half of the length of the ice storage space (6) from front to back to support the items to be cooled.

16. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 15, further comprising a blocking element located near the rear end of the top wall (18), the blocking element protruding upwardly from the top wall (18).

17. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 16, characterized by the blocking element comprising a viewing door (19), the viewing door (19) being used to view an ice maker (20) located behind the ice storage unit (5).

18. A refrigerator (1) as in any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising an ice maker (20) housed within the storage compartment (2), the ice maker (20) and the ice storage unit (5) constituting a pre-assembled unit (40) connected together to the storage compartment (2).

19. A refrigerator (1) as in claim 3, characterized by the fact that the distance between the front surface (12) of the front wall (7) and the inner surface (4) is not greater than 0.5 cm when the door (3) is closed.