CN110608568A

CN110608568A - Air cooling device, refrigerator and refrigerator control method

Info

Publication number: CN110608568A
Application number: CN201910892745.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张相瑞
Original assignee: Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai; Hefei Jing Hong Electrical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai; Hefei Jing Hong Electrical Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-20
Filing date: 2019-09-20
Publication date: 2019-12-24

Abstract

The invention relates to an air cooling device, a refrigerator and a refrigerator control method. According to the air cooling device, the air cooling device can form different air flows to enter the chamber, cold air entering the main air flow channel can enter the chamber cavity through the first air flow channel independently, can enter the chamber cavity through the second air flow channel independently, and can enter the chamber cavity through the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel simultaneously, so that different refrigeration modes are formed, and different refrigeration effects are realized.

Description

Air cooling device, refrigerator and refrigerator control method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of refrigeration equipment, in particular to an air cooling device, a refrigerator and a refrigerator control method.

Background

The refrigerator is an indispensable household appliance in the life of people as a refrigerating device for refrigerating food and other articles, and brings great convenience to the life of people. As one type of refrigerator, an air-cooled refrigerator reduces the temperature of air in a refrigerator compartment by passing the air through an evaporator by means of power supplied from a blower fan, and then delivers cold air to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber through an air duct, so that the temperature of the refrigerator compartment is reduced. The air-cooled refrigerator is more and more popular with consumers because of the advantages of good fresh-keeping effect, quick refrigeration, environmental protection and the like.

An air duct structure for discharging air in an existing air-cooled refrigerator generally comprises a main air duct and a plurality of branch air ducts, and each branch air duct is provided with a plurality of air outlets for sending out cold air. However, due to structural limitations of the air cooling device, it is difficult to rapidly change the air volume in the same compartment, which makes it difficult to achieve multi-level temperature changes in the compartment, and further makes the function of the same compartment relatively simple.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, it is necessary to provide an air cooling device, a refrigerator and a refrigerator control method that can have multiple functions, in order to solve the problems of slow change speed of air volume in the same compartment of the refrigerator and single function.

An air cooling device is arranged in a compartment with a compartment cavity in a refrigerator, and is provided with a main air flow channel, a first air flow channel and a second air flow channel, wherein the main air flow channel can be communicated with the compartment cavity through the first air flow channel and/or the second air flow channel.

According to the air cooling device, the air cooling device can form different air flows to enter the chamber, cold air entering the main air flow channel can enter the chamber cavity through the first air flow channel independently, can enter the chamber cavity through the second air flow channel independently, and can enter the chamber cavity through the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel simultaneously, so that different refrigeration modes are formed, and different refrigeration effects are realized.

In one embodiment, the second airflow channel includes a plurality of air outlets respectively communicated with the chamber cavities.

In one embodiment, the air cooling device includes:

the main air channel structure comprises a main air inlet channel, a first air outlet channel capable of being selectively switched on and off and a second air outlet channel capable of being selectively switched on and off;

the auxiliary air channel structure is arranged on one side of the main air channel structure and comprises an auxiliary air outlet air channel;

the main air inlet duct forms the main air flow channel, the first air outlet duct is communicated with the auxiliary air outlet duct to form the first air flow channel together, and the second air outlet duct forms the second air flow channel.

In one embodiment, the main air duct structure includes a first electric air door and a second electric air door, the first electric air door is installed in the first air outlet duct to control the on/off of the first air outlet duct, and the second electric air door is installed in the second air outlet duct to control the on/off of the second air outlet duct.

In one embodiment, the auxiliary air duct structure includes a plurality of auxiliary air outlet ducts, and each auxiliary air outlet duct is provided with an auxiliary air inlet communicated with the first air outlet duct and a plurality of auxiliary air outlets respectively communicated with the compartment cavity.

A refrigerator comprises the air cooling device.

In one embodiment, the refrigerator comprises a refrigerator chamber, the refrigerator chamber comprises a chamber bottom wall, a chamber side wall and a chamber top wall, the chamber side wall extends from the outer circumference of the chamber bottom wall in the same direction and surrounds the outer circumference of the chamber top wall, the chamber top wall is arranged at one end, away from the chamber bottom wall, of the chamber side wall, and the chamber bottom wall, the chamber side wall and the chamber top wall jointly define a chamber cavity;

the main air duct structure is arranged on the chamber bottom wall, the chamber side wall or the chamber top wall, and the auxiliary air duct structure is positioned in the chamber cavity and arranged on one side of the chamber top wall facing the chamber bottom wall.

In one embodiment, the air outlet directions of the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel are both parallel to the top wall of the compartment.

A refrigerator control method includes the following steps:

acquiring a working mode of the refrigerator;

and controlling the first air flow channel to be communicated with or disconnected from the second air flow channel according to the working mode.

In one embodiment, the cooling mode includes a level cooling mode, a flash freezing mode, a quick cooling mode, a quick freezing mode, a deep freezing mode, and an energy saving mode.

In one embodiment, the step of controlling the first air flow channel to be connected with or disconnected from the second air flow channel according to the operation mode specifically includes the following steps:

when the refrigerator is in the uniform cooling mode, the first air flow channel is controlled to be communicated, and the second air flow channel is disconnected;

when the refrigerator is in the instant freezing mode, controlling the first air flow channel to be communicated and the second air flow channel to be disconnected, when the first air flow channel is communicated or the second air flow channel is disconnected for a first preset time, controlling the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel to be simultaneously communicated, and when the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel are simultaneously communicated for a second preset time, controlling the first air flow channel to be communicated and the second air flow channel to be disconnected;

when the refrigerator is in the quick-cooling mode, the quick-freezing mode or the deep-freezing mode, controlling the first air flow channel to be communicated and the second air flow channel to be communicated;

when the refrigerator is in an energy-saving mode, the first air flow channel is controlled to be disconnected, and the second air flow channel is controlled to be disconnected.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of another angle of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a main air duct structure of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the main duct structure shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of the main duct structure shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of the main duct structure shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of the main duct structure shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural view of an auxiliary air duct structure of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the auxiliary duct shown in FIG. 10 at another angle;

fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a refrigerator control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

To facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," and the like as used herein are for illustrative purposes only.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, a refrigerator 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least one compartment 20, the compartment 20 having a compartment cavity for storing food or articles, wherein at least one compartment 20 has an air cooling device 40 installed therein, and the air cooling device 40 is used for controlling a temperature of the compartment cavity. In the following examples in particular, the compartment 20 is a variable temperature compartment. It is understood that in some embodiments, compartment 20 may also be a multi-functional chamber such as a refrigerator, freezer, icemaker, etc.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the chamber 20 is a hollow cubic structure, and includes a substantially rectangular chamber bottom wall, a chamber side wall extending from the outer circumference of the chamber bottom wall in the same direction and surrounding the outer circumference of the chamber top wall, and a chamber top wall disposed at an end of the chamber side wall away from the chamber bottom wall, the chamber side wall, and the chamber top wall together define a chamber cavity, the length direction of the chamber cavity is a first direction, the width direction of the chamber cavity is a second direction, and the height direction of the chamber cavity is a third direction. The air-cooling device 40 has a main air flow passage, which can communicate with the compartment cavity through the first air flow passage and/or the second air flow passage, a first air flow passage, and a second air flow passage.

It is worth mentioning that the length direction (i.e., the first direction) of the compartment cavity, the width direction (i.e., the second direction) of the compartment cavity, and the height direction (i.e., the third direction) of the compartment cavity mentioned in the present invention are the left-right direction, the front-back direction, and the up-down direction of the refrigerator shown in fig. 2, respectively.

Therefore, the air cooling device 40 can form different air flows to enter the compartment 20, and cold air entering the main air flow channel can enter the compartment cavity through the first air flow channel alone, can enter the compartment cavity through the second air flow channel alone, and can enter the compartment cavity through the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel simultaneously, so that different refrigeration modes are formed, and different refrigeration effects are realized.

Referring to fig. 2 to 4, the air cooling device 40 includes a main air duct structure 41 and an auxiliary air duct structure 43, the main air duct structure 41 is installed on the bottom wall, the side wall or the top wall of the compartment, and the auxiliary air duct structure 43 is installed in the cavity of the compartment and located on one side of the top wall of the compartment facing the bottom wall of the compartment. The main air duct structure 41 and the auxiliary air duct structure 43 together form a main air flow passage, a first air flow passage, and a second air flow passage, thereby delivering the cool air to the compartment cavity. It is understood that the installation position of the main air duct structure 41 is not limited, and the main air duct structure can be installed at different positions according to the requirement.

In some embodiments, the main duct structure 41 is mounted on a side of the compartment sidewall near the back panel of the refrigerator 100. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the main air duct structure 41 includes a main air duct bottom wall, a main air duct side wall extending from the main air duct bottom wall toward the same direction and surrounding the periphery of the main air duct bottom wall, and a main air duct top wall disposed on a side of the main air duct side wall away from the main air duct bottom wall.

Referring to fig. 7 to 9, the main air duct structure 41 is provided with a main air inlet duct 412, a first air outlet duct 414 (shown in fig. 7), and a second air outlet duct 416 (shown in fig. 8). Specifically, the main air inlet duct 412 extends from the main duct bottom wall to the main duct top wall substantially along the third direction, the air inlet of the main air inlet duct 412 is opened at the main duct bottom wall to be connected with an external cooling device, and the main air outlet of the main air inlet duct 412 is connected with the first air outlet duct 414 and the second air outlet duct 416. The first air outlet duct 414 and the second air outlet duct 416 are disposed side by side along the first direction at one side of the main air outlet of the main air inlet duct 412, a first air inlet of the first air outlet duct 414 is communicated with one side of the main air outlet of the main air inlet duct 412, a first air outlet 4141 of the first air outlet duct 414 is disposed at one side of the side wall of the main air duct facing the compartment cavity and is further communicated with the auxiliary air duct structure 43, a second air inlet of the second air outlet duct 416 is communicated with the other side of the main air outlet of the main air inlet duct 412, a second air outlet 4161 of the first air outlet duct 414 is disposed at one side of the side wall of the main air duct facing the compartment cavity and is further communicated with the compartment cavity, and in the third direction, the first air outlet 4141 is located above the second air.

Furthermore, an openable and closable first electric damper is further disposed in the first air outlet duct 414, an openable and closable second electric damper is further disposed in the second air outlet duct 416, and the first electric damper and the second electric damper can respectively control the on-off of the first air outlet duct 414 and the second air outlet duct 416. Thus, the cool air entering the main air inlet duct 412 can selectively flow out through the first air outlet duct 414 and/or the second air outlet duct 416.

As shown in fig. 10 and 11, the auxiliary air duct structure 43 is a hollow flat shell structure and is disposed at the top of the compartment cavity, the length direction of the auxiliary air duct structure 43 is the same as the first direction, the width direction of the auxiliary air duct structure 43 is the same as the second direction, and the thickness direction of the auxiliary air duct structure 43 is the same as the third direction.

Supplementary wind channel structure 43 includes a plurality of supplementary wind outlet channel 432 of connecting first wind outlet channel 414 respectively, a plurality of supplementary wind inlets 4321 of supplementary wind outlet channel 432 assemble in supplementary wind channel structure 43 in the ascending one side edge of second direction in order to connect first wind outlet channel 414, a plurality of supplementary wind outlet channel 432 extend in the second direction from one side of supplementary wind channel structure 43, adjacent supplementary wind outlet channel 432 sets up at the interval in the first direction, a plurality of supplementary air outlet 4323 have all been seted up to every supplementary wind outlet channel 432 in the both sides of first direction, and a plurality of supplementary air outlet 4323 set up along the second direction interval.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the auxiliary air duct structure 43 includes three auxiliary air outlet ducts 432, and the auxiliary air outlet duct 432 located in the middle passes through the central axis of the auxiliary air duct structure 43 and extends linearly along the second direction. One end of the other two auxiliary air outlet channels 432 is converged at two sides of the middle auxiliary air outlet channel 432, and the other end extends along the second direction and is respectively located at two sides of the auxiliary air outlet channel structure 43 in the first direction. Each auxiliary air outlet channel 432 is provided with a plurality of auxiliary air outlets 4323, and the central axis of each auxiliary air outlet 4323 is parallel to the second direction and the top wall of the compartment.

So, supplementary wind channel structure 43 is through the horizontal air-out of a plurality of supplementary air outlets 4323 to guarantee that stranded cold wind transversely blows in the compartment chamber from the top in compartment chamber uniformly, and then guaranteed the homogeneity of the bulk temperature in the compartment chamber, make the even cooling of article in the compartment chamber, and avoid cold wind directly to blow in the compartment chamber along the third direction downwards, influence the food storage effect in the compartment chamber.

As shown in fig. 12, the method for controlling the refrigerator 100 includes the following steps:

s110: the operation mode of the refrigerator 100 is acquired.

Specifically, the operation modes of the refrigerator 100 include a level cooling mode, an instant freezing mode, a quick cooling mode, a quick freezing mode, a deep freezing mode, and an energy saving mode. It is understood that the operation mode of the refrigerator 100 is not limited thereto, and different operation modes may be set according to actual needs.

S120: the first air flow passage is controlled to be connected or disconnected with the second air flow passage according to the operation mode of the refrigerator 100.

Step S120: the step of controlling the opening and closing of the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel according to the operation mode of the refrigerator 100 specifically includes the steps of:

s121: when the refrigerator 100 is in the cooling equalization mode, the first air flow channel is controlled to be connected, and the second air flow channel is controlled to be disconnected.

Specifically, when the refrigerator 100 is in the cooling equalization mode, the first electric damper is in an open state to communicate with the first air outlet duct 414, and the second electric damper is in a closed state to disconnect the second air outlet duct 416, so that a part of the cool air in the main air inlet duct 412 enters the auxiliary air duct structure 43 through the first air outlet duct 414, and finally transversely enters the compartment cavity through the plurality of auxiliary air outlets 4323 on the auxiliary air duct structure 43, thereby achieving uniform cooling of the compartment cavity.

S122: when the refrigerator 100 is in the instant freeze mode, the first airflow channel is controlled to be connected and the second airflow channel is controlled to be disconnected, when the first airflow channel is connected or the second airflow channel is disconnected for a first preset time period, the first airflow channel and the second airflow channel are controlled to be simultaneously connected, and when the first airflow channel and the second airflow channel are simultaneously connected for a second preset time period, the first airflow channel is controlled to be connected and the second airflow channel is controlled to be disconnected.

Specifically, when the refrigerator 100 is in the instant freezing mode, firstly, the first electric damper is in the open state to connect the first air outlet duct 414, and the second electric damper is in the closed state to disconnect the second air outlet duct 416, so that a part of the cool air in the main air inlet duct 412 uniformly enters the compartment cavity through the first air outlet duct 414 and the auxiliary air duct 43. After the above process lasts for the first preset time, the second electric damper is switched to the open state to communicate with the second air outlet duct 416, so that a part of the cold air in the main air inlet duct 412 enters the first air outlet duct 414 and then uniformly enters the chamber cavity through the auxiliary air duct 43, and another part of the cold air directly enters the chamber cavity through the second air outlet duct 416. After the above process continues for the second preset time, the second electric damper is switched to the closed state to disconnect the second air outlet duct 416, so that a part of the cold air in the main air inlet duct 412 uniformly enters the compartment cavity through the first air outlet duct 414 and the auxiliary duct 43, thereby forming needle crystals in the freezing process of the food to realize instant freezing. It is understood that the specific values of the first preset time period and the second preset time period mentioned above are not limited, and can be set according to the requirement.

S123: when the refrigerator 100 is in the quick-cooling mode, the quick-freezing mode or the deep-freezing mode, the first air flow channel is controlled to be communicated, and the second air flow channel is controlled to be communicated.

Specifically, when the refrigerator 100 is in the quick-cooling mode, the quick-freezing mode or the deep-freezing mode, the first electric damper is in an open state to communicate with the first air outlet duct 414, and the second electric damper is in an open state to communicate with the second air outlet duct 416. Thus, a part of the cool air in the main air inlet duct 412 enters the auxiliary air duct structure 43 through the first air outlet duct 414 to enter the chamber cavity through the auxiliary air duct structure 43, and another part of the cool air directly enters the chamber cavity through the second air outlet duct 416.

The quick-freezing mode and the quick-cooling mode can enable food to finish the freezing process at the highest speed, so that cell tissue fluid of the food can be completely preserved when the food is unfrozen, thereby reducing nutrient loss and achieving the aim of keeping fresh. The deep freezing mode allows the food to be stored at a temperature of-18℃ or less, thereby prolonging the storage time of the food.

S124: when the refrigerator 100 is in the energy saving mode, the first air flow passage is controlled to be disconnected, and the second air flow passage is controlled to be disconnected.

Specifically, when the refrigerator 100 is in the energy saving mode, the first electric damper and the second electric damper are both in the closed state, and therefore the first air outlet duct 414 and the second air outlet duct 416 are both in the open state, and therefore the cool air in the main air inlet duct 412 cannot enter the compartment cavity.

The air duct device and the refrigerator 100 with the same realize instantaneous change of the temperature in the chamber cavity by controlling the on-off of the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel and combining a special air duct structure, thereby preserving food in a cold storage (freezing) way by various methods. Moreover, the main air duct structure 41 and the auxiliary air duct structure 43 are respectively integrally formed without adding redundant components, thereby reducing the production cost of the refrigerator 100.

The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. An air-cooling device to be installed in a compartment (20) having a compartment cavity in a refrigerator, characterized in that the air-cooling device has a main air flow path, a first air flow path, and a second air flow path, the main air flow path being communicable with the compartment cavity through the first air flow path and/or the second air flow path.

2. The air-cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the second airflow passage includes a plurality of air outlets respectively communicating with the compartment cavities.

3. The air-cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the air-cooling device includes:

the main air duct structure (41) comprises a main air inlet duct (412), a first air outlet duct (414) capable of being selectively switched on and off and a second air outlet duct (416) capable of being selectively switched on and off;

the auxiliary air duct structure (43) is arranged on one side of the main air duct structure (41), and the auxiliary air duct structure (43) comprises an auxiliary air outlet duct (432);

the main air inlet duct (412) forms the main air flow channel, the first air outlet duct (414) is communicated with the auxiliary air outlet duct (432) to form the first air flow channel together, and the second air outlet duct (416) forms the second air flow channel.

4. The air cooling device according to claim 3, wherein the main air duct structure (41) includes a first electric damper and a second electric damper, the first electric damper is installed in the first air outlet duct (414) to control the on/off of the first air outlet duct (414), and the second electric damper is installed in the second air outlet duct (416) to control the on/off of the second air outlet duct (416).

5. The air cooling device according to claim 3, wherein the auxiliary air duct structure 43 includes a plurality of auxiliary air outlet ducts (432), each auxiliary air outlet duct (432) is provided with an auxiliary air inlet (4321) communicated with the first air outlet duct (414) and a plurality of auxiliary air outlets (4323) respectively communicated with the compartment cavity.

6. A refrigerator comprising the air-cooling device as recited in any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein the refrigerator includes a refrigerator compartment (20), the refrigerator compartment (20) including a compartment bottom wall, a compartment side wall extending circumferentially in a same direction from an outer periphery of the compartment bottom wall and surrounding an outer periphery of the compartment top wall, and a compartment top wall provided at an end of the compartment side wall remote from the compartment bottom wall, the compartment side wall, and the compartment top wall collectively defining a compartment cavity;

the main air duct structure (41) is arranged on the chamber bottom wall, the chamber side wall or the chamber top wall, and the auxiliary air duct structure (43) is positioned in the chamber cavity and arranged on one side of the chamber top wall facing the chamber bottom wall.

8. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the air outlet directions of the first air flow channel and the second air flow channel are both parallel to the top wall of the compartment.

9. A refrigerator control method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring a working mode of the refrigerator;

10. The control method of a refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein the cooling mode includes a level cooling mode, a flash freezing mode, a quick cooling mode, a quick freezing mode, a deep freezing mode, and an energy saving mode.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of controlling the first air flow channel to be connected to or disconnected from the second air flow channel according to the operation mode includes the steps of: