EP0895041A2

EP0895041A2 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP0895041A2
Application number: EP98306029A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Joon Dong Ji
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1997-07-29
Filing date: 1998-07-29
Publication date: 1999-02-03
Also published as: CN1207484A; JPH11101555A; EP0895041A3

Abstract

A refrigerator has a cool air dispersing device (30) for distributing cool air horizontally into a cooling compartment (3). Parallel vertical dispersing blades (33) are disposed opposite openings (16) in duct (9). Shafts (31) of blades (33) are connected to a link member (53) which is reciprocated through a predetermined angular range by motor (35). The cool air flowing into the duct (9) is thus dispersed into the cooling compartment (3) horizontally by the blades (33) so the temperature in the compartment is maintained uniform.

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator including a cooling compartment, a heat pump, means for driving cool air produced by the heat pump through an aperture into the cooling compartment, and flow directing means associated with the aperture for directing said cool air and more particularly to a refrigerator which includes means for dispersing cool air uniformly into the cooling compartment.
Generally, refrigerators comprise a cabinet in which there is a freezing compartment and a fresh food compartment. These compartments are separated by a partition wall. Doors are provided at the front of the freezing and cooling compartments. A cooling system supplies the freezing compartment and the fresh food compartment with cool air and comprises a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator. The cool air generated by the evaporator flows along a supply duct formed at the back of each compartment, and is then supplied by a fan into each cooling compartment through cool air discharge ports opening thereinto.
In such a conventional refrigerator, however, cool air tends to be supplied into a particular area of the cooling compartment and other areas tend to be less well served. Consequently, a uniform temperature is not maintained throughout the cooling compartment.
This problem has been addressed by providing cool air discharge ports in the side walls of the cooling compartments as well as in its rear wall. However, there may be still a dead-zone at an edge area which is not supplied with the cool air sufficiently. Furthermore, the ducting required to supply cool air from the sides of the cooling compartment reduces the space available for food and increases the cost of manufacture.
The problem of adequately distributing cool air in a refrigerator is worse for larger refrigerators.
Figures 1-3 are a side view, a partial enlarged sectional view, and an exploded perspective view of the main elements of a refrigerator having a device for dispersing cool air as disclosed in WO-A-95/27278.
Referring to Figures 1 to 3, a refrigerator comprises a freezing and fresh food compartment 2,3 in a cabinet 1, which are separated from each other by a partition wall 5. Respective doors 6,7 are provided for closing the compartments 2,3. A cooling system, comprising a compressor 11, a condenser (not shown), a freezing compartment evaporator 12a, and a fresh food compartment evaporator 12b, is installed in the cabinet 1. Cool air generated by the evaporators 12a,12b is supplied to the corresponding compartments 2,3 by a freezing compartment fan 13a and a fresh food compartment fan 13b respectively.
A partially cylindrical duct plate 9 is attached to an inner wall plate 23 forming the rear inner wall surface of the fresh food compartment 3. The duct plate 9 has cool air discharge ports 16 formed in it opening into the fresh food compartment 3. A supply duct 15 and a return duct 17, separated from each other by a seal plate 25, are provided between the duct plate 9 and the rear wall 4 of the cabinet 1. A duct member 21, for guiding downwards cool air blown by the fresh food compartment fan 13b, is installed in the supply duct 15. Cool air generated by the fresh food compartment evaporator 12b is blown by the fresh food compartment fan 13b and then supplied to the fresh food compartment 3 via the supply duct 15 and the cool air discharge ports 16.
A cool air dispersing device 130 is installed in the supply duct 15 which comprises a rotatable vertical shaft 131 with cool air dispersing blades 132 assembled thereon in corresponding to respective cool air discharge ports 16, and a driving motor 135 for rotating the shaft 131. Each of the cool air dispersing blades 132 comprises three discs 136,137,138 disposed in parallel with each other along the shaft 131, and first and second blade parts 133,134 disposed between pairs of the discs 136,137,138. Each of the blade parts 133,134 is curved so that its cross-section is loosely S-shaped. The blade parts 133,134 are bent in opposite directions to each other.
In a refrigerator having the above-described construction, when the motor 131 rotates the shaft 131 at a low speed, cool air flowing along the supply duct 15 changes its direction along the curved surfaces of the cool air dispersing blades 132, and is directed into the fresh food compartment 3 so as to disperse horizontally. When concentrated cooling in a specific area is needed, the driving motor 135 stops the shaft 131 so that the cool air dispersing blades 132 direct cool air to the specific area. However, since the blade parts 133,134 of the cool air dispersing device 130 are S-shaped, the left or right sides of the fresh food compartment 3 may not be supplied with the cool air sufficiently and the smooth flow of cool air may be impeded by vortices in the cool air formed about the cool air discharge ports 16.
Moreover, since the cool air dispersing blades 132 are rotated continuously in only one direction, they will momentarily block the passage of cool air through the discharge ports 16 as they are rotated so the cool air cannot be supplied into the fresh food compartment 3 smoothly and uniform cooling cannot be achieved effectively.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially reduce the above described problems of the prior art by providing a refrigerator capable of supplying cool air in a predetermined angular range thereby increasing the effect of dispersing the cool air uniformly.
According to the broadest aspect of the invention, there is provided a refrigerator including a cooling compartment, a heat pump, means for driving cool air produced by the heat pump through an aperture into the cooling compartment and cool air flow directing means associated with the aperture for directing said cool air characterised in that said flow directing means comprises a plurality of parallel blades connected by a link member and actuating means driven by drive means connected to the link member and operable to reciprocate said link member through a predetermined angular range.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the refrigerator has a cooling compartment for storing food, a duct in a side wall of said cooling compartment, said duct forming a cool air passage having at least one cool air discharge port opening into said cooling compartment, the refrigerator comprising: a plurality of horizontal-dispersing blades of planar plate shape installed near the cool air discharge port in said duct, said horizontal-dispersing blades being disposed in parallel with each other vertically, said horizontal-dispersing blades having rotational shafts respectively which are extended vertically; a link member hingedly assembled with said rotational shafts, said link member being capable of moving horizontally; and a means for driving said link member so that said link member reciprocates in a predetermined range.
Preferably, the driving means comprises: a driving motor; and converting means for converting the rotational motion of said motor to a reciprocal movement of the link member.
In a preferred embodiment, the converting means comprises means for pushing the link member against a resilient biasing force in a horizontal direction, a drive shaft rotatable by said motor, said drive shaft being parallel with said rotational shaft and a protrusion extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said drive shaft, said protrusion moving said link member against the resilient biasing force of the pushing means while said driving motor operates.
Conveniently, the pushing means comprises a casing fixed at a predetermined position, a drive rod having one end connected to said link member and the other end passing through the casing and positioned therein and a spring in said casing operable to push the driving rod against the casing in the horizontal direction.
According to another embodiment of the present invention the converting means comprises a drive member rotatable by said motor, said driving member having a pin which is eccentric with respect to a shaft of said driving motor and a slot formed in said link member which receives said pin.
Preferably, the link member is mounted in a guide.
The present invention provides a stable cool air flow and a uniform distribution of the cool air without any vortex of the cool air in the cool air discharge ports.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator having cool air dispersing blades;
Figure 2 is a partial enlarged sectional view of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of main elements of the device shown in Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 5 is a partial enlarged view of Figure 4;
Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the cool air dispersing device shown in Figure 5;
Figures 7-9 are enlarged transverse sectional views showing the cool air dispersing process performed by the cool air dispersing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view of the cool air dispersing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 11 through 13 are perspective views of the assembled state of the device of
Figure 10 and show the cool air dispersing process thereof.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Parts that are the same as or similar to parts shown in Figures 1-3 will be identified with the same reference numerals. The description of the parts which are substantially the same as those of the prior art will in general be omitted.
The refrigerator shown in Figures 4 and 5 is the same as the prior art refrigerator shown in Figures 1-3 and comprises a cabinet 1 providing freezing compartment 2 and a fresh food compartment 3 which are separated by a partition wall 5. The freezing compartment is disposed above the fresh food compartment 3 and both compartments are provided with respective doors 6 and 7. Shelves 8 divide the fresh food compartment 3 into three separate areas namely an upper area, a middle area and a lower area. A special fresh food chamber 18 for storing food which requires a specific temperature range is formed in the upper part of the fresh food compartment 3, and a vegetable chamber 19 for storing vegetables is formed at the bottom of the fresh food compartment 3.
A cooling system comprising a compressor 11, a condenser (not shown), a freezing compartment evaporator 12a, and a fresh food compartment evaporator 12b is installed in the cabinet 1. The cool air generated by the evaporators 12a and 12b is supplied into the corresponding cooling compartments 2 and 3 by a freezing compartment fan 13a and a fresh food compartment fan 13b.
A duct plate 9 is attached on the inner wall plate 23 forming the rear inner wall of the fresh food compartment 3. The duct plate 9 is partially cylindrical in shape so that it protrudes in the form of an arc from the inner wall plate 23 into the fresh food compartment 3 and has cool air discharge ports 16 opening into respective storing areas of the fresh food compartment 3. Another cool air discharge port is also provided in the upper region of the inner wall plate 23 which opens into the fresh chamber 18.
A supply duct 15 and a return duct 17 are provided between the duct plate 9 and the rear wall 4 of the cabinet 1 which are partitioned from each other by a seal plate 25. A duct member 21 for guiding the cool air blown by the fresh food compartment fan 13b downwardly is installed in the supply duct 15. The cool air generated by the fresh food compartment evaporator 12b is blown by the fresh food compartment fan 13b so as to be supplied into the fresh food compartment 3 via the supply duct 15 and the cool air discharge ports 16. A device 30 for dispersing the cool air is installed in the supply duct 15.
Figure 5 is a partial side sectional view of the cool air dispersing device 30 shown in Figure 4 and Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the cool air dispersing device shown in Figure 5.
The cool air dispersing device 30 has a plurality of horizontal-dispersing blades 33 mounted adjacent the discharge ports 16 in the supply duct 15. The blades 33 are parallel with each other and vertically arranged. Each blade 33 is connected to a rotatable shaft 31, whose upper and lower ends are inserted into supporting apertures 9h formed in the upper and lower portions of the duct plate 9.
Each shaft 31 has a pivot pin 37 at the upper portion thereof which protrudes transversely to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 31.
A link member 53 is fitted to the upper portion of the rotational shaft 31 and has a plurality of holes 55 therein which receive the pivot pins 37. Activator 57 cooperates with protrusion 51 in a manner to be described later so that when the link member 53 is moved horizontally, the blades 33 are rotated.
The link member 53 is moved by a pushing device 65 which comprises a drive rod 75, a casing 69, a spring 71 and a supporting part 73.
The drive rod 75 passes through the flange 9e provided at the right hand side of the duct plate 9 and end 67 thereof is screwed to the link member 53, the other end of the driving rod 75 passing through the casing 69 and being located therein. The supporting part 73 is provided at the other end of the driving rod 75, and the spring 71 is disposed between the supporting part 73 and the casing 69 to spring bias the link member 53 to the right.
Drive shaft 36 of motor 35 is coupled to shaft 34 which is parallel to the shaft 31. The lower part of the drive shaft 34 is inserted into bearing hole 9g formed in the lower part of the duct plate 9. The drive shaft 34 is supported by the bearing hole 9g for rotation therein.
Operating protrusion 51 extends from the upper part of the drive shaft 34 in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction thereof and contacts the actuator 57 when the drive shaft 34 is rotated. Thus, the link member 53 is moved against the force of the spring 71 when the driving motor 35 operates.
The operation of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to Figures 7-9.
As shown in Figure 7, when the operating protrusion 51 is not in contact with the actuator 57 on the link member 53 during rotation of the drive shaft 34, the link member 53 is positioned at the right side by the pushing device 65, whereby the horizontal-dispersing blades 33 are directed to the left side. Therefore, the cool air supplied into the supply duct 15 is discharged to the left through the discharge ports 16.
As the driving shaft 34 rotates, as shown in Figure 8, the protrusion 51 contacts the actuator 57 and the link member 53 is rotated to the left against the force of the spring 71 and the blades 33 are directed forwardly so the cool air is discharged to the front.
As the drive shaft 34 rotates further as shown in Figure 9, the protrusion 51 continues to push the actuator 57 and the blades 33 are rotated to the right against the force of the spring 71 and the cool air is discharged to the right.
Further rotation of the drive shaft 34 from its condition shown in Figure 9 results in the protrusion 51 disengaging from the actuator 57 so the link member 53 is moved to the right under the actuator of the spring 71 and returns to the state shown in Figure 7.
As described, when the drive shaft 34 is rotated by the motor 35, the blades 33 move to the left, front and right, and the discharge direction of the cool air is changed successively. Therefore, the cool air is dispersed uniformly in the fresh food compartment 3. In such a situation, since the link member 53 reciprocates in a predetermined range, the blades 33 are rotated in a limited angular range. Therefore, cool air is supplied into the fresh food compartment 3 more smoothly and uniformly in comparison with a conventional refrigerator in which the cool air dispersing blades are rotated continuously. Furthermore, since the blades 33 are planar in shape, no vortex of cool air is generated while they are rotating.
Furthermore, if a concentrated supply of cool air is required in a specific area such as the left or right side, this can be achieved by stopping the motor 35 when the blades 33 are directed at the corresponding area. In such a situation, temperature sensors in the fresh food compartment 3 and a controller for the motor 35 operable in response to a sensed signal from the temperature sensors have to be provided.
Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view of the cool air dispersing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention and Figures 11-13 are perspective views of the assembled state of the device of Figure 10 and show the cool air dispersing process performed by the cool air dispersing device. In the present embodiment, the same parts with those of the above described first embodiment are referred to with the same reference numerals.
In this second embodiment, the construction of each horizontal-dispersing blade 33 is the same as that of the first embodiment and the shaft 31 thereof is inserted into bearing apertures 9h and supported thereby. Link member 93 has a plurality of holes 95 therein which receive the pivot pins 37 which is the same with the first embodiment. A vertical slot 97 is formed at one end of the link member 93.
A drive member 87 is mounted on the shaft 86 of the motor 85 and has a pin 88 which is eccentric with respect to the shaft 86 and inserted into the slot 97. When the drive member 87 is rotated by the motor 85, the eccentric pin 88 reciprocates up and down in the slot 97 and the link member 93 reciprocates in the longitudinal direction thereof in groove 103 in a guide 101.
When the eccentric pin 88 is positioned at the lower region of the slot as shown in Figure 11, the horizontal-dispersing blades 33 are directed forwardly. As the eccentric pin 88 is rotated by the motor 85 continuously, the link member 93 reciprocates and rotates the blades 33 as shown in Figures 12 and 13 so the discharge direction of the cool air is consecutively changed by the blades.
As described above, the present invention provides an air flow which is stable and of a uniform distribution without any vortex in the cool air discharge ports. In particular, since the horizontal-dispersing blades do not rotate but pivot through a predetermined angular range, the efficiency for dispersing cool air is considerably enhanced.

Claims

A refrigerator including a cooling compartment (3), a heat pump (11), means for driving cool air produced by the heat pump through an aperture (16) into the cooling compartment (3) and cool air flow directing means (30) associated with the aperture for directing said cool air characterised in that said flow directing means (30) comprises:

a) a plurality of parallel blades (33) connected by a link member (53); and

b) actuating means (34,51) driven by drive means (35) connected to the link member (53) and operable to reciprocate said link member through a predetermined angular range.
A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that each blade is planar and vertically orientated in relation to the aperture (16).
A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 characterised in that said drive means comprises:

a) a motor (35); and

b) means (34,51,57) for converting the rotational motion of said motor into a reciprocate movement of the link member.
A refrigerator as claimed in claim 3 characterised in that the converting means comprises:

a) means (65) for pushing the link member (53) against a resilient biasing force (71) in a horizontal direction;

b) a drive shaft (34) rotatable by said motor (35), said drive shaft being parallel with the blades (33); and

c) a protrusion (51) extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said drive shaft (34), said protrusion moving the link member (53) against the resilient biasing force of the pushing means (65) while said motor operates.
A refrigerator as claimed in claim 4 characterised in that the pushing means comprises:

a) a casing (65) fixed in a predetermined position;

b) a drive rod (75) having one end is connected to said link member (53) and the other end passing through the casing and positioned therein; and

c) a spring (71) in said casing operable to push said driving rod (75) against the casing (69) in the horizontal direction.
A refrigerator as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5 characterised in that said converting means comprises:

a) a driving member (87) rotatable by said motor (85), said driving member having a pin (88) which is eccentric with respect to a shaft (86) of said motor; and

b) a slot (97) formed in said link member (93) which receives said pin (88).
A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the link member (93) is mounted for reciprocal movement in a guide (101).
A refrigerator having a cooling compartment for storing food, a duct provided in a side wall of said cooling compartment, said duct for forming a cool air passage, and having at least one cool air discharge port opening into said cooling compartment, the refrigerator comprising a plurality of horizontal-dispersing blades of planar plate shape installed near the cool air discharge port in said duct, said horizontal-dispersing blades being disposed in parallel with each other vertically, said horizontal-dispersing blades having rotational shafts respectively which are extended vertically, a link member hingedly assembled with said rotational shafts, said link member being capable of moving horizontally and a means for driving said link member so that said link member reciprocates in a predetermined range.