EP2818811A2

EP2818811A2 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP2818811A2
Application number: EP20140173597
Authority: EP
Inventors: You RYUU
Original assignee: Toshiba Corp; Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2013-06-28
Filing date: 2014-06-24
Publication date: 2014-12-31
Also published as: JP6125354B2; TW201500706A; EP2818811A3; CN104279807A; JP2015010768A

Abstract

In a refrigerator in which a connection portion of a heat insulating wall body exists in a lower portion of a heat insulating cabinet, outside air is prevented from invading from the connection portion.

A cold air blowout port is provided to blow cold air into a storage container and a cold air suction port is provided above the lowermost end of the cold air blowout port. The cold air blown from the cold air blowout port cools the inside of the storage container and then is sucked from the cold air suction port provided above the cold air blowout port to return to the cold air generating portion. Accordingly, the cold air blown from the cold air blowout port does not flow downward between the storage container and the storage compartment, and the outside air does not invade into the inside of the refrigerator from the connection portion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-136406, filled on June 28, 2013 , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND

In a refrigerator, a heat insulating cabinet is configured using heat insulating wall bodies, and a storage compartment is formed inside the heat insulating cabinet. There are some cases where a storage container is provided in such a form that a bottom portion of the storage container comes close to a bottom portion of the storage compartment.
The heat insulating wall bodies constituting the heat insulating cabinet are generally configured such that a heat insulating member is arranged between an outer plate portion and an inner plate portion, but it is difficult to form the heat insulating cabinet using one heat insulating wall body in manufacture. Therefore, the heat insulating cabinet is formed by dividing the outer plate and the inner plate or the heat insulating member of the heat insulating wall body and connecting them to each other in an approximate manner. In this case, a connection portion thereof may be positioned at a lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet. The heat insulating member such as a sponge is buried in the connection portion, but it is difficult to completely maintain airtightness and a minute clearance gap sometimes occurs.
Meanwhile, in this refrigerator, a cold air blowout port of a cold air generating portion for generating cold air is provided above the storage container, and a cold air suction port is provided at the farthest portion of the storage compartment to return the cold air by which the inside of the storage compartment is cooled. In this case, the cold air, which is blown from the cold air blowout port, enters into the storage container and then comes out of the storage container to flow downward to an outside of the storage container. Then, the cold air passes through a clearance gap provided between an outer bottom surface of the storage container and a bottom surface of the storage compartment and returns to the cold air generating portion from the cold air suction port provided at the farthest portion of the storage compartment.
However, as described above, when the cold air passes through the narrow clearance gap provided between the outer bottom surface of the container and the bottom surface of the storage compartment and flows into the cold air suction port, the rate of flow is relatively fast, and the connection portion near the inside of the refrigerator becomes a relatively negative pressure with respect to the outside of the refrigerator by the flow of the cold air, and the outside air is slightly sucked from the connection portion of the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet. Thus, the outside air invades into the storage compartment or the heat insulating cabinet and there is a concern that dew condensation occurs in the refrigerator or the connection portion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view illustrating a lower portion of the refrigerator.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of a bent portion.
Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a case of a cold air generating portion.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of a connection portion illustrating a reference example.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of another connection portion.

SUMMARY

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the embodiment is to provide a refrigerator in which a connection portion of a heat insulating wall body exists in a lower portion of a heat insulating cabinet and outside air can be prevented from invading from the connection portion.
The refrigerator according to an embodiment includes: a heat insulating cabinet that is configured in a substantially box shape from a plurality of heat insulating wall bodies and in which a connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies exists in a lower portion thereof and a storage compartment is formed therein; a storage container that is provided in the storage compartment in a form that a bottom portion of the storage container comes close to a bottom portion of the storage compartment and a top surface thereof is opened; and a cold air generating portion that is provided with an evaporator and a fan to generate cold air and is configured to blow the cold air from a cold air blowout port and to suck the cold air from a cold air suction port. In the refrigerator, the cold air blowout port is provided to blow the cold air in the storage container, and the cold air suction port is provided above a lowermost end of the cold air blowout port.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment will be described below.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, the refrigerator 1 includes a heat insulating cabinet 2. In the heat insulating cabinet 2, a refrigerating compartment 3 and a vegetable compartment 4 are provided in this order from above, an ice-making compartment 5 and a small freezing compartment 6 are laterally provided in parallel with each other below the vegetable compartment 4 , and a main freezing compartment 7 is provided at the lowermost portion. The main freezing compartment 7 is equivalent to a storage compartment.
The refrigerating compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 are partitioned from each other by a partition wall 8, and the vegetable compartment 4 is partitioned from the ice-making compartment 5 and the small freezing compartment 6 by a heat insulating partition wall 9. In addition, the front surfaces of the ice-making compartment 5 and the small freezing compartment 6 is partitioned from that of the main freezing compartment 7 by a front partition portion 10. Further, the front surface of the ice-making compartment 5 is partitioned from that of the small freezing compartment 6 by a longitudinal beam 11.
The refrigerating compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 are cooled at a refrigeration temperature zone, and the ice-making compartment 5, the small freezing compartment 6, and the main freezing compartment 7 are cooled at a freezing temperature zone.
Rotary doors (double doors opening from the center) 12 and 13 for opening and closing the refrigerating compartment 3, a drawer-type door 14 for opening and closing the vegetable compartment 4, a drawer-type door 15 for opening and closing the ice-making compartment 5, a drawer-type door 16 for opening and closing the small freezing compartment 6, and a drawer-type door 17 for opening and closing the main freezing compartment 7 are provided at the front portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2, respectively.
A vegetable storing container (not illustrated) is provided at a back surface of the door 14 for the vegetable compartment 4. In addition, an ice-making pan (not illustrated) is arranged in the ice-making compartment 5.
As illustrated in Fig. 2, a container for small freezing compartment 18 is provided at a back side of the door 16 for the small freezing compartment 6 to integrally move with the door 16. A plurality of vent holes 18a are formed at a front plate portion of the container for small freezing compartment 18.
In addition, a lower-side freezing container 19 is provided at a back side of the door 17 for the main freezing compartment 7 to integrally move with the door 17, as a storage container. In this case, a bottom portion of the lower-side freezing container 19 has a form coming close to a bottom portion of the main freezing compartment 7, and a clearance gap S is present. The lower-side freezing container 19 is formed in a non-hole shape except that a top surface is opened. A part of rear upper end of the lower-side freezing container 19 is formed to be slightly lower. This low portion is presented by reference numeral 19s. Then, an outward projecting fin portion 19a is formed at an upper end portion (including an upper end portion of the low portion 19s) of the lower-side freezing container 19.
An upper-side freezing container 20 is detachably arranged above the lower-side freezing container 19, as an additional storage container.
A part (lower portion) of the upper-side freezing container 20 is positioned in the lower-side freezing container 19, but a clearance gap G is formed between a front portion of the upper-side freezing container 20 and the lower-side freezing container 19. That is, the clearance gap G is formed between the upper-side freezing container 20 and the lower-side freezing container 19.
However, the heat insulating cabinet 2 is configured by connecting a plurality of heat insulating wall bodies. That is, in Fig. 2 , a back wall portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2 is configured by a heat insulating wall body 21 and a bottom portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2 is configured by heat insulating wall bodies 22, 23, and 24. Further, right and left wall portions and upper wall portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2 are also configured by heat insulating wall bodies.
Since each of the heat insulating wall bodies 21 to 24 has basically a same structure, the structure of the heat insulating wall body 24 will be described as a representative. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the heat insulating wall body 24 includes an outer plate 24a made of metallic plate for the outer box, an inner plate 24b made of, for example, a synthetic resin sheet member for the inner box, and a panel-like vacuum heat insulating panel 24c which is arranged (interposed) in a state sandwiched between the outer plate 24a and the inner plate 24b and is configured by bonding them to each other.
The vacuum heat insulating panel 24c is made up of a core material 24c1 such as a glass wool and a packaging material 24c2 having gas barrier properties. The panel-like (plate-like) vacuum heat insulating panel 24c is manufactured by evacuating the inside of the packaging material 24c2 in a state where the core material 24c1 is accommodated in the packaging material 24c2. Further, in each of the heat insulating wall bodies 21 to 23, the portion formed of the same material as the heat insulating wall body 24 is presented by the same subscript.
An end of an outer plate 22a of the heat insulating wall body 22 is connected to an end of an outer plate 23a of the heat insulating wall body 23 by, for example, a screw or the like. In addition, an end of an inner plate 22b of the heat insulating wall body 22 is connected to an end of an inner plate 23b of the heat insulating wall body 23 by a corner member 25 having substantially a triangle-shaped cross section. The corner member 25 is made up of a connection plate 25a for connecting the inner plate 22b and the inner plate 23b to each other and, for example, a heat insulating member 25b such as foamed polystyrene. In this case, the heat insulating wall body 23 is connected in the form of rising toward the obliquely rearward from a rear end of the heat insulating wall body 22 having substantially a horizontal shape. The connection portion of the heat insulating wall body 22 and the heat insulating wall body 23 is presented by reference numeral R1.
In addition, an end of the outer plate 23a of the heat insulating wall body 23 is connected to an end of the outer plate 24a of the heat insulating wall body 24 by a corner member 26 having substantially a triangle-shaped cross section. The corner member 26 is made up of a connection plate 26a for connecting the outer plate 23a and the outer plate 24a to each other and, for example, a heat insulating member 26b such as foamed polystyrene. In addition, an end of the inner plate 23b of the heat insulating wall body 23 is connected to an end of the inner plate 24b of the heat insulating wall body 24 by, for example, a screw or the like. In this case, the heat insulating wall body 24 is connected in the form of being substantially horizontal from the upper end of the heat insulating wall body 23. The connection portion of the heat insulating wall body 23 and the heat insulating wall body 24 is presented by reference numeral R2.
An end of the outer plate 24a of the heat insulating wall body 24 is connected to an end of an outer plate 21a of the heat insulating wall body 21 by, for example, a screw or the like. In addition, an end of the inner plate 24b of the heat insulating wall body 24 is connected to an end of an inner plate 21b of the heat insulating wall body 21 by a corner member 27 having substantially a triangle-shaped cross section. The connection portion of the heat insulating wall body 24 and the heat insulating wall body 21 is presented by reference numeral R3. Further, the corner member 27 is different in size but has basically the same configuration compared with the corner member 25.
As can be seen from the above, a bent portion K is formed at a lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2 such that the farthest portion of the main freezing compartment 7 is expanded toward a near side, and the connection portions R1 to R3 exist in the bent portion K. In addition, the vacuum heat insulating panels 21c to 24c are formed to be individually divided by these connection portions R1 to R3. Further, a flexible heat insulating member such as a sponge may be filled in space portions of the connection portions R1 to R3.
A machine compartment 28 is formed at an outer lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet 2 by the bent portion K. For example, a compressor 29 is provided in the machine compartment 28.
The main freezing compartment 7 is communicated with the small freezing compartment 6 and the ice-making compartment 5, and a cold air generating portion 30 is provided in the farthest portion of these compartments.
The cold air generating portion 30 includes a case 31 (also illustrated in Fig. 4), an evaporator 32, and a fan 33. A partition plate portion 34 is formed in the case 31 to longitudinally partition the inside of the case. Here, the farthest-side space portion is an apparatus arrangement compartment 35 and the near-side space portion is a supply duct portion 36. The apparatus arrangement compartment 35 and the supply duct portion 36 are communicated with each other through a lower opening 34a.
A bellmouth 35a is formed at an upper side of the apparatus arrangement compartment 35, and the fan 33 is installed in the bellmouth 35a. The evaporator 32 is installed to be positioned below the fan 33.
As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4, a cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37, a cold air blowout port for upper-side freezing container 38, a cold air blowout port for ice-making compartment 39, a cold air blowout port for small freezing compartment 40 are formed in the supply duct portion 36, as a cold air blowout port. The cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37 is formed at a location (in this case, an upper portion of the low portion 19s), which is the upper portion of the lower-side freezing container 19, to be directed to the inside of the lower-side freezing container 19 such that cold air is blown into the lower-side freezing container 19. In addition, the cold air blowout port for upper-side freezing container 38 is formed at a location, which is the upper portion of the upper-side freezing container 20, to be directed to the front side such that the cold air is blown into the upper-side freezing container 20. Further, the cold air blowout port for ice-making compartment 39 is formed at a location, which faces the ice-making compartment 5, to be directed to the front side such that the cold air is blown into the ice-making compartment 5. Further, the cold air blowout port for small freezing compartment 40 is formed at a location, which faces the inside of the small freezing compartment 6, to be directed to the front side such that the cold air is blown into the container for small freezing compartment 18.
In addition, suction ducts 41 and 42 are formed in the case 31 to be branched into a left portion and a right portion which are communicated with the front portion of the bellmouth 35a, and a tip of each of the ducts 41 and 42 is opened as cold air suction ports 41a and 42a.
These suction ducts 41 and 42 are positioned at the right and left portions of the rear portion (a portion between the main freezing compartment 7 and the ice-making compartment 5 and a portion between the main freezing compartment 7 and the small freezing compartment 6) of the front partition portion 10, and the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a are positioned above the lowermost end of the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37 as the cold air blowout port. That is, the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a are positioned above the lowermost end of the cold air blowout port 37 which blows the cold air into the lower-side freezing container 19 as a storage container positioned at the lowermost side. In addition, the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a are positioned further forward than the cold air blowout ports 37, 38, 39, and 40.
In an inner surface portion (including a back side of the door 17 and an outer front surface of case 31) of the main freezing compartment 7 corresponding to an entire circumference of the fin portion 19a of the lower-side freezing container 19, an elastically deformable shielding portion 43 is provided to come in contact with the fin portion 19a, and a prevention portion 44 is formed by the shielding portion 43 and the fin portion 19a to prevent the cold air from being circulated to the lower portion of the main freezing compartment 7 outside the upper-side freezing container 20 from the upper opening of the upper-side freezing container 20.
When a refrigeration cycle including, for example, the evaporator 32 and the compressor 29 is operated and the fan 33 is driven at the same time, air delivered by the fan 33 flows to the lower portion as indicated by solid and dotted line arrows in Fig. 2 and passes through the evaporator 32. At this time, the air is cooled and the cold air is generated. The cold air flows to the front side by the opening 34a and flows upward in the supply duct portion 36. Then, the cold air is blown into each of the containers 19, 20, and 18 from the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37, the cold air blowout port for upper-side freezing container 38, and the cold air blowout port for small freezing compartment 40. In addition, the cold air is blown into the ice-making compartment 5 from the cold air blowout port for ice-making compartment 39.
The cold air, which is blown into the lower-side freezing container 19 from the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37, passes through the inside of the lower-side freezing container 19 to cool the inside (inner storage substance) and then passes through the clearance gap G. Then, the cold air is sucked from the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a to pass through the suction ducts 41 and 42 and then is delivered again by the fan 33.
In addition, the cold air, which is blown into the upper-side freezing container 20 from the cold air blowout port for upper-side freezing container 38, passes through the inside of the upper-side freezing container 20 to cool the inside and then comes out of the upper opening. Then, the cold air is sucked from the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a to pass through the suction ducts 41 and 42 and then is delivered again by the fan 33.
In addition, the cold air, which is blown into the container for small freezing compartment 18 from the cold air blowout port for small freezing compartment 40, passes through the inside of the container for small freezing compartment 18 to cool the inside and then comes out of the plurality of vent holes 18a. Then, the cold air is sucked from the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a to pass through the suction ducts 41 and 42 and then is delivered again by the fan 33. The cold air supplied to the inside of the ice-making compartment 5 is also provided for ice-making and then returns to the cold air generating portion 30 by being sucked from the cold air suction port 41a.
Further, the supply of the cold air to the main freezing compartment 7, the ice-making compartment 5, and the small freezing compartment 6 described above and the supply of the cold air to the refrigerating compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 is switched by operating a cold air switching damper (not illustrated) when cooling switching command is issued from a controller (not illustrated) depending on cooling condition. In this case, a dedicated evaporator or fan may be provided in order to supply the cold air to the refrigerating compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4.
In the above-described embodiment, the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37 is provided to blow the cold air into the lower-side freezing container 19, and the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a are provided above the lowermost end of the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37.
According to the embodiment, since the cold air, which is blown from the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37, cools the inside of the lower-side freezing container 19 and then returns to the cold air generating portion 30 by being sucked from the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a provided above the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37, the cold air blown from the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37 does not flow downward between the lower-side freezing container 19 and the main freezing compartment 7. That is, the flow of the cold air indicated by the chain double-dashed line arrow X in Fig. 2 does not occur. As a result, the outside air (outer air) does not invade into the main freezing compartment 7 or the inside of the heat insulating cabinet 2.
In order words, if the flow of the cold air occurs as indicated by the arrow X described above, the inside of the refrigerator such as the connection portion R1 or R2 becomes a relatively negative pressure with respect to the outside of the refrigerator by this flow of the cold air, and, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 as a reference example, there is a concern that the outside air invades into the heat insulating cabinet 2 or the main freezing compartment 7 from a minute clearance gap of the connection portion R1 or R2 as indicated by the arrow α. However, in this embodiment, since the flow of the cold air indicated by the arrow X described above does not occur, the outside air described above does not invade. Therefore, it is possible to avoid occurrence of dew condensation in the inside of the refrigerator or the connection portions R1 to R3 caused by the intrusion of the outside air.
Here, when the vacuum heat insulating panel is used in the heat insulating wall body, there is an advantage of forming the heat insulating wall body in a thinner shape. However, since the vacuum heat insulating panel itself is a panel shape (plate shape), it is difficult to form in a bent shape. Therefore, the heat insulating cabinet 2, which is configured by the heat insulating wall body using the vacuum heat insulating panel, has the configuration in which the plurality of heat insulating wall bodies are connected to each other. For this reason, when the connection portion exists in the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet, there is a concern that the outside air described above invades. Particularly, in this case, since the vacuum heat insulating panel is provided in the form divided by the connection portion, the clearance gap is formed between the vacuum heat insulating panels and thus there is further concern that the outside air invades.
On the other hand, in the embodiment, even though the heat insulating wall body is configured using the vacuum heat insulating panel and thus the outside air easily invades, it is possible to suppress the intrusion of the outside air by preventing the cold air from being flowed downward to the main freezing compartment 7 outside the upper-side freezing container 20. In addition, according to the embodiment, since the lower-side freezing container 19 is formed in the non-hole shape except that the top surface is opened, the cold air blown into the lower-side freezing container 19 from the cold air blowout port for lower-side freezing container 37 passes through the inside of the lower-side freezing container 19 and can then be directly guided to the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a from the upper opening, thereby effectively preventing the cold air from being flowed downward to the main freezing compartment 7.
Further, in the embodiment, since the upper-side freezing container 20 is provided as a storage container which is different from the lower-side freezing container 19 and the clearance gap G is formed between the upper-side freezing container 20 and the lower-side freezing container 19, even when the upper-side freezing container 20 exists in the upper side of the lower-side freezing container 19, the cold air supplied into the lower-side freezing container 19 can be guided to directions of the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a through the clearance gap G.
Further, instead of the configuration for providing the clearance gap G or in addition to this configuration, the vent portion may be formed on the bottom portion of the upper-side freezing container 20.
In addition, according to the embodiment, since the cold air generating portion 30 is configured in such a manner that the fan 33 is arranged above the evaporator 32 such that the cold air sucked from the cold air suction ports 41a and 42a is sent once to the front by passing through the evaporator 32, which is provided below the fan 33, and then flows upward by the supply duct portion 36 to be blown from the cold air blowout ports 37, 38, and 39, it is possible to reduce a vertical dimension of the cold air generating portion 30.
That is, when the supply duct portion is provided to be directed downward to the lower portion of the evaporator 32 of the cold air generating portion 30 and the cold air suction port is provided in the supply duct portion, if the position of the cold air suction port is set to the upper position of the lower-side freezing container 19, the vertical dimension of the cold air generating portion becomes extremely long and thus the entire refrigerator is large-scaled in a height direction. In contrast, since the embodiment is made up of the above configuration, it is possible to reduce the vertical dimension of the cold air generating portion 30 and to avoid the entire refrigerator from being large-scaled in the height direction.
In addition, according to the embodiment, since the prevention portion 44 is provided to prevent the cold air from being circulated to the lower portion of the main freezing compartment 7 from the upper opening of the lower-side freezing container 19 in which the cold air blows, the cold air supplied into the lower-side freezing container 19 is only guided to the directions of the upper cold air suction ports 41a and 42a, and thus it is possible to prevent the cold air from being flown in the direction as indicated by the arrow X described above and to further prevent the outside air from invading.
Further, the heat insulating wall body of the heat insulating cabinet may be configured using the heat insulating member such as foamed urethane. In this case, the outer plate and the inner plate are connected to each other, thereby forming the connection portion. In the embodiment, when the connection portion is positioned at the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet, the invasion of the outside air can be prevented.
In addition, the bent portion on the bottom portion of the heat insulating cabinet is effective to form the machine compartment, but the bent portion is not essential and the connection portion may be merely configured on the bottom portion of the heat insulating cabinet.
According to the refrigerator of the embodiment described above, the refrigerator includes: a heat insulating cabinet that is configured in a substantially box shape from heat insulating wall bodies and in which a connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies exists in a lower portion thereof and a storage compartment is formed therein; a storage container that is provided in the storage compartment in a form that a bottom portion of the storage container comes close to a bottom portion of the storage compartment and a top surface thereof is opened; and a cold air generating portion that is provided with an evaporator and a fan to generate cold air and is configured to blow the cold air from a cold air blowout port and to suck the cold air from a cold air suction port. In the refrigerator, the cold air blowout port is provided in the storage container to blow the cold air, and the cold air suction port is provided above a lowermost end of the cold air blowout port. According to this, in the refrigerator in which the connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies exists in the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet, the outside air can be prevented from invading from the connection portion.
In the drawings, according to the embodiment, reference numeral 1 indicates the refrigerator, reference numeral 2 indicates the heat insulating cabinet, reference numeral 7 indicates the main freezing compartment (storage compartment), reference numeral 19 indicates the lower-side freezing container (storage container), reference numeral 20 indicates the upper-side freezing container (additional storage container), reference numeral 30 indicates the cold air generating portion, reference numeral 32 indicates the evaporator, reference numeral 33 indicates the fan, reference numeral 37 indicates the cold air blowout port for small freezing compartment (cold air blowout port), reference numeral 38 indicates the cold air blowout port for upper-side freezing container (cold air blowout port), reference numerals 41a and 42a indicate the air suction port, reference numeral 44 indicates the prevention portion, reference numerals R1 to R3 indicate the connection portion, and reference numeral K indicates the bent portion.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.

Claims

A refrigerator comprising:
a heat insulating cabinet that is configured from a plurality of heat insulating wall bodies and in which a connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies exists in a lower portion thereof and a storage compartment is formed therein;

a storage container that is provided in the storage compartment in a form that a bottom portion of the storage container comes close to a bottom portion of the storage compartment and a top surface thereof is opened; and

a cold air generating portion that is provided with an evaporator and a fan to generate cold air and is configured to blow the cold air from a cold air blowout port and to suck the cold air from a cold air suction port,

wherein the cold air blowout port is provided to blow the cold air in the storage container, and the cold air suction port is provided above a lowermost end of the cold air blowout port.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a bent portion is provided at the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet and the connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies exists in the bent portion.
The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heat insulating cabinet is made up of a plurality of heat insulating wall bodies including vacuum heat insulating panels and the vacuum heat insulating panels are divided by the connection portion of the heat insulating wall bodies provided at the lower portion of the heat insulating cabinet.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the storage container is formed in a non-hole shape except that the top surface is opened.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an additional storage container, in which a top surface is opened, is provided above the storage container, a vent portion is provided on a bottom portion of the additional storage container, and/or a clearance gap is formed between the additional storage container and the storage container.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cold air generating portion is configured in such a manner that the fan is arranged above the evaporator and the cold air sucked from the cold air suction port is sent to a front by passing through the evaporator, which is provided below the fan, and then flows upward to be blown from the cold air blowout port.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a prevention portion is provided to prevent the cold air from being circulated to the lower portion of the storage compartment from an upper opening of the storage container in which the cold air blows.