EP3655714A1

EP3655714A1 - Refrigerator appliance comprising an evaporator with circulating flow

Info

Publication number: EP3655714A1
Application number: EP18740535.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Benjamin Schmidt
Original assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2017-07-20
Filing date: 2018-07-05
Publication date: 2020-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-05
Also published as: EP3655714B1; CN111133264A; PL3655714T3; CN111133264B; DE102017212423A1; WO2019015977A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigerator appliance comprising an evaporator chamber (5), an evaporator (11) housed in said evaporator chamber (5) and at least one elastic buffer (35) positioned between a flank of the evaporator (11) and a wall (23) of the evaporator chamber (5). The buffer (35) is a moulded part consisting of a softer material than that of an evaporator housing (8) delimiting the evaporator chamber (5). It is connected, by plug-in connection, to the evaporator housing (8) by means of at least one first projection (28) and one recess (42) that receives said first projection (28). Mutually touching surfaces of the first projection (28) and of the recess (42) can move relative to one another in a longitudinal direction of the first projection (28).

Description

Refrigeration unit with circulating evaporator

The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a circulated by the air of a storage room and tires exposed by auskondensierender from this moisture evaporator.

If such an evaporator is closely enclosed by a housing, as is typically the case with a no-frost evaporator, then ice bridges may form between the evaporator and the surrounding housing. Temperature fluctuations of the evaporator, in particular the regular change between phases of the compressor operation, in which liquid refrigerant is fed into the evaporator, and standstill phases in which the evaporator heats up as soon as the liquid refrigerant stored in it is vaporized, allow the evaporator and the housing to varying degrees expand or contract. If evaporator and housing are in multiple locations, e.g. Via ice bridges, their different expansion behavior leads to the occurrence of thermal stresses. If these tensions abruptly break down when breaking up an ice bridge, it will emit cracking noises, which can be clearly audible and disturbing for the users.

To combat such noises, the formation of ice bridges must be prevented. For this purpose, it is known per se to attach a flexibly deformable layer between the evaporator and the housing. For example, DE 10 2014 223 571 A1 shows a refrigeration device in which the evaporator before its installation in the refrigerator a compensation layer is suspended so that it fills a gap between a broadside of the evaporator and an opposite wall of the evaporator housing after installation and there the emergence prevented by ice bridges. On the narrow sides of the evaporator protruding pipe bends and pipe connections rest on protrusions of the surrounding evaporator housing, so that here further ice bridges may arise. In order to prevent ice bridges here as well, it has been proposed to stick the surfaces of the projections with a foam film. This is labor intensive, since at least two blanks made from the foam sheet for each projection and must be glued on; In addition, the foam sheet loses its effect when compressed too much between the evaporator and protrusions.

The object of the invention is to provide a refrigeration device which is protected in a simple manner against an excessive occurrence of cracking noises.

The object is achieved by having a refrigeration device, in particular a household refrigerator, with an evaporator chamber, housed in the evaporator chamber evaporator and at least one between a flank of the evaporator and a wall of the evaporator chamber arranged elastic buffer of the molding of a softer material than the the evaporator housing is and is connected to the evaporator housing via at least a first projection and a recess receiving the first projection and contacting surfaces of the first projection and the recess in a longitudinal direction of the first projection are movable against each other. The connector facilitates the first time the installation of the device, by the conventional bonding can be omitted; on the other hand, it maintains a residual mobility between the buffer and the evaporator housing at a protected before the formation of ice bridges body, which allows a noiseless stress relief. Typically, the refrigerator has a housing surrounding an interior, the evaporator is mounted on a wall of the housing and has embedded in a thermal barrier coating of the housing connecting leads. In such a refrigerator, the evaporator housing is generally installed after the evaporator to divide the interior into an evaporator chamber containing the evaporator and a storage chamber.

Although it is possible to provide the recess on the evaporator housing and the projection on the buffer; however, because it is more compact in construction, the opposite case is that the projection is part of the evaporator housing and engages in the recess of the buffer.

In order to ensure a tight fit of the buffer on the evaporator housing without gluing, the evaporator housing and the buffer can have a second projection and a second recess which engage each other transversely to the longitudinal direction of the first projection. A detachment of the buffer from the evaporator housing is then possible only with simultaneous deformation of the buffer.

The differently oriented projections may be distributed to a main wall and to a side wall of the evaporator housing connected to the main wall via an edge. Thus, both projections can protrude substantially from the supporting wall of the evaporator housing.

In order to facilitate the molding of the evaporator housing, the side wall may have a passage which is aligned with the second projection in the longitudinal direction of the first projection. Thus, it is possible to form both projections with only two tool parts movable relative to one another in the longitudinal direction of the first projection, one of which extends through the passage. In order to prevent condensate from entering the storage chamber via the passage, the passage is preferably surrounded by a sealing edge projecting into the evaporator chamber.

This sealing edge can engage in a recess of the buffer.

In order to ensure a secure positioning of the buffer on the evaporator housing, the buffer may have a voltage applied to the side wall first edge and a voltage applied to the main wall second edge. In order to facilitate the assembly of the refrigerator, in particular to facilitate the correct placement of the evaporator housing on the evaporator, when concealed at the same time the evaporator housing the evaporator, the buffer may be tapered in a wedge shape in a direction away from the second flank. Thus, a tip of the buffer can easily engage between projecting from the flank of the evaporator tube loops and then carried out by contact of the tube loops with the edges of the buffer a fine alignment of the evaporator housing relative to the evaporator. The first recess receiving the first protrusion may extend from the first flank of the buffer to the second to permit engagement of the first protrusion in the first recess on the second flank side and thus attachment of the buffer to the evaporator housing in the longitudinal direction of the second protrusion enable.

Thus, when plugging in the longitudinal direction of the second projection and the first projection into its recess and there may contribute to the anchoring of the buffer, preferably, the first recess facing away from the second flank, the first projection receiving outer region, one to the second flank adjacent inner area as well as a bottleneck between inner and outer area. Thus, the first projection passes when plugging first in the inner region of the first recess, then passes through the bottleneck, wherein he spreads the elastic buffer, and finally locks, after passing the bottleneck, in the outer area.

To facilitate the entry of the first protrusion into the bottleneck, the inner area may converge toward the bottleneck.

The above mentioned sealing edge can fit in the inner area, i. the recess receiving the recess may be the first recess.

The buffer is preferably shaped as a bypass blocker which tightly seals a gap between the flank of the evaporator and the wall of the evaporator housing.

It may conveniently be made of silicone or a thermoplastic elastomer.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Show it:

1 shows a schematic section through an inventive refrigeration device. Fig. 2 is a schematic section through another inventive

The refrigerator;

3 shows an evaporator housing of the refrigeration device; 4 shows a detail of the evaporator housing.

Fig. 5 shows the detail of Fig. 4 and used for its manufacture

Shaped tool parts in section; 6 and 7 a buffer;

FIG. 8 shows a first section through the buffer mounted on the evaporator housing; FIG.

9 shows a second section through the buffer, and

Fig. 10 shows the buffer and its surroundings in the finished refrigerator.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic section through a household refrigerator according to the present invention. This is a combination device in which two different temperature storage chambers 1, 2, typically a normal refrigerated compartment and a freezer or a cold storage compartment, and a machine room niche 3 share a common housing 4. One of the two storage chambers 1 is housed together with an evaporator chamber 5 in a common inner container 6. The evaporator chamber 5 extends in the vertical and in the width direction of the housing 4 and covers most of a rear wall 7 of the inner container 6. It is bounded to the front by a main wall of an evaporator housing 8. In front of the evaporator housing 8 extends a distribution chamber 9, which in turn is delimited by a wall plate 10 of the storage chamber 1. The evaporator chamber 5 contains a finned evaporator 1 1. The fins of the evaporator 1 1 parallel to the sectional plane of Fig. 1st Between the rear wall 7 and its edges facing a few millimeters wide gap extends to the formation of ice bridges between the slats and the rear wall. 7 counteract; a corresponding gap is also provided between the main wall of the evaporator housing 8 and its facing edges of the fins. The gaps may be empty or, as known from DE 10 2014 223 571 A1, contain an equalization layer. Semicircular arcs 19 of a refrigerant tube crossing the slats project from the outer slat facing the viewer in FIG. 1 toward the viewer.

In one passage of the evaporator housing 8, a fan 12 is mounted. When the fan 12 is in operation, it draws air from the storage chamber 1 via a passage 13 below the lower edges of the evaporator housing 8 and the wall plates 10 through the evaporator 1 1 and ejects them into the distribution chamber 9. Depending on the position of (not shown in Fig. 1) baffles the air passes from the distribution chamber 9 through openings of the wall plate 10 back into the storage chamber 1 or first in the storage chamber 2 and from there back into the storage chamber 1, from where they again is sucked.

In the circulating air entrained moisture precipitates in the course of operation on the evaporator 1 1 as a frost and affects the heat exchange between the evaporator 1 1 and the circulating air. In order to defrost this frost from time to time, a defrost heater 14 is mounted under the evaporator 1 1 in the evaporator chamber 5.

Alternatively, the two storage chambers 1, 2 may be flowed through in series by the cold air from the evaporator chamber 5, as shown for example in Fig. 2. Here, the storage chambers 1, 2 and the evaporator chamber 5 share a common inner container 6. A removable horizontal partition plate 50 divides the space surrounded by the inner container 6 space in an upper and a lower part. The lower part is divided by the evaporator housing 8 and the wall panel 10 in the evaporator chamber 5, distribution chamber 9 and storage chamber 1. A the evaporator housing 8 upwardly extending wall plate 51 defines a on the rear wall 7 along the storage chamber 2 to the evaporator chamber 5 extending intake channel. From the fan from the evaporator chamber 5 extracted cold air is distributed through the distribution chamber 9 and openings of the wall plate 10 in the storage chamber 1 and flows from there, past a leading edge of the partition plate 50, back into the storage chamber 2. If the temperature of this storage chamber 2 far enough is above 0 ° C, the influx of relative warm air from the storage chamber 2 sufficient to defrost on the evaporator 1 1 deposited frost and to drain from the evaporator chamber 5, without it specifically requires a defrost heater.

Water that runs off the evaporator 1 1 during defrosting is collected in a channel 15 at the bottom of the evaporator chamber 5. From the lowest point of the channel 15, a passage 16 leads through the heat-insulating layer of the housing 4 into the open, to an evaporation tray 17, which is heated by waste heat from a compressor 18 accommodated in the machine room niche 3. FIG. 3 shows the evaporator housing 8 of the refrigeration device from FIG. 1 in a perspective view. The contours of the evaporator 1 1 are transparent hineingezeichnet in the evaporator housing 8. The already mentioned main wall is designated 20. In an upper region of the main wall 20 there is an opening 21, in front of the fan chamber 12 in the distribution chamber 9 finds place. Below the opening 21 a plurality of narrow ribs 22 are formed to keep open the gap between the evaporator 1 1 and the main wall 20 and to prevent large-scale freezing of the evaporator 1 1 on the main wall 20.

From the edges of the main wall 20 go out two side walls 23 and a bottom wall 24. In the bottom wall 24 are openings 25, via which, driven by the fan 12, air enters the evaporator chamber 5, flows between the fins of the evaporator 1 1 and leaves the evaporator chamber 5 through the opening 21 again. The evaporator housing 8 of the refrigerator of Figure 2 may be identical to the above-described except for its installation position. i.e. the bottom wall 24 is in the installed state at the top and forms a ceiling of the evaporator chamber, the evaporator 1 1 is flowed through from top to bottom, and the opening 21, on which the fan 9 is mounted, is located below the evaporator 1 first

The distance between the outer fins 26 of the evaporator 1 1 and the side walls 23 is considerably larger than the distance between the fins with each other. To prevent air between the outer fins 26 and the side walls 23 flows through and the evaporator 1 1 bypasses, must be closed on both sides of the evaporator 1 1, the gap between the outer blades 26 and the side walls 23 by a bypass blocker. Fig. 3 does not show the bypass blocker but on one of the side walls 23 projections 27, 28, which serve to anchor such a bypass blocker. 4 is an enlarged view of these protrusions 27, 28.

The projection 27 is a narrow mandrel which, starting from the main wall 20, is perpendicular to this, i. in the depth direction of the housing 4, projects into the evaporator chamber 5. The projection 28 extends at right angles to the projection 27, in the width direction of the housing 4, from the side wall 23. He has a narrowing with increasing distance from the main wall 20, triangular or Y-shaped cross-section.

At the same height with the projections 27, 28 a passage 29 is recessed in each side wall 23. This passage 29 is provided to pass, as shown in Fig. 5 during injection molding of the evaporator housing 8, a mold member 30 which forms one of the side wall 23 facing flank 31 of the projection 27. The remaining flanks of the projection 27 and the projection 28 may be formed by a single second mold part 32, which is movable in opposite directions to the mold part 30.

The passage 29 is bounded by a sealing edge 33 protruding into the evaporator chamber 5 from the side wall 23.

Between the projection 28 and a side facing away from the main wall 20 edge of the side wall 23 may - also by the mold part 32 - a protruding into the evaporator chamber 5 rib 34 may be formed.

Figs. 6 and 7 show the buffer 35 for attachment to the projections 27, 28. The buffer 35 is a molding of silicone or thermoplastic elastomer. The outer shape of the buffer 35 is that of a prism having three rectangular flanks 36, 37, 38 and triangular faces 39, 40. The narrowest of the three flanks, 36, is provided to abut the main wall 20 when assembled. A recess 41 of the flank 36 is formed complementary to the projection 27. A second recess 42 is articulated in an inner region 43 which is open to both the flank 36 and the end face 39 and wedge-shaped constricted by the flank 36, an outer region 44 which is open to the end face 39, and a the areas 43, 44th connecting bottleneck 45. The approximately triangular cross-section of the outer region 44 is dimensioned so that the projection 28 fits under any slight clamping. However, both together in the longitudinal direction of the projection 28 is not possible, this prevents the projection 27th

One possibility of mounting the buffer 35 on the evaporator housing 8 is plugging in the longitudinal direction of the projection 27. The projection 28 first passes over the side of the recess 42 which is open towards the flank 36 in its inner region 43. Walls converging towards the constriction 45 46 of the inner region 43 may facilitate the engagement of the projection 28 in the bottleneck 45. The bottleneck 45 is narrower than the projection 28; therefore, the buffer 35 is elastically expanded during the passage of the projection 28 through the constriction 45. As soon as the projection 28 has reached the outer region 44, the buffer 35 relaxes again by bringing the walls of the bottleneck 45 back towards one another and thus blocking the projection 28 from returning to the bottleneck 45. Since sliding in the longitudinal direction of the projection 28 is blocked by the engagement of the projection 27 in the recess 41, the buffer 35 is securely fixed to the evaporator housing 8.

To secure the buffer 35 may further contribute that the rib 34 engages around an edge 47 of the buffer 35 opposite the edge 36 at one end.

Another way to assemble the buffer 35 is to guide it obliquely against the main wall 20, so that initially a limited by the flank 36 and the end face 40 edge 48 touches the main wall 20 and the projection 27 engages in the recess 41 , and then pivot the buffer 35 about this edge 48 until the flank 36 abuts the main wall 20 and the end face 39 abuts the side wall 23. Here, too, the projection 28 first enters the inner region 43 and temporarily spreads the constriction 45 before it engages in the outer region 44.

8 and 9 show sections through the buffer 35 mounted on the evaporator housing 8 along the plane VIII-VIII of FIG. 5 and along the sectional plane of FIG. 5. Along an edge between the walls 46 of the recess 42 and the end face 39 extends a groove 49 into which the sealing edge 33 engages to seal the passage 30 watertight. The projection 27 is frictionally clamped between two sides of the recess 41; the flank 31 or an opposite flank of the projection 27 is spaced from the walls of the recess 41 to allow the above-described pivotal movement about the edge 48.

When assembling the refrigerator shown in Fig. 1, the housing 4 is first assembled from outer walls and inner container 6, and the evaporator 1 1 is inserted into the inner container, wherein connection lines of the evaporator 1 1 through an initially empty space between the outer walls and the inner container 6 run. By foaming the gap, the housing 4 is stabilized, and the leads are firmly embedded. Subsequently, the evaporator housing 8 is mounted in the inner container 6. This assembly is complicated by the fact that the evaporator housing 8 blocks the view of the evaporator 1 1. According to the invention, the correct placement of the evaporator housing 8 still succeeds with the aid of the previously attached to its two side walls 23 buffers 35. Their edges 47 find by their pointed shape easy input between two bends 19 of the evaporator 1 1, even if the height in which the evaporator housing 8 is performed against the evaporator 1 1, only approximately true; by then the flanks 37, 38 slide along the pipe bends 19, there is a fine adjustment of the installation height.

Fig. 10 shows, seen from the direction of the rear wall 7, the engagement of one of the buffer 35 between the pipe bends 19 at an edge of the evaporator 1 first The flanks 37, 38 each touch a pipe bend 19, the end face 40 abuts the outer fin 26. The edge 47 shown exposed in FIG. 9 bears against the rear wall 7 omitted in FIG. 9, so that the buffer 35 acts as a bypass blocker which completely or almost completely closes the gap between the outer lamella 26 and the side wall 23. When the refrigerator is in operation, prevail in the evaporator chamber 5 usually temperatures below 0 ° C, at which the blade 26 or the pipe bends 19 can freeze to the buffer 35. When the evaporator 1 1 is charged with liquid refrigerant and shrinks due to the resulting cooling, so the buffer 35 can this first by a shearing deformation between the edges 36, 37 on the one hand and the inner surfaces of the recesses 41, 42 on the other hand compensate; if the tension forces exceed the friction between the inner surfaces of the recesses 41, 42 and the projections 27, 28, then the latter can noiselessly reduce the tension by sliding against each other before it becomes large enough to deform the evaporator housing 8 and, if the ice between the evaporator 1 1 and the buffer 35 breaks, to make it snap back noisily in its relaxed form.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 storage room

2 storage room

3 engine room niche

4 housing

5 evaporator chamber

6 inner container

7 rear wall

8 evaporator housing

9 distribution chamber

10 wall plate

1 1 (lamella) evaporator

12 fans

13th passage

14 defrost heating

15 gutter

16 passage

17 evaporation tray

18 compressors

19 pipe bend

20 main wall

21 opening

22 rib

23 side wall

24 bottom wall

25 opening

26 outer lamella

27 advantage

28 lead

29 opening

30 mold part

31 flank 32 mold tool part

33 sealing edge

34 rib

35 buffers

36 flank

37 flank

38 flank

39 front side

40 front side

41 recess

42 recess

43 inner area

44 outer area

45 bottleneck

46 wall

47 edge

48 edge

49 fillet

50 separating plate

51 wall plate

Claims

1 . Refrigerating appliance, in particular household refrigerating appliance, with

an evaporator chamber (5),

an evaporator (11) accommodated in the evaporator chamber (5) and at least one elastic buffer (35) arranged between an edge of the evaporator (11) and a wall (23) of the evaporator chamber (5), characterized in that the buffer ( 35) a molding of a softer material than that of a the evaporator chamber (5) limiting

Evaporator housing (8) and with the evaporator housing (8) via at least a first projection (28) and a first projection (28) receiving recess (42) is plug-connected and contacting surfaces of the first projection (28) and the recess (42 ) are movable relative to each other in a longitudinal direction of the first projection (28).

2. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized by an interior

surrounding housing (4), wherein the evaporator (1 1) is mounted on a wall (7) of the housing (4), connecting lines of the evaporator (1 1) are embedded in a heat insulating layer of the housing (4) and the

Evaporator housing (8) the interior into an evaporator (1 1) containing evaporator chamber (5) and a storage chamber (1) divided.

3. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the projection (28) is part of the evaporator housing (8) and engages in the recess (42) of the buffer (35).

4. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the

Evaporator housing (8) and the buffer (35) have a second projection (27) and a second recess (41) which engage transversely to the longitudinal direction of the first projection (28) into one another.

5. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 4, characterized in that the

Evaporator housing (8) has at least one main wall (20) and a side wall (23), which are connected by an edge, and that the first Projection (28) on the side wall (23) and the second projection (27) on the main wall (20) is provided.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 5, characterized in that the side wall (23) has a passage (29) which is aligned in the longitudinal direction of the first projection (28) with the second projection (27).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 6, characterized in that the passage (29) by a in the evaporator chamber (5) projecting sealing edge (33) is surrounded.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 7, characterized in that the sealing edge (33) engages in a recess (42) of the buffer (35).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the buffer (35) has a side wall (23) abutting end face (39) and an on the main wall (20) adjacent flank (36).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, characterized in that the buffer (35) is tapered wedge-shaped in a direction away from the on the main wall (20) flank (36) facing away.

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the first recess (42) extends to the flank (36).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, 10 or 1 1, characterized in that the first recess (42) facing away from the flank (36), the first projection (28) receiving the outer region (44), one of the flank (36) adjacent Inner region (43) and a bottleneck (45) between the inner and outer region (43, 44).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12, characterized in that the inner region (43) converges towards the bottleneck (45).

Refrigerating appliance according to claim 12 or 13 and claim 7, characterized in that the sealing edge (33) engages in the inner region (43). Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the buffer is a bypass blocker (35).

Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the buffer consists of silicone or thermoplastic elastomer.