JP2003090667A - Icemaking chamber constitution for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a storage chamber layout having good handleability in which an icemaking chamber is disposed at a corner of a cold storage chamber by disposing an efficient cold gas duct mechanism to the storage chamber and constituting a cooling unit in order to deal with diversified user's needs. SOLUTION: A refrigerator comprises a cold storage chamber 5 to be cooled by a cold storage cooler 21 and a cold storage fan 22 disposed in an upper part of a refrigerator body, a freezing chamber 9 to be cooled by a freezing cooler 27 and a freezing fan 28 disposed in a lower part of the body, a vegetable chamber 7 provided between the cold storage chamber and the freezing chamber, the icemaking chamber 12 heat-insulation-partitioned to one corner of a bottom of the cold storage chamber and installed, and an independent storage chamber 15 provided adjacent to the side of the icemaking chamber. In this refrigerator, the cold gas generated by the freezing cooler provided on the back of the freezing chamber is supplied to the icemaking chamber through a freezing duct 30, and the cold gas duct including the freezing cooler and a return duct 36 from the icemaking chamber are provided together on the back surface of the vegetable chamber.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a cold storage room of a refrigerator, and more particularly to a structure of an ice making room of a refrigerator in which an ice making container is installed in a refrigerating room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, refrigerators have tended to have a large storage capacity in combination with diversification of life.
Since the number of opening and closing of the door is large and the frequency of use is high, we installed a refrigerating room with the largest storage volume of storage in the upper part of the refrigerator body,
A vegetable compartment and a freezer compartment are installed in the lower part, and an ice-making compartment equipped with an ice-making device between the vegetable compartment and the freezer compartment and a temperature switch that can switch the compartment to multiple temperature zones from freezing temperature to vegetable storage temperature. Many have set up rooms independently.

Since a large number of storage chambers having different storage temperatures are provided in this manner, a single cooler is conventionally used, but a cooler dedicated to each temperature zone, such as a cooler for freezing temperature, is used. Two coolers such as a cooler for refrigerating temperature are installed corresponding to each temperature chamber.

In the cooling system having such a plurality of coolers, the coolers corresponding to the respective temperatures of the storage chambers are arranged in the vicinity of the back surface of the storage chambers in terms of cooling efficiency for the storage chambers. There is. That is, the refrigerating cooler is arranged in the vicinity of the refrigerating compartment, and the vegetable compartment having a temperature slightly higher than the refrigerating compartment temperature is also installed in the vicinity of the refrigerating compartment. In addition to the provision, the ice making chamber and the temperature switching chamber, which also have the freezing chamber temperature, are also installed near the freezing chamber.

[0005]

However, in the refrigerator of the above-mentioned form, the ice making room is arranged at the lower part of the vegetable room, and it is located below even in the layout of the entire refrigerator, so the ice is taken out. Sometimes it was necessary to bend over, and it was especially inconvenient when the ice was used frequently, such as in summer.

The external size of the refrigerator is close to the width, depth and height dimensions due to the installation conditions such as kitchen conditions in Japan, which limits the expansion of the storage space. The demand for improved usability is becoming stronger.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to this point, and in order to meet diversifying user needs, an ice making chamber is provided as a refrigerating chamber by an efficient arrangement of a cool air duct mechanism and a cooling device in the storage chamber. It provides a convenient storage room layout that is located in a corner of the space.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of the structure of an ice making chamber of a refrigerator according to claim 1 is cooled by a refrigerating cooler and a refrigerating fan arranged at the upper part of the refrigerator body. A refrigerating chamber, a freezing chamber cooled by a freezing cooler and a freezing fan arranged in the lower part of the refrigerator body, and a vegetable chamber provided in a storage space between the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, An ice-making chamber installed so as to be heat-insulated at one corner of the bottom of the refrigerating chamber, and an independent storage chamber provided adjacent to the side of the ice-making chamber, and a freezing cooler provided at the back of the freezing chamber. The generated cool air is blown into the ice making chamber through the cool air duct, and the cool air duct including the cooling fan for freezing and the return duct from the ice making chamber are provided together in the rear part of the vegetable compartment.

With this configuration, the height of the ice making chamber is raised, and when the ice is used, the posture does not lean forward, the ice can be taken out easily, and the ice making chamber is located below the refrigerator body. Even if a duct is extended to introduce cold air from the freezing cooler to the upper ice making room, by installing the freezing cooler, cooling fan, and cold air duct or return duct on the back of the storage room, The volumetric efficiency of the storage compartment is not impaired, and the back surface shape of each storage chamber can be flattened, so that the storage space can be effectively utilized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an ice making fan is provided at the back of the ice making chamber, and a part of cold air from the fan is supplied to an independent storage chamber adjacent to the ice making chamber through a damper. The fan provided in the ice making chamber can more effectively introduce the cold air of the freezing cooler, and can improve the cooling power of the ice making chamber and the switching chamber.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that an ice making room return duct and an independent storage room return duct are provided on both sides of a cold air duct to the ice making room on the back side of the vegetable room. The flat shape of the back surface of each chamber facilitates utilization of the storage space in each chamber, and improves volumetric efficiency.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the refrigerating cooler is arranged on the back surface of the refrigerating compartment, and the refrigerating cool air ducts from the refrigerating cooler are arranged on both sides of the refrigerating cooler. Therefore, the capacity of the refrigerating cooler can be increased to increase the cooling power, and both sides of the cooler can be used as ducts to flatten the inside and outside of the room and effectively use the installation and storage space.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a cool air duct including a cooling fan for freezing and a return duct from the ice making chamber are provided on the rear side of the vegetable compartment, and the recesses are provided on the outer side of the main body that does not overlap with the ducts. It is characterized by arranging a control circuit board in, without affecting the depth dimension of each storage chamber, and because the duct shape can be arranged in a simple and linear form, resistance loss can be reduced,
An efficient space and duct can be formed.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of the refrigerator main body (1) showing the arrangement state of each storage chamber with the door omitted, and by the inner box (3) provided inside the outer box (2) via a heat insulating material (not shown). A storage space is formed, which is divided into a plurality of storage chambers by a heat insulating partition wall.

(5) is a refrigerating room arranged at the top of the refrigerator main body for convenience of checking and storing and storing indoor stored items, since it is most frequently used in each storage room, and a hinge device (not shown) is provided. The front opening is closed by a door pivotally supported on one side of the main body.

A vegetable compartment (7) is formed in the lower part of the refrigerating compartment (5) through a partition plate (6) for accommodating vegetables kept at a temperature slightly higher than the refrigerating room temperature.

Below the vegetable compartment (7), there is a freezing compartment (9) for storing frozen foods via a heat insulating partition wall (8). This freezer compartment (9) is divided into two sections, an upper section and a quick freezing section (10).

Although the structure of the vegetable compartment (7) and the freezer compartment (9) is not shown in the drawing, the front opening of the compartment is closed by a door, and a frame body extending toward the storage compartment is provided inside the door. The storage container is mounted on the upper surface of the frame, and the storage container is slid by engagement of a roller (not shown) attached to the rear end of the frame and a rail member provided on the inner side wall of the frame to move the storage container in the front-back direction. It is provided so that it can be pulled out.

Therefore, an ice making chamber (12) partitioned by the heat insulating wall (11) is formed at a corner below the space of the refrigerating chamber (5). This ice making chamber (12) was mounted with an automatic ice making device (14) for receiving water from a water supply tank (13) provided in a refrigerating chamber (5) above the ice making chamber (12) and making ice. An ice storage box which receives ice discharge and stores ice is arranged so as to be freely drawn out, and is cooled to a freezing temperature by receiving cold air from a freezing cooler described later.

In the refrigerating space on the side of the ice making chamber (12), there is provided a temperature switching chamber (15) which is thermally insulated like the ice making chamber. The temperature switching chamber (15) has a freezing temperature of -18 degrees, a soft freezing temperature of about -7 degrees, by controlling a cold air flow by opening and closing a cold air damper (16) provided on an upper side wall of the ice making room (12). Multi-step temperature control is possible from 0 degree chilled temperature and +1 to 2 degree refrigeration temperature to about +8 degree wine cooling temperature. The temperature setting in the room can be changed before use. is there.

As shown in FIG. 2, which is a front view of the rear side of each of the storage chambers in which the rear portion of each storage chamber in FIG. 1 is removed, cooling air (arrow) is supplied to each storage chamber. A vessel and a duct are provided.

That is, a refrigerating cooler (21) is arranged at the center of the rear surface of the refrigerating room (5), and a refrigerating fan (22) is provided above it. A cool air discharge port (23) to the upper part of the refrigerating chamber is provided on the front of the refrigerating fan, and ducts (24) are formed from the upper part of the rear surface of the rear of the refrigerating chamber to both sides in the vertical direction. A cool air outlet (25) to the inside of the refrigerator is provided at a predetermined interval position, and for example, cool air is blown at intervals of the storage shelves (17) in the refrigerator room (5) to cool the refrigerator room. There is.

With the above structure, the refrigerating cooler is arranged on the back surface of the refrigerating chamber having a large area, so that the capacity of the cooler can be increased and the cooling power can be increased. Since it can be cooled sufficiently, the action of removing moisture from the stored food can be reduced and the food can be prevented from drying.By using both sides as ducts, the inside and outside can be flattened and the installation and storage space can be effectively used. Can be utilized.

A cold air suction port (26) is provided on the lower rear surface of the refrigerating compartment (5) so that the cool air circulated in the refrigerating compartment is sucked and returned to the cooler (21).

A freezing cooler (27) is arranged on the rear surface of the freezing compartment (9) below the refrigerator body. A freezing fan (28) is arranged above the freezing cooler (27) to blow cold air into the freezing chamber, and a part of the cold air is drawn upward from the duct (30) to the ice making chamber (12). It is configured such that it is guided to an ice making fan (31) provided at the back of the and is blown out into the ice making chamber (12).

Between the ice making fan (31) and the temperature switching chamber (15), as shown in FIG. 3, which is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the ice making chamber portion, a switching chamber duct (32) and a cold air damper (16) are provided. )
Part of the cold air from the ice making fan (31) is guided to the switching chamber duct (32) and blown into the temperature switching chamber (15) via the cold air damper (16).

Cold air damper (16) for the temperature switching chamber
Is buried in the partition between the ice making chamber (12) and the temperature switching chamber (15), and does not reduce the storage space. Also, since the duct (30) to the ice making room (12) can be used,
It is not necessary to provide a duct space dedicated to the temperature switching room (15), and the storage space can be effectively used.

Cold air inlets (34) and (35) are formed in the ice making chamber (12) and the temperature switching chamber (15) respectively, and the ice making chamber returns from the back of the vegetable chamber (7) to the freezing chamber (9). A duct (36) and a switching chamber return duct (37) are provided to return the circulating cold air to the freezing cooler (27).

These ducts for circulating the cool air are shown in FIG. 4 which is a vertical sectional view, FIG. 5 which is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2 and FIG. 6 which is a sectional view taken along the line BB. As shown, the cold air duct (30) to the ice making chamber and the return ducts (36) (37) from the ice making chamber and the switching chamber, the freezing cooler (27) and the freezing fan (28) and the return duct. (36) and (37) are installed in parallel on the back of the freezer compartment (9) and vegetable compartment (7).

With this configuration, the unevenness on the back surface of the storage room is minimized to reduce the protruding portion into each room, the volume utilization efficiency of the vegetable room (7) and the freezer room (9) is made effective, and the indoor space is used. In addition to the simplification, the parallel arrangement as described above allows each duct to have a linear and simple structure, and to efficiently perform cool air blowing without causing resistance loss due to bending of the duct passage.

Furthermore, from the vegetable compartment (7) to the temperature switching compartment (1
On the rear side of the refrigerator body (1), which covers 5), the refrigerator / cooler (2
7) or cooling fan (28) or ducts (30) (36)
A recess (39) is provided in a position parallel to the above, and a control circuit board (40) for controlling the operation of the refrigerator is installed in this recess.

The control circuit board (40) requires a relatively large installation space, but the freezing fan (28)
It can be installed side-by-side with the ventilation duct (36) without superimposing on the back surface, and the thickness of the entire back surface of the refrigerator body (1) is leveled to flatten the interior space and improve usability. There is.

Next, the cooling mechanism for each storage chamber will be described. The refrigerating cooler (21) arranged in the back of the refrigerating compartment (5) and the refrigerating cooler (27) arranged in the rear space of the freezing compartment (9) shown in FIG. It forms a refrigeration cycle together with a condenser, and is controlled so as to obtain a cooling temperature for refrigeration or freezing by making the evaporation temperature of the refrigerant different from each other.

The cold air cooled by the coolers (21) (27) is blown into each storage chamber space by the cooling fans (22) (28) for refrigeration and freezing above the cooling air. As shown by the arrow, the blown out cool air cools each storage chamber and repeats the circulation from the suction port back to the cooler to keep each storage chamber cooled to a predetermined set temperature.

In the refrigerating compartment (5), a part of the cool air from the refrigerating cooler (21) is blown out to the upper surface of the refrigerating compartment by the refrigerating fan (22), and the other is placed on both sides of the rear surface of the refrigerating compartment. Divide into the formed duct (24), and
Cold air outlets (25) that have been drilled at regular intervals in the vertical direction of 4)
The cold air circulated in the refrigerating chamber is circulated in the refrigerating chamber, and the cold air circulation cycle of returning from the suction port (26) to the cooler (21) is repeated.

Then, when the refrigerating room is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the operation of the refrigerating fan (22) is stopped, and when the room temperature rises above the predetermined temperature due to the stop of the cooling action, the fan (22) is again turned on. ) Is driven to perform a cooling action by circulating cold air.

The cooling control of the freezing space is basically the same as that of the refrigerating chamber control, but when the cool air of the freezing cooler (27) is discharged to the freezing chamber (9) by the freezing fan (28). At the same time, it is guided to the ice making chamber (12) provided at one corner of the upper refrigerating compartment space by the air duct (30) provided upward from the center of the back surface of the vegetable compartment (7) above the freezing compartment.

Then, a part of the cold air from the freezing fan (28) is blown into the ice making chamber (12) by the rotation of the ice making fan (31) which is the third fan provided at the back of the ice making chamber. At the same time, a part of the temperature switching chamber (1) is further adjoined via the switching chamber duct (32) and the cool air damper (16).
Introduce into 5) and cool it.

The cool air damper (16) controls the inflow amount of the cool air by changing the opening area of the cool air discharge port according to the set temperature, whereby the inside of the temperature switching chamber (15) is cooled to the above-mentioned freezing temperature or chilled temperature. It is kept in a predetermined temperature range.

The cold air that has cooled the ice-making chamber (12) and the temperature switching chamber (15) is cooled by the return ducts (36) for the ice-making chamber formed on both sides of the air-blowing duct (30) on the rear surface of the vegetable chamber (7). Switching room return duct (37) to freezer cooler (27)
Then, the cold air circulation cycle in which the cold air circulated in the freezer compartment (9) is merged and cooled again is continued.

The storage chamber provided on the side of the ice making chamber (12) is not limited to the temperature switching chamber as in the above embodiment,
It may be a dedicated room or a rapid cooling room having a chilled temperature lower than the refrigerating room temperature, and can be arbitrarily set and utilized as the cooling room.

[0042]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the height of the ice taking-out room in the ice making room is near the waist line of the user, and when the ice is used, the posture is leaning forward. The ice can be taken out easily and the usability is improved, and even if a duct is extended to introduce cold air from the freezing cooler located below the main body into the upper ice making chamber, By installing a cooler and a cooling fan, and a cool air duct and a return duct on the back side of the storage room, the volumetric efficiency in the storage is not impaired, and the back surface shape of each storage room can be flattened to accommodate the storage space. Can be effectively used.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an ice-making chamber having a freezing temperature atmosphere is provided at one corner of the refrigerating space, so that a temperature switching chamber adjacent to the ice-making chamber, which similarly requires freezing / cooling air, is easy to use. It can be installed in various places, and a freezing temperature storage space can be provided in the refrigerating space.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the back surface of each chamber is flattened, so that the storage space of each chamber can be easily utilized and the volumetric efficiency can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the capacity of the refrigerating cooler can be increased to increase the cooling power, and both sides of the cooler can be used as ducts to flatten the interior and exterior,
You can effectively use the installation and storage space.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the duct shape can be simply and linearly arranged without affecting the depth dimension of each storage chamber, resistance loss can be reduced, and an efficient space and duct can be obtained. Can be formed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention with a door removed.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state in which a back surface portion of the storage chamber in FIG. 1 is removed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an ice making chamber portion in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a duct configuration of a freezing space portion in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Refrigerator body 2 ... Outer box 3 ...
Inner box 4 ... Insulation 5 ... Refrigerator 6 ...
Partition plate 7 ... Vegetable room 8 ... Insulating partition wall 9 ...
Freezer 10 ... Quick freezing corner 11 ... Insulation wall 12 ...
Ice maker 13 ... Water tank 14 ... Automatic ice maker 15 ...
Temperature switching chamber 16 ... Cold air damper 17 ... Storage shelf 21 ... Refrigerating cooler 22 ... Refrigerating fan 23 ...
Cold air outlet 24 ... Duct 25 ... Cold air outlet 26 ...
Cold air inlet 27 ... Refrigerating cooler 28 ... Refrigerating fan 30 ...
Duct 31 ... Fan for ice making 32 ... Switching room ducts 34, 3
5 ... Cold air inlet 36 ... Ice making chamber return duct 37 ... Switching chamber return duct 39 ... Recess 40 ... Control circuit board

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kunio Arai             No. 6 Ota-Toshiba-cho, Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture Stock Association             Company Toshiba Osaka factory (72) Inventor Minoru Tenmei             No. 6 Ota-Toshiba-cho, Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture Stock Association             Company Toshiba Osaka factory

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerating chamber, which is cooled by a refrigerating cooler and a refrigerating fan arranged at an upper portion of a refrigerator main body,
A freezer compartment that is cooled by a freezer cooler and a freezing fan arranged in a lower part of the refrigerator body, a vegetable compartment provided in a storage space between the refrigerating compartment and a bottom portion of the refrigerating compartment. It consists of an ice making chamber installed in one corner with heat insulation and an independent storage chamber provided adjacent to the side of this ice making chamber, and cools the cold air generated by the freezing cooler provided at the back of the freezing room. An ice making chamber structure of a refrigerator, characterized in that the cool air duct including a cooling fan for freezing and a return duct from the ice making chamber are provided side by side in the rear part of the vegetable chamber while air is blown to the ice making chamber through the duct. 2. An ice making fan is provided at the back of the ice making chamber,
The ice making chamber structure of the refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a part of the cold air by the fan is supplied to an independent storage chamber adjacent to the ice making chamber via a damper. 3. An ice making chamber return duct and an independent storage chamber return duct are provided on both sides of a cold air duct to the ice making chamber on the back side of the vegetable compartment.
Configuration of the ice-making chamber of the refrigerator described. 4. The refrigerating cooler is arranged on the back of the refrigerating compartment,
2. An ice making chamber structure for a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein cold air ducts for refrigerating from the refrigerating cooler are arranged on both sides of the refrigerating cooler. 5. A cool air duct including a cooling fan for freezing and a return duct from the ice making chamber are provided side by side on the rear side of the vegetable compartment, and a control circuit board is arranged in a recess provided on the side of the outer surface of the main body that does not overlap with each duct. The ice making chamber structure of the refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the ice making chamber is provided.