JP2007071487A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator improving maintenance of cooling performance by improving an air duct structure of a cooler periphery. <P>SOLUTION: The refrigerator is provided with a freezing chamber maintaining an interior within a freezing temperature zone, a cooler 4 arranged in a back part of the freezing chamber and cooling internal circulation air, a cooler chamber provided with the cooler 4 and provided nearer to the back part than a partition wall 27 partitioning the cooler 4 and the freezing chamber, a cooling fan circulating cold air produced by the cooler 4, and a cold air return port 14 communicating the cooler chamber with the freezing chamber and returning the cold air after cooling the freezing chamber. In the cold air return port 14, an opening upper face 26 is positioned higher than a cooler 4 lower face, and an opening lower face 30 of the return port 14 is positioned lower than the cooler 4 lower face. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with a cooler.

  The refrigerator using the cold air circulation system cools the inside of the refrigerator by circulating cold air using an internal fan provided on the downstream side of the cooler. The flow of cold air can be changed by opening and closing a damper provided on the downstream side of the internal fan, and the cold air is distributed to the refrigerator compartment or freezer compartment according to the internal temperature. In this way, the cool air that cools the interior and flows again into the cooler mixes the return air from the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment into a complicated flow, so it is not limited to the cooling performance during normal operation. In order to maintain and improve the cooling performance during frost, the structure of the cooler return air inlet is important.

  Patent Document 1 is given as an example of the air path structure around the refrigerator cooler for solving such problems. In Patent Document 1, the position of the frost growing on the cooler is changed by the return air from the freezer room and the return air from the refrigerator room and the vegetable room, so that the cooling performance at the time of frost formation can be improved. The problem is solved by arranging the lower surface of the return air opening above the lower surface of the cooler.

JP 2004-85070 A

  In Patent Document 1, the lower surface of the opening of the freezer return air is installed above the lower surface of the cooler, so that the return air from the freezer is returned to the front of the cooler, and the return air from the refrigerator room and vegetable room. Grows frost from the bottom of the cooler. However, the return air from the refrigeration room and vegetable room is strongly affected by the return air from the freezer room with a large amount of air, so it tends to concentrate on the back of the cooler and frost is generated locally. There is concern about deterioration of cooling performance during frost formation. In order to improve the cooling performance, it is better to increase the return air inflow part of the freezer compartment with a large air volume as much as possible in order to reduce the ventilation resistance, and to effectively use the front side of the cooler to improve the heat exchange efficiency.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, and it aims at providing the refrigerator which improved the air path structure of the cooler periphery part and aimed at the maintenance improvement of the cooling performance.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with a freezing room in which the room is maintained in a freezing temperature zone, a cooler that is disposed at the back of the freezing room and cools the circulating air in the warehouse, and this cooler. A cooler chamber provided behind the partition wall separating the freezer compartment, a cooling fan for circulating the cool air generated by the cooler, and the cooler chamber and the freezer compartment in communication with each other; A cool air return port for returning cool air after cooling the freezer compartment, the cool air return port has an upper surface of the opening positioned above the lower surface of the cooler, and an open lower surface of the cool air return port from the lower surface of the cooler Was also positioned below.

Further, in the refrigerator having the above configuration, the opening upper surface of the cold air return port is formed by folding the partition wall to the opposite side of the cooler,
A defrosting heater for melting frost attached to the cooler is provided below the cooler,
A guide portion for guiding the return cold air upward at a position in the cold air return port that opens radially to the freezer compartment side from the defrost heater and shields the radiation to the freezer compartment by the defrost heater. Prepared.

In addition, a toy that receives defrost water is provided below the defrost heater,
An inclined portion that connects the cold air return port and the toy is provided on a lower extension line of a partition wall that forms the front surface of the cooler chamber and faces the cooler.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the refrigerator which improved the air path structure of the cooler periphery part and aimed at the maintenance improvement of the cooling performance can be provided.

  In order to improve the cooling performance of the refrigerator, it is important to reduce the ventilation resistance of the entire cooling air passage. In particular, reducing the draft resistance of the return air inflow area around the cooler is important for improving the cooling performance during frost formation. Therefore, in the freezer compartment return air inlet with a large amount of circulating air, the upper surface of the freezer compartment return air inlet opening is at the same height as the lower surface of the cooler or the lower surface of the cooler for the purpose of improving the cooling performance by reducing the draft resistance. Install above.

  At the time of defrosting, it is heated by a defrosting heater (radiant heater) provided at the bottom of the cooler, but it is cooled even if the internal circulation fan is stopped by the heated air around the cooler or the radiation heat from the electric heater. Since the temperature of the freezer compartment close to the refrigerator may rise, the temperature rise of the freezer compartment is suppressed by a guide provided in the freezer return air inflow portion.

  The guide has a certain angle with respect to the horizontal direction on the cooler side in order to smoothly flow the returned return air into the cooler, thereby improving the efficiency of heat exchange with the cooler.

  An embodiment of a refrigerator having these configurations will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. The refrigerator 8 is arranged in the order of the refrigerator compartment 9, the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the vegetable compartment 12 from the top. In order to cool the inside of the refrigerator, a refrigeration cycle is incorporated in the refrigerator 8 and is constituted by a compressor 1, a condenser 2, a throttle 3, and a cooler 4, which are sequentially connected by a refrigeration pipe. The cooler 4 is disposed in a cooler chamber located behind the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the cooler chamber is partitioned from the freezer compartment by a partition wall. Cooling air is circulated by the internal cooling fan 5 installed on the downstream side of the cooler 4 to cool the inside of the internal storage, and the damper 6 provided on the downstream side of the internal fan 5 opens and closes the refrigerating room air passage 7 or the freezer. Cold air is led to the room air passage 13 so that the cold air is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 9 or the freezer compartments 10 and 11 (the vegetable compartment 12 introduces a part of the cold air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 9). The structure is cooled by this (not shown).

  When the damper 6 is open, cold air is supplied from a plurality of refrigerating room outlets or freezer outlets passing through the refrigerating room air passage 7 and the freezing room 13, and the refrigerating room 9, the vegetable room 12, and the freezer Chambers 10 and 11 are cooled simultaneously. The cold air that has cooled the refrigerator compartment 9 is returned to the cooler 4 through the refrigerator compartment return duct, and the air that has cooled the freezer compartments 10 and 11 passes through the freezer compartment return port (freezer compartment return air inlet) 14. And then returned to the cooler 4. Moreover, when cooling the freezer compartments 10 and 11 independently, the damper 6 can be closed and the cool air can be led to the freezer compartment air passage 13 to be cooled. In this case, the cool air returning to the cooler 4 comes only from the freezer return port 14.

  That is, the refrigerator of the present embodiment includes a freezer compartment 10 and 11 in which the room is maintained in a freezing temperature zone, a cooler 4 that is disposed on the back of the freezer compartment 10 and 11 and cools the circulating air inside the refrigerator, and this cooling The cooler chamber is provided behind the partition wall that is provided with the cooler 4 and partitions the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the internal fan 5 that circulates the cool air generated by the cooler 4 is provided. The partition wall that partitions the cooler chamber and the freezer compartments 10 and 11 is provided with a cold air return port 14 that communicates between the cooler chamber and the freezer compartments 10 and 11.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the fan guard 27 of the present embodiment. The fan guard 27 of the present embodiment is a partition wall that partitions the freezer compartments 10 and 11 and the cooler compartment, and constitutes a cold air passage through which the cool air generated by the cooler 4 passes.

  As shown in FIG. 2A showing the front side of the fan guard 27, a plurality of cold air discharge ports for blowing out cold air are provided on the front side of the fan guard 27, and the cold air return port 14 is provided below the cold air discharge port. Is provided. The cold air is blown out into the freezing chambers 10 and 11 by the cold air discharge port, and the cold air after cooling the inside of the freezing chambers 10 and 11 is returned from the cold air return port 14 to the cooler chamber.

  The rear side of the fan guard 27 will be described with reference to FIG. The cold air cooled by the cooler 4 is sent to the refrigerator compartment 9, the freezer compartments 10 and 11, and the vegetable compartment 12 by the internal fan 5. The refrigerating room 9 is sent to the refrigerating room cold air passage 7 through the refrigerating room side opening of the fan guard 27. Although not shown in the figure, cold air is sent to the vegetable compartment 12 through a cold air passage communicating with the vegetable compartment 12. As shown in FIG. 2A, cold air is sent to the freezing chambers 10 and 11 from a cold air discharge port provided on the front side of the fan guard 27.

  As described above, the cool air that has cooled the freezer compartments 10 and 11 is returned to the cooler compartment via the cool air return port 14 that communicates between the cooler compartment and the freezer compartments 10 and 11. The cold air that has cooled the refrigerator compartment 9 passes through the refrigerator compartment return air passage 15 extending vertically in the side of the refrigerator compartment, returns to the cooler compartment from below the cooler 4, and is cooled again by the cooler 4. It is structured to circulate to each room in the warehouse.

  Thus, the refrigerator of the present embodiment cools the refrigerator compartment 9 and the vegetable compartment 12 which are storage compartments in the refrigeration temperature zone, and the freezer compartments 10 and 11 which are storage compartments in the freezing temperature zone by the single cooler 4. The cooling air that has cooled each of these chambers is returned to the single cooler 4.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing details of the periphery of the cooler of this embodiment. The cooler 4 constitutes a cold air passage, and includes a fan guard 27 that constitutes a partition wall that partitions the freezer compartments 10 and 11 and the cooler compartment, and a rear wall 21 that constitutes the inner box of the refrigerator main body 8. It is installed between. Bypass air passages 22a and 22b are provided on the front side and the back side of the cooler 4, and when frost adheres and grows on the cooler 4 and the ventilation resistance on the lower side of the cooler 4 increases, these After passing through the bypass air passage, heat exchange with the cooler 4 is performed to maintain a predetermined cooling performance. The freezer compartment return port 14 is configured by a lower surface 26 of the fan guard 27 and an upper surface 30 of the partition wall 32 facing the lower surface 26.

  The partition wall 32 here is a partition wall that partitions between the freezer compartment 11 and the vegetable compartment 12, and the freezer compartment and the cooler compartment are provided between the upper surface 30 of the partition wall 32 and the lower surface 26 of the fan guard 27. It has a structure that communicates between the two. That is, the lower surface 26 of the fan guard 27 is the upper opening edge of the cool air return port 14, and the upper surface 30 of the partition wall 32 is the lower opening edge of the cold air return port 14. The cool air return port 14 may be formed with an opening provided below the fan guard 27. In this case, both the upper edge and the lower edge of the cool air return port 14 are fan-shaped. Formed by a guard 27.

  The lower surface 26 of the fan guard 27 that is the upper edge of the opening of the freezer compartment return port 14 is installed at the same position in the vertical direction than the lower surface of the cooler 4 or at a distance L above the lower surface 26 of the fan guard 27. Yes, the opening of the freezer return 14 is widened. Thus, since the height of the opening upper edge surface of the freezer compartment return port 14 is made higher than the lower surface of the cooler 4 by the distance L, the return air from the freezer compartment passes through the freezer compartment return port 14 by reducing the ventilation resistance. The inflow speed at the time of cooling is reduced, the front side of the cooler 4 can be used effectively, and the cooling performance can be improved.

  In addition, since the inflow speed of the return air from the freezer compartment is moderated, it is possible to prevent the return air from the refrigerator compartment from flowing intensively to the back side of the cooler 4, so that frost is locally present on the back side of the cooler 4. The cooling performance is expected to improve. In particular, in the case where the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment 9 is returned to the cooler compartment through the side of the cooler 4, the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment 9 is on the back side of the cooler 4. Since it is easily pushed, the configuration of this embodiment is effective.

  In this embodiment, the relationship with the lowermost surface of the upper edge of the opening of the freezer return port 14 is also set higher than the lower surface of the cooler 4 by a distance L ′, and the ventilation resistance of the portion suspended from the lower surface 26 is kept small. Yes. That is, the freezer compartment return port 14 has a configuration in which the upper surface of the opening is located above the lower surface of the cooler 4 and the lower surface of the opening is located below the lower surface of the cooler 4, thereby contributing to improvement in cooling performance by improving the efficiency of cold air circulation. is doing.

  Thus, in addition to setting the opening of the freezer compartment return port 14 to be large, the present embodiment has the following configuration to improve the circulation of cold air and solve the problems associated therewith. . Hereinafter, these configurations will be described.

  The opening of the freezer compartment return port 14 is provided with a guide part for guiding the flow of the return cold air upward. In this embodiment, a plurality of guides 25a and 25b are installed in the opening. These guides 25a and 25b are installed on the cooler 4 side at an angle θ from the horizontal direction, and the corners of the fan guard 27 are on the extension line of the guides 25a and 25b toward the cooler 4 or above the extension line. C is present, and the return air flows smoothly into the cooler 4.

  In other words, the opening upper surface of the freezer return port 14 is formed by folding the lower surface of the fan guard 27 to the opposite side of the cooler 4, and a guide portion is provided in the opening formed in this way, on the extension line of the guide portion. By adopting a configuration in which the cooler 4 is positioned, the resistance of the return air is reduced.

  In addition, a defrosting heater 23 for melting frost adhering to the cooler 4 is provided below the cooler 4. Therefore, as the opening of the freezer compartment return port 14 is increased, the radiant heat from the defroster heater 23 and the air heated by the defroster heater 23 are transferred to the freezer compartment via the freezer compartment return port 14. It is necessary to prevent temperature rise. That is, if the freezer compartment 11 ′ is located in a portion that opens radially from the defrosting heater 23, the container 11 ′ is warmed by radiant heat, and it is necessary to prevent this.

  In the present embodiment, the guides 25a and 25b are provided in the freezer compartment return port 14 at positions where the radiation to the freezer compartment by the defrosting heater 23 is shielded. Therefore, the temperature rise due to radiant heat is suppressed, and the guides 25a and 25b are provided. Is installed at an angle θ so as to guide the return cold air upward, it also prevents the heated air from flowing to the freezer compartment side.

  As described above, the guides 25a and 25b are effective in suppressing the temperature rise of the freezer compartment due to the heated air and radiant heat around the heater 23 at the time of defrosting, and to the portion where the cooler 4 and the electric heater 23 are installed. This helps prevent food from falling and contributes to improving the circulation efficiency of cold air.

  Furthermore, in order to prevent defrost water from entering the freezer compartment side, the following configuration is adopted. A toy 24 for receiving defrost water is provided below the defrost heater 23. In view of this, an inclined portion that connects between the upper surface 30 of the partition wall 32 forming the freezer compartment return port 14 and the toy 24 is provided on the lower extension line of the partition wall facing the cooler 4.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, a portion where the corner C of the fan guard 27 extends vertically downward and intersects with the partition wall 32 intersects with a straight line AB (inclined surface 31) inclined to the toy 24 side. The defrost water is guided to the toy 24 by the inclined surface 31 even if the defrost water falls from the corner C, so that the defrost water does not flow into the refrigerator via the freezer return port 14. It has become. Therefore, the defrost water is collected in the toy 24 installed under the defrost heater 23 and is discharged from the drain 33 communicating with the outside of the refrigerator.

According to the above embodiment, the lower surface of the fan guard 27 constituting the freezer return port 14 (freezer return air inflow portion) is the same position in the vertical direction as compared to the lower surface of the cooler 4 or the lower surface of the fan guard 27. By installing above the
(1) By reducing the inflow speed of the return air inflow section, heat can be exchanged effectively on the front side of the cooler, and the heat exchange efficiency of the entire cooler can be improved.
(2) It becomes difficult for frost to grow locally in the cooler, and the cooling performance during frosting is improved.
The effect is obtained.

  Moreover, the return air guide (guide part) installed in the freezer compartment return port 14 allows the return air to smoothly flow into the cooler 4, thereby improving the heat exchange efficiency of the cooler. Furthermore, since the guide part is installed so that the heat from the defrosting heater does not go to the freezer compartment side at the time of defrosting, the temperature increase in the freezer compartment at the time of defrosting is suppressed.

  Here, the return cold air from the vegetable compartment 12 will be described. The return cold air from the vegetable compartment 12 is guided into the cooler compartment via a cold return passage (not shown) provided in the partition wall 32. The cool air return passage from the vegetable compartment communicates with the cooler compartment, and the opening is provided in the lower portion of the cooler 4. Specifically, it is desirable to provide an opening on the inclined surface shown in FIG. 3, and the cold air returned from the opening into the cooler chamber is mixed with the return cold air from the refrigerator compartment and the return cold air from the freezer compartment. Thus, the cooling unit 4 is configured to cool again.

  At this time, the opening of the cold air return passage from the vegetable room is provided at a position where the defrost water does not flow. For example, the defrost water is prevented from falling into the opening by disposing it from the lower projection surface of the cooler 4. Furthermore, by positioning this opening on the upper side (side closer to the A part) than on the lower extension line of the partition wall facing the cooler 4, the defrost water that has fallen on the inclined part flows to the B side, and the vegetables The defrost water is prevented from flowing into the room cool air return passage.

It is sectional drawing of the refrigerator by embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the fan guard of a present Example. It is sectional drawing which shows the detail of the cooler periphery part of a present Example.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Compressor, 2 ... Condenser, 3 ... Throttling, 4 ... Cooler, 5 ... Inside fan, 6 ... Damper, 7 ... Cold room cold air path, 8 ... Refrigerator, 9 ... Cold room, 10, 11 ... Freezer room, 12 ... Vegetable room, 13 ... Freezer room air passage, 14 ... Freezer room return port, 21 ... Back wall, 22a, 22b ... Bypass, 23 ... Electric heater, 24 ... Toy, 25a, 25b ... Guide, 26 ... Fan guard lower surface, 27 ... fan guard, 29 ... cooler lower surface, 30 ... upper surface of partition wall 32, 31 ... inclined surface, 32 ... partition wall, 33 ... drain.

Claims (3)

  A freezing room in which the room is maintained in a freezing temperature zone, a cooler that is disposed at the back of the freezing room and cools the circulating air in the refrigerator, and a back part from a partition wall that is provided with this cooler and partitions the freezing room A cooler chamber, a cooling fan that circulates the cool air generated by the cooler, and a cool air return to which the cool air returns after cooling the freezer chamber through the cooler chamber and the freezer chamber. A refrigerator in which the upper surface of the cold air return port is positioned above the lower surface of the cooler, and the lower surface of the cold air return port is positioned below the lower surface of the cooler. The opening upper surface of the cold air return port is formed by folding the partition wall to the opposite side of the cooler,
A defrosting heater for melting frost attached to the cooler is provided below the cooler,
A guide portion for guiding the return cold air upward at a position in the cold air return port that opens radially to the freezer compartment side from the defrost heater and shields the radiation to the freezer compartment by the defrost heater. The refrigerator according to claim 1 provided. Having a toy receiving defrost water below the defrost heater;
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein an inclined portion that connects between the cold air return port and the toy is provided on a lower extension line of a partition wall that forms the front surface of the cooler chamber and faces the cooler.

Images