JP2009030933A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a refrigerator having a refrigerating chamber whose internal capacity is prevented from decreasing by introducing such a structure that the return passage for sucking in the cold air from the refrigerating chamber and supplying it to a cooling chamber involves no risk of ranging out into the refrigerating chamber. <P>SOLUTION: The cooling chamber 20 is equipped internally with a cooler element 19 and a draining gutter 22 to receive the defrost water dripping from the cooler element 19. The return passage 26 to suck in the cold air from the refrigerating chamber 2 and return it to the cooling chamber 20 is positioned below the cooling chamber 20, and a return passage outlet 26a in communication with the cooling chamber 20 is arranged beside the draining gutter 22. This allows widening of the internal capacity of the refrigerating chamber 2, compared with the case where the return passage outlet 26a is formed in front of the draining gutter 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fan-cool type refrigerator in which cold air in a storage chamber is circulated between a cooling chamber and a storage chamber by a circulation fan device.

In a fan-cooled refrigerator, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a cooling chamber is formed at the rear of the refrigeration chamber, and cold air in the refrigeration chamber is sucked into the cooling chamber via a return passage by a circulation fan device. And it is the structure which circulates so that the cold air cooled with the cooler in a cooling chamber may be blown out again from a ventilation path into a refrigerator compartment.
JP 2000-220943 A

  Since the moisture contained in the circulating air adheres as frost to the cooler, the cooler is periodically heated by a heater to melt the frost (defrosting). At the time of this defrosting, water (defrosted water) is dripped from the cooler. Therefore, a drainage basin for receiving the defrosted water and discharging it to the outside is provided at the bottom of the cooling chamber. A return passage for sucking cool air in the refrigerator compartment and returning it to the cooling chamber is provided avoiding the drainage basin, but conventionally, as seen in Patent Document 1, the return passage bypasses the front side of the drainage basin. It was formed as follows.

  However, the drainage basin is formed to be slightly larger than the planar shape (size when viewed from above) of the cooler so that defrosted water dripping from the cooler can be received. For this reason, when the return passage is formed so as to bypass the front side of the drainage basin, the return passage protrudes further into the refrigeration chamber than the cooling chamber in which the drainage basin is stored, thereby reducing the amount of food stored in the refrigeration chamber.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object thereof is to eliminate the protrusion of the return passage into the storage chamber or to reduce the amount of protrusion as much as possible to prevent a reduction in the amount of food contained in the storage chamber. There is.

  In the refrigerator of the present invention, a cool air suction portion for a return passage for sucking cold air in the storage chamber and supplying it to the cooling chamber is formed lower than a drain in the cooling chamber, and the cooler suction portion in the return passage It is characterized in that at least a part from the cooling chamber to the cooling chamber is formed on the side of the drainage basin.

  According to the present invention employing the above means, since the return passage is formed on the side of the drainage basin, there is no need to position the return passage in front of the drainage basin, and it is prevented from protruding into the storage chamber or protruding. The amount can be reduced as much as possible.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 10, the refrigerator-freezer of this embodiment includes a refrigerator body 1, a refrigerator compartment 2 located in the upper part, a refrigerator compartment 3 located in the lower part, and a refrigerator compartment 2 and a refrigerator compartment 3. An ice making chamber 4 and a small freezer chamber 5 are provided between the left and right sides.

  As shown in FIG. 1 showing the upper half refrigerator compartment 2 part, the refrigerator body 1 is filled with a heat insulating material 8 between a steel plate outer box 6 and plastic upper and lower inner boxes 7. The interior of the inner box 7 is the storage chambers 2 to 5 described above. And in the refrigerator main body 1, the doors 9-12 which open and close the front opening part of each storage chambers 2-5 are provided. Among these doors 9-12, the door 9 of the refrigerator compartment 2 is a double door type, and the doors 10-12 of the other storage rooms 3-5 are a drawer type.

As shown in FIG. 9, in the refrigerator compartment 2, as a food storage container, a water storage tank 13 for storing water for making ice in the ice making chamber 4 at the bottom, an egg case 14 for storing eggs, and a chilled chamber container 15 is arranged so that it can be pulled out and removed side by side. On the water storage tank 13, egg case 14, and chilled chamber container 15, a vegetable chamber container 16 as a food storage container is also detachably disposed. Furthermore, above the vegetable compartment container 16, a shelf 17 on which food is placed is detachably arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages.
As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, pockets 18 are formed on the back side of the door 10 of the refrigerator compartment 2 in a plurality of upper and lower stages. Of these pockets 18, the lowermost pocket 18 is formed with a partition portion 18 a for partitioning the inside of the pocket 18 in the front and rear, and a bottle, a can, etc. are accommodated in two steps in the front and rear of the partition portion 18 a I can do it.

  The freezer compartment 3, the ice making compartment 4, and the small freezer compartment 5 are cooled by a fan cool system by a single cooler (not shown). On the other hand, the refrigerator compartment 2 is similarly cooled by the fan cool system by a single cooler 19 shown in FIGS. That is, a cooling chamber 20 is formed at the rear of the refrigerator compartment 2 so as to be positioned higher than the vegetable compartment container 16. The cooler 19 is disposed in the center of the cooling chamber 20, a circulation fan device 21 for sending the cold air cooled by the cooler 19 to the refrigerating chamber 2 at the top, and the cooler 19 at the bottom. A drainage basin 22 is provided for receiving water (defrosted water) dripping from the cooler 19 during the defrosting and discharging it to the outside.

  In practice, as shown in FIG. 7, the cooler 19 is formed integrally with a drainage basin 22 and attached to a plastic unit plate 24 equipped with a heater 23 for defrosting. It has become. This unit plate 24 is fixed to the inner rear surface of the inner box 7 constituting the refrigerator compartment 2. On the other hand, the circulation fan device 21 is disposed on the rear cover 25 as a duct member (upper duct member), and then the cover 25 is attached to the inner rear surface of the inner box 7 so as to cover the entire unit plate 24. Yes.

  Then, by attaching the rear cover 25 to the inner rear surface of the inner box 7, a space in which the front, rear, left and right are closed is formed in the rear cover 25. This space is partitioned into upper and lower portions by a drainage basin 22, the space above the drainage basin 22 is the cooling chamber 20, and the space below the drainage basin 22 sucks cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 and cools the cooling chamber 20. The upper half of the return passage 26 for returning to the inside.

  The lower half portion of the return passage 26 is formed by fixing a lower cover 27 as a duct member (lower duct member) to the inner rear surface of the inner box 7 so as to be connected to the lower end portion of the rear cover 25. As shown in FIG. 4, the lower cover 27 extends to the bottom surface of the refrigerator compartment 2, and a plurality of intake ports 28 serving as cold air intake portions are provided in front of the lower end portion of the lower cover 27, for example, below the drainage tub 22. Is formed over. These air inlets 28 suck the cold air in the refrigerating chamber 2 into the return passage 26 through a gap 29 shown in FIG. 5 formed between the water storage tank 13, the egg case 14, and the back surface of the chilled chamber container 15. It has become.

  The return passage 26 and the cooling chamber 20 are partitioned by a drainage basin 22, but in order to allow the cold air sucked into the return passage 26 to flow into the cooling chamber 20, As shown in FIG. 7, a wide portion 25a is formed. The formation of the wide portion 25a of the rear cover 25 extends over a predetermined length range on both the upper and lower sides of the drainage basin 22 and is stopped at the rear half portion, not the entire depth of the rear cover 25 in the front-rear direction. And by this wide part 25a, the return path outlet 26a which connects the return path 26 to the cooling chamber 20 at the upper part of the return path 26 is the left and right side parts of the drainage basin 22 and the second half part of the side part. Formed in position.

  In the left and right sides of the return passage outlet 26a and in the lower part of the drainage basin 22, an intake port 30 as a cold air intake part that opens to the side is partially formed. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a recess 31 is provided by recessing a part of the left and right sides of the rear surface of the refrigerating chamber 2 rearward, and through the recess 31, the air intake 30 passes through the inside of the return passage outlet 26 a. In the lower part, the cool air in the refrigerator compartment 2 can be sucked.

A front cover 32 as a duct member (front duct member) is covered on the front side of the rear cover 25. The front cover 32 is made of plastic, and its lower end is in contact with the upper end of the lower cover 27. As shown in FIG. 1, the front cover 32 has a wider width than the rear cover 25, and forms air blowing paths 33 on both the left and right sides of the rear cover 25. The upper portion of the front cover 32 is an air distribution path 34 that distributes the cool air in the cooling chamber 20 blown from the circulation fan device 21 to the left and right, and the cool air blown from the circulation fan device 21. Flows in the air distribution path 34 to the left and right and is sent to the left and right air blowing paths 33.
Note that a space between the rear cover 25 and the front cover 32 other than the air blowing path 33 and the air distribution path 34 is filled with a heat insulating material 35 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 is prevented from being excessively cooled by preventing cool air from flowing except for the air blowing path 33 and the air distribution path 34.

As shown in FIG. 1, a wide portion 25a of the rear cover 25 projects in the middle of the vertical direction in the air passages 33 formed on the left and right sides of the rear cover 25, and the projecting portion of the wide portion 25a. Then, the ventilation path 33 is located in the front side of the wide part 25a. As a result, the return passage 26 and the air passage 33 overlap in the front-rear direction.
A large number of air outlets 36 are formed in the upper end portion, the left and right side portions, and the front surface portion of the front cover 32 for blowing cold air blown by the circulation fan device 21 into the refrigerator compartment 2. Further, of the right and left air passages 33 of the front cover 32, the lower end of the right air passage 33 is opened as shown in FIG. 4, and the open portion is separated from the return passage 26 on the right side of the lower cover 27. It is connected to the formed lower air passage 37. The lower air passage 37 communicates with an air outlet 38 formed in the lower front portion of the lower cover 27, and the cold air supplied to the lower air passage 37 is supplied into the chilled chamber container 15 from the air outlet 38. It has come to be. The cold air supplied into the chilled chamber container 15 flows into the refrigerator compartment 2 through the gap between the chilled chamber containers 15.

  Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. The cooling operation of the refrigerator compartment 2 is performed by supplying the liquid refrigerant to the cooler 19 and starting the circulation fan device 21. When the circulation fan device 21 is activated, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 is sucked into the return passage 26 from the air inlet 28 as indicated by an arrow A in FIGS. The cool air sucked into the return passage 26 hits the outer bottom surface of the drainage basin 22 as shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1, flows along the outer bottom surface of the drainage basin 22, and the return passage as shown by an arrow C in FIG. It flows into the cooling chamber 20 through the outlet 26a. Further, from the intake port 30 formed on the side of the return passage outlet 26a, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 is directly drawn into the return passage outlet 26a as shown by an arrow D in FIG. It flows into the cooling chamber 20 through 26a.

  The cool air that has flowed into the cooling chamber 20 is cooled by the cooler 19, and is circulated from the cooling chamber 20 by the circulation fan device 21 through the air distribution path 34 to the left and right air blowing paths 33 as indicated by an arrow E in FIG. As shown by the arrow F in FIG. 4 and the arrow G in FIG. The cold air blown by the circulation fan device 21 is blown into the refrigerator compartment 2 from the outlet 36 of the front cover 32 as shown by an arrow H in the process of passing through the air distribution passage 34 and the air passage 33, As shown in FIG. 5, it flows forward along the shelf 17. Further, the cold air supplied to the right air passage 33 is sent to the lower air passage 37 of the lower cover 27 as shown by an arrow J in FIG. 4 and from the outlet 38 to the chilled chamber container 15 as shown by an arrow K. Supplied in.

  The cold air blown into the refrigerator compartment 2 from the outlet 36 of the front cover 32 and flowed forward flows forward along the shelf 17 and the food on the shelf 17 as indicated by an arrow L in FIG. , And flows downward along the pocket 18 of the door 9 and the food stored in the pocket 18. The cold air blown into the chilled chamber container 15 flows into the refrigerator compartment 2 from the gap between the containers 15. The cold air that has reached the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 is then moved between the water storage tank 13, the egg case 14, the chilled compartment container 15, the vegetable compartment container 16 and the bottom of the refrigerator compartment 2 as indicated by the arrow M in FIG. The air flows backward through the gap, and is sucked into the return passage 26 from the air inlet 28 as indicated by an arrow A.

  The cold air sucked into the return passage 26 flows upward as described above, and flows to the left and right sides along the lower surface of the drainage basin 22 together with the cold air sucked from the intake passage 30 from the return passage outlet 26a. It flows into the cooling chamber 20. Then, the air is cooled by the cooler 19 in the cooling chamber 20 and is again circulated by the circulation fan device 21 from the air distribution path 34 to the air supply path 33.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the return passage outlet 26a, which is a part of the return passage 26, is formed on the side of the drainage basin 22, so that the return passage outlet is formed on the front side of the drainage basin. Thus, the forward protruding portion of the rear cover 25 and thus the protruding amount of the forward protruding portion of the front cover 32 can be reduced, and the internal volume of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be increased.
Moreover, since the air passage 33 on the side of the rear cover 25 passes through the front side of the return passage outlet 26a, the height of the front cover 32 protruding forward to ensure the necessary cross-sectional area of the air passage 33 is obtained. However, the internal volume of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be increased accordingly. Further, since the air passage 33 is on the front side of the return passage outlet 26a, the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be cooled while preventing overcooling by the cool air passing through the air passage 33.

Further, since the upper surface of the return passage 26 is constituted by the drainage basin 22, the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 sucked into the return passage 26 flows along the lower surface of the drainage basin 22. And since the inside of the refrigerator compartment 2 is normal plus temperature, the drainage tub 22 can be warmed with the cold air suck | inhaled from the refrigerator compartment 2, and the freezing of the defrost water in the drainage tub 22 can be prevented.
Further, in the prior art in which the return passage is formed on the front side of the rear cover 25, it is necessary to make the left and right sides of the cooling chamber 20 insulative structures. It is necessary to provide a portion so that the heat insulating material is filled in the convex portion, and the shape of the inner box 7 becomes complicated. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since both the left and right sides of the cooling chamber 20 are the air passage 33 and the return passage outlet 26a, there is no need for heat insulation, and the shape of the inner box 7 can be simplified.

  11 to 13 show another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the above-described embodiment is that the lower cover 27 is omitted, and instead, the front cover 32 is provided at the lower end portion of the rear cover 25. The suction duct portion 25c having the step portion 25b to be placed is integrally formed. The lower part of the suction duct portion 25c of the rear cover 25 is located in the upper portion of the gap 39 between the rear surface of the vegetable compartment container 16 and the inner rear surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 (inner box 7) as shown in FIG. ing. A plurality of intake ports (cold air intake portions) 40 are formed at the lower end portion of the intake duct portion 25c. The intake ports 40 open downwardly for drawing the cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 into the return passage 26. Cold air in the refrigerator compartment 2 is sucked into the return passage 26.

  Of the air passages 33 on the left and right sides formed by the front cover 32, the air passage 33 on the right side in the drawing is connected to a cold air duct 25d formed continuously on the right side of the suction duct portion 25c. A vertical duct 41 is connected to the lower part of the cool air duct 25d, and the cool air from the right air blowing path 33 is supplied to the vertical duct 41. The vertical duct 41 is connected to a case 42 disposed on the rear side of the chilled chamber container 15, and the cold air supplied to the vertical duct 41 is supplied into the chilled chamber container 15 from the outlet 43 of the case 42. It has come to be.

  According to this embodiment, since the intake port 40 faces the gap 39 between the rear surface of the vegetable compartment container 16 and the inner rear surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 (inner box 7), the intake duct 40 is used as an intake duct. The cold air that has flowed to the lower part can be sucked from the air inlet 40, and the lower cover 27 extending to the vicinity of the bottom surface of the refrigerator compartment 2 can be dispensed with.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The duct member that forms the return passage 26 and the air passage 33 is not limited to the combined configuration of the rear cover 25 and the front cover 32.
The formation positions of the cooling chamber 20 and the return passage 26 are not limited to the rear surface of the refrigerator compartment 2, and may be side surfaces.
The present invention is not limited to the cooler 19 for the refrigerator compartment 2, and may be applied to a passage configuration for returning the cold air in the freezer compartment 3 to the cooler that cools the freezer compartment 3.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a longitudinal front view of a main part along the AA line of FIG. 3. Cross-sectional plan view along the line II in FIG. Cross-sectional plan view along the line Wu in FIG. Longitudinal side view along the air line in FIG. Longitudinal side view along line O-O in Fig. 1 Longitudinal side view along the car line in FIG. Exploded perspective view of the main part Front view of refrigeration room with door removed Perspective view of the refrigerated compartment shown with the door open Front view of the entire refrigerator FIG. 7 equivalent view showing another embodiment of the present invention. Figure equivalent to FIG. 4 equivalent diagram

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a refrigerator body, 2 is a refrigerator compartment (storage room), 7 is an inner box, 9 is a door, 13 is a water storage tank, 14 is an egg case, 15 is a chilled room container, 16 is a vegetable room container, and 18 is Pocket, 19 is a cooler, 20 is a cooling chamber, 21 is a circulation fan device, 22 is a drainage basin, 25 is a rear cover, 26 is a return passage, 26a is a return passage outlet, 27 is a lower cover, 28, 30, 40 Is an air inlet (cold air suction portion), 32 is a front cover, 34 is an air distribution path, 37 is a lower air passage, and 41 is a vertical duct.

Claims (6)

Cooling air in the storage chamber is sucked into the return passage by the circulation fan device, and the cold air sucked into the return passage is supplied to the cooling chamber containing the cooler and the drainage tub that receives the water droplets dripping from the cooler. In the refrigerator configured to cool by the cooler and supply the cool air cooled by the cooler to the storage chamber through the air passage,
A cold air suction portion for sucking cold air in the storage chamber is formed in the return passage below the drainage basin, and at least one of the return passages from the cold air suction portion to the cooling chamber is formed. A refrigerator having a portion formed on a side of the drainage tub.   2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the return passage is formed so that cold air sucked from the cold air suction portion flows in contact with the drainage tub. 3.   3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a part of the air passage is formed on a side of the drainage tub and overlaps with the return path located on the side of the drainage basin.   4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein a part of the air passage located on a side of the drainage basin is located on a front side of the return duct located on a side of the drainage basin. The cooling chamber, the return passage, and the air passage are formed at a rear portion of the storage chamber,
The cold air suction part of the return passage sucks cold air in the storage chamber through a gap between a food storage container provided in the storage chamber and an inner surface of the storage chamber. 4. The refrigerator according to any one of 4. The storage room is a refrigerated room, and a chilled room container and a vegetable room container located above the chilled room container are disposed in a lower part of the refrigerated room,
The ventilation passage is configured to supply cold air to the chilled chamber container outside the refrigerated chamber, and the cold air supplied to the chilled chamber container flows out from the chilled chamber container into the chilled chamber,
The cold air suction part of the return passage is adapted to cool the air that has flowed out of the chilled chamber container into the storage chamber, together with the cold air supplied from the air passage to the storage chamber, and the vegetable chamber container and the inner surface of the storage chamber. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the refrigerator is configured to inhale through a gap between the two.

Images