JP2020008189A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a refrigerator which enables adjustment of an amount of cooling air flowing to each storage room without providing a large mechanism component.SOLUTION: A refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment includes: multiple storage rooms such as a cold room 3 and a chilled room 7; and a fan 9a and a fan 9b which send cooling air generated by a cold storage cooler 8. The two fans 9a, 9b are provided for the one cold storage cooler 8, and the fan 9a and the fan 9b have different structures of passages through which the cooling air flows to the storage rooms.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator.

  A refrigerator generally has a plurality of storage rooms having different temperature zones, and it is necessary to appropriately control the temperature of each storage room. Therefore, conventionally, a mechanical component such as a damper for adjusting the amount of cool air supplied to each storage chamber has been provided (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2006-75465

However, when a relatively large mechanical component such as a damper is provided, the capacity of the storage room is relatively reduced.
Thus, a refrigerator is provided that can adjust the amount of cool air to each storage room without providing large mechanical components.

  The refrigerator of the embodiment includes a cooler that generates cool air to be supplied to the plurality of storage rooms, and a fan that blows the cool air generated by the cooler, and includes a plurality of fans for one cooler, The structure of the flow path through which cool air flows in the storage room is different for each fan.

The figure which shows typically the structure of the refrigerator by embodiment. The figure which shows typically an example of the arrangement aspect of a fan and a cooler, and the structure of a flow path The figure which shows typically the arrangement aspect of another fan.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator 1 includes a rectangular box-shaped main body 2 having a front opening on a front side, a refrigerator room 3 and a vegetable room 4 in a refrigerator temperature zone, an ice making room in a freezing temperature zone, and a small freezer room 5. And a plurality of storage compartments such as a large freezer compartment 6. In addition, since the ice making room is arranged so as to be adjacent to the small freezing room 5 on the left and right sides, the illustration is omitted together with the door. The refrigerator compartment 3 is opened and closed by a so-called pivotable door 3a. However, the door 3a may be a double door type. Vegetable compartment 4, small freezing compartment 5, and large freezing compartment 6 are opened and closed by drawer-type doors 4a, 5a and 6a, respectively. The configuration of the refrigerator 1 is an example, and the number and arrangement of the storage rooms are not limited thereto.

  Further, a chilled room 7 which is a storage room controlled at a temperature zone different from that of the refrigerator room 3 is provided below the refrigerator room 3. In the present embodiment, the chilled chamber 7 is controlled to a so-called chilled temperature zone having a temperature range narrower than that of the refrigerator compartment 3. In addition, the chilled room 7 can also be used as a switching room which can switch the temperature zone.

The refrigerator 1 is located behind the vegetable compartment 4 below the refrigerator compartment 3 and is provided with a refrigerator cooler 8 for generating cool air in the refrigerator temperature zone, and is generally behind the chilled compartment 7. It is provided with two fans 9a and 9b (see FIG. 2) for blowing the cool air generated by the refrigerator 8 for cooling.
Further, the refrigerator 1 includes a freezing cooler 10 that generates cold air in a freezing temperature range and a fan 11 that blows the cool air generated by the freezing cooler 10, which is located behind the freezer compartment. . That is, the refrigerator 1 includes a plurality of coolers, and in the present embodiment, a plurality of here two fans 9 a and 9 b are provided for the refrigeration cooler 8. In the present embodiment, the rotation speed of the fans 9a and 9b can be individually controlled.

  Each cooler provided in the refrigerator 1 constitutes a well-known refrigeration cycle together with a compressor 13 and the like arranged in a machine room 12 provided on the bottom of the main body 2. The cooling state of the refrigerator 1 is controlled by a control device (not shown) using a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and the like (not shown) provided in the storage room.

  The refrigerating cooler 8 is of a so-called fin tube type, and has a certain length in the left-right direction of the refrigerator 1 in order to generate cool air for cooling a relatively large-capacity storage room such as the refrigerating room 3. It is formed. Hereinafter, the left-right direction of the refrigerator 1 of the refrigerator 8 will be referred to as a longitudinal direction.

  The cool air generated by the refrigerator cooler 8 is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 by the fans 9a and 9b via the rear duct 15 formed on the rear side of the duct cover 14 of the refrigerator compartment 3. The opening 16a (see FIG. 2) provided to communicate with the chilled chamber 7 corresponding to the fan 9a, and the opening 16b provided to communicate with the chilled chamber 7 corresponding to the fan 9b ( 2) to the chilled chamber 7. Hereinafter, for the sake of simplicity, the refrigerator compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4 are also referred to as the refrigerator compartment 3 side for convenience.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the fan 9a and the fan 9b are provided adjacent to each other above the refrigerator cooler 8 supported by the holder 17. In the present embodiment, the fans 9a and 9b are arranged such that the blowing surface faces upward. In addition, a wall 18 is provided between the fan 9a and the fan 9b so as to extend at least above the upper ends of the openings 16a and 16b. The wall portion 18 is formed integrally with a support 19 attached to the holder 17 while supporting the fans 9a and 9b. The fans 9a and 9b have the same specifications.

  The wall 18 partitions the space between the fans 9a and 9b in the longitudinal direction of the refrigerator 8 and is arranged so as to be biased toward one of the fans 9a. For this reason, the distance (Wa) from the left end of the refrigerator 8 to the wall 18 is shorter than the distance (Wb) from the right end of the refrigerator 8 to the wall 18. Therefore, when the opening 16a and the opening 16b are the same size, the amount of cool air supplied to the chilled chamber 7 from the opening 16a through the left side of the wall 18 in the drawing is equal to the right side of the wall 18 in the drawing. It becomes smaller than the amount of cool air supplied to the chilled chamber 7 from the opening 16b on the side.

  That is, in the refrigerator 1, the amount of cool air blown by the fans 9a and 9b is different between the chilled room 7 and the refrigerating room 3 where a plurality of storage rooms have different temperature zones. In other words, the structure of the flow path through which the cool air flows in the storage room is different between the respective fans 9a and 9b.

Next, the operation of the refrigerator 1 will be described.
As described above, in order to control the cooling state of the storage room in different temperature zones, conventionally, a mechanical component such as a damper has been provided. However, if a relatively large mechanical component such as a damper is provided, the capacity of the storage room is relatively reduced. Further, as described above, in the case of the refrigerating cooler 8 that is long in the left-right direction of the refrigerator 1, if the air passage is deviated, the cooling balance may be lost and the frost formation state may be deviated.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the amount of cold air supplied to the chilled room 7 and the refrigerated room 3 having different temperature zones in a plurality of storage rooms can be adjusted structurally. Specifically, the size of the flow path from the fan 9a to the back duct 15 is larger than the size of the flow path from the fan 9b to the back duct 15 because the wall portion 18 is arranged to be biased toward the fan 9a. Is also getting smaller. Therefore, even if the openings 16a and 16b have the same size, the ratio of the cool air flowing through the rear duct 15 to the cool air flowing through the opening 16a is different between the fan 9a and the fan 9b.

  Here, for example, on the fan 9a side, the ratio of the cool air flowing to the rear duct 15 to the cool air flowing to the opening 16a is 1: 2, and for the fan 9a side, the cool air flowing to the rear duct 15 and the cool air flowing to the opening 16a are different. Is 2: 1. Note that this ratio can be appropriately set according to the required cooling performance.

  In this case, even if the fan 9a and the fan 9b have the same rotation speed, the amount of cool air supplied to the chilled chamber 7 by the fan 9a is different from the amount of cool air supplied to the chilled chamber 7 by the fan 9b. At the same time, the amount of cool air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 3 by the fan 9a is different from the amount of cool air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 3 by the fan 9b. That is, the structure of the flow path through which the cool air supplied to the storage room flows differs for each of the fans 9a and 9b.

  Therefore, for example, when the chilled room 7 is at an appropriate temperature and the temperature on the side of the refrigerator compartment 3 is slightly higher, that is, when it is not desired to supply the chilled room 7 with so much cold air, the chilled room 7 is moved to the chilled room 7. By increasing the rotation speed of the fan 9b having a relatively low supply ratio of the cool air to the chilled chamber 7 as compared with the rotation speed of the fan 9a having a relatively high supply ratio of the cool air within a range where the cooling balance does not collapse, It is possible to increase the supply amount of cold air to the refrigerating room 3 without excessive cooling of the chilled room 7 and cool the room properly.

  Conversely, for example, when the temperature of the chilled chamber 7 is slightly higher because the temperature of the refrigeration chamber 3 is appropriate, the rotation speed of the fan 9a is set to be larger than the rotation speed of the fan 9b within a range where the cooling balance is not lost. Thereby, the supply amount of cold air to the chilled chamber 7 is increased, and the chilled chamber 7 can be appropriately cooled without excessively cooling the refrigerator compartment 3 side.

According to the refrigerator 1 described above, the following effects can be obtained.
The refrigerator 1 includes a plurality of storage rooms such as a refrigerator room 3 and a chilled room 7 and a fan 9a and a fan 9b that blow the cool air generated by the refrigerator cooler 8; Are provided with two fans 9a and 9b, and the structure of the flow path through which the cool air flows in the storage room is different between the respective fans 9a and 9b. Thereby, even if the rotation speeds of the fan 9a and the fan 9b are the same, for example, it is possible to adjust the amount of cool air supplied to the refrigerator compartment 3 and the chilled compartment 7, and to use a large mechanical component such as a damper. It is possible to adjust the amount of cool air to each storage chamber, that is, the distribution of cool air, structurally without providing the air.

  This is particularly significant when the chilled room 7 is targeted. The chilled room 7 is generally considered to have a smaller volume than the refrigerator room 3 and to some extent closed, so that when foods of the same temperature are put, the temperature tends to rise more than in the refrigerator room 3. Conceivable. Therefore, by adopting a configuration in which the supply amount of cool air to the chilled chamber 7 can be relatively increased, the chilled chamber 7 can be more quickly controlled to an appropriate temperature range, and it is possible to prevent food from being damaged. Can be suppressed.

  In the refrigerator 1, a plurality of fans 9 a and 9 b are arranged adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the refrigerator 8 above the refrigerator 8. This makes it possible to generate cool air by using a cooler generally formed to a certain length in order to obtain the required cooling performance, and to maintain a cooling balance in the cooler. Can be. In addition, it is possible to prevent the cooling balance from being lost and the amount of frost from being partially increased.

  In addition, the refrigerator 1 includes a wall portion 18 disposed between the plurality of fans 9a and 9b so as to be biased toward one of the fans 9a. Thereby, the structure of the flow path of the cool air can be easily changed between the fan 9a side and the fan 9b side. At this time, by integrally forming with the support 19 as in the embodiment, the wall portion 18 can be provided without requiring additional parts and consuming no space.

  Further, the refrigerator 1 can individually control the plurality of fans 9a and 9b. Thus, in a state where the flow path of the cool air is structurally different, for example, by controlling the rotation speeds of the fans 9a and 9b to be different, the cool air flowing into the storage room is not largely disturbed by the cooling balance of the refrigerating cooler 8. Can be largely changed, and each storage room can be quickly and easily controlled to an appropriate temperature range.

The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and can be modified, expanded, or combined as follows, for example, without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the embodiment, the fan 9a and the fan 9b are arranged so that the air blowing surface faces upward. However, as schematically shown in FIG. 3, the fan 9a and the fan 9b may be arranged so that the air blowing surface faces the front-rear direction of the refrigerator 1. Even in such a configuration, by providing the wall portion 18 between the fans 9a and 9b, similarly to the embodiment, without providing a large mechanical component such as a damper, each storage room is structurally structured. The amount of cold air, that is, the distribution of cold air can be adjusted.

  In the embodiment, the configuration in which the sizes of the opening 16a and the opening 16b are the same is illustrated. However, the amount of cool air supplied to the chilled chamber 7 can be determined by the size of the opening 16a and the opening 16b. By making the size of the opening 16b different, it is possible to adjust the amount of cool air to each storage room. For example, the ratio of the amount supplied to the refrigerator compartment 3 to the amount supplied to the chilled room 7 is set to 1: 2 for the opening 16a, and the ratio of the amount supplied to the refrigerator room 3 is set to the opening 16b. The size can be set appropriately according to the required cooling performance, such as by setting the ratio to the amount supplied to the chilled chamber 7 to 2: 1. Also in this case, the distribution of cool air between the refrigerator compartment 3 and the chilled compartment 7 can be adjusted by controlling the rotation speeds of the fans 9a and 9b as described above.

  In the embodiment, the opening 16a is provided on the fan 9a side and the opening 16b is provided on the fan 9b side. However, for example, the opening 16a is provided only on the fan 9a side, and the fan 9a is provided with cold air in the refrigerator room 3 and the chilled room 7. And the fan 9b may be configured to supply cool air only to the refrigerator compartment 3 side. Of course, the reverse configuration is also possible. Even with such a configuration, the amount of cool air to each storage room can be adjusted without providing large mechanical components as in the embodiment.

  In the embodiment, the configuration in which the wall portion 18 is provided so as to be biased is illustrated, but the configuration is such that the sizes of the opening 16a and the opening 16b are different without biasing the wall portion 18 or without providing the wall portion 18. You can also. Even with such a configuration, the amount of cool air to each storage room can be adjusted.

  In the embodiment, the configuration in which the inside of the chilled chamber 7 and the side of the fans 9a and 9b are directly communicated is exemplified. However, a configuration in which cool air is guided to the chilled chamber 7 via a duct member may be employed. In this case, by changing the cross-sectional area and the bent shape of the duct member between the fan 9a side and the fan 9b side, that is, by adopting a structure in which the size of the flow path and the pipe resistance are different, the same as in the embodiment. The amount of cold air to each storage room can be adjusted.

  In the embodiment, the refrigeration cooler 8 has been described. However, for example, when a quick freezing room for rapidly freezing and storing food at normal temperature or heated is provided as a storage room in a freezing temperature zone, the refrigeration cooler 8 is used. The temperature of the storage room can be appropriately controlled by employing the same configuration as that of the above-described embodiment, such as providing two fans 11 for 10.

  Each embodiment is provided by way of example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments can be implemented in other various forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The present embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  In the drawing, 1 is a refrigerator, 3 is a refrigerator room (storage room), 4 is a vegetable room (storage room), 5 is a small freezing room (storage room), 6 is a large freezing room (storage room), 7 is a chilled room ( Storage room), 8 is a refrigerator for cooling (cooler), 9a is a fan, 9b is a fan, 10 is a refrigerator for cooling (cooler), 11 is a fan, 15 is a rear duct (flow path), 16a is an opening (Flow path), 16b denotes an opening (flow path), and 18 denotes a wall.

Claims (4)

A cooler for generating cool air to be supplied to the plurality of storage rooms;
And a fan that blows the cool air generated by the cooler,
A refrigerator, wherein a plurality of the fans are provided for one of the coolers, and a structure of a flow path through which the cool air flows in the storage compartment is different for each of the fans.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of fans are arranged above the cooler and adjacent to each other in a longitudinal direction of the cooler.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a wall is provided between the plurality of fans to partition between the fans and to be biased toward one of the fans.   The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of fans can be individually controlled.

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