JPH05223432A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To finely control the temperature in a chiller compartment and a cold storage compartment by distributing cold air to the chiller compartment and the storage compartment by one damper mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A duct 37 and a duct 39 respectively communicating with a chiller compartment 5 and a cold storage compartment 39 to feed cold air to the chambers 5 and 7 are provided. A damper mechanism 47 which can distribute the air to the chambers 5, 7 is provided at an upstream side confluent part of the ducts 37, 39. The mechanism 47 is controlled based on temperatures detected by temperature sensors 25, 27 respectively provided in the compartments 5, 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a plurality of cooling chambers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator 1. In this refrigerator 1, as a cooling chamber, a freezing chamber 3, a chilled chamber 5, a refrigerating chamber 7, and a vegetable chamber 9 are arranged in order from the upper temperature zone. A compressor 11 for sending a refrigerant is provided behind the lower part of the vegetable compartment 9, and the refrigerant sent from the compressor 11 is sent to an evaporator 13 having a cooling action through a refrigerant passage (not shown). The cool air cooled by the evaporator 13 is directly sent to the freezer compartment 3 by the fan 15 provided at the upper part of the refrigerator 1, and is also supplied to the chilled compartment 5, the refrigerating compartment 7, and the vegetable compartment 9 through the cool air passage 17. To be done. The fan 15 and the compressor 11 operate when the temperature detected by the freezer sensor 19 provided in the freezer compartment 3 becomes equal to or lower than the reference value. Damper mechanisms 21 and 23 that control the supply of cold air to the chambers are provided at the communication portion of the cold air passage 17 to the chilled chamber 5 and the communication portion to the refrigerating chamber 7. Damper mechanism 2
Motors 1 and 23 open and close between fully open and fully closed by a motor (not shown) based on the temperatures detected by temperature sensors 25 and 27 provided in the respective chambers to control the temperature of the respective cooling chambers 5 and 7. The vegetable compartment 9 is cooled by the flow of cold air from the upstream and is not directly controlled.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional refrigerator, there are two types of refrigerators such as a chilled room and a refrigerator room.
Since a damper mechanism is required for controlling each of the three different temperature zones, the structure is complicated and the cost is increased. Also, since a motor with a sensor that detects two positions, fully open and fully closed, is used as the drive source of the damper mechanism, opening and closing of the damper is either fully open or fully closed, and fine temperature control is difficult. It was

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for a damper mechanism for each of the plurality of cooling chambers and to enable fine temperature control for each cooling chamber.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention is directed to a plurality of cooling chambers, cold air introduction passages for communicating cold air to the plurality of cooling chambers, and the respective cold air introduction passages. The cool air flow rate control means provided in the merging portion on the upstream side of each other capable of distributing the cool air, the temperature detection means provided in each of the plurality of cooling chambers, and the cooling chamber temperature detected by the temperature detection means And a control means for controlling the cool air flow rate control means.

[0006]

According to the above structure, the temperature of each cooling chamber is measured by the temperature detecting means, and the control means operates the cold air flow rate control means based on the measured temperature. By the operation of the cool air flow rate control means, the opening area of the inlet of the merging portion on the upstream side of each cold air introduction passage changes, and the supply of cold air to each cooling chamber is controlled.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a refrigerator 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a side sectional view of FIG. The compressor 11 is arranged in the lower rear part of the main body of the refrigerator 29, and the compressor 11 is installed in the inner wall part of the upper part of the main body.
The evaporator 13 that produces a cooling action by the operation of the
Installed in 1. The freezer compartment 3 is provided in the front part of the evaporator 13, and the freezer sensor 23 is provided in the upper part in the freezer compartment 3. Below the freezing room 3, a chilled room 5, a refrigerating room 7, and a vegetable room 9 are provided. A fan 15 is provided above the evaporator 13.
The fan 15 sends the cool air cooled by the evaporator 13 directly to the freezer compartment 3 and supplies the cool air to the main duct 33 communicating with the evaporator compartment 31. Main duct 33
Has reached the rear of the chilled chamber 5, and an opening 35 is formed in the rear surface of the lower end of the main duct 33. on the other hand,
The chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7 are connected to one ends of a chilled chamber duct 37 and a refrigerating chamber duct 39, which serve as cold air introduction passages, and the other ends of the ducts 37 and 39 are connected to each other through the opening 35. It is possible to communicate with the duct 33. 2, the upper end opening 37a of the chilled chamber duct 37 opens along the lower rear surface of the main duct 33, and the refrigerating chamber duct 39 has the upper end opening 39a of the chilled chamber duct 37. It opens in parallel with. The passage cross-sectional area near the upper end opening 39a of the refrigerating chamber duct 39 is larger than the passage cross-sectional area near the upper end opening 37a of the chilled chamber duct 37.

The chilled chamber duct 37 is formed so that its wake side is directed upward along the main duct 33, and a discharge port 41 formed at the upper end thereof opens at the upper end of the rear wall of the chilled chamber 5. The other refrigerating compartment duct 39 is formed to extend downward as it is, and opens at the upper end and the central portion of the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 7, respectively. The discharge port 43 at the upper end is open toward the front of the refrigerating compartment 7, and the discharge port 45 at the center is open toward the lower side of the refrigerating compartment 7. A communication port 46 that communicates with the vegetable compartment 9 is formed below the discharge port 45. Further, on the rear wall of the chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7, there are provided a chilled chamber sensor 25 and a refrigerating chamber sensor 27 as temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of each chamber 5 and 7 for temperature control.

On the rear surface of the lower end of the main duct 33, there is provided a damper mechanism 47 as a cool air flow rate control means for distributing the cool air from the main duct 33 to the respective ducts 37, 39. As shown in FIG. 2, the damper mechanism 47 includes a base 51 having an opening 49 aligned with the opening 35 of the main duct 33, and an opening / closing plate 53 for opening and closing the opening 49 provided on the base 51. The opening / closing plate 53 is constantly opened by the leaf spring 57, which is rotatably mounted around the support shaft 55 and has one end fixed to the base 51 above the rotation support shaft 55.
It receives a force in the direction of closing 9. A stepping motor 59 that changes the opening / closing angle of the opening / closing plate 53 is installed on the opposite side of the opening / closing plate 53 with the base 51 as a boundary. The opening / closing plate 53 can be opened / closed at any angle by pressing the opening / closing plate 53 from the base 51 side by a cam (not shown) connected to the stepping motor 59. The stepping motor 59 receives the respective detection signals from the chilled chamber sensor 25 and the refrigerating chamber sensor 27, and is drive-controlled by the control means such as a micro computer.

FIG. 3 schematically shows a state in which the damper mechanism 47 closes the opening 49 and does not supply cold air to any of the ducts 37 and 39. From this state, the damper mechanism 47
To cool the chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7,
Broadly speaking, the following three types can be considered.

Only the chilled chamber 5 is higher than the set temperature.

Both the chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7 are higher than the set temperature.

Only the refrigerating compartment 7 is higher than the set temperature.

The opening / closing angle of the opening / closing plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47 and the flow rate of cold air in each case will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the open / close rate of the open / close plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47 and the flow rate of the cool air in the ducts 37, 39. The open / close rates (a), (b), (c) in FIG. Corresponds to the state of each damper position in FIGS. 4 (a), 4 (b) and 4 (c). In FIG. 5, the solid line indicates the flow rate of the chilled chamber duct 37, and the alternate long and short dash line indicates the flow rate of the refrigerated chamber duct 39.

In the case of, the damper mechanism 47 is shown in FIG.
5, the opening / closing plate 53 is opened to a position where only the chilled chamber duct 37 is fully opened, and at this time, the cool air from the evaporator 13 passes through the main duct 33, and as shown by the opening / closing rate (a) in FIG. It flows only to the room duct 37, not to the refrigerating room duct 39. As a result, the temperature of the chilled chamber 5, which is higher than the set temperature, decreases.

In the case of the above, since it is necessary to flow the cool air to the chilled chamber 5 and the cold storage chamber 7 to the same degree, the damper mechanism 47 has the opening / closing plate 53 at an intermediate position of the cold storage chamber duct 39 as shown in FIG. 4B. Is opened until. At this time, the chilled chamber duct 37
Since the cross-sectional areas of the flow paths of the cold storage chamber duct 39 and the cold storage chamber duct 39 are substantially equal to each other, as shown in the open / close ratio (b) of FIG. The flow rates of are almost the same. As a result, the temperatures of both the chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7, which are higher than the set temperature, decrease.

In the case of, the damper mechanism 47 is shown in FIG.
, The refrigerator compartment duct 39 is fully opened. At this time, the chilled chamber duct 37 is
Since the cross-sectional area is small, pressure loss is large and it is difficult to flow. Therefore, as shown in the open / close ratio (c) of FIG. 5, most of the cool air flows into the refrigerator compartment duct 39. As a result, the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 7, which is higher than the set temperature, decreases.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the opening / closing angle control of the opening / closing plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47. Chilled room sensor 25
And the temperatures detected by the refrigerator compartment sensor 27 are respectively input (step S1), and the set temperatures in the compartments 5 and 7 are compared with the respective input temperatures (step S2). When the state where the input temperature is higher than the set temperature occurs, that is, when any one of the above three conditions occurs, the cold air distribution ratio between the chilled chamber 5 and the refrigerating chamber 7 is determined ( Step S
3) The open / close angle of the open / close plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47 is determined from the table data (step S4). Then, the opening / closing plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47 is rotated to the determined angle (step S5). When the temperature difference between the input temperature and the set temperature is small, the damper mechanism 47 is closed according to the temperature difference and is controlled so as not to be too cold.

As described above, one damper mechanism 47 provided on the downstream side of the evaporator 13 distributes the cool air to the chilled chambers 5 and the refrigerating chambers 7 which are a plurality of cooling chambers, and the chilled chambers 5 and 7 Since the opening / closing angle of the opening / closing plate 53 of the damper mechanism 47 can be arbitrarily set in accordance with the temperature, the structure of each chamber 5, 7 is not complicated as compared with the case where two damper mechanisms are provided.
Therefore, fine temperature control can be performed.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the temperature of each cooling chamber is controlled by one cooling air flow rate control means provided at the upstream merging portion of the cooling air introducing passages communicating with the cooling chambers. Accordingly, since the cool air can be distributed to each cooling chamber, the temperature can be controlled more finely without complicating the structure as compared with the case where the cool air flow rate control means is provided corresponding to each cooling chamber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a damper mechanism used in the refrigerator of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view schematically showing the damper mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the damper mechanism of FIG.

5 is a correlation diagram of the damper opening / closing rate by the damper mechanism of FIG. 2 and the cold air flow rate to each chamber.

6 is a flowchart showing an opening / closing control operation for the damper mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Chilled Room (Cooling Room) 7 Chilled Room (Cooling Room) 25 Chilled Room Sensor (Temperature Detection Means) 27 Chilled Room Sensor (Temperature Detection Means) 37 Chilled Room Duct (Cold Air Introduction Passage) 39 Chilled Room Duct (Cold Air Introduction Passage) 47 Damper mechanism (cold air flow rate control means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of cooling chambers, a cold air introduction passage for communicating cold air to each of the plurality of cooling chambers, and a cool air provided at a confluence portion on the upstream side of each cold air introduction passage can be distributed. A cool air flow rate control means, temperature detection means provided in each of the plurality of cooling chambers, and control means for controlling the cold air flow rate control means based on the temperature of the cooling chamber detected by the temperature detection means. And a refrigerator.