JPH10292971A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable installation of a damper assembly without occupying the effective internal space of a refrigerating compartment by utilizing a damper installed to a space part formed on the upper part of cooling compartment as the part of cold air duct, and opening and closing a flapper synchronizing the rotation of a driving part controlling the shutting of cold air. SOLUTION: A damper assembly 16 is assembled to a protruded wall 17 as is placed on it, cold air passed through a cooler 8 inside a cooling compartment 20 reaches the damper assembly 16 by way of the cold air duct 21 of the protruding wall 17 and the necessary quantity of the cold air is supplied to the refrigerating compartments 11 by the help of the damper. The cold air is blasted into the refrigerating compartment 11 by a duct 25 supplying the cold air coming out from the damper assembly 16 into the refrigerating compartment 11. The damper assembly 16 is provided with a flapper for shutting the cold air and a driving shaft for opening and closing the flapper, the flapper is opened or closed by the rotation of a stepping motor directly connected to the driving shaft and when the flapper is opened, the cold air is blown through a ventilating hole.

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 refrigerator compartment, a vegetable compartment, and a freezer compartment in that order from the top, and more particularly to the formation of a cool air circulation passage to each of the above compartments.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, refrigerators which are commercially available are generally multi-door refrigerators in which the inside of a refrigerator is finely divided in consideration of usability, and each of the refrigerators has a dedicated partition wall and a door. Therefore, a damper assembly or the like is required to perform fine temperature control in the refrigerator. However, as shown in FIG. 5, a conventional damper assembly includes a flapper that shuts off cold air, a motor that drives the flapper, and the above components. Since a molded heat insulating material having a cold air passage for installing the damper main body and the damper main body is required, the structure becomes large, so that there is a limit in increasing the effective internal volume of the refrigerator. Further, since the flapper blocks the cool air by using the spring property of the metal, there are problems that the flapper can be opened and closed only in two ways, that is, fully open or shut off, and that it is difficult to perform fine cold air ventilation control. As a patent of this kind, there is Japanese Patent Application No. 7-324198 filed earlier by the applicant.

[0003]

In a refrigerator in which the above-mentioned freezing compartment is located below the refrigerating compartment, it is necessary to use an electric damper assembly for controlling the temperature of each compartment. FIG. 5 shows the structure of a conventional damper assembly. In the conventional structure, even if the cool air passage 36 is formed by using the ineffective space behind the vegetable compartment, the electric damper 37 becomes large in structure. Therefore, a step 38 is provided in the cool air passage 36 and the step 38 is electrically driven. A damper 37 was installed to control the flow of cold air. However, in order to form the step portion 38, a sufficient space is required, and there is a problem that the volume of the chilled room 39 located on the front face must be reduced.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such problems. In other words, the refrigerator compartment, the vegetable compartment, and the freezer compartment are arranged in this order from the top, and the cooler is disposed over the vegetable compartment and the freezer compartment. In a refrigerator equipped with a damper to be controlled, the above damper is used as a part of a cool air duct, and a flapper that shuts off the cool air is attached to a drive shaft, and the flapper is opened and closed in synchronization with the rotation of the drive unit to control the cool air. It controls the cutoff.

A ventilation opening of a damper for controlling the amount of cool air blown out to the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment is provided in a direction perpendicular to the path of the cool air duct to circulate cool air without changing the traveling direction of the cool air. is there. In addition, a rib-shaped rising portion is provided around a ventilation opening provided in a damper body portion which is in close contact with a flapper of a damper for controlling the amount of cold air blown to the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable room, thereby minimizing a contact area between the flapper and the damper body. It is limited. In addition, a drain hole is provided in the periphery of a ventilation port provided in the main body of the damper for controlling the amount of cool air blown out to the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator provided with the present invention,
2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment using the present invention, and FIG.
Is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional example.

First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator main body, and the refrigerator main body 1 has a box body 5 filled with a foamed heat insulating material 4 between an outer box 2 and an inner box 3, a compressor 6, a condenser 7 Refrigeration cycle including a refrigerator, a cooler 8, etc., and a freezing compartment 9, a vegetable compartment 10, and freezing compartment doors 12, 13, 15, and a vegetable compartment door for closing a front opening of the refrigerating compartment 11, etc. 14 and the like. Reference numeral 16 denotes a damper assembly. The damper assembly 16 is assembled so as to rest on the protruding wall 17 and is installed so as to close the cool air passage 19 formed in the molded heat insulating material 18. Therefore, the cool air which has passed through the cooler 8 in the cooling chamber 20 reaches the damper assembly 16 via the cool air passage 21 of the protruding wall 17, and only the necessary amount of cool air is supplied to the refrigerator compartment 11 and the like by the function of the damper. It is to let.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a drawer container for a vegetable room. As shown in the figure, the vegetable compartment container 21 is formed in a notched shape so that the rising portion 22 of the protruding wall 17 travels to the vegetable compartment 10 side. Further, since the rear portion of the vegetable compartment 21 becomes an invalid space due to the structure of the drawer frame 23 and the rail 24, the damper assembly 16 is installed in this invalid space. Reference numeral 25 denotes a refrigerator compartment duct for supplying cool air from the damper assembly 16 to the refrigerator compartment 11. Cool air is blown out from the duct 25 into the refrigerator compartment 11 as shown in the figure.

Referring to FIG. 3, a damper assembly 16 comprises a flapper 26 for shutting off cold air, a drive shaft 27 for opening and closing the flapper 26, a stepping motor 28 directly connected to the drive shaft, and a damper body 29 for mounting them. Be composed. That is, the rotation of the motor 28 causes the flapper 26
Are opened and closed, and when the flapper 26 is opened, cool air is blown out from the ventilation port 30.

According to the present invention, when the damper assembly 16 considers ventilation resistance and the like, the ventilation port 30 is installed vertically to the cool air passage 21 and can be incorporated in a part of the duct 25 without changing the traveling direction of the cool air passage 21. I can do it. Therefore, a large damper assembly as in the related art is not required, and not only the size of the damper assembly 16 is reduced, but also the structure is simplified and the number of components is reduced.

One of the problems that occur when using a damper in a refrigerator is the problem of dew formation. Due to the temperature difference caused by the damper function, dew occurs on the higher side of the temperature zone. Therefore, the flapper 26 and the damper body 29
Flapper 2
6 is provided with a rib 31 having a sufficient height so as not to contact with 6. Rib 3
1 and a damper main body 29 are provided with a dew receiving portion 32, and a process is performed so as to allow natural evaporation. Further, by minimizing the contact area between the flapper 26 and the ventilation port 30, dew is frozen, and when the flapper 26 and the ventilation port 30 are closed, the ice is crushed by the power of the motor 28, The flapper 26 can be opened and closed without impairing the damper function.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment. In this embodiment, a drain 3 for draining dew generated in the damper body is provided.
3 is a damper assembly 34 provided with the same. At this time, the dew receiving portion 35 of the damper body is inclined so that the dew flows into the drain, and performs drainage treatment to prevent freezing.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a conventional damper assembly.
In the conventional structure, even if the cool air passage 36 is formed by using the ineffective space behind the vegetable compartment, the electric damper 37 becomes large in structure. Therefore, a step 38 is provided in the cool air passage 36 and the step 38 is electrically driven. The damper 37 was installed. However, in order to form the stepped portion 38, the volume of the chilled room 39 located on the front face had to be reduced.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, the present invention can be used as a part of the cool air passage in the ineffective space behind the vegetable room, so that the damper assembly can be installed without sacrificing the volume of the chilled room. Further, since the rotation angle of the motor can be finely controlled by using the stepping motor 28 in the present invention, the flapper 26 can set various opening angles. Therefore, it is possible to cope with a minute temperature in the refrigerator compartment.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the effective contents of the refrigerator compartment are obtained by reducing the size of the damper assembly in the refrigerator constructed in the order of the refrigerator compartment, the vegetable compartment, and the freezer compartment and using it for a part of the cold air passage. This has the effect of being able to be installed without sacrificing product.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator provided with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment using the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... refrigerator main body, 2 ... outer box, 3 ... inner box, 4 ... foam insulation material, 5 ... box body, 6 ... compressor, 7 ... condenser, 8 ... cooler,
9: freezer room, 10: vegetable room, 11: refrigerated room, 12, 13
... freezer compartment door, 14 ... vegetable compartment door, 15 ... refrigeration compartment door, 16,
34 damper assembly, 17 projecting wall, 18 molded heat insulating material, 19 cold air passage, 20 cooling room, 21 vegetable room container, 22 rising part, 23 drawer frame, 24 rail, 25 duct Reference numerals 26, Flapper, 27 Drive shaft, 28 Motor, 29 Damper body, 30 Ventilation port, 31 Rib, 32 Dew receiving part, 33 Drainage groove, 35
... Dew receiving part, 36 ... Cold air passage, 37 ... Electric damper, 3
8: stepped portion, 39: chilled room.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerator, a vegetable compartment, and a freezer compartment are arranged in this order from the top, and a cooler is disposed over the vegetable compartment and the freezer compartment. In a refrigerator equipped with a damper for controlling the blowing amount, the damper is used as a part of a cool air duct, and a flapper for shutting off cool air is attached to a drive shaft, and the flapper is opened and closed in synchronization with the rotation of the drive unit. Refrigerator that controls the shutoff of cold air. 2. A ventilation opening of a damper for controlling the amount of cold air blown out to the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment is installed in a direction perpendicular to the path of the cold air duct to circulate the cool air without changing the traveling direction of the cool air. The refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. A rib-shaped rising portion is provided around a ventilation port provided in a damper body portion which is in close contact with a flapper of a damper for controlling an amount of cold air blown into a refrigerator compartment and a vegetable room, and the flapper is brought into contact with the damper body. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the area is minimized. 4. A water drain hole is provided in a periphery of an air vent provided in a main body of a damper for controlling an amount of cool air blown into a refrigerator compartment and a vegetable compartment. The refrigerator as described.