JPH11183011A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformalize frost, adhered to a cooler, throughout the whole of a cooler and to prevent lowering of cooling capacity by a method wherein a duct is formed by a guide plate, an opening part is formed in the guide plate, return air from a refrigerating chamber is guided to the lower part of a cooler. SOLUTION: A part of cooling air is ventilated through a flow air passage arranged in a supply fan to a refrigerating chamber and a vegetable chamber through opening and closing operation of a damper, and after cooling circulation, the cooling air flows in a cooler through a return duct 15 arranged in the cooler. The cooling air passes through the cooler togetherwith cooling air returned from a refrigerating chamber and is cooled again. In this case, return air in a cold storage chamber flows out through the outlet of a return duct. A guide plate 16 is extended to the lower part of a cooler between a heater 12 for defrost and a dew tray 13 and a duct-form space is formed between the guide plate and the guide plate. An opening part 16a is formed in the surface of the guide plate. Return air in the cold storage chamber is dispersed to the lower part of the cooler through the opening part 16a and mixed with return air 23 from the refrigerating chamber flowing in a space between the guide plate and the lower end of the cooler. The mixture is uniformly sucked in the lower part of the cooler.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling air passage structure of a refrigerator for cooling by circulating cool air, and relates to a technique for uniformizing frost adhering to the cooler over the entire cooler to prevent a decrease in cooling capacity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An air path structure for cooling the inside of a refrigerator will be described. Cool air sucked by a blower fan around a cooler disposed between a heat insulating wall on the back of the refrigerator box and a shield plate is further removed by the shield plate. It is discharged into the space formed by the partition plate arranged on the front surface, and discharged into the freezer compartment from the freezer compartment outlet attached to the partition plate. Further, after circulating and cooling the inside of the freezing chamber, the refrigerant returns to the suction port provided at the lower part of the cooler. On the other hand, part of the cool air is blown into the refrigerator compartment through a damper provided in the upper part of the space formed by the shielding plate and the partition plate for cooling the refrigerator compartment, and after circulating cooling, passes through a duct arranged beside the cooler. It is led to the lower part of the cooler, and enters around the cooler together with the return air from the freezing room.

[0003] In this case, the return air from the freezer is sucked into the substantially lower center of the cooler, but the return air from the refrigerator is returned from the lower end of the cooler and is not mixed with the return air from the freezer. Return air from the refrigerating compartment, which contains a lot of water, concentrates at the end of the cooler, causing frost formation to be uneven at the lower part of the cooler, accelerating the progress of clogging due to frost formation on the cooler, and lowering the cooling capacity. There was fear.

As a method for preventing such a phenomenon, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-270028, a method is described in which a flow path for guiding return air from the refrigerator to the center of the cooler is provided at the front of the cooler. Have been. However, in this method, since the size of the depth of the flow passage reduces the size of the freezer compartment container to reduce the storage volume of the food because the flow passage is provided, and the return air of the refrigerator is located at the center of the cooler in the vertical direction. It is expected that frost is likely to be formed on the upper part of the cooler because it is guided to the part, and it is difficult to uniformly apply the frost to the entire cooler and sufficiently exert the cooling capacity for a long time.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention does not provide a space in the lower part of the cooler for returning air from the refrigerator to the space between the lower surface of the cooler and the dew tray below the cooler. By providing return air in the refrigerator compartment to the entire lower area of the cooler by providing a guide air passage in the cooler, frost can be uniformly attached to the entire cooler, preventing the performance of the cooler from deteriorating due to frost. In addition, since the depth of the freezer is not reduced, a large food storage capacity of the freezer can be ensured.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as a method for guiding the humid air from the refrigerator compartment to the entire lower part of the cooler, a return air duct outlet arranged at the lower end of the cooler is used to connect the cooler and the dew tray. A guide duct is formed by installing a guide plate to a position opposite to a return duct outlet through which a plurality of openings are provided, so that return air from the refrigerator compartment is uniformly distributed to a lower portion of the cooler. Defrosting water can be guided by the defrosting heater installed between the lower surface of the cooler and the dew tray. You can do it.

Further, the ventilation to the cooler is performed from the lower part to the upper part of the cooler, and frost is formed on the cooler by return air from the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment from the lower part. In order to adhere, the lower fins are roughly arranged, and the narrower fins are narrowed as they are located on the upper part, so that part of the return air passes between the lower fins without heat exchange, and the upper narrow fins The frost can be uniformly applied to the entire cooler by attaching the frost.
Therefore, by combining the guide plate for uniformly introducing the return air from the refrigerator compartment to the lower part of the cooler and the cooler for disposing the fin arrangement from the lower part to the upper part from the lower part to the upper part, sufficient cooling capacity can be ensured for a long time. Can be.

In order to improve the heat exchange capacity of the cooler itself, slit fins provided with cut and raised portions on the fins are:
Although the frost formation speed is increased by the improvement of the heat exchange capacity, it can be adopted by using in combination with the above-described uniform introduction structure of the return air of the refrigerating compartment to the lower part of the cooler. Thus, the power consumption of the refrigerator can be reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The refrigerator box 1 is divided into a refrigerator compartment 2, a vegetable compartment 3, a first-stage freezer compartment 4, and a second-stage freezer compartment 5 from above. In a refrigeration cycle for cooling the inside of the refrigerator, the refrigerant is compressed into a high-temperature and high-pressure gas by the compressor 6, the refrigerant is liquefied by the condenser 14, and then passes through the decompressor to have a low temperature and flow into the cooler 7. In the cooler 7, the cooled fins 7b and the flowing air exchange heat, and the refrigerant in the cooler pipe 7a returns to the compressor while evaporating and absorbing heat.

At the same time, the circulating air cooled by the cooler is sucked by the blower fan 8 disposed above the cooler, and flows into the space 20 formed by the shielding plate 17 and the partition plate 18 on the front of the cooler. After the inside of the freezing chamber is circulated and cooled by the outlets 10 and 11 protruding into the freezing chamber, the air returns to the suction port 19 and flows into the lower center of the cooler.

On the other hand, part of the cooling air is passed through a circulation air passage 21 provided at the upper end of the blower fan 8 to the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment by opening and closing the damper 9, and after cooling and circulation, the right side of the cooler The air flows into the lower part of the cooler through the return duct 15 arranged in the refrigerator, passes through the cooler together with the cool air returned from the freezing room, and becomes cooled air again.

Here, the return air from the refrigerator compartment has a guide plate 16 extending from the outlet of the return duct on the right side to the left side of the lower part of the cooler between the defrosting heater 12 and the dew tray 13. A duct-like space is formed between the guide plate and the dew tray. Further, an opening 16a is formed in the surface of the guide plate.
From the opening 16a, the return air of the refrigerator compartment is dispersed to the lower part of the cooler, mixed with the return air 23 from the freezer compartment flowing between the guide plate and the lower end of the cooler, and is returned to the lower part of the cooler. Inhaled in the same way. Further, the arrangement of the openings can be freely set based on the observation result of the adhering state of frost.

Further, since the guide plate is installed below the heater for defrosting, the defrosted water after the actual defrosting is dripped into the dew tray through the opening of the guide plate, and the defrosting process is carried out in the usual manner. Since the guide plate does not block the rising airflow of the warm air of the heater, the frost attached to the cooler can be effectively melted. In addition, the shape of the guide plate does not extend to the left side of the cooler and ends the guide halfway, and is bent not from the whole depth dimension but from the vicinity of the center toward the dew tray, and an opening is formed in the vertically bent surface. May be used. At the same time, by inclining the upper surface of the guide plate downward from the front toward the center, defrost water generated during defrost can be easily guided to the dew tray.

Further, in this embodiment, the pipe 7 of each stage of the cooler is used.
As shown in FIG. 3, the arrangement of the fins 7b mounted on a is such that the fin interval of the lower end pipe is the widest and the fin interval becomes narrower in accordance with the upper pipe. With such a fin arrangement, an airflow that passes through the lower part without frosting is generated at the lower part, and the fin interval is narrowed as the air flows sequentially to the upper part, so that moisture in the airflow adheres as frost and goes to the entire cooler. In this way, it is possible to delay the clogging between the fins due to the frost, thereby preventing a decrease in cooling performance. For defrosting, if the adhesion of frost is uneven, it takes time to melt the uneven part, and it is necessary to energize the defrost heater in the part with little adhesion even though melting is completed. Although the power consumption is increased, the configuration like the present invention enables the efficient defrosting because the frost is uniformly attached.

In order to improve the heat exchange performance as the fin shape of the cooler, when a slit fin provided with a cut-and-raised portion 24a in the fin 24 is used as shown in FIG. Although it is promoted, in this embodiment, the return air can be uniformly sucked into the cooler by using the guide plate, so that a high-performance heat exchanger can be adopted, and the power consumption of the refrigerator can be reduced by increasing the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle. Reduction can be achieved.

[0016]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the guide plate is provided between the defrosting heater and the dew pan as an extension of the return duct from the humid refrigerator compartment in the refrigerator. By installing, the frost can be uniformly attached to the cooler by mixing with the return air from the freezing room, and the unevenness of clogging between the fins due to frost formation is prevented, and the cooling performance is maintained for a long time. At the same time, the defrosting time by the defrosting heater is reduced. In addition, a high-performance heat exchanger such as a slit fin can be used, and power consumption can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, the defrost water melted by the defrost heater can be easily guided to the dew tray by installing the return air guide plate from the refrigerator compartment at the lower part of the cooler. In addition, since the guide plate of the present invention is installed in the up-down direction of the cooler, there is an effect that the dimension in the depth direction does not decrease, so that the food storage capacity does not decrease.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an entire refrigerator box showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a guide plate for returning air from the refrigerator compartment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a fin arrangement of a cooler;

FIG. 4 is a slit fin shape diagram of a cooler.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Refrigerator main body, 2 ... Refrigerator room, 3 ... Vegetable room, 4 ... Upper freezing room, 5 ... Lower freezing room, 6 ... Compressor, 7 ... Cooler, 8 ...
Blower fan, 9: opening / closing damper, 12: heater for defrosting, 12a: cover for heater for defrosting, 13: dew tray, 14 ... condenser, 15: cool air return duct from refrigerator compartment, vegetable compartment, 16 ... return Guide plate from duct outlet, 16a
An opening provided in the guide plate, 17 a shielding plate provided in front of the cooler, 18 a partition plate provided in front of the shielding plate, 19 a return air suction port from a freezing room, 21 a refrigerator room and a vegetable room Air passages for sending cool air to the refrigerator, 22, 22a: return air flow from the refrigerator compartment and the vegetable compartment, 23: return air flow from the freezer compartment.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Haruko Ashida 800 Tomita, Ohira-cho, Ohira-cho, Shimotsuga-gun, Tochigi Pref.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerator having an air passage structure in which return air from a refrigerator enters a lower part of a cooler by a return duct provided on a side surface of the cooler. A guide plate is provided between a defrosting heater installed below and a dew tray installed further below the defrosting heater to guide air returned to the refrigerator to the lower part of the cooler. A refrigerator characterized by mixing room return air and flowing into a lower part of a cooler. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein an opening is formed in the center of the guide plate. 3. The guide plate according to claim 2, wherein the dimension of the guide plate in the depth direction is a size up to the center in the depth direction of the cooler, and the upper surface is inclined downward toward the center of the depth of the cooler. 2. The refrigerator according to 2. 4. The guide plate according to claim 1, wherein the fin structure of the cooler is arranged from the lower part to the upper part and forms a cooling air passage together with the cooler whose lower part is coarsely arranged and whose upper part is densely arranged. A refrigerator according to claim 3. 5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the guide plate forms a cooling air passage together with the cooler, which is a slit fin formed by cutting and raising the fins of the cooler.