KR0169458B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator which discharges cold air from a front end portion of a shelf in a downward direction when a door is opened, thereby suppressing the outflow of cold air, thereby keeping the stored food always fresh and improving the operation efficiency of the refrigerator.

In the refrigerator according to the present invention, when the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened, cold air is discharged downward from the upper part of the opening surface of the refrigerator compartment 12 to form an air barrier, thereby suppressing the outflow of cold air in the refrigerator compartment 12.

Accordingly, even if the refrigerator compartment door 12a is frequently opened, the efficiency of operation of the refrigerator is increased due to a small amount of freezing oil, and the overall temperature in the refrigerating compartment 12 is always kept constant, so that freshness of the stored food can be maintained for a long period of time.

Description

Refrigerator

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cold air supply structure of a refrigerator for discharging cold air from a top of a refrigerating compartment opening surface to a downward direction when a door of a refrigerator compartment is opened.

Generally, the refrigerator is configured to maintain the freshness of various foods for a long time by using heat exchanged air from the evaporator of the refrigeration cycle.

As shown in FIG. 1, a general refrigerator having such a function is provided with a storage unit 11, 12 for storing food and a door 11a, 12a for opening and closing the food unit 11, have. The storage compartments 11 and 12 are divided into a freezing compartment door 11a and a refrigerating compartment door 12a by opening and closing the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 by the intermediate partition 30.

A cooling chamber 20 is formed in the rear of the freezing chamber 11 so as to be distinguished from the freezing chamber 11. The evaporator 21 for generating cool air and the cool air generated in the upper portion of the evaporator 21 are connected to the freezing chamber 11 And a fan 22 as a blowing means for forcedly blowing air to the refrigerating compartment 12.

A freezing chamber duct 41 and a freezing compartment duct 42 are installed upright on the rear side of the freezing compartment 11 and the freezing compartment 12 as a freezing duct 40 for guiding the supply of the cold air, A plurality of cool air outflow holes 41a and 42a communicating with the freezing room 11 and the refrigerating room 12 are vertically arranged in the refrigerating compartment 41 and the refrigerating compartment duct 42, respectively.

Meanwhile, in order to guide the cool air return, the return duct 50 is installed inside the intermediate partition wall 30 to guide the cool air to the evaporator 21, so that the air having undergone the heat exchange function in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12, And communicates with the cooling chamber 20 in which the evaporator 21 is installed. A reference numeral 60 denotes a shelf for storing food in a lateral direction in the refrigerating chamber 12.

When the fan 22 of the cooling chamber 20 is operated and the power is applied to the refrigerator, the air in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 flows through the return duct 50 to the evaporator (21) and becomes a cold air as it passes through. The cold air continues to flow along the freezer compartment duct 41 and the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and is supplied to the freezing compartment 11 through the respective cold air outflow holes 41A and 42A and the rest to the inside of the refrigerating compartment 12. The heat exchanged air in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 flows into the evaporator 21 through the return duct 50 formed in the intermediate partition 30 to be cooled again.

The cool air is forcedly blown by the fan 22 to be supplied to the entire refrigerator compartment 12 through the refrigerator compartment duct 42 and the cool air outflow hole 42a formed in a plurality of rows in the refrigerating compartment 12 And is discharged into a cabinet to cool the stored food.

However, when such a refrigerator opens the refrigerator compartment door 12a in order to draw out or store food, natural convection due to the temperature difference with the temperature of the outside air, or high-pressure outside air is introduced into the refrigerator compartment 12 So that a considerable amount is discharged to the outside by the pressure difference. As a result, consumption input of the refrigerator is increased and the temperature of the refrigerating chamber changes frequently, resulting in a drawback that the freshness of the stored food is deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an air curtain duct which is formed on a rear wall of a refrigerating compartment and to which cold air is supplied, The present invention provides a refrigerator which prevents the refrigerant from leaking out to the outside by forming a discharge air curtain from the upper side of the opening of the refrigerating compartment to the lower side when the door is opened.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a general configuration of a general refrigerator and a flow of cold air.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of the refrigerator and the flow of cold air according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the shelf portion shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the flow of cold air when the door is opened in the refrigerator according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram showing only an electrical configuration for controlling the solenoid valve according to the present invention.

6 is a control flowchart of a solenoid valve according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

10: main body 12: refrigerator room

20: cooling chamber 40: cold air duct

42: refrigerator compartment duct 42a: cold air outlet

600: Shelf 630: with cold distribution

640: a discharge port 700; Duct for air curtain

800: Switch 810: Solenoid valve

820:

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a main body having a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, the refrigerating chamber being hinged to the inside of the freezing chamber; a freezing chamber door hinged to a front portion of the main body; A refrigerator having a refrigerator compartment and a refrigerator compartment, the refrigerator compartment having a refrigerator compartment and a refrigerator compartment, the refrigerator compartment having a refrigerator compartment and a refrigerator compartment, A duct for air curtain which is branched on the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment and is connected to the air curtain duct so as to communicate with the duct for air curtain, To form an air curtain on the cold plate at the lower end of the shelf, A solenoid valve for selectively opening and closing the refrigerant duct and the duct for the air curtain, the solenoid valve being provided at a branching portion of the refrigerating chamber duct and the air curtain duct so that the cold air discharge from the discharge port is controlled, A switch for detecting the opening and closing of the refrigerator compartment door so as to be opened or closed, and a refrigerator compartment door for closing the refrigerating compartment duct and opening the air curtain duct so that the refrigerating compartment door is discharged through the discharge port based on a signal transmitted from the switch, And a control unit for opening the refrigerating compartment duct and controlling the solenoid valve to close the duct for the air curtain when it is determined that the door is closed.

Hereinafter, one preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing the overall structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an internal structure and a mounting structure of the shelf. (Components of the refrigerator according to the present invention that are the same as those of the conventional components will be briefly described using the same names and the same symbols.)

The refrigerator according to the present invention comprises a freezing chamber 11 and a refrigerating chamber 12 having a front surface opened as a storage room 11 or 12 for storing food in a main body 10 having an overall appearance, Is formed, which is partitioned by the intermediate partition 30. The freezing chamber door 11a and the refrigerating chamber door 12a are hinged to the front surface of the main body 10 so that the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 can be opened and closed.

A cooling chamber 20 is provided in the rear of the freezing chamber 11 and includes an evaporator 21 for generating cold air by a refrigeration cycle and a fan for blowing generated cold air above the evaporator 21 22). A freezing chamber duct 41 and a freezing compartment duct 42 are formed on the rear side of the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 as cool air ducts 40 for guiding the cool air, Cool air outflow holes 41a and 42a communicating with the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 are vertically arranged.

On the other hand, the air having undergone the heat exchange function in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 must flow into the evaporator 21 to be cooled again. The door evaporator 21, in which the return duct 50 is formed, And communicates with the installed cooling chamber 20.

A separate air curtain duct 700 branched from the upper end of the refrigerating compartment duct 42 is formed at the rear side of the refrigerating compartment 12 and the shelf 600 accommodating the food is provided with A discharge port 640 is formed in the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber 12 to form a cool air distribution path 630 communicating with the air curtain duct 700. [

The shelf 600 is composed of an upper plate 610 and a lower plate 620 spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance so as to form a cold distribution path 630 through which cold air can flow, And the air curtain duct 700 and the cold air distribution path 630 are communicated with each other when installed in the horizontal direction. A plurality of discharge openings 640 communicating with the openings of the refrigerating chamber 12 are formed at the distal end of the lower plate 620 in the width direction of the opening so that the cold air is discharged downward from the upper portion of the opening of the refrigerating chamber 12, The cooling air flow path is formed.

A solenoid valve 810 for selectively opening and closing the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the air curtain duct 700 is provided at a branch portion of the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the air curtain duct 700 by a control unit 820 described later. The solenoid valve 810 closes the duct 700 for the air curtain when the refrigerator compartment door 12a is closed so that the chilled air is supplied to the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the chilled air outlet hole 42a by the blowing force of the fan 22. [ To be introduced from the rear side of the refrigerating chamber (12). When the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened, the solenoid valve 810 opens to open the air curtain duct 700 and instead closes the refrigerator compartment duct 42 so that the chilled air flows through the air curtain duct 700 and the shelf And is guided to be discharged from the upper side to the lower side of the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber 12 through the discharge opening 640 formed in the lower plate 620 thereof while flowing along the cold distribution path 630 in the refrigerator compartment 600.

The operation of the solenoid valve 810 is performed by a control unit 820 including a microprocessor, which will be described with reference to FIG.

A switch 800 for sensing the opening and closing of the refrigerator compartment door 12a is connected to the input side of the control unit 820 and a solenoid valve driving unit 810a operated on the basis of the input signal is connected to the output side So that the solenoid valve 810 selectively opens and closes the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the air curtain duct 700. At this time, the solenoid valve driving unit 810a is a commonly used relay device, and is controlled to operate the solenoid valve 810 through the solenoid valve driving unit 810a.

The switch 800 is a kind of button operated by the opening and closing of the refrigerator compartment door 12a due to the change of the contact point between the refrigerator compartment door 12a and the main body 10, that is, the main body 10 contacting the back surface of the refrigerator compartment door 12a. . That is, the switch 800 protrudes forward of the main body 10 and is turned on or off according to opening and closing operations of the refrigerator compartment door 12a to transmit an electric signal to the controller 820. The refrigerator compartment door A part of the protruded switch 80 is inserted into the interior of the refrigerator compartment door 12a and the signal is transmitted to the controller 820. When the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened, Off signal.

The control unit 820 determines whether the refrigerator compartment door 12a is open or closed based on the electrical signal transmitted from the switch 800 as described above. That is, when the signal from the switch 800 is input to the control unit 820 including the microprocessor, the refrigerator compartment door 12a is determined to be in a closed state. When the off signal is inputted, the refrigerator compartment door 12a is determined to be opened .

Accordingly, when the signal from the switch 800 is input, the controller 820 determines that the refrigerator compartment door 12a is closed, the solenoid valve 810 closes the air curtain duct 700 and the refrigerating compartment duct 42 The control signal is outputted to the solenoid valve driving unit 810a.

On the other hand, when the off signal is inputted from the switch 800, it is determined that the refrigerating compartment door 12a is opened, and the solenoid valve 810 opens the air curtain duct 700 as shown in FIG. 4 And outputs a control signal to the solenoid valve driving unit 810a so as to close the refrigerating compartment duct 42.

Referring to FIG. 6, operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention and its effect will be described.

First, it is determined whether or not the refrigerator compartment door 12a is broken through an on or off signal input from the switch 800 (step S1). When a signal from the switch 800 is input to the control unit 820 in step S1, the control unit 820 turns on the solenoid valve 810 (step S2). That is, the solenoid valve 810 closes the air curtain duct 700 and operates the refrigerating compartment duct 42 to open using the solenoid valve driving unit 810a.

The cool air generated by the evaporator 21 is guided to the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 11 through the freezing chamber duct 41 and the refrigerating chamber duct 42 and the respective freezing and discharging holes 41a and 42a, Exchanged air is circulated through the respective return ducts 50 to the evaporator 21 and then is returned to the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 So that the refrigerator performs the general cold air supply (step S3).

On the other hand, when the user opens the refrigerator compartment door 12a, the detection switch 800 senses this and sends an off signal to the controller 820. [ The control unit 820 determines that the refrigerating compartment door 12a is opened by the off signal inputted from the switch 800 and drives the solenoid valve 810 to be off via the solenoid valve driving unit 810a. That is, the solenoid valve 810 operates to open the air curtain duct 700 and close the refrigerating compartment duct 42, as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the cold air is blown out by the forced air blowing force of the fan 22 by the duct 70 for the air curtain installed on the rear side of the refrigerating chamber 12 and the cold air distribution duct 630 formed in the shelf 600 And is discharged through the discharge port 640 formed in the lower plate 620.

At this time, since the discharge port 640 is communicated with the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber 12, the cold air discharged through the discharge port 640 is discharged downward from the upper part of the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber 12 to divide the refrigerating chamber 12 from the outside By forming the curtain (step S5), the outside air is prevented from flowing into the refrigerating chamber 12.

In addition, when the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened, the cool air forms an air barrier at the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 12 to prevent the outside air from flowing into the refrigerating compartment 12 and the cold air in the refrigerating compartment 12 from flowing out, As a result, even if the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened in the refrigerating compartment 12, the outflow of cold air is suppressed, and there is little temperature change.

As described above in detail, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, when the door of the refrigerator compartment is opened, cold air is discharged downward from the upper part of the refrigerator compartment opening surface to form an air barrier, thereby suppressing the outflow of cold air from the refrigerator compartment.

Accordingly, even if the refrigerator compartment door is opened frequently, the efficiency of operation of the refrigerator is increased due to a small amount of freezing and outflow, and the overall temperature of the refrigerator compartment is always kept constant, so that the freshness of the stored food can be maintained for a long time.

Claims (1)

A main body 10 provided with a freezing chamber 11 and a refrigerating chamber 12 with one side open inside and a freezing chamber door hinged to the front portion of the main body 10 to open and close the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12, A refrigerator compartment door 11a and a refrigerator compartment door 12a which are provided on the rear side of the freezer compartment 11 to supply cool air generated by the fan 22 to the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12, And a refrigerator compartment duct (42) installed on the rear wall of the refrigerator compartment (12) so as to uniformly guide cool air formed in the compartment (12) to the entire refrigerating compartment (12) A plurality of air duct ducts 700 branching from the air duct ducts 42 and installed on the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 12 so as to communicate with the air duct ducts 700, (610) and a lower plate (620) coupled to each other so as to be spaced apart from each other, A discharge port 640 formed to communicate with an upper portion of the refrigerating compartment 12 to form a cold air discharge air curtain at the tip of the lower plate 620 of the shelf 600, A solenoid valve (not shown) for selectively opening and closing the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the air curtain duct 700 so as to control the cold air discharge in the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and the air curtain duct 700, A switch 800 for sensing the opening and closing of the refrigerator compartment door 12a so that the opening and closing operations of the solenoid valve 810 are performed by opening and closing the refrigerator compartment door 12a, The refrigerating compartment duct 42 is closed and the air curtain duct 700 is opened so that cool air is discharged through the discharge port 640 when it is determined that the refrigerating compartment door 12a is opened based on a signal from the refrigerating compartment door 12a, (12a) When it is determined that the refrigerator chain, characterized in that the refrigerating chamber for opening the duct 42, and a control unit 820 for controlling the solenoid valve 810 such that the air curtain ducts (700) for closure.