KR0173877B1 - Cooling air circulating device of a refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cold air circulating apparatus for a refrigerator in which an evaporator is installed in a refrigerating chamber to improve the content of the freezing chamber and to cool the refrigerating chamber quickly to the refrigerating chamber through the freezing chamber, A freezing and refrigerating chamber separated downward; A circulation passage formed from the upper rear side of the inside of the freezer compartment to the rear lower side of the inside of the refrigerating compartment; An evaporator installed on the circulation passage on the refrigerating chamber side; And a connecting passage formed inside the diaphragm so that cool air is circulated directly to the refrigerating chamber through the freezing chamber.

Description

Cooling circulation device of refrigerator

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a circulation process of cool air in a conventional refrigerator. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the circulation process of the cool air in the freezing chamber and the freezing chamber of the refrigerator of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the circulation process of the freezer compartment of the refrigerator of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cold air switching means of the present invention; FIG.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

10: freezing room 11: refrigerator room

12: diaphragm 13: evaporator

14: fan 20: circulation passage

21: through hole 30: connecting passage

31: inlet port 32: outlet port

40: recovery passage 50: cold air switching means

51: blocking plate 53: motor

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a cold air circulating apparatus for a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cold air circulating apparatus for a refrigerator that improves the content of a freezing chamber and allows a refrigerating chamber to be refrigerated quickly.

Generally, the refrigerator is divided into a freezer compartment 1 and a refrigerating compartment 2 by a diaphragm 3 as shown in FIG. An evaporator 4 constituting a refrigeration cycle device is provided at an inner rear side of the freezing chamber 1 and a compressor 7 is installed at an outer rear side of a lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 2. The compressor 7 compresses the refrigerant gas to a high temperature and a high pressure, and through a not shown condenser and an expansion valve, the refrigerant is made to be in a state of being able to evaporate, and then circulated to the evaporator 4.

A first circulation passage 3a for connecting the freezer compartment 1 and the evaporator 4 and a second circulation passage 3b for connecting the refrigerating compartment 2 and the evaporator 4 are provided in the diaphragm 3, Respectively. On the other hand, freezing and cooling fans 5 and 5a for blowing cold air to the freezing chamber 1 and the refrigerating chamber 2 are provided in parallel above the evaporator 4 and start from the rear of the refrigerating fan 5a And the discharge passage 6 is formed toward the rear side of the inside of the refrigerating chamber 2.

The cold air circulation process of the conventional refrigerator will be described as follows. That is, due to the operation of the compressor 7, the refrigerant gas is compressed to a high temperature and a high pressure, then is changed into a state of being able to evaporate through the condenser and the expansion valve, and then circulated to the evaporator 4. At this time, the air inside the freezing compartment 1 is circulated to the evaporator 4 via the first circulation passage 3a by the freezing fan 5 installed on the upper part of the evaporator 4 and the refrigerating chamber 5a circulates the refrigerating compartment 2 ) Is circulated to the evaporator (4) via the second circulation passage (3b). At this time, the air inside the freezer compartment 1 is exchanged while passing through the evaporator 4, cooled and then discharged to the freezer compartment 1 to freeze the food stored in the freezer compartment 1, (4) and is discharged into the refrigerating chamber (2) through the discharge passage (6), and the stored food is refrigerated.

However, since the evaporator 4 is installed at the rear of the freezer compartment 1, the content of the freezer compartment 1 is reduced. That is, the freezer compartment 1 is made smaller than 1/3 of the refrigerated compartment 2 because the stored food is small, while the evaporator 4 is installed in the freezer compartment 1 so that the content of the freezer compartment 1 is relatively reduced . In addition, the height of the evaporator 4 is limited because the evaporator 4 is installed in the freezer compartment 1 having a small content. Therefore, the width of the freezing chamber 1 must be adjusted to control the evaporation capacity, which leads to a drawback that the content of the freezing chamber 1 is further reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator having an evaporator installed in a refrigerating compartment to improve the content of the freezing compartment and to circulate cold air directly through the freezing compartment to the refrigerating compartment, And a cold circulation device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a freezing and refrigerating chamber separated upward and downward by a diaphragm; A circulation passage formed from the upper rear side of the inside of the freezer compartment to the rear lower side of the inside of the refrigerating compartment; An evaporator installed on the circulation passage on the refrigerating chamber side; And a connection passage formed inside the diaphragm to allow cool air to circulate directly to the refrigerator through the freezer compartment.

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

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing a cool air circulation process of the freezer compartment and the freezing compartment of the refrigerator of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partial exploded side view of the freezing compartment cooler circulation process of the refrigerator of the present invention. The refrigerator of the present invention is divided into a freezing chamber (10) and a refrigerating chamber (11) by a diaphragm (12) and closed by the freezing and refrigerating doors (10a) and (11a) respectively. On the other hand, the circulation passage 20 is formed from the upper rear side of the freezing chamber 10 to the lower side of the inside of the refrigerating chamber 11 and the evaporator 13 is installed in the circulation passage 20 of the refrigerating chamber 11. At this time, the evaporator 13 has a rectangular shape with a short width and a high height, so that the content of the refrigerating chamber 11 is not reduced.

A fan 14 driven by a motor 15 is installed at the upper end of the circulation passage 20 to blow cool air on the circulation passage 20 into the freezer compartment 10. A plurality of through holes 21 are formed in the circulation passage 20 on the side of the refrigerating chamber 11 so that the cold air inside the refrigerating chamber 11 is circulated to the evaporator 13. On the other hand, a connecting passage 30 is formed inside the diaphragm 12 so that the cool air inside the freezing chamber 10 is circulated toward the freezing chamber 11. At this time, a suction port 31 communicating with the connection passage 30 is provided behind the freezer compartment 10 and a plurality of discharge ports 32 communicating with the connection passage 30 are formed in the refrigerating compartment 11 in the front and rear directions.

A recovery passage 40 for directly connecting the suction port 31 of the connection passage 30 and the circulation passage 20 is provided so that cold air is not discharged to the refrigerating chamber 11 side. The recovery passage 40 is formed in the rear of the refrigerating chamber 11 in parallel with the circulation passage 20 and the cold switching means 50 is provided at the upper end of the recovery passage 40. The cool air switching means 50 selectively opens and closes the connection passage 30 and the circulation passage 20 to shut off the connection passage 30 when the refrigerator compartment 11 is subcooled to cool air in the freezer compartment 10, (40) and the circulation passage (20) toward the evaporator (13).

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cold air switching means of the present invention. The cool air switching means 50 is normally and rotatably rotated on the suction port 31 so that the blocking plate 51 can rotate about the hinge pin 52. [ On the other hand, when the shutoff plate 51 closes the upper end of the recovery passage 40 by driving the motor 53, when the cold air is circulated toward the connection passage 30 and the shutoff plate 51 closes the rear end of the connection passage 30 The cool air is circulated directly to the circulation passage 20 via the recovery passage 40. [ Reference numerals 17 and 18 denote temperature sensors for measuring the temperature inside the freezing / refrigerating chambers 10 and 11, respectively, and rotation of the motor 53 is controlled by temperature sensing of the temperature sensor 18. The reference numeral 16 denotes a compressor for compressing the refrigerant gas to a high temperature and a high pressure and circulating the refrigerant gas toward the evaporator 13.

The refrigerant gas compressed in the compressor 16 is circulated through the condenser and the expansion valve, which are not shown, to a low-temperature low-pressure evaporative liquid state and then to the evaporator 13. At this time, when the fan 14 is rotated by the operation of the motor 15, the air on the circulation passage 20 passes through the evaporator 13 to be heat-exchanged to cool air, and then is discharged into the freezer compartment 10. 2, when the blocking plate 51 is rotated by driving the motor 53 to block the upper end of the connection passage 30, the cool air discharged into the freezing chamber 10 is supplied to the connection passage 30, And is circulated to the inside of the refrigerating chamber (11).

In other words, the cold air discharged into the freezing chamber 10 freezes the food being stored, and some of the cold air is circulated to the connection passage 30 through the suction port 31. The cool air circulated toward the connection passage 30 is directly discharged into the refrigerator compartment 11 through a plurality of discharge openings 32 formed at the lower portion of the connection passage 30. [ Accordingly, the food stored in the refrigerating chamber 11 is refrigerated and a part of the cool air discharged into the refrigerating chamber 11 is circulated to the circulation passage 20 through the through hole 21 formed in the rear. At this time, the cold air circulated to the circulation passage 20 is in a state of rising temperature while passing through the freezing and refrigerating chambers 10 and 11, and is again cooled by heat exchange while passing through the evaporator 13, And then discharged again into the freezer compartment 10 is repeated.

On the other hand, cold air is discharged toward the freezing chamber 10 and then discharged directly into the refrigerating chamber 11 along the connecting passage 30, thereby improving the refrigerating performance of the refrigerating chamber 11. [ That is, the refrigerating chamber 11 is quickly refrigerated. Also, the cold air in the freezer compartment 10 is circulated directly into the refrigerating compartment 11 in the course of continuous circulation of the cold air, so that the refrigerating compartment 11 is sub-cooled. At this time, when the temperature sensor 18 senses this and the temperature rises above the set value, the motor 53 is rotated and the blocking plate 51 blocks the rear end of the connecting passage 30 as shown in FIG.

At this time, the cool air discharged into the freezing chamber 10 is circulated through the intake port 31 toward the open recovery passage 40, and then circulated into the circulation passage 20. Meanwhile, the cool air circulated into the circulation passage 20 is circulated through the evaporator 13, then cooled again, and then circulated into the freezer chamber 10. On the other hand, since the cold air is not circulated into the refrigerating chamber 11 while the blocking plate 51 blocks the rear end of the connecting passage 30, the refrigerating chamber 11 can be maintained at the set temperature. On the other hand, if the cool air is overcooled in excess of the set value during the circulation of the cool air into the freezer compartment (10), the temperature sensor (17) senses this and stops the operation of the compressor (16) to interrupt the flow of the refrigerant gas. In addition, the rotation of the fan (14) is stopped to prevent the cool air from circulating into the freezing chamber (10), and the freezing chamber (10) can be maintained at the set temperature.

As described above, according to the present invention, cold air is circulated directly to the refrigerating compartment through the freezing compartment, thereby improving the refrigerating performance of the refrigerating compartment and also enabling the circulation of the refrigerating air to a single fan. In addition, since the evaporator is installed in the rear of the refrigerating compartment, the effective content of the freezing compartment is increased and the evaporator is installed in the relatively large refrigerating compartment, thereby increasing the size of the evaporator without decreasing the effective inner volume of the refrigerating compartment So that it is easy to control the heat exchanging ability.

Claims (3)

A freezing chamber (10) and a refrigerating chamber (11) separated upward and downward by a diaphragm (12); A circulation passage (20) formed from the upper rear side of the inside of the freezing chamber (10) to a rear lower side inside the refrigerating chamber (11); An evaporator (13) installed on the circulation passage (20) on the rear side of the refrigerating chamber (11); A connection passage (30) formed along the lateral direction of the partition (12) so that the freezing chamber (10) and the refrigerating chamber (11) are communicated; The circulation passage 20 is connected to the rear wall of the refrigerating chamber 11 so that the rear end of the connection passage 30 communicates with the circulation passage 20 so that the cool air of the freezing chamber 10 can be directly introduced into the evaporator 13. [ 20); (50) for selectively opening and closing an upper end of the return passage (40) and a rear end of the connecting passage (30). The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a fan (14) for forcibly circulating cool air toward the freezing chamber (10) is provided at an upper end of the circulation passage (20) A plurality of discharge ports 32 connected to the refrigerating chamber 11 are formed below the connection passage 30 and connected to the circulation passage 20 at the rear of the refrigerating chamber 11, And a plurality of through holes (21) are formed in the refrigerant circulation device. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the cool air switching means (50) comprises: a shutoff plate (51) rotatably installed at an upper end of the return passage (40); And a motor (53) for selectively rotating the upper end of the return passage (40) and the rear end of the connecting passage (30) by rotating the blocking plate (51) in normal and reverse directions.