KR100333592B1 - Anti-icing Device for Heat Exchange Chamber of Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat exchange part freezing prevention device configured to block the cold air discharge hole of the grill pan for supplying cold air to the freezing chamber when the freezing chamber door is opened.

The freezing prevention device according to the present invention includes an operation lever 30 which moves in a horizontal direction by the opening and closing operation of the freezer compartment door 20. The horizontal movement of the operation lever 30 causes the cam member 38 to rotate. By the rotational movement of the cam member 38, the end portion moves the opening and closing plate 40 up and down to open and close the cold air discharge hole 24 of the grill pan 22. Therefore, when the freezing chamber door 20 is opened, the opening and closing plate 40 blocks the cold air discharge hole 24, thereby preventing external hot air from entering the heat exchange chamber in which the evaporator is installed.

Description

Anti-icing Device for Heat Exchange Chamber of Refrigerator

The present invention relates to an apparatus for preventing freezing inside a heat exchange chamber of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to block or open a communication portion between a freezer compartment and a heat exchange chamber according to opening and closing of a freezer compartment door, and freezing of a heat exchange chamber according to inflow of outside air. It relates to a prevention device.

The heat exchange chamber of the refrigerator according to the prior art will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.

The heat exchange chamber 1 is usually provided at the rear of the freezing chamber 10 of the refrigerator to generate cold air. As shown, inside the heat exchange chamber 1, as the refrigerant evaporates, the evaporator 2 performs heat exchange with the ambient air, and to supply the cold air heat exchanged by the evaporator 2 to the freezing chamber 10. Blowing fan 4 is provided. A part of the cold air generated by the blowing fan 4 is supplied to the freezing chamber 10 via the cold air supply hole 8 formed in the grill pan 6. The other part is supplied to a refrigerating chamber (not shown), so that the refrigerator maintains the set temperature as a whole.

The drive of the refrigerator is driven by a temperature sensor installed in a freezing compartment (or a refrigerating compartment). That is, if the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor installed in the freezer compartment is higher than the reference value of the freezer compartment, the freezing cycle is driven and heat exchange is performed in the evaporator 2. At the same time as the refrigeration cycle is driven, the blower fan 4 installed in the heat exchange chamber 1 is also driven to supply the cold air generated in the evaporator 2 to the freezer compartment 10. When the temperature of the freezing chamber 10 falls below the set temperature value, the driving of the freezing cycle is stopped, and thus the rotation of the blowing fan 4 is also stopped.

Through this process, the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment maintain a predetermined temperature. However, when the user of the refrigerator opens the door of the freezer compartment 10, relatively hot air is introduced into the freezer compartment 10. The high temperature outside air introduced into the freezing chamber 10 is introduced into the heat exchange chamber 1 through the cold air supply hole 8 formed in the grill pan 6. The air introduced in this way is substantially high temperature and high humidity air.

Therefore, when relatively hot air flows into the heat exchange chamber 1, moisture contained in the air freezes, and thus freezing occurs in the heat exchange chamber 1. This freezing occurs not only on the inner part of the grill pan 6 but also on the surface of the evaporator 2. Substantially, even in the heat exchange chamber 1, since the evaporator 2 itself maintains the state of lowest temperature, it can be said that the freezing phenomenon by the infiltration of hot air as mentioned above is serious.

Such a freezing phenomenon lowers the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator 2 itself, which may not only hinder the performance of the refrigerator, but also increase the power consumption.

An object of the present invention is to provide an anti-icing device configured to prevent the high temperature and high humidity outside air flowing into the freezing chamber when the door of the freezing chamber is opened to freeze into the heat exchange chamber.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the freezing phenomenon caused by the high temperature and high-temperature air flow into the heat exchange chamber installed in the rear of the freezing chamber, and ultimately to maximize the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator of the heat exchange chamber. In addition, the reliability of the refrigerator will be improved and power consumption will be reduced.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional refrigerator.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the upper portion of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

3 is an exemplary front view of the cold air supply unit with the door closed;

4 is an exemplary front view of the cold air supply unit with the door open;

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

20 ..... Freezer door 22 ..... Grill pan

24 ..... Cold air discharge 30 ..... Operating lever

36 ..... Spring 38 ..... Cam Member

An anti-icing device according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a heat exchange chamber for generating cold air, a freezer compartment divided by the heat exchange chamber and the grill pan, the cold air is supplied through the cold air discharge hole formed in the grill fan, The opening and closing plate for opening and closing the cold air discharge hole of the grill pan, and in accordance with the opening and closing of the freezer door, it comprises a linkage means for moving the opening and closing plate to the open and close position of the cold air discharge hole.

According to the present invention, when the freezing chamber door is opened, the opening and closing plate to close the cold air discharge hole of the grill pan, it is possible to prevent the high temperature air flowing into the freezing chamber from the outside to enter the heat exchange chamber.

According to an embodiment of the interlocking means, a conversion lever for reciprocating in the horizontal direction by the opening and closing of the freezing chamber door, and converting the horizontal movement of the operating lever into a vertical movement of the opening and closing plate sliding close to the grill pan It comprises a means.

And according to one embodiment of the conversion means, one end is composed of a cam member interlocked with the operation lever, the other end is interlocked with the opening and closing plate, the cam member is converted into a rotational movement by the horizontal movement of the operating lever By virtue of the rotation of the cam member, the other end vertically moves the opening and closing plate.

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the upper part of the refrigerator equipped with an icing preventing device according to the present invention. As shown, according to the present invention, it is configured to open and close between the freezer compartment F and the evaporating chamber E via an operation lever 30 that interlocks with the freezer compartment door 20 of the refrigerator. The present invention is configured so that the heat exchange chamber (E) and the freezer compartment (F) can be closed when the refrigerating chamber door (20) is opened, so that the hot air flowing into the freezer compartment (F) when the freezer compartment door (20) is opened. There is a technical point to prevent the entry into the heat exchange chamber (E).

The operation lever 30 is protruded at a predetermined interval on the front face Fa of the freezing compartment F, and is connected rearward through one side (the freezer compartment upper surface in the illustrated embodiment) of the freezing compartment F. And the operation lever 30 is installed to enable a linear reciprocating movement, is pushed to the rear when the freezing chamber door 20 is closed, when the freezing chamber door 20 is opened, forward by the spring 36 installed in the rear Move forward.

At the rear end of the actuating lever 30, a pair of actuating projections 32 and 34 are formed at regular intervals. The first protrusion 32 and the second protrusion 34 accommodate the first end portion 38a of the cam member 38 therebetween, and the cam member is moved back and forth by the operating lever 30. This is the part to rotate (38).

The cam member 38 is rotatably supported, the first end 38a is housed between the first and second projections 32 and 34 of the operating lever, and the second end 38b is provided. Is connected to the opening and closing plate 40 to be described later. By the forward and backward movement of the operating lever 30, as the first end portion 38a accommodated between the first projection 32 and the second projection 34 moves, the cam member 38 is rotated. .

It can be seen that the first end 38a of the cam member 38 substantially rotates the cam member 38 by a linear reciprocating motion of the actuating lever 30.

The second end 38b also rotates due to the rotation of the cam member 38, but the second end 38b is configured to vertically move the opening and closing plate 40.

Between the freezer compartment F and the heat exchange chamber E, a fan grill 22 formed of a plurality of cold air discharge holes 24 through which cold air is discharged is provided to distinguish the freezer compartment from the heat exchange chamber E. The cold air generated in the heat exchange chamber E is supplied to the freezing chamber F through the cold air discharge hole 24.

In one embodiment of the fan grill 22 and in the illustrated embodiment, an opening / closing plate 40 is slidably installed in a vertical direction in the front (refrigerating chamber side). Referring to FIG. 3, a plurality of control holes 42 having the same shape as the cold air discharge holes 24 of the fan grill 22 are formed in the opening and closing plate 40. And the said opening-and-closing board 40 is enabled to move up and down by the guide rail 45 provided in the fan grill 22. As shown in FIG. Therefore, when the cold air discharge hole 24 of the fan grill 22 and the control hole 42 of the opening and closing plate 40 coincide with each other by the vertical movement of the opening and closing plate 40, the cold air is discharged to the freezing chamber F. When the cold air discharge hole 24 and the adjusting hole 42 are spaced apart from each other, the cold air cannot be discharged to the freezing chamber F (FIG. 4). State).

In addition, the opening and closing plate 40 is coupled to the second end portion 38b of the cam member 38, and when the cam member 38 rotates, the opening and closing plate 40 rotates in the vertical direction by the second end portion 38b which rotates together. It is configured to exercise.

That is, the cam member 38 serves to convert the horizontal movement of the operating lever 30 into the vertical movement of the opening and closing plate 40. As such, many other modifications are possible in the configuration for converting the horizontal movement of the operation lever 30 to the vertical vertical movement of the opening and closing plate 40. Therefore, the cam member 38, it will be seen that the embodiment of the configuration for converting the horizontal movement of the operating lever 30, the vertical vertical movement of the opening and closing plate 40. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the cam member 38, of course, other configurations for converting the horizontal movement of the operating lever 30 to the vertical movement of the opening and closing plate 40 is possible.

Next, referring to Figures 3 and 4, the operation of the freezing prevention apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

First, the state shown in FIG. 3 is a state in which the freezing chamber door 20 is closed. This state is a state in which the freezing chamber door 20 pushes the operation lever 30 backward. Therefore, the cam member 38 is rotated counterclockwise by the first end 38a of the cam member 38 assembled between the first protrusion 32 and the second protrusion 34. As the cam member 38 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, the second end portion 38b lifts the opening and closing plate 40 upward, and this state is a state shown in FIG. 24 and the adjustment hole 42 of the opening and closing plate 40 is in a state coinciding with each other.

In this state shown in Figure 3, when the cold air discharge hole 24 and the control hole 42 is in a state of coinciding with each other, the cold air generated in the heat exchange chamber (E) through the cold air discharge hole (24) freezer ( It becomes the state which can be supplied to F). Therefore, in such a state, while the cold air of low temperature is supplied to the freezer compartment F, the set temperature can be maintained.

In this state, when the user opens the freezer compartment door 20 to accommodate food in the freezer compartment F, the force that presses the end of the operating lever 30 is lost. At this time, by the restoring force of the spring 36 inserted into the rear end of the operating lever 30, the operating lever 30 is pushed forward of the refrigerator (to the right in the drawing).

When the spring 36 moves forward, the cam member 38 is rotated clockwise while the first end 38a is pushed in the same direction by the second protrusion 34. When the cam member 38 is rotated in the clockwise direction, the opening and closing plate 40 connected to the second end 38b is moved downward. In this case, the second end portion 38b may be configured to substantially push the opening and closing plate 40 downward, and the second end portion 38b may be disengaged from the opening and closing plate, whereby the opening and closing plate ( It is also possible for 40 to fall downward by its own weight.

In this way, as the cam member 38 rotates in the clockwise direction, the second end portion 38b of the cam member 38 releases the coupling relationship with the opening / closing plate 40, whereby the opening / closing plate 40 is self-weighted. It is configured to fall downward by the opening and closing plate by hanging on one side of the opening and closing plate 40 only while the second end portion 38a of the cam member 38 moves upward (counterclockwise). 40) to move upward.

As the opening and closing plate 40 moves downward, the adjusting hole 42 and the cold air discharge hole 24 of the opening and closing plate 40 are shifted from each other, and this state is illustrated in FIG. 4. When the cold air discharge hole 24 and the adjustment hole 42 are shifted from each other, the heat exchange chamber E and the freezing chamber F are substantially insulated from each other.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, that is, when the freezer compartment door 20 is opened, the cold air discharge hole 24 is blocked by the opening / closing plate 40 so that hot air entering the freezer compartment from the outside of the refrigerator is exchanged through a heat exchange chamber ( E) is prevented from entering.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the freezing chamber door 20 is opened, it is configured to isolate the heat exchange chamber E and the freezing chamber F, so that the hot air introduced into the freezing chamber flows into the heat exchange chamber. It is preventing.

And the present invention has been described by taking the freezer compartment (F) as an example, of course, it is not limited to the freezer compartment. Between the constant food storage space formed in the refrigerator and the cold air supply hole for supplying cold air to the food storage space, through the configuration as described above, the cold air supply hole is interlocked with the rotation of the door to open and close the food storage space. What constitutes so that opening and closing is made into the technical idea of this invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the opening and closing of the freezing chamber door 20, it can be seen that the cold air discharge hole 24 to which cold air is supplied to the freezing chamber F is closed or opened.

Therefore, the outside air of the high temperature introduced into the freezing compartment F in the freezing chamber door 20 is not introduced into the heat exchange chamber E in which the evaporator is located. By preventing the relatively high temperature and humidity of the outside air from flowing into the heat exchange chamber E, it is possible to prevent freezing due to moisture introduced into the heat exchange chamber E.

As such, by preventing freezing in the heat exchange chamber E, including the evaporator, it is possible to increase the operation efficiency of the refrigerator and to reduce power consumption.

Claims (3)

A heat exchange chamber generating cold air; A freezer compartment divided by the heat exchange chamber and the grill pan and supplied with cold air through a cold air discharge hole formed in the grill pan; Opening and closing plate for opening and closing the cold air discharge hole of the grill pan; And In accordance with the opening and closing of the freezer door, the refrigerator heat exchanger freezing prevention device comprising an interlocking means for moving the opening and closing plate to the opening and closing position of the cold air discharge hole. The method of claim 1, wherein the interlocking means, An operating lever reciprocating in the horizontal direction by opening and closing the freezer door, And a conversion means for converting the horizontal movement of the operation lever into a vertical movement of an opening and closing plate sliding in close contact with the grill pan. The method of claim 2, wherein the conversion means, One end is interlocked with the actuating lever, the other end is composed of a cam member interlocking with the opening and closing plate, the cam member is converted into a rotational movement by the horizontal movement of the operating lever, the other end is opened and closed by the rotation of the cam member Anti-icing device of the heat exchange part of the refrigerator for vertical movement.