KR101659011B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator body having horizontally arranged partition walls, a first cooling chamber and a second cooling chamber defined by upper and lower partition walls; An evaporator disposed inside the partition; A first suction passage in which a suction port is formed on at least one side of both sides of an upper surface of the partition wall; And a second suction passage in which a suction port is formed on at least one side of both sides of the bottom surface of the partition wall. Thereby, it is possible to increase the space for high-end use without increasing the appearance and to suppress the implantation, thereby extending the defrost cycle.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of suppressing implantation.

As is well known, a refrigerator is a device that allows food to be stored freshly by refrigeration or freezing. The refrigerator includes a refrigerator body having a plurality of cooling chambers formed therein, doors for opening and closing the respective cooling chambers, and a refrigeration cycle device for providing cool air to the cooling chambers.

The refrigeration cycle apparatus includes a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant by radiating heat, an expansion device for expanding the refrigerant under reduced pressure, and an evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant by absorbing the latent heat of the surrounding refrigerant, Device.

Normally, a cool air circulation channel can be formed on the rear wall of the cooling chamber so that the cool air in the cooling chamber can circulate. The evaporator may be provided in the cool air circulation channel so that the air can be cooled while passing through the air. In addition, a cool air supply passage may be formed in the inside of the cooling chamber so that cool air having passed through the evaporator can be supplied to each of the cooling chambers.

In such a conventional refrigerator, since the evaporator, which is much lower in temperature than the cool air in the cooling chamber, is disposed on the rear wall of the cooling chamber, the loss of cool air through the rear wall can be increased. Considering this, the thickness of the rear wall can be increased.

Further, in a refrigerator in which a single cooling fan is disposed on one side of a single evaporator, the same evaporator and cooling fan operate when cooling the cooling chamber away from the place where the evaporator and the cooling fan are installed. Therefore, Frost loss may occur during the movement. Further, the configuration of the cooling air flow path for supplying cold air to the cooling chamber located farther from the evaporator may be complicated and prolonged. As a result, the flow resistance of the cool air increases, so that it is difficult to quickly solve the temperature deviation and the operation time for resolving the temperature deviation can be prolonged.

Further, in such a conventional refrigerator, since a plurality of cooling chambers are cooled by a single evaporator, even if one of the cooling chambers already satisfies the warming condition, the operation is performed to satisfy the temperature condition of the other cooling chamber. Subcooling may occur in a cooling chamber that already meets temperature requirements.

On the other hand, in some refrigerators, evaporators may be respectively disposed in the respective cooling chambers in order to independently cool the different cooling chambers. In this case, since each evaporator is arranged close to the rear wall of the corresponding cooling chamber, the thickness of the rear wall of each cooling chamber is increased to suppress leakage of cold air through the rear wall of each evaporator, have.

Further, when the evaporator is disposed in each of the cooling chambers, the flow path of the refrigerant becomes longer, so that not only the flow resistance of the refrigerant increases but also the pressure and the heat loss of the refrigerant along the long pipe are generated, Can be lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator which can increase the space for high-end use without increasing the appearance and can suppress the implantation and prolong the defrost cycle.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator main body having horizontally arranged partitions, a first cooling chamber and a second cooling chamber divided up and down by the partition; An evaporator disposed inside the partition wall; A first suction passage in which a suction port is formed on at least one side of both sides of the upper surface of the partition wall; And a second suction passage formed with suction ports on at least one side of both sides of the bottom surface of the partition wall.

Here, the inlet port of the first suction passage may have a long length along the front-rear direction of the partition wall.

The first suction passage may have a height difference between the bottom surfaces thereof.

The first suction passage and the second suction passage may be formed on both sides of the partition wall.

The second suction passage may be formed outside the first suction passage.

The first suction passage and the second suction passage may be formed to guide air to a front region of the evaporator.

A first cooling fan disposed at one side of the evaporator and blowing air to the first cooling chamber, and a second cooling fan blowing air to the second cooling chamber.

The first cooling chamber may be a refrigerating chamber, and may further include an ice-making chamber provided in a door for opening and closing the refrigerating chamber, and an ice-making fan for blowing air to the ice-making chamber.

The ice-making fan may be disposed on the partition wall.

As described above, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the rear wall on which the evaporator is disposed can be reduced by disposing the evaporator in the partition wall, thereby increasing the indoor space without increasing the appearance.

Furthermore, since the intake port through which cool air is sucked in the first cooling chamber and the second cooling chamber is formed on at least one side of the both sides of the partition wall, indoor air having a relatively high humidity at the time of opening the cooling chamber is sucked directly into the suction port It is possible to reduce the amount of the evaporation of the evaporator. Thereby, heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator can be increased, and the cooling chamber can be cooled quickly. Further, the operation time of the refrigeration cycle can be shortened. As a result, the power consumption can be reduced overall.

Further, since the amount of impregnation of the evaporator is reduced, the defrosting operation period for removing the property of the evaporator can be extended.

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the refrigerator of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 2, 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the first suction path according to the line VI-VI in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a cross- FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator of FIG. 1, and FIG. 9 is a control block diagram of the refrigerator of FIG.

1 and 2, the refrigerator according to the present invention includes a horizontally disposed partition 115, a first cooling chamber 120 and a second cooling chamber 130 partitioned vertically by the partition 115 And an evaporator 201 disposed inside the partition wall 115. The evaporator 201 has a suction port 242a formed on at least one side of the upper and lower sides of the partition wall 115, And a second suction passage 251 in which a suction port 252a is formed on at least one side of the suction passage 241 and both sides of the bottom surface of the partition wall 115. [

The first cooling chamber 120 is implemented as a refrigerating chamber 120 and the second cooling chamber 120 is provided with a plurality of cooling chambers 130 are implemented in the freezer compartment 130 as an example.

A refrigerating chamber 120 may be formed in an upper region of the refrigerator body 110. A refrigerating chamber door 125 may be provided on the front surface of the refrigerating chamber 120 to open and close the refrigerating chamber 120. The refrigerator compartment door 125 may be rotatably coupled to the refrigerator body 110. The refrigerator compartment door 125 may be composed of a plurality of refrigerators. The ice making chamber 140 may be formed in the refrigerating chamber door 125. The ice making chamber 140 may include an ice maker (not shown) for making ice and an ice bank (not shown) for storing ice made by the ice maker.

The refrigerator body 110 may be provided with side wall coolant ducts 128 to provide cool air to the ice making chamber 140. The side wall cool air duct 128 supplies a cool air of the freezing chamber 130 to the ice making chamber 140 and a pair of cool air passing through the ice making chamber 140 is returned to the freezing chamber 130 .

A freezing chamber 130 may be formed in a lower region of the refrigerator body 110. The freezing chamber 130 may include a freezing chamber door 135 to open and close a front opening of the freezing chamber 130. The freezing chamber door 135 may be configured to slide along the front-rear direction.

The refrigerator body 110 may be provided with a refrigeration cycle 170 to cool the refrigerator compartment 120 and the freezer compartment 130. 8, the refrigeration cycle 170 includes a compressor 171 for compressing the refrigerant, a condenser 175 for condensing the refrigerant by radiating heat, an expansion device 186 for expanding the refrigerant under reduced pressure, And a vapor compression refrigeration cycle including an evaporator 201 in which the refrigerant absorbs and evaporates latent heat in the surroundings.

A machine room 150 may be formed in a rear lower region of the refrigerator body 110. The compressor (171), the condenser (175), and the expansion device (186) may be installed in the machine room (150).

The refrigerator body 110 may include a partition 115 to partition the refrigerating compartment 120 and the freezing compartment 130.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the evaporator 201 can be accommodated in the partition 115. An evaporator accommodating portion 117 may be formed in the partition 115. The evaporator accommodating portion 117 may be formed to be inclined downward to the rear. The bottom of the evaporator accommodating portion 117 may be inclined downward to the rear side. The evaporator 201 may include a heat transfer tube 203 through which refrigerant flows and a plurality of heat transfer fins 205 (or a heat transfer plate) coupled to the heat transfer tube 203.

A first cooling fan 210 may be provided on a rear side of the evaporator 201. The refrigerating compartment 120 may be provided with a refrigerating and cooling duct 215 for discharging refrigerant blown by the first cooling fan 210 to the refrigerating compartment 120. A plurality of cold air discharge openings may be formed in the cold cold air duct 215 so as to be spaced along the vertical direction.

A second cooling fan 220 may be provided on the lower side of the first cooling fan 210. The freezing chamber 130 may be provided with a freezing / cooling fan duct 225 for discharging the cold air blown by the second cooling fan 220 to the freezing chamber 130. The freeze / cool air duct 225 may be provided with a cool air discharge port for discharging cool air.

The partition wall 115 may be provided with an ice making fan 230 so as to provide cool air of the freezing chamber 130 to the ice making chamber 140 through the side wall cool air duct 128. A coupling portion 119 may be formed on one side of the partition 115 so that lower ends of the side wall cool air duct 128 can be coupled to each other. Any one of the coupling portions 119 may be connected to the discharge side of the ice-making fan 230. Accordingly, the cold air blown by the ice-making fan 230 can be supplied to the ice-making chamber 140 along the side wall cool-air duct 128. The other of the coupling portions 119 may communicate with the freezing chamber 130. Accordingly, the air that has cooled the ice making chamber 140 via the ice making chamber 140 can be returned to the freezing chamber 130.

4, a first suction passage 241 may be formed on at least one side of both sides of the partition 115 so as to suck air in the refrigerating compartment 120. As shown in FIG. The first suction passage (241) may be formed in a plurality. The present embodiment illustrates a case where the first suction passage 241 is formed on both sides of the partition 115.

 Each of the first suction passages 241 may have a suction port 242a formed on both sides of the upper surface of the partition 115. The inlet 242a of each first suction passage 241 may have a narrow width and a long length along the front-rear direction. Thus, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from flowing into the suction port 242a. Here, the suction port of the first suction passage 241 may be formed by a plurality of fine holes.

The inlet 242a of the first suction passage 241 may be spaced apart from the front end of the partition 115 by a predetermined distance. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the air introduced from the outside to the suction port 242a of the first suction flow path 241 immediately when the refrigerating chamber 120 is opened.

As shown in FIG. 6, the first suction passage 241 may have a bottom surface with a height difference. More specifically, the first suction passage 241 may be formed such that a rear region thereof is lower than a front region thereof. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the foreign matter introduced through the suction port 242a of the first suction passage 241 from moving to the evaporator 201 side together with the air sucked.

A second suction passage 251 may be formed on at least one side of both sides of the partition 115 to allow air in the freezer compartment 130 to be sucked. The second suction passage 251 may be formed as a plurality as shown in FIG. The present embodiment illustrates a case where the second suction passage 251 is formed on both sides of the partition 115. The second suction passage 251 may have a suction port 252a formed on both sides of the partition wall 115, respectively.

The suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251 may have a narrow width and a long length in the front-rear direction. As a result, foreign matter can be prevented from flowing into the suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251. Here, the suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251 may be formed by a plurality of fine holes.

The distal end of the suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251 may be spaced apart from the distal end of the partition 115 by a predetermined distance. Thus, it is possible to prevent the outside air from being sucked directly through the suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251 when the freezing chamber 130 is opened.

The second suction passage 251 may be disposed outside the first suction passage 241. As a result, the air introduced from the outside by the opening of the refrigerating chamber 120, which has a relatively high opening frequency, is sucked through the suction port 242a of the first suction flow path 241 to be conceived. Here, the positions of the second suction passage 251 and the first suction passage 241 may be appropriately adjusted in consideration of the number of openings of the refrigerating chamber door 125 and / or the freezing chamber door 135. That is, the second suction passage 251 may be formed inside the first suction passage 241.

The refrigeration cycle 170 may include a compressor 171, a condenser 175, an expansion device 186, and an evaporator 201 as shown in FIG. A blowing fan 177 for promoting the flow of air may be provided on one side of the condenser 175. Accordingly, the flow of the air passing through the condenser 175 can be promoted and the heat radiation of the condenser 175 can be promoted.

A first cooling fan 210, a second cooling fan 220, and an ice-making fan 230 may be installed around the evaporator 201.

A branch channel may be formed on the coolant inlet side of the evaporator 201 so that the coolant may flow through different paths. The branch passage may include a first branch passage 182 and a second branch passage 192.

The first open / close valve 185 and the second open / close valve 195 may be respectively installed in the branch flow paths so that the branch flow paths 182 and 192 can be opened and closed. Each of the on-off valves 185 and 195 may be configured to be opened / closed (operated) controlled by an electric force. A flow path switching valve (not shown) is disposed before the first branch passage 182 and the second branch passage 192 in place of the first opening / closing valve 185 and the second opening / closing valve 195, The flow path may be switched, and the amount of refrigerant may be controlled.

A first capillary tube 187 and a second capillary tube 197 may be provided as the expansion device 186 in each of the branch passages 182 and 192. Each of the capillaries 187 and 197 may have different diameters and / or lengths. The larger the inner diameter of each of the capillaries 187 and 197 is, the larger the passing flow rate is, and the longer the length, the lower the refrigerant temperature can be. Thus, the cooling capacity of the evaporator 201 can be appropriately adjusted. Hereinafter, a case where the second capillary tube 197 has at least one of a diameter and a length larger than the first capillary tube 187 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 9, the present refrigerator may include a control unit 250 provided with a control program. The control unit 250 may be connected to a refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 251 and a freezing compartment temperature sensor 253 to sense the temperatures of the refrigerating compartment 120 and the freezing compartment 130.

The first cooling fan 210 and the second cooling fan 220 are controllably connected to the controller 250 so that cool air can be supplied based on the temperature detection result of the refrigerator compartment 120 and the freezer compartment 130 .

In addition, the controller 250 may be controllably connected to the ice-making fan 230 so as to supply cool air to the ice-making chamber 140 when the ice-making mode is selected.

The control unit 250 is also provided with a control unit 250 for controlling a refrigerant condition (a refrigerant flow rate and / or a refrigerant temperature) flowing into the evaporator 201 according to operating conditions of the refrigerating chamber 120 and / The first opening / closing valve 185 and the second opening / closing valve 195 may be controllably connected.

The control unit 250 may control the refrigerant condition flowing into the evaporator 201 based on the temperature sensing result of the refrigerating compartment temperature sensor 251 and the freezing compartment temperature sensor 253.

More specifically, when the refrigerator compartment temperature sensor 251 and the freezer compartment temperature sensor 253 detect the refrigerator compartment 120, the controller 250 controls the first branch passage 182 The first opening / closing valve 185 can be controlled to be opened. Thus, the refrigerant compressed in the compressor 171 and condensed in the condenser 175 passes through the first capillary tube 187 via the first opening / closing valve 185. The refrigerant decompressed and expanded in the first capillary tube 187 is evaporated by absorbing the ambient latent heat in the evaporator 201.

At this time, the controller 250 controls the first cooling fan 210 to rotate so that the cold air can be supplied to the refrigerating chamber 120. When the first cooling fan 210 starts to rotate, the air on the upstream side of the first cooling fan 210 is moved to the downstream side of the first cooling fan 210. The air moved by the first cooling fan 210 is moved along the cold air duct 215 and the cold air moved along the cold air duct 215 flows through the cold air outlet 217, 120, respectively.

At the same time, the air in the refrigerating chamber 120 is sucked through the suction port 242a of the first suction passage 241. The sucked air flows into the front region of the evaporator 201 along the first suction passage 241. The inflow air passes through the evaporator 201 and is cooled to be cooled. The cooled air is moved to the refrigerating and cooling duct 215 via the first cooling fan 210 and discharged to the refrigerating chamber 120 The refrigerating chamber 120 can be cooled.

 If the controller 250 determines that the refrigerant is to be supplied to the freezer compartment 130 as a result of the temperature sensing of the freezer compartment temperature sensor 251 and the freezer compartment temperature sensor 253, Closing valve 185 and the second opening / closing valve 195 so as to flow along the first opening / closing valve 185 and the second opening / closing valve 195, respectively. That is, the first on-off valve 185 is controlled to block the first branch passage 182, and the second on-off valve 195 is controlled to open the second branch passage 192.

Accordingly, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 171 is moved along the second branch passage 192 through the condenser 175. The refrigerant passing through the second capillary tube 197 passes through the evaporator 201 to absorb the surrounding latent heat and is evaporated and then sucked into the compressor 171 again.

At this time, the controller 250 may control the second cooling fan 220 so that the second cooling fan 220 may be driven to supply the cool air to the freezing chamber 130. When the second cooling fan 220 starts to rotate, the air on the upstream side of the second cooling fan 220 is moved to the downstream side of the second cooling fan 220.

The air that has been moved to the downstream side by the second cooling fan 220 is discharged to the freezing chamber 130 through the cool air discharge port 227 of the freezing / At the same time, the air in the freezing compartment 130 is sucked through the suction port 252a of the second suction passage 251.

The air sucked into the second suction passage 251 is moved to the front region of the evaporator 201 and is cooled by passing through the evaporator 201 while being heat-exchanged. The cooling air that is cooled while passing through the evaporator 201 is discharged through the second cooling fan 220 to the freezer compartment 130 through the cool air discharge port 227 of the freezing / It is possible to cool the freezing chamber 130 repeatedly.

When the controller 250 simultaneously cools the refrigerating compartment 120, the freezing compartment 130 or the ice making compartment 140, the first branch passage 182 and the second branch passage 192 are both closed The first on-off valve 185 and the second on-off valve 195 can be controlled to be opened. In this case, the controller 250 may drive both the first cooling fan 210, the second cooling fan 220, and / or the ice-making fan 230.

The foregoing has been shown and described with respect to specific embodiments of the invention. However, the present invention may be embodied in various forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, so that the above-described embodiments should not be limited by the details of the detailed description.

Further, even when the embodiments not listed in the detailed description have been described, it should be interpreted broadly within the scope of the technical idea defined in the appended claims. It is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the refrigerator of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of Fig. 2,

4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3,

5 is a plan sectional view taken along the line V-V in Fig. 4,

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the first suction passage taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5,

Fig. 7 is a bottom view of the partition of Fig. 4,

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a refrigeration cycle configuration of the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

Fig. 9 is a control block diagram of the refrigerator of Fig. 1; Fig.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

110: refrigerator body 115: partition wall

117: evaporator accommodating portion 120: first cooling chamber, refrigerating chamber

125: refrigerator compartment door 130: second cooling compartment, freezer compartment

135: Freezer door 140: Ice chamber

150: machine room 170: refrigeration cycle

171: compressor 175: condenser

182: first branch passage 185: first opening / closing valve

187: first capillary 192: second branch channel

195: second opening / closing valve 197: second capillary tube

210: first cooling fan 220: second cooling fan

230: Ice-making fan 241:

242a: first suction-passage inlet port 251: second suction-

252a: second suction flow inlet port 250:

251: Refrigerator room temperature sensor 253: Freezer room temperature sensor

Claims (10)

1. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator main body having horizontally arranged partitions, a first cooling chamber and a second cooling chamber which are vertically partitioned by the partition wall; An evaporator disposed inside the partition wall; A first suction flow passage disposed on the left and right sides of the evaporator, respectively, of the upper surface of the partition, the suction opening having a long length along the front-rear direction of the first cooling chamber; And And a second suction flow passage disposed on the left and right sides of the evaporator, respectively, of the bottom surface of the partition wall, the suction holes having a long length along the front-rear direction of the second cooling chamber. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the first suction passage and the second suction passage are formed to guide air to a front region of the evaporator, respectively. 3. The method of claim 2, Wherein the first suction path is formed to have a height difference in a bottom surface thereof. The method of claim 3, Wherein the first suction passage is formed such that a rear region thereof is lowered along the front-rear direction of the evaporator than a front region thereof. The method according to claim 1, And the second suction passage is formed outside the first suction passage. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, Wherein the suction port of the first suction passage is formed such that a distal end thereof is spaced rearward at a predetermined distance from a distal end of the partition. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, A first cooling fan disposed on one side of the evaporator and blowing air to the first cooling chamber, and a second cooling fan blowing air to a second cooling chamber. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the first cooling chamber is a refrigerating chamber and further comprises an ice making chamber provided in a door for opening and closing the refrigerating chamber and an ice making fan for blowing air to the ice making chamber. 9. The method of claim 8, And the ice-making fan is disposed on the partition wall. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, Wherein a distal end portion of the suction port of the second suction passage is spaced rearward at a predetermined distance from the distal end portion of the partition wall.

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