KR19980013764A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and its object is to improve a cold air supply structure of a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment, thereby restricting freezing of the inside of the refrigerator compartment when the door is opened.

The refrigerator according to the present invention discharges the cold air from the upper portion of the opening surface of the freezing chamber 110 or the refrigerating chamber 120 to the lower side to form an air barrier when the freezing chamber door 111 or the refrigerating chamber door 121 is opened, 110), the outflow of cold air from the refrigerating chamber (120) is suppressed.

Therefore, even if the doors 111 and 121 are frequently opened, the refrigerating operation efficiency of the refrigerator is increased and the temperature in the freezing room 110 and the refrigerating chamber 120 is always kept constant, thereby maintaining the freshness of the stored food 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 in which cool air is discharged through a duct for air curtain provided in each of a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber when a door is opened to form an air curtain.

Generally, the refrigerator is configured to maintain the freshness of various foods for a long period of time by using the 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 storage rooms 11 and 12 for storing foods and having a front surface opened inside the main body 10.

The storage compartments 11 and 12 are partitioned into a freezing compartment 11 and a refrigerating compartment 12 by an intermediate partition wall 30 to separate and store frozen food and refrigerated food, A freezing chamber door 11a and a refrigerating chamber door 12a are hingably connected to the freezing chamber 11 and the freezing chamber 12 to open and close the freezing chamber 11 and the freezing chamber 12, respectively.

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 at the rear side of the freezing compartment 11 and the freezing compartment 12 so as to guide the supply of the cold air to the freezing compartment 11, 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 duct 41 and the refrigerating room duct 42, respectively.

Meanwhile, the air having undergone the heat exchange function in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 must be introduced into the evaporator 21 to be cooled again. In order to guide the return of the cold air, the return duct 50 And communicates with the cooling chamber 20 in which the evaporator 21 is installed. The reference numeral 60 is a shelf for storing food.

Next, the operation of a general refrigerator constructed as described above will be described.

The air in the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 is returned to the evaporator 21 of the cooling compartment 20 via the return duct 50 by the suction wind force of the fan 22 when the fan 22 is powered, And then becomes cold air.

The cold air continues to flow along the freezer compartment duct 41 and the refrigerating compartment duct 42 and a part of the cold air is supplied to the freezing compartment 11 through the respective cold air outflow holes 41a and 42a and the remaining part thereof is supplied into the refrigerating compartment 12. The air exchanged in the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 is introduced into the evaporator 21 through the return duct 50 formed in the intermediate partition 30 to be cooled again.

That is, the cold air forcedly blown by the fan 22 flows into the freezer compartment duct 41 formed on the rear side of the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 and the cold air outlets 41a and 42a To the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 to cool the stored food.

However, when the refrigerator compartment door 11a or the refrigerator compartment door 12a is opened to draw or store foods, a considerable amount of cold air in the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 is caused by a difference in temperature from the outside air temperature Natural convection, or high-pressure outside air flows into the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12, and is discharged to the outside by a pressure difference.

As a result, consumption input of the refrigerator is increased, and the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 12 changes frequently, resulting in a problem of freshness of the stored food being lowered.

An object of the present invention is to provide an air curtain duct which is provided with discharge openings on the freezing chamber and the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber so as to prevent the cold air inside the door from flowing out when the door is opened, So as to improve the operation efficiency of the refrigerator and maintain the freshness of the stored food for a long time.

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

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

3 is a side cross-sectional view showing the flow of cool air when the freezer compartment door is opened in the refrigerator according to the present invention.

4 is a side cross-sectional view showing the flow of cool air when the refrigerator compartment door is opened in the refrigerator according to the present invention.

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

Description of the Related Art [0002]

100 .. body 110 .. freezer room 111 .. freezer door

120 .. refrigerator compartment 121 .. refrigerator compartment door 210 .. evaporator

410 .. Freezer room duct 420 .. Refrigerator room duct 700 .. Freezer room Air curtain duct

720 .. first solenoid valve 730 .. first switch 800 .. duct for refrigerating chamber air curtain

A second solenoid valve 830, a second switch 900,

According to an aspect of the present invention,

A freezing compartment door for opening and closing the opening face of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, a refrigerator compartment door, an evaporator for generating cold air, a fan for forcedly blowing the generated cold air, and a fan A freezing chamber duct for guiding the freezing chamber to the freezing chamber, a freezing chamber duct communicating with the freezing chamber duct and installed on the rear side of the freezing chamber to guide the freezing chamber to the freezing chamber, the freezing chamber being branched from the freezing chamber duct and having a discharge port formed on the opening surface of the freezing chamber Freezer room Freezer room air curtain which forms air curtain from opening surface of freezer room Air curtain duct which branches from refrigerator room duct and discharge port is formed on the opening surface of refrigerator room and is made into cold air To create air curtain from refrigerating room opening surface For air curtain Ducts, freezer ducts and freezers are installed at the branches of ducts for air curtains, A first valve for selectively opening and closing a duct for a freezer compartment air curtain, a second valve for selectively opening and closing the refrigerating compartment duct and the duct for the freezer compartment air curtain, which are installed at branching points of the refrigerating compartment duct and the duct for the refrigerating compartment air curtain, When the door of the freezing compartment is opened by recognizing the opening and closing of the door, the first valve is controlled to open the duct for the freezing compartment air curtain so that the chilled air is discharged through the discharge port of the duct for the freezing compartment air curtain. And a control unit for controlling the second valve to open the duct for the refrigerating compartment air curtain so as to be discharged through the discharge port of the duct for the refrigerating compartment air curtain.

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

FIG. 2 shows the overall structure of the refrigerator according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show the flow of cool air when the freezer compartment door and the refrigerator compartment door are opened. 5 is a control block diagram for controlling the first and second solenoid valves of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the refrigerator according to the present invention includes storage rooms 110 and 120 for storing food in its body 100, a freezer compartment 110 partitioned by an intermediate partition wall 300 and having a front surface opened, A freezing chamber door 111 and a refrigerating chamber door 121 are hinged to a front surface of the main body 100 so as to open and close the freezing chamber 110 and the refrigerating chamber 120, respectively.

A fan 220 for forcibly blowing cold air generated above the evaporator 210 is provided at a rear side of the freezer chamber 110. The evaporator 210 generates cold air by a refrigeration cycle, Respectively.

A freezing chamber duct 410 and a refrigerating chamber duct 420 installed upright on the rear side of the freezing chamber 110 and the freezing chamber 120 are provided as coolant ducts 400 for guiding the cool air, Cool air outflow holes 411 and 421 communicating with the freezing compartment 110 and the refrigerating compartment 120 are vertically arranged.

The reference numeral 600 is a shelf for storing stored food. Reference numeral 500 is a return duct formed in the intermediate partition wall 300 to communicate with the cooling chamber 200 to guide the return of the freezer compartment 110 and the refrigerating compartment 120 air.

On the other hand, a freezing chamber air curtain duct 700 is formed on the freezing chamber 110 as a characteristic element of the present invention. The duct 700 for the freezing compartment is branched from the freezing compartment duct 410 so that the discharge port 710 is communicated with the upper side of the opening surface of the freezing compartment 110, To form a curtain.

A first solenoid valve 720 is provided in the branching portion of the freezing chamber air curtain duct 700 and the freezing chamber duct 410 by a control unit 900 to be selectively opened and closed.

The first solenoid valve 720 closes the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 when the freezing compartment door 121 is closed so that the chilled air is blown by the blowing force of the fan 220 to the freezing compartment duct 410, And flows from the rear side of the freezing chamber 120 through the opening 411.

When the freezing compartment door 121 is opened, the first solenoid valve 720 operates to open the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 and instead closes the freezing compartment duct 410 so that the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 And a discharge port 710 formed in the upper part of the opening surface of the freezing chamber 120 to be discharged from the upper side to the lower side of the opening surface of the freezing chamber 120.

In addition, a duct 800 for the refrigerating compartment air curtain is also formed in the upper part of the refrigerating compartment 120. The refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 is branched from the refrigerating compartment duct 420 so that the discharge port 810 is communicated with the upper side of the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120. The cool air is discharged from the upper portion of the opening surface to the lower side, A cool air flow path is formed to form a curtain.

A second solenoid valve 820 is provided in the branching portion of the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 and the refrigerating compartment duct 420 by a control unit 900 to be selectively opened and closed.

This second solenoid valve 820 also closes the duct 800 for the refrigerating compartment air curtain when the refrigerator compartment door 120 is closed so that the chilled air is discharged from the refrigerating compartment duct 420 and the air- The second solenoid valve 820 opens the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 when the refrigerating compartment door 121 is opened and the refrigerating compartment air duct 800 is opened instead of the refrigerating compartment door 120. [ The cold air is guided to be discharged from the upper side to the lower side of the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120 through the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 and the discharge opening 810 thereof.

The operation of the first and second solenoid valves 720 and 820 is performed by the control unit 900. The first and second solenoid valves 720 and 820 are operated by the control unit 900. The freezing chamber door 111 and the main body 100, The first and second switches 730 and 830 are provided on the main body 100 in contact with the inner side of the refrigerator compartment door 111 and the refrigerator compartment door 121 to detect whether the freezer compartment door 111 and the refrigerating compartment door 121 are open or closed, Respectively.

The first and second switches 730 and 830 protrude forward of the main body 100 in a button manner and are turned on or off according to opening and closing operations of the freezing chamber door 111 and the refrigerating chamber door 121, (900).

That is, when each of the doors 111 and 121 is closed, a portion of each of the protruded switches 730 and 830 is inserted into the inside thereof, and the signal is transmitted to the controller 900. When the doors 111 and 121 are opened, 730 and 830 protrude to transmit the signal to the controller 900.

The configuration of the control unit according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

First and second switches 730 and 830 for detecting the opening and closing of the freezing compartment door 111 and the refrigerating compartment door 121 are electrically connected to the input side of the controller 900. The first and second switches 730 and 830 The first and second solenoid valve driving units 721 and 821 for operating the first and second solenoid valves 720 and 820 are connected.

When the ON signal indicating that the freezing chamber door 111 is closed from the first switch 730 is input to the controller 900 configured as described above, the first solenoid valve 720 is driven by the first solenoid valve driving unit 721 to the freezing chamber duct 410 are opened and the freezing chamber air curtain duct 700 is closed so that the cool air is supplied through the freezing chamber seal duct 420 and the cold air outflow hole 411 while the freezing chamber door 111 is opened The first solenoid valve 720 operates to close the freezer compartment duct 410 by the first solenoid valve driving unit 721 so that the freezer compartment is opened through the duct 700 for the freezer compartment air curtain and the discharge port 710, And the air curtain is formed by discharging the air curtain from the opening surface of the discharge port 120.

When a signal indicating that the refrigerator compartment door 121 is closed is input to the controller 900 through the second switch 830, the second solenoid valve 820 is connected to the duct for the refrigerating compartment air curtain (not shown) by the second solenoid valve driver 821 The cold air is supplied to the refrigerating compartment 120 through the cold air outlet hole 421 while the signal indicating that the refrigerating compartment door 121 is opened is supplied to the second switch 830, The second solenoid valve 820 closes the refrigerating compartment duct 420 and operates to open the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 so that the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 and the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 are opened. And is discharged through the discharge port 810 to form an air curtain at the opening surface of the refrigerating chamber 120.

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

First, when the freezing compartment door 111 and the refrigerating compartment door 121 are closed, a signal from the first and second switches 730 and 830 sensing the first and second switches 730 and 830 is input to the controller 900, 820 are operated by the first and second solenoid valve drivers 721 and 821 to close the air curtain ducts 700 and 800 and open the freezer compartment duct 410 and the refrigerating compartment duct 420.

The cool air generated by the evaporator 210 is supplied to the freezing chamber 110 and the freezing chamber through the freezing chamber duct 410 and the freezing chamber duct 420 and the freezing and discharging holes 411 and 421, 120, and the refrigerant is heat-exchanged while cooling the stored food. The heat-exchanged air is again supplied to the evaporator 210 through the return ducts 500 and then supplied to the freezer compartment 110 and the refrigerating compartment 120 .

When the user opens the freezing chamber door 111, the following description will be made with reference to FIG.

When the user opens the freezing chamber door 111, the first switch 730 detects the first switch 730 and sends an OFF signal to the controller 900. The first solenoid valve 720 controls the controller 900 and the first solenoid valve driver 721 to open the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 and close the refrigerating compartment duct 410.

Accordingly, the cold air is discharged through the discharge port 710 as it flows along the duct 700 for the freezer compartment air curtain provided in the upper portion of the freezer compartment 110 by the forced wind force of the fan 220.

In this case, the duct 700 for the freezing compartment air curtain is installed in the upper part of the freezing compartment 110, and the discharge port 710 thereof is in communication with the upper part of the opening surface of the freezing compartment 110, The air curtain is discharged downward from the upper part of the opening surface of the freezing compartment 110 to partition the freezing compartment 110 from the outside so that outside air is prevented from flowing into the freezing compartment 110 or outflow of the cold air in the freezing compartment 110 to the outside .

On the other hand, when the user opens the refrigerator compartment door 121, the following description will be made with reference to FIG.

When the user opens the refrigerator compartment door 121, the second switch 820 senses this and sends an OFF signal to the controller 900. The second solenoid valve 820 controls the controller 900 and the second solenoid valve driver 821 to open the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 and close the refrigerating compartment duct 420 so that the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 and its discharge opening 810 .

Since the discharge port 810 of the refrigerating compartment air duct 800 communicates with the upper part of the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120, the cold air discharged through the refrigerating compartment 120 is discharged downward from the upper part of the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120, 120 to the outside.

Therefore, the inflow of the outside air into the refrigerating chamber 120 or the outflow of the inside of the refrigerating chamber 120 to the outside is suppressed.

As described above in detail, the refrigerator according to the present invention discharges the cold air from the upper portion of the opening portion of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber to the lower portion when the door of the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber is opened, .

Therefore, even if the door is frequently opened, the refrigerating efficiency of the refrigerator increases because there is little freezing outflow, and the temperature of the freezing room and the refrigerator room is always kept constant, so that the freshness of the stored food is advantageously maintained for a long period of time.

Claims (2)

A main body 100 provided with a freezing chamber 110 and a refrigerating chamber 120 with one opened surface and a freezing chamber door 111 for opening and closing the opening surface of the freezing chamber 110 and the refrigerating chamber 120, A freezer compartment duct 410 for guiding cool air blown by the fan 220 to the freezer compartment 110, an evaporator 210 for generating cold air, a fan 220 for forcibly blowing the generated cool air, A refrigerator having a refrigerating compartment duct (420) communicating with a duct (410) and installed at a rear side of the refrigerating compartment (120) to guide cold air into the refrigerating compartment (120) A freezing chamber air curtain duct 700 branched from the freezing compartment duct 410 and having a discharge port 710 formed on the opening face of the freezing compartment 110 to form an air curtain from the opening face of the freezing compartment 110, A duct for a refrigerating compartment air curtain which is branched from the refrigerating compartment duct 420 and has a discharge port 810 formed on the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120 to form an air curtain at an opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 120, A first valve installed at a branching portion of the freezer compartment duct 410 and the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 to selectively open and close the freezer compartment duct 410 and the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700; A second valve installed at a branching portion of the refrigerating compartment duct 420 and the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 800 to selectively open and close the refrigerating compartment duct 420 and the freezing compartment air curtain duct 800, (820), the freezing chamber door (111) and When the freezing compartment door 111 is opened by recognizing the opening and closing of the freezing compartment door 121, the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 is opened so that the chilled air is discharged through the discharge opening 710 of the freezing compartment air curtain duct 700 And controls the first valve 720 to open the refrigerating compartment air curtain so that the cold air is discharged through the discharge port 810 of the refrigerating compartment air curtain duct 8000 when the refrigerating compartment door 121 is opened, And a controller (900) for controlling the second valve (820) to open the duct (800). The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the controller (900) comprises a first switch (730) provided between the freezing compartment door (111) and the main body (100) and detecting opening / closing of the freezing compartment door And a second switch (830) provided between the main body (100) and the main body (100) for detecting opening and closing of the refrigerating chamber door (121).