KR20000009207A - Cool air circulation device and method thereof for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A cool air circulation device and method there of for a refrigeration is provided for a quick and smooth air circulation and a uniform distribution of cool air within the refrigerator. CONSTITUTION: The cool air circulation device comprises; an air duct(320) installed behind the cooling chamber(300); an evaporator(330) installed in the upper part of the duct(320) to make a heat exchange of the air in the cooling chamber(300) and produce a cool air; cool air circulation fans(341,342) fixed on the top and bottom of the cool air duct(320) to circulate air; one of the circulation fan placed on the top of the evaporator is a suction fan(341) to suck in the air from within the freezing chamber(300) and the other circulation fan placed on the bottom of the duct(330) is a discharge fan(342) to discharge the heat exchanged cool air into the cooling chamber(300).

Description

Cold air circulation system and method of the refrigerator

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cold air circulation apparatus and a method of improving the cold air circulation structure inside the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator to further improve the cooling performance of the refrigerator compartment.

In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance installed with components of a refrigeration cycle therein, so that cold air generated therefrom is supplied to a storage compartment to maintain freshness of various foods for a long time.

In the conventional refrigerator, as illustrated in FIG. 1, storage chambers 20 and 30 in which storages are stored are formed in the main body 10, and the storage chambers 20 and 30 form an upper space and a lower space. It is divided into the freezer compartment 20 of the upper part and the refrigerator compartment 30 of the lower part by the partition wall 40 which divides into a space. And the front opening part of the main body 10 is equipped with the refrigerator compartment door 21 and the freezer compartment door 31 which open and close the freezer compartment 20 and the refrigerating compartment 30. As shown in FIG.

Moreover, the evaporator 22 which produces cold air is provided in the back wall of the main body 10. As shown in FIG. At the upper side of the evaporator 22, a circulation fan 23 for forcibly circulating cold air into the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30 is provided, and the cold air forcedly blown by the circulating fan 23 and the freezing chamber 20 is provided. Cold air ducts 24 and 32 leading to the refrigerating chamber 30 are formed. These cold air ducts 24 and 32 are divided into a freezer compartment side duct 24 and a refrigerator compartment side duct 32.

The freezing chamber side duct 24 is formed inside the wall part which is partially advanced to the inside of the freezing chamber 20 and has a cold air outlet 25 formed thereon. And the refrigerator compartment side duct 32 communicates with the lower part of the freezer compartment side duct 24, and is formed lengthily up and down along the inside of the rear wall of the refrigerator compartment 30. As shown in FIG.

In the rear wall of the refrigerating chamber 30, a plurality of cold air discharge ports 33 are formed in upper and lower portions so that cold air introduced into the refrigerating chamber side duct 32 is discharged into the refrigerating chamber 30. In addition, return passages 41 and 42 are formed at upper and lower portions of the partition wall 40 so that the cold air discharged to the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30 is returned to the evaporator 22 to circulate the cold air.

In the conventional refrigerator configured as described above, the cool air generated in the evaporator 22 is introduced into the freezing chamber side duct 24 by the driving of the circulation fan 23 and discharged into the freezing chamber 20 through the cold air discharge port 25 on the freezing chamber side. do. In addition, the cold air is introduced into the refrigerating chamber duct 32 communicated with the lower portion of the freezer compartment duct 24 and discharged into the refrigerating chamber 30 through the cold air discharge port 33 on the refrigerating chamber side. After the heat exchange in the freezing chamber 20 and the refrigerating chamber 30 is completed, the cold air is returned to the evaporator 22 through the return flow paths 41 and 42 formed in the partition wall 40 to circulate the cold air.

However, in the refrigerator compartment 30 of the conventional refrigerator configured as described above, cold air circulating through the refrigerator compartment 30 is discharged through the cold air outlet 33 of the rear wall, and suction is sucked into the cold air inlet 43 formed at the upper end of the front surface or a specific portion. As a result, circulation of the cold air in the refrigerating chamber 30 is not smooth, and thus the cooling efficiency of the refrigerating chamber 30 is lowered.

That is, since the cold air of the refrigerating chamber 30 is discharged from the rear part and returned to the upper front part, the part of the door shelf 34 provided on the inner side of the refrigerating chamber door 31, the lower side of the refrigerating chamber 30, and the cold air intake port 43 ) The ambient temperature is shown to be a large difference from the ambient temperature of the cold air outlet (33).

2 is a graph showing a temperature distribution inside a refrigerator refrigerator compartment of the related art. (A: around the cold air outlet, B: the center of the shelf, C: the front of the shelf, D: the door shelf, E: around the air intake) As shown here, the inner rear and the shelf of the refrigerating chamber 30 close to the cold air outlet 33 (35) Although the cold air of the freezing table is transmitted to the center part, since the heat exchange is completed inside the door shelf part 34 or the cold air intake port 43, there is a large temperature difference for each part such as showing a temperature of 5 ° C or more.

In addition, when the user loads food in the refrigerating compartment 30, a cold air outlet 33 may be clogged at the rear side. In this case, the temperature deviation in the refrigerating compartment is further deepened, and thus close to the cold air outlet 33. There is a problem that the food is frozen, and the food in the portion where the cold air circulation is not smooth is corrupted.

The present invention is to solve such a problem, an object of the present invention is to allow the air circulating in the refrigerating compartment is discharged from the inner rear of the refrigerating compartment to be sucked into the inner front, to facilitate the rapid circulation of cold air, the temperature inside the refrigerating compartment It is to provide a cold air circulation system and method of the refrigerator to uniform the distribution.

Another object of the present invention is to form a bypass flow path so that some of the circulated cold air flows directly to the discharge port without passing through the evaporator so that the bypassed air is discharged by mixing with the cold air passing through the evaporator, whereby the temperature of the discharged cold air is properly maintained and stored. It is to provide a cold air circulation system and method of the refrigerator to prevent water freezing.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cold air circulation apparatus and method of a refrigerator in which cold air discharged into a refrigerating compartment is distributed evenly over the entire rear surface of the refrigerating compartment, thereby preventing clogging of the cold air discharge port due to the loading of the stored material.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic internal configuration and a cold air flow of a conventional refrigerator.

Figure 2 is a graph showing the internal temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartment of the conventional refrigerator.

3 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a schematic internal configuration and cold air flow of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

5 is a perspective view showing the structure of a suction plate according to the present invention.

6 is a perspective view showing the structure of the connection duct according to the present invention.

Figure 7 is a graph showing the internal temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: main body, 200: freezer,

210: freezer door, 230: freezer side evaporator,

240: freezer compartment circulation fan, 300: refrigerating compartment,

310: refrigerating chamber door, 312: first suction duct,

313: refrigerator compartment inlet, 314: suction plate,

320: cold air duct, 330: refrigerator compartment side evaporator,

341: suction fan, 342: discharge fan,

350: cold air dispersion duct, 351: discharge plate,

360: second suction duct, 370: connection duct,

390: bypass duct.

The present invention for achieving the above object is, a storage chamber formed in the interior of the main body and the front open, a door for opening and closing the opening of the storage chamber, an evaporator for generating cold air supplied to the storage chamber, the air in the storage chamber The refrigerator comprising a circulation fan for circulating the internal air of the storage compartment to exchange heat with the evaporator,

A discharge port formed at an inner rear side of the storage chamber so that the cold air generated by the evaporator is discharged from the inner rear side of the storage chamber, and a cold air duct formed at the rear wall of the storage chamber to guide the cold air heat-exchanged at the evaporator to the discharge port; An inlet formed in the inner surface of the door such that the internal air of the storage chamber is sucked from the inner front surface of the storage chamber, and the inside of the door and the storage chamber configured to guide the air sucked into the suction port to the inlet of the cold air duct It is provided with the suction duct formed in a wall. The suction duct may include a first suction duct formed inside the door, a second suction duct formed on an upper wall of the storage chamber and connecting the outlet of the first suction duct to the inlet of the cold air duct; And a connection duct installed at an inlet of the second suction duct so that the first suction duct and the second suction duct are connected when the door is closed.

And the inlet portion allows the portion of the air introduced into the cold air duct from the second suction duct to flow to the outlet of the cold air duct without passing through the evaporator to mix with the cold heat exchanged with the evaporator. The bypass duct is formed in communication with the outlet of the duct and the outlet part is in communication with the middle of the cold air duct. The cold air duct is provided at the front of the cold air duct so that the cold air is widely distributed throughout the back of the storage compartment so that the cold air is discharged to the entire rear of the storage compartment, and the front surface of the cold air duct is introduced into the cold air dispersion duct. The discharge plate is formed of a fine mesh so that the discharge is distributed to the storage chamber.

The circulation fan includes a suction fan installed at an inlet of the cold air duct to forcibly suck air from the storage compartment and guide the evaporator to the evaporator, and the cold air duct to forcibly discharge the heat exchanged from the evaporator to the storage compartment. Discharge fan is provided is provided in the outlet portion of the, characterized in that the blowing force of the suction fan is greater than the blowing force of the discharge fan to generate a pressure difference between the inside of the cold air duct and the storage chamber.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 4 is a side sectional view showing a schematic internal configuration and the flow of cold air of the refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a structure of a suction network according to the present invention Is a perspective view. 6 is a perspective view showing the structure of the connection duct according to the present invention, Figure 7 is a graph showing the internal temperature distribution of the refrigerating chamber according to the present invention.

In the refrigerator according to the present invention, as shown therein, the main body 100 having the storage compartments 200 and 300 for storing food therein is provided, and the storage compartments 200 and 300 have upper and lower spaces in the partition wall 400. It is provided to be partitioned by, they form a freezer compartment 200 and the refrigerator compartment 300, respectively. One side of the main body 100 is provided with a freezing chamber door 210 and a refrigerating chamber door 310 for opening and closing the freezing chamber 200 and the opening of the refrigerating chamber 300.

In addition, the freezer compartment 200 and the refrigerating compartment 300 are provided with shelves (220, 320) formed of a double layer to facilitate the storage of the stored matter, the food and beverages of small size on the inner surface of the freezer door 210 and the refrigerating compartment door (310). Door shelves 211 and 311 having a plurality of stages are provided to store the back.

The rear wall of the freezer compartment 200 is provided with a freezer compartment side evaporator 230 for generating cold air, and a circulation fan 240 for circulating cold air is installed above the evaporator 230. In addition, in front of the circulation fan 240, a cold air guide duct 250 for guiding cold air and a plurality of discharge ports 251 are formed, and a return passage 252 for returning cold air to the lower side is formed.

Meanwhile, the refrigerator 300 of the refrigerator according to the present invention has a cold air flow path formed inside the refrigerator compartment door 310 so that the inside of the refrigerator compartment 300 may have a uniform temperature distribution while the circulation of the cold air is quick and smooth. Hereinafter, the cold air circulation structure of the refrigerating chamber 300 will be described in detail.

The inside of the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 300 is formed with a cold air duct 320 formed long and vertically, the refrigerating compartment side evaporator 330 for generating cold air by heat-exchanging the air in the refrigerating compartment 300 above the cold air duct 320. Is installed. In addition, cold air circulation fans 341 and 342 for circulating cold air are installed at upper and lower ends of the cold air duct 320. The cold air circulation fan is installed at the upper part of the evaporator 330, that is, at the inlet of the cold air duct 320, and is provided at the lower end of the cold air duct 320 and the suction fan 341 for sucking the air inside the freezer compartment 300. A discharge fan 342 for discharging the cold air heat exchanged at 330 into the refrigerating chamber 300.

In addition, in front of the cold air duct 320 is formed a cold air dispersion duct 350 for guiding the distribution of cold air to disperse the discharged cold air to the entire rear surface of the refrigerating chamber (300). The cold air dispersion duct 350 is formed to be wide across the rear of the refrigerating chamber 300, the front surface of the cold air dispersion duct 350 is dispersed in the cold air chamber 300, the cold air introduced into the cold air dispersion duct 350 to be discharged The discharge plate 351 is provided with a fine mesh to be installed. In this case, a discharge port 321 is formed at the lower end of the cold air duct 320 so that the cold air dispersion duct 350 and the cold air duct 320 communicate with each other, and the discharge fan 342 is installed at the discharge hole 321.

Inside the refrigerating chamber door 310, the first suction duct 312 for guiding the flow of cold air so that the cold air discharged through the discharge plate 351 is heat exchanged in the refrigerating chamber 300 and then returned to the evaporator 330 again. ) Is formed long up and down. In addition, a second suction duct 360 is formed in the partition wall 400 at the upper side of the refrigerating chamber 300 to communicate the upper portion of the first suction duct 312 on the door side with the upper end of the cold air duct 320. In addition, a plurality of cold air inlets 313 are formed on an inner surface of the refrigerating chamber door 310 to allow cold air to flow into the first suction duct 312. At this time, as shown in Figure 5, the cold air intake 313 is provided with a suction plate 314 consisting of a mesh to prevent the inflow of foreign matter into the suction duct 312 so that the inflow of air is made smoothly.

In addition, a connection duct 370 is installed at a connection portion between the outlet of the first suction duct 312 and the inlet of the second suction duct 360 to smoothly connect the two suction ducts. The connection duct 370 is installed at the inlet of the second suction duct 360, and as shown in FIG. 6, the connection duct 370 is provided as a corrugated pipe made of elastic material so as to be stretchable in the front and rear directions. This is in consideration of the fact that the refrigerating chamber door 310 is opened and closed. When the door is opened, the connection duct 370 is extended, and when the door is closed, the outlet of the first suction duct 312 at the side of the door is connected to the duct 370. By slightly pressing the inlet portion is to form a sealed structure.

In addition, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, part of the air flowing into the upper portion of the cold air duct 320 through the second suction duct 360 flows directly to the outlet of the cold air duct 320 without passing through the evaporator 330. The bypass duct 390 is formed to be separated from the space in which the evaporator 330 is installed. The bypass duct 390 has an inlet part communicating with the outlet of the second suction duct 360, and an outlet part communicating with the middle of the cold air duct 320. This discharges the discharge port 321 by allowing the cold air introduced into the upper portion of the cold air duct 320 to exchange heat with the evaporator 330 and the cold air introduced into the bypass duct 390 without undergoing heat exchange with the evaporator 330. It is to prevent the freezing of the storage adjacent to the rear discharge plate 351 of the refrigerating chamber 300 by increasing the temperature of the cold air discharged through.

In addition, the refrigerator according to the present invention increases the cooling efficiency of the cold air circulating in the refrigerating chamber 300 and at the same time to increase the cooling flow in the refrigerating chamber 300 to maintain a uniform temperature distribution in each portion of the blowing fan 341 It is comprised larger than the blowing amount of the discharge fan 342. This configuration increases the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator 330 by increasing the pressure of the cold air flowing inside the cold air duct 320 than the pressures in the suction ducts 312 and 360 and the refrigerating chamber 300, and at the same time, the suction ducts 312 and 360. This is to allow a negative pressure to be generated so that the air inside the refrigerating chamber 300 can flow rapidly toward the door 310. That is, the pressure difference between the suction ducts 312 and 360 and the cold air duct 320 is generated. In this way, the cold air flow of the refrigerating chamber 300 is accelerated, and thus the refrigerating chamber 300 maintains a uniform temperature distribution.

Next will be described the operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention configured as described above.

When the refrigerator is operated, the air in the upper freezer compartment 200 is circulated by the driving of the circulation fan 240, and the circulated air is discharged into the cold after being exchanged with the freezer compartment side evaporator 230. The freezing chamber 200 is maintained in a frozen state.

Meanwhile, in the refrigerating chamber 300, when the suction fan 341 and the discharge fan 342 are driven, negative pressure is generated in the suction ducts 312 and 360 so that the air inside the refrigerating chamber 300 is formed on the inner side of the refrigerating chamber door 310. Sucked into the suction ducts (312, 360) through (313). The air sucked into the suction duct continuously flows into the cold air duct 320 in which the evaporator 330 is installed to exchange heat with the evaporator 330, and the cold air exchanged through the lower discharge port 321 of the cold air duct 320. Flow to the cold air duct 350.

The cold air introduced into the cold air dispersion duct 350 is dispersed and discharged in the entire rear surface of the refrigerating chamber 300 through the discharge plate 351 of the mesh forming the front surface of the cold air dispersion duct 350. The cold air discharged into the refrigerating compartment 300 is introduced into the inlet 313 of the door 310 via the inside of the refrigerating compartment 300.

In this case, a part of the air introduced into the suction ducts 312 and 360 is circulated through the bypass duct 390 without passing through the evaporator 330, and the air introduced into the cold air duct 320 through the bypass duct 390. It is mixed with cold chill passed through the evaporator 330. Therefore, the temperature of the discharged cold air is increased to prevent freezing of the storage adjacent to the discharge plate 351.

In addition, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, since the cold air discharged is dispersed and discharged through the discharge plate 351 behind the refrigerating chamber 300, the cold air is sucked into the plurality of suction ports 313 on the refrigerating chamber door 310 side. Laminar flow results in rapid cold air circulation. Furthermore, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, since the blowing force of the suction fan 341 is greater than the blowing force of the discharge fan 342, negative pressure is generated on the suction ducts 312 and 360, so that the flow of cold air is faster. As such, when the flow of cold air is faster, the temperature deviation in the refrigerating chamber 300 is greatly reduced.

That is, the temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartment 300 of the refrigerator according to the present invention, as shown in Figure 7, the entire interior of the refrigerator compartment shows a uniform aspect. Here, A shown in the figure is the temperature around the discharge plate, B: the center of the shelf, C: the front of the shelf, D: the door shelf, and E: the suction port. As shown here, the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 300 is no difference between the inner rear and the door shelf 311, so that the food stored in the door shelf 311 is also cooled in a short time.

In addition, since the refrigerator according to the present invention has a large blowing force of the suction fan 341, the internal pressure of the cold air duct 320 is increased to increase the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator 330, thereby shortening the cooling time of the refrigerating chamber 300. .

In addition, since the discharge plate 351 of the rear side of the refrigerating chamber 300 is provided as a mesh, a phenomenon in which the discharge part is blocked by the storage is prevented, and thus the cool air flows smoothly.

As described above in detail, the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator according to the present invention has a cold air suction duct and a suction port formed in the refrigerator compartment door, and a suction fan for sucking cold air and a discharge fan for discharging cold air are separately provided on the rear wall, The cold air dispersion duct and the discharge plate of the net are formed to disperse and discharge the cold air. In addition, a bypass duct is provided so that some of the circulated cold air flows directly to the discharge port without passing through the evaporator. Therefore, the temperature of the discharged cold air can be properly maintained at the temperature required for refrigeration, the air flow rate can be increased to further increase the cooling efficiency, and there is an advantage of preventing freezing or damage of food caused by the discharged cold air. . In addition, since the discharge plate through which the cold air is discharged is provided as a mesh and is formed over the entire rear surface, clogging of the discharge port due to the loading of the stored object is prevented, and thus the cold air circulation is smooth.

Claims (10)

A storage compartment formed in the main body and having an open front surface, a door for opening and closing the opening of the storage compartment, an evaporator for generating cold air supplied to the storage compartment, and an interior of the storage compartment such that air in the storage compartment exchanges heat with the evaporator. In the refrigerator provided with the circulation fan which circulates air forcibly, A discharge port formed at an inner rear side of the storage chamber so that the cold air generated by the evaporator is discharged from the inner rear side of the storage chamber, and a cold air duct formed at the rear wall of the storage chamber to guide the cold air heat-exchanged at the evaporator to the discharge port; An inlet formed in the inner surface of the door such that the internal air of the storage chamber is sucked from the inner front surface of the storage chamber, and the inside of the door and the storage chamber configured to guide the air sucked into the suction port to the inlet of the cold air duct A cold air circulation system of a refrigerator comprising a suction duct formed on a wall. The method of claim 1, The suction duct may include a first suction duct formed inside the door, a second suction duct formed on an upper wall of the storage chamber and connecting the outlet of the first suction duct to the inlet of the cold air duct, And a connection duct installed at an inlet of the second suction duct so that the first suction duct and the second suction duct are connected when the second suction duct is closed. The method of claim 2, The connection duct is a cold air circulation system of the refrigerator, characterized in that formed in the corrugated tube of elastic material to enable the expansion and contraction of the door. The method of claim 2, The inlet portion of the second suction duct is mixed so that a part of the air flowing into the cold air duct from the second suction duct flows to the outlet of the cold air duct without passing through the evaporator and mixes with the cold heat exchanged with the evaporator. And a bypass duct communicating with the outlet and having an outlet connected to the middle of the cold air duct. The method of claim 1, The circulation fan includes a suction fan installed at an inlet of the cold air duct to forcibly suck air from the storage chamber and guide the evaporator, and an outlet of the cold air duct to forcibly discharge cold air heat-exchanged in the evaporator to the storage chamber. Cold air circulation system of the refrigerator comprising a discharge fan installed in the portion. The method of claim 5, And a blowing force of the suction fan is greater than that of the discharge fan so that a pressure difference is generated between the inside of the cold air duct and the storage chamber. The method of claim 1, The cold air circulation apparatus of the refrigerator, characterized in that the front of the cold air duct is provided with a cold air dispersing duct is formed widely throughout the rear of the storage compartment so that the discharged cold air is dispersed throughout the rear of the storage compartment. The method of claim 7, wherein The front surface of the cold air dispersion duct is a cold air circulation apparatus of the refrigerator characterized in that the discharge plate formed of a fine mesh so that the cold air introduced into the cold air dispersion duct is dispersed and discharged. The method of claim 1, A plurality of suction ports are formed from the upper side to the lower side of the inner side of the door, the suction port is cold air circulation apparatus of the refrigerator characterized in that the suction plate of the mesh is installed to prevent the inflow of foreign matter into the suction duct. A storage compartment formed inside the main body and having an open front surface, an evaporator for generating cold air supplied to the storage compartment, a circulation fan for forced circulation of the internal air of the storage compartment so that the air in the storage compartment exchanges heat with the evaporator, and cold air In the cold air circulation method of the refrigerator provided with a guide passage for guiding the flow of the internal air of the storage compartment, The cold air heat-exchanged in the evaporator is discharged and discharged from the inner rear side of the storage compartment through the internal space of the storage compartment so that the cold air flowing through the interior space of the storage compartment performs laminar flow. Cold air circulation method of the refrigerator characterized in that to return to the evaporator through the guide passage.