KR20020004461A - A refrigerator having variable capacity of storage room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A refrigerator having variable capacity is provided to change the capacity of a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment according to preference of a user by vertically changing the mounting position of a barrier for dividing the two compartments. CONSTITUTION: A barrier(13) is mounted in a storage chamber of a refrigerator to divide the storage chamber into a freezing compartment(11) and a refrigerating compartment(12). The barrier is used as a shelf for supporting the weight of food thereon, and as an insulator for shielding heat transfer between the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment. Sealing parts are formed at both edges of the barrier by soft rubber. The sealing parts are closely adhered to the sidewall of the storage chamber if the barrier is mounted. Thereby, the sealing parts seal a gap between the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment divided by the barrier. The barrier is moved up and down according to preference of a user. Thereby, the capacity of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment is changed freely.

Description

A refrigerator having variable capacity of storage room}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a variable volume refrigerator capable of changing the volume of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment.

The refrigerator is a product designed to keep the inside of the refrigerator at a predetermined temperature or less in order to keep the food brought into the refrigerator freshly, and the cold air supply structure of the conventional refrigerator will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cold air supply structure of a conventional refrigerator. As shown in the drawing, a storage compartment of a refrigerator is generally divided into an upper freezing compartment 1 and a lower refrigerating compartment 2 by a barrier 3, and are opened and closed by doors 4a and 4b, respectively. The heat exchange chamber 5 is provided at the rear of the freezing chamber 1, and inside the heat exchange chamber 5, a liquid refrigerant is evaporated while flowing inside, and the air comes into contact with the outer surface by the phase change of the refrigerant. The evaporator 6 which produces | generates with cold is provided.

The cold air generated by the contact with the evaporator 6 is supplied to the freezing chamber 1 by the blowing fan 7, and the cold air circulated through the freezing chamber 1 is a refrigerating chamber supply duct 3a formed in the barrier 3. Guided by).

The cold air guided to the refrigerating compartment supply duct 3a is supplied to the cold air duct 8 provided on the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 2. The cold air duct 8 is configured to supply cold air to the entire upper and lower parts of the refrigerating chamber 2, and the cold air flows into the cold air duct 8 and moves downward by its own nature of cold air to be dropped. Through the plurality of cold air discharge holes (8a) formed on the front surface of the cold air duct (8) is supplied into the refrigerating chamber (2).

The cold air supplied to the refrigerating compartment 2 is circulated inside the refrigerating compartment 2 and becomes relatively hot air through heat exchange with the food being stored. The high temperature air is returned to the heat exchange chamber 5 through the refrigerating chamber return duct 3b formed in the barrier 3.

On the other hand, in the cold air supply structure as described above, the cold air supply to the refrigerating chamber 2 is controlled by a damper 9 provided above the cold air duct 8. That is, when the refrigerating compartment 2 is below the proper temperature, the damper 9 is closed to block the supply of cold air to the refrigerating compartment. When the temperature of the refrigerating compartment 2 rises, the damper 9 is opened and cold air is supplied to the refrigerating compartment 2 through the cold air duct 8.

However, the structure of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator as described above has the following disadvantages. Since the position of the barrier 3 is fixed in the process of manufacturing the refrigerator, the freezing chamber 1 and the refrigerating chamber 2 cannot adjust its volume.

That is, there may be a case where the volume of either the freezing chamber 1 or the refrigerating chamber 2 is required more than the predetermined volume in the process of use due to seasonal factors. For example, in summer, the usage of the freezing compartment 1 increases due to hot weather, etc., whereas in the winter, the usage of the freezing compartment 1 decreases relatively. Therefore, it is much more advantageous in terms of utilization of the storage space to increase the volume of the freezer compartment 1 in summer and to reduce the volume of the freezer compartment 1 in winter. However, although it is efficient to adjust the volume as described above, the conventional refrigerator has a disadvantage in that such volume adjustment cannot be performed because the position of the barrier 3 is fixed.

An object of the present invention is to improve the conventional problems as described above, and to provide a variable volume refrigerator that can change the volume of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment as needed.

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing a conventional refrigerator structure.

Figure 2 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing a refrigerator structure according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic front view showing the installation structure of the barrier according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a front sectional view showing the structure of the barrier according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of code about main part of drawing ※

11: freezer 12: cold storage room

13: barrier 14: support

15 door 16 cold storage supply duct

17: refrigerating chamber return duct 18: evaporator

19: fan 20: cold duct

20a: Cold air discharge

The variable volume refrigerator according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the first and second storage space for storing the storage; A barrier partitioning and sealing the first and second storage spaces; It is provided on the side wall of the storage space is configured to include a fixing portion for detachably fixing the barrier.

According to the present invention, the first and second storage spaces are simultaneously opened and closed by one door.

And according to an embodiment of the present invention, the fixing part is composed of a support end formed in multiple stages on the side wall of the storage space, the barrier is an injection of a synthetic resin material filled with a foam liquid therein, the sealing portion of the rubber material at the corner It is provided.

According to the above configuration, the barrier can be attached and detached and the installation position can be changed, so that the volume of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be changed as required by the user.

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

Figure 2 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing the structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention. As shown, a barrier 13 is installed in the storage compartment of the refrigerator to divide the storage compartment into a freezing compartment 11 of the upper portion and a refrigerating chamber 12 of the lower portion. And the barrier 13 according to the present invention is provided as a separate member that can be installed and separated in the storage compartment.

Looking at the barrier 13, the barrier 13 is a plate-shaped, when installed in the storage compartment, not only partitions the storage compartment into the freezer compartment 11 and the freezer compartment 12, but also the weight of the food seated on the upper surface Shelf function to support the, and the heat insulation function to block the heat transfer between the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 that is relatively hotter than the freezing compartment (11). Therefore, as shown in Figure 3, the barrier 13 is preferably filled with a foam liquid (F) for thermal insulation in the injection molding of the synthetic resin material, it will be preferable to manufacture so that the appropriate level of strength and insulation capacity.

In addition, the barrier 13 is provided with a sealing portion (13a) formed of a soft rubber material on both side edges. When the barrier 13 is installed, the sealing part 13a is in close contact with the side wall of the storage compartment and seals the gap between the upper freezing compartment 11 and the lower refrigerating compartment 12 separated by the barrier 13. Will be performed.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 2, the left and right side walls of the refrigerator storage compartment is formed with a support end 14 protruding in a position corresponding to each other in the horizontal direction. The support end 14 is a portion on which the barrier 13 is seated, and supports the load of the barrier 13 and the load of foods seated on the upper surface of the barrier 13. The support end 14 is formed of multiple stages spaced at regular intervals in the vertical direction.

Therefore, the barrier 13 can be attached and detached, and referring to FIG. 4, the mounting position of the barrier 13 can be moved up and down through the support end 14 formed in multiple stages, and according to the required volume, It is possible to adjust the volume of the freezer compartment 11 and the lower refrigerating compartment 12 of the.

In addition, since the volume of the freezing compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 is changed by changing the installation position of the barrier 13 as described above, each of the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 is a refrigerator. The door is not installed. Instead, the door 15 integrally formed to open and close the entire storage space of the refrigerator is installed, and the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 are simultaneously opened when the door 15 is opened.

In addition, the refrigerator according to the present invention is not provided with a damper for adjusting the amount of cold air supplied to the refrigerating chamber (12). And since the barrier 13 according to the present invention is configured to be detachable, unlike the conventional one, the refrigerator compartment supply duct 16 for guiding the cold air circulating through the freezer compartment 11 to the refrigerator compartment 12 side, and the cold air circulated through the refrigerator compartment The refrigerating chamber return duct 17 returning to the evaporator side is formed on the rear wall of the storage chamber instead of the barrier 13.

The refrigerating compartment supply duct 16 is the freezer compartment 11 so that the barrier 13 is seated on the uppermost support end 14 to supply cold air to the refrigerating compartment 12 side even when the volume of the freezing compartment 11 is minimized. The barrier 13 is formed above the upper surface of the minimized state. Similarly, the refrigerating compartment return duct 17 is lower than the lower surface of the barrier 13 in a state where the volume of the refrigerating compartment 12 is minimized so that the cold air can be returned even when the volume of the refrigerating compartment 12 is minimized. Formed.

Referring to the drawings the operation of the embodiment of the present invention by the above configuration is as follows.

A part of the cold air generated by the evaporator 18 is supplied to the freezing chamber 11 by the fan 19, circulated, and then discharged into the refrigerating chamber supply duct 16, and the other part is free-falled so as to free fall. The cold air discharged from the cold air 16 is combined to flow into the cold air duct 20 configured to supply cold air to the refrigerating chamber 12.

The cold air supplied to the cold air duct 20 drops downward and is supplied to the refrigerating chamber 12 through a plurality of cold air discharge holes 20a formed on the front surface of the cold air duct 20. Thus, the cold air circulated through the refrigerating chamber 12 and heat exchanged with the contents stored therein is returned to the evaporator 18 through the refrigerating chamber return duct 17.

If the user desires a larger freezer compartment 11 volume as needed while using the refrigerator, the user removes the barrier 13 from the initial installation position and places it on the support end 14 formed on the lower side thereof. The volume of 11) is expanded. In addition, when the volume of the refrigerating compartment 12 is to be increased, the volume of the refrigerating compartment 12 may be increased by placing the barrier 13 on the upper support end 14 through the same process. And this process is performed by a simple operation of removing and reinserting the barrier 13 inserted between the support end 14, the user will be able to easily perform the operation.

At this time, even if the volume of the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 12 is changed by moving the position of the barrier 13 upward or downward, as described above, the refrigerating chamber supply duct 16 and the refrigerating chamber return duct 17 ) Is formed at a position that is not affected by the volume change of the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerator compartment 12, the cold air generated in the evaporator 18 will circulate inside the refrigerator through the same path.

As described above, in the present invention, the barrier 13 is provided as a separate member, and the freezer compartment 11 and the refrigerating compartment 12 are configured by allowing the barrier 13 to be attached to and detached from the refrigerator storage compartment and changing the installation position thereof. It is the technical point that it is comprised so that volume of) can change.

Within the scope of the above, many other variations will be possible to one skilled in the art.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the barrier member may be detachable by forming a supporting end, but this is only an example, and the structure configured to change the structure and the position of the barrier detachable may not be limited.

In the above-described embodiment, the support end is integrally formed on the side wall of the storage compartment, but the support end may be separately provided and installed. In the above-described embodiment, the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment are divided up and down by installing the barrier horizontally. In addition, it is also possible to configure the refrigerator to be installed in the vertical direction so that the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be distinguished from left to right by applying to a parallel refrigerator which is used a lot recently.

As described above, the barrier according to the present invention is configured to be detachable from the storage compartment of the refrigerator, and the support side of the storage compartment is formed on the sidewall of the storage compartment so as to be mounted by moving the barrier up and down. Therefore, the installation position of the barrier separating the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be changed up and down, and can be used by changing the volume of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment according to the needs of the user.

And since the installation structure of the barrier according to the present invention consists of a simple structure for simply forming a multi-stage support end on the side wall of the storage compartment and inserting the barrier between the support ends, as in a structure for installing a general shelf, the installation of the barrier The advantage is that the position can be easily changed.

Claims (4)

First and second storage spaces in which the storage is stored; A barrier partitioning and sealing the first and second storage spaces; The variable volume refrigerator comprising a fixing part provided on the side wall of the storage space for detachably fixing the barrier. The variable volume refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the first and second storage spaces are simultaneously opened and closed by one door. The variable volume refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the fixing part is a support end formed in multiple stages on a side wall of the storage space. The variable volume refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the barrier is an injection-molded synthetic resin material filled with a foaming liquid therein, and a rubber sealing part is provided at an edge portion thereof.