KR20030028952A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A continuously cooling refrigerator is provided to improve food storing performance and cooling efficiency. CONSTITUTION: A refrigerator includes a chilled air passage in which chilled circulating in a compartment passes to be cooled down; a first evaporator and a second evaporator(24a,24b) placed on the chilled air passage and having separate chilled air passing passages, respectively; contact type defrosting heaters(15a,15b) and non-contacting type defrosting heaters(17a,17b) placed around the evaporators removing frost formed on the evaporators with conduction or radiation; a damper(40) selectively opening and closing the chilled air passages passing the evaporators; and a blower fan(6) placed on the chilled air passage to forcibly circulate chilled air in the compartment. At least one of the chilled air passing passages is opened to continuously supply chilled air.

Description

Refrigerator with continuous cooling {refrigerator}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of continuously cooling by continuously operating a refrigeration cycle even while removing frost formed on the evaporator.

In general, a refrigerator is a device that keeps food fresh for a certain period of time by reducing the temperature in the refrigerator as the refrigerant is repeatedly compressed, condensed, expanded, and evaporated.

Such a refrigerator includes a compressor for raising / heating a low temperature / low pressure gas refrigerant to a high temperature / high pressure gas refrigerant, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant introduced from the compressor by outside air, and a narrow diameter compared to the diameter of other parts. It consists of an expansion valve for reducing the refrigerant introduced from the condenser, and the evaporator which absorbs the heat in the refrigerator as the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve in a low pressure state as a basic component constitutes a refrigeration cycle.

Hereinafter, a structure and an operation of a general refrigerator will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator includes a freezer compartment 2 in which cold air heat-exchanged by the evaporator 4 is directly introduced into the case 1 to maintain an internal temperature of about −18 ° C., and the freezer compartment. The cold air inside is largely divided into a refrigerating chamber which maintains an internal temperature of about 0-7 ° C., and a machine room 3 is provided under the rear of the freezing chamber.

And the rear of the freezing chamber (2) is provided with a cold air duct (10) through which the cold air is introduced for heat exchange while circulating the freezer compartment and the refrigerating chamber, the cold air duct with the evaporator (4) through the evaporator to lower the temperature A blowing fan 6 for forcibly circulating the cold air into the freezing chamber 2 and a motor for driving the blowing fan are provided.

Meanwhile, although not shown in the drawing, the case 1 is divided into a freezing compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment by a barrier, and the barrier 1 is formed with a plurality of communication ports through which free air of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be freely exchanged. Is supplied to the refrigerating compartment and the cold air of the refrigerating compartment may be introduced into the cold air duct 10 through the freezing compartment.

The machine room 3 includes a plurality of components constituting a refrigeration cycle together with an evaporator, that is, a compressor and a condenser, and at the same time, radiates heat by forcibly blowing heat generated from the inside of the machine room, in particular, the heat generated from the condenser. The fan is further provided.

The refrigerator configured as described above is operated by receiving a control signal from a controller (not shown) in the freezer compartment 2 and the refrigerating compartment when power is applied, and the evaporator 4 is operated by the refrigerating cycle as described above. Heat exchange environment is created. Therefore, the cold air passing through the evaporator is lowered by the endothermic action, and is discharged into the freezing chamber 2 by the operation of the blowing fan 6. Subsequently, some of the cold air is introduced into the refrigerating chamber through the cold air communication port. Thereafter, the cold air that has been heated while circulating the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber has a cold air circulation structure introduced into the evaporator 4 through the cold air inlet again.

On the other hand, in the refrigerator, frost occurs in the evaporator 4 due to moisture introduced from the inside of the refrigerator. Since such frost reduces the cooling efficiency as a factor that inhibits the flow of cold air, a defrosting operation for removing frost every certain time is necessary.

To this end, a plurality of defrost heaters 15 and 17 are provided around the evaporator. The defrost heater is contacted with the evaporator 4 to transfer heat to the fins of the evaporator by conduction, and is spaced apart from the evaporator by a predetermined distance from the evaporator to transfer heat to the fins of the evaporator by radiation There is a non-contact defrost heater 17, either or both depending on the refrigerator.

Therefore, during the defrosting operation, the defrost heaters 15 and 17 may be supplied with power to transfer heat to the fins of the evaporator 4 to remove frost formed on the evaporator. Through the sump and the sump of the discharged to the outside of the refrigerator or to evaporate by itself.

However, the refrigeration cycle is not operated during the defrosting operation, that is, the compressor and the blower fan 6 except the defrosting heaters 15 and 17 are not operated, and thus the supply of cold air is temporarily suspended. Therefore, the temperature in the refrigerator rises while the cold air is not circulated, resulting in poor food storage.

In addition, since the temperature in the refrigerator rises due to the heat generation of the defrost heater, a large amount of refrigeration load is applied at the initial stage of the next refrigeration cycle operation, resulting in a problem of lowering the cooling efficiency.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention by continuously operating the refrigeration cycle while supplying cold air even while removing the frost formed on the evaporator, it is possible to improve food storage and cooling efficiency It is to provide a refrigerator capable of continuous cooling.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structure of a typical refrigerator.

2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

3 is a block diagram showing a structure of a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerator according to the present invention

4a and 4b is a partial cross-sectional view showing one operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention and the configuration of the refrigeration cycle

5a and 5b is a partial cross-sectional view showing another operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention and the configuration of the refrigeration cycle

6a and 6b is a partial cross-sectional view showing another operation form of the refrigerator according to the present invention and the configuration of the refrigeration cycle

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1 case 2 freezer

3: machine room 6: blower fan

10: cold air duct 15a, 15b: contact type defrost heater

17a, 17b: non-contact defrost heater 24a: first evaporator

24b: second evaporator 30: partition plate

40: damper

In order to achieve the above object, the refrigerator according to the present invention is a cold air flow path for cooling the cold air circulating in the refrigerator, and the two evaporators provided on the cold air flow path and the passage of the cold air is independent, respectively, A defrost heater provided around the defroster to remove the frost of the evaporator by conduction or radiation, a damper for selectively opening and closing the passage of the cold air passing through the evaporator, and a blower provided on the cold air passage and forcibly circulating cold air in the refrigerator And a fan, and the passage of the cold air passing through the at least one evaporator of the evaporator when defrosting is opened to achieve a continuous supply of cold air.

Therefore, the refrigerator according to the present invention can maintain a constant temperature in the refrigerator at all times, thereby improving food storage properties, and reducing cooling load due to heat generation of the defrost heater, thereby improving cooling efficiency.

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

First, Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structure of a refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a structure of a refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator according to the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, the refrigerator according to the present invention is provided with a freezing compartment (2) in the case (1) forming an appearance, the cold air duct 10 to form a circulation flow path of the cold air together with the freezing compartment at the rear of the freezing compartment. Is provided. The cold air duct 10 is partitioned from the freezing compartment by the partition wall 7, and the cold air inlet 12 and the cold air discharge port 11 are formed in the partition wall.

At this time, although not shown, the case 1 has a freezing compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment divided into left and right sides by a barrier made of a heat insulating material, and the barrier has a plurality of communication ports through which cold air in the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment can be freely exchanged. The cold air of the freezing compartment may be supplied to the refrigerating compartment, and the cold air of the refrigerating compartment may be introduced into the cold air duct 10 through the freezing compartment.

The cold air duct 10 is provided with two evaporators 24a and 24b through which the hot air is heat-exchanged while circulating the inside of the cold air, and the passages of the cold air passing through the evaporator are independent of each other. To this end, a separate partition plate 30 is further provided between the evaporators 24a and 24b, and the passage passage of the cold air passing through the evaporator is divided by the partition plates. At this time, the partition plate 30 has a length sufficiently longer than the length of the evaporator (24a, 24b), preferably made of a heat insulating material for thermal separation of the cold period passing through the evaporator.

Each of the evaporators 24a and 24b is provided with contact defrost heaters 15a and 15b for transferring heat by conduction, and a non-contact defrost heater 17a and 17b for transferring heat to the bottom of the evaporator. Is provided.

In addition, a blowing fan 6 for forcibly circulating cold air in the refrigerator is provided at a position parallel to the cold air discharge port 11 at the upper portion of the evaporator.

Meanwhile, a damper 40 is provided on the cold air duct 10 to selectively open and close the passage of the cold air passing through the evaporators 24a and 24b. That is, the damper 40 selectively blocks the passage of the cold air divided by the partition plate 30 to block the supply of the cold air to the evaporator in which the surrounding defrost heaters generate heat for the defrosting operation.

To this end, the damper is composed of a hinge 41, and a plate-like member 42 for blocking one side of the passage passage of the cold air while rotating around the hinge. At this time, the length of the plate member 42 depends on the passage flow path of the cold air.

However, as two passages of cold air are formed, three types of passages of the passage of the cold air are opened by the damper 40. That is, the two forms in which any one of the passage passages of the cold air are opened and the forms are opened. To this end, the plate-like member 42 includes a displacement that rotates 90 ° on the right side of the drawing about the hinge 41, a displacement that rotates 90 ° on the left side, and a neutral displacement that opens both the passages of cold air. It has branch displacement.

On the other hand, the damper 40 is preferably provided in front of the evaporator (24a, 24b) in the flow of cold to inherently block the cold air is supplied to the defrosting evaporator side. Therefore, the damper 40 is provided at the lower end of the partition plate 30.

On the other hand, the damper as described above is merely presented as an example, it can be implemented in any form as long as it can selectively open and close the passage passage of the cold air.

As the refrigerator configured as described above is provided with two evaporators, the structure of the refrigeration cycle should also be different from that of the general refrigeration cycle.

As shown in FIG. 3, the refrigerating cycle of the refrigerator according to the present invention includes a compressor 21 for raising / highing a low / low pressure gas refrigerant into a high / high pressure gas refrigerant and a refrigerant introduced from the compressor to the outside air. Condenser 22 condensed by a condenser, an expansion valve 23 made of a narrower diameter than the diameter of the other part, and a refrigerant decompressed from the condenser, and a refrigerant passing through the expansion valve evaporates in a low pressure state. It consists of two evaporators 24 which absorb heat in the furnace.

At this time, the refrigeration cycle according to the present invention is further provided with a valve 25 for controlling the supply of the refrigerant in front of the evaporator 24, the two evaporators (24a, 24b) are connected in parallel around the valve do. That is, the valve 25 blocks the supply of the refrigerant to the evaporator in the defrosting, thereby providing an effect of supplying all of the refrigerant circulating in the refrigeration cycle to the evaporator effective for heat exchange.

To this end, the valve 25 is preferably a four-way valve capable of supplying a refrigerant to any one or all of the evaporator. This is because the discharge direction of the refrigerant passing through the valve 25 is three in total, including two directed to any one of the evaporators 24 and one directed to both the evaporators.

On the other hand, the refrigerator according to the present invention proposes that the solenoid valve is applied in all directions as an example.

The operation of the refrigerator configured as described above is as follows. In the refrigerator according to FIG. 2, the evaporator 24a on the left side of the drawing is referred to as a first evaporator and the evaporator 24b on the right side is a second evaporator. It is called.

First, Figures 4a and 4b is a partial cross-sectional view showing a working mode of the refrigerator according to the present invention and the configuration of the refrigeration cycle, the first evaporator 24a is in a defrost operation state.

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, in order to remove frost formed on the first evaporator 24a, the plate-like member 42 of the damper is first rotated 90 ° to the left to block the first evaporator side passage. do. At the same time, the four-way valve 25 cuts off the refrigerant pipe directed to the first evaporator 24a, so that all the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve 23 is supplied to the second evaporator 24b.

Thereafter, the first evaporator-side defrost heaters 15a and 17a are supplied with power to generate heat to transfer heat to the first evaporator 24a, thereby removing the frost of the first evaporator.

On the other hand, the cold air that has been heated while circulating the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment flows into the cold air duct 10 through the cold air intake port by the operation of the blower fan 6, and then continues to the second evaporator side. Here, the cold air is lowered by the endothermic action of the refrigerant while passing through the second evaporator 24b, and is then discharged into the freezing chamber through the cold air discharge port 11. At this time, the cold air cooled by passing through the second evaporator 24b is thermally cut off from the defrost heaters 15a and 17a on the side of the first evaporator by the partition plate 30.

Some of the cold air discharged to the freezing chamber is supplied to the refrigerating chamber, and then the cold air, which has been heated while circulating the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber, forms a cold air circulation structure introduced into the cold air duct 10 through the cold air inlet again.

Next, FIGS. 5A and 5B are partial cross-sectional views showing another operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention and a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle in which the second evaporator 24b is in defrost operation.

5A and 5B, in order to remove frost formed on the second evaporator 24b, the plate-shaped member 42 of the damper is first rotated 90 ° to the right to block the second evaporator side passage. do. At the same time, the four-way valve 25 cuts off the refrigerant pipe directed to the second evaporator 24b, so that all the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve 23 is supplied to the first evaporator 24a.

Thereafter, the second evaporator-side defrost heaters 15b and 17b are supplied with power to generate heat to transfer heat to the second evaporator 24b, thereby removing the frost of the second evaporator.

On the other hand, the cold air that has become high temperature while circulating the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment flows into the cold air duct 10 through the cold air inlet through the operation of the blower fan 6, and the low temperature is lowered by the endothermic action of the refrigerant while passing through the first evaporator 24a. do. Even in this case, the cold air cooled by passing the first evaporator 24a is thermally cut off from the defrost heaters 15b and 17b on the second evaporator side by the partition plate 30.

Thereafter, the heat exchanged cold air is discharged to the freezing chamber through the cold air discharge port 11 to circulate the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber.

Therefore, the refrigerator according to the present invention includes two evaporators 24a and 24b having independent passages of cold air, so when defrosting operation is required, only one of the evaporators is defrosted first and the refrigerant is continuously supplied to the other evaporators. By continuously creating a heat exchange environment of cold air, cold air can be continuously supplied into the high temperature. Of course, in this case, even if one evaporator is defrosted, since it is possible to continue to supply cold air through the other evaporator, it is possible to prevent the temperature rise in the chamber due to the heat generation of the defrost heater.

On the other hand, since the defrosting operation as described above is necessary only when a certain amount of frost is implanted in the evaporator during operation of the refrigerator, when the defrosting operation is not required, the operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described.

6A and 6B are partial cross-sectional views showing still another operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention and a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle in which both the first evaporator 24a and the second evaporator 24b are in heat exchange with cold air.

6A and 6B, the plate-like member 42 of the damper is in a neutral position, thereby opening both the first evaporator side passage and the second evaporator side passage. In this case, the four-way valve 25 is a state in which both the refrigerant pipe directed to the first evaporator 24a and the refrigerant pipe directed to the second evaporator 24b are opened. It is fed to the first evaporator and the remainder to the second evaporator.

Of course, power is not supplied to the first evaporator side defrost heaters 15a and 17a and the second evaporator side defrost heaters 15b and 17b.

On the other hand, the cold air that is heated while circulating the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment flows into the cold air duct 10 through the cold air inlet by the operation of the blower fan 6, and some of them pass through the first evaporator 24a and endothermic action of the refrigerant. By the endothermic action of the refrigerant while passing through the second evaporator 24b. Thereafter, the heat exchanged cold air is discharged to the freezing chamber through the cold air discharge port 11 to circulate the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber.

Therefore, the refrigerator according to the present invention provides an additional advantage that rapid cooling is possible as cold air in the refrigerator is heat-exchanged through the two evaporators 24a and 24b during normal operation in which defrosting operation is not required.

So far, the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, and one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the modified embodiment within the essential technical scope of the present invention. Here, the essential technical scope of the present invention is shown in the claims, and the modified forms within the equivalent range will be construed as being included in the present invention.

The refrigerator according to the present invention provides the following effects.

First, according to the present invention, by providing two evaporators having independent cold air passages, any one of the evaporators can continuously heat exchange the cold air even during the defrosting operation. Therefore, since the temperature in a refrigerator can be kept constant at all times, food storage property can be improved.

Second, according to the present invention, it is possible to always supply the cold air in the refrigerator, thereby preventing the temperature rise in the refrigerator caused by the heat generation of the defrost heater. Therefore, the cooling efficiency can be maximized by preventing the refrigeration load from increasing after the defrosting operation.

Third, the present invention enables rapid cooling by heat-exchanging cold air at the same time using two evaporators.

Claims (9)

A cold air passage through which cold air circulating in the oven passes for cooling; Two evaporators provided on the cold air passage and each of which passes passages of cold air are formed independently; A defrost heater provided around the evaporator to remove frost of the evaporator by conduction or radiation; A damper for selectively opening and closing a passage of cold air passing through the evaporator; And a blower fan provided on the cold air flow path for forcibly circulating cold air therein, wherein the cold air passing passage passing through at least one evaporator of the evaporators is opened to allow continuous cooling. The method of claim 1, And a valve for supplying the refrigerant only to the evaporator that is not defrosted on the refrigerant pipe directed to the evaporator. The method of claim 2, And the valve is a four-way valve capable of supplying refrigerant to any one or all of the evaporators. The method of claim 3, wherein The four-way valve is a refrigerator, characterized in that the solenoid valve. The method of claim 1, And a partition plate provided between the evaporators for dividing the passage of the cold air passing through the evaporator. The method of claim 5, The partition plate is a refrigerator, characterized in that made of a heat insulating material. The method of claim 1, The damper comprises a hinge and a plate-like member for selectively blocking the passage of the evaporator while rotating around the hinge. The method of claim 7, wherein And the plate member has three displacements so as to open any one or all of the passages of the evaporator. The method of claim 7, wherein The damper is a refrigerator, characterized in that provided in front of the evaporator in the flow of cold air.