KR20030041671A - Refrigerator with thawing chamber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A refrigerator with a thawing chamber is provided to thaw the frozen food in a rapid and easy manner, while achieving improved effectiveness of thawing. CONSTITUTION: A refrigerator comprises a main body(11) including a front open cooling chamber, a rear open machine room, and a front open thawing chamber(41) formed in the cooling chamber; a door for opening/shutting the cooling chamber; a thawing chamber door(51) for opening/shutting the thawing chamber; a compressor disposed in the machine room, which compresses refrigerant; a condenser connected to an outlet side of the compressor, which condenses the compressed refrigerant through radiation; a high temperature refrigerant pipe(45) having an end branched off from the outlet side of the compressor and the other end connected to the condenser through the thawing chamber; a flow channel switch valve disposed in the outlet side of the compressor, which switches a refrigerant flow channel in such a manner that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows to the high temperature refrigerant pipe or the condenser; a mode selection unit(23) for selecting a thawing mode; and a control unit(55) for controlling the flow channel switch valve in such a manner that the refrigerant flows from the compressor to the high temperature refrigerant pipe when the thawing mode is selected by the mode selection unit.

Description

Refrigerator with thawing room {REFRIGERATOR WITH THAWING CHAMBER}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with a thawing chamber, and more particularly, to a refrigerator provided with a thawing chamber capable of easily thawing frozen food.

In general, a refrigerator is a device for low temperature storage of food, and includes a freezer compartment for freezing and storing food at a relatively low temperature and a refrigerating compartment for storing food at a relatively high temperature.

The refrigerator includes a main body in which at least one cooling chamber is formed, a compressor disposed in the lower rear region of the main body to compress the refrigerant, a condenser connected to the discharge side of the compressor to radiate the compressed refrigerant, and a cooling chamber normally It is disposed in the rear region of the freezer compartment is condensed by a condenser and passed through an expansion mechanism such as a capillary tube is introduced into the evaporator is provided with an evaporator to perform a cooling action.

By the way, in such a conventional refrigerator, the freezer compartment is usually maintained at a cooling temperature of -18 ℃ or less, in order to cook the food stored in the freezer, it takes a very long time to thaw the frozen food at room temperature There is a problem that inconvenience comes with use.

In addition, when using a microwave oven (Microwave Oven Range) in order to shorten the thawing time, as well as separate power consumption, the speed difference between the surface of the frozen food and the deep thaw occurs, resulting in excessive temperature of the food surface There is a problem that rises to inhibit the flavor of food.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator having a thawing room for easily thawing frozen food. It is about.

1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator having a thawing room according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a cross-sectional plan view of the thawing chamber region of FIG. 1;

3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the thawing chamber region of FIG. 1;

4 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator provided with a thawing room of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

11: body 21: freezer

23: mode selector 24a: thawing mode selection button

25: refrigerator compartment 31: machine room

33 compressor 35 condenser

41: thawing chamber 43: heat transfer member

45: high temperature refrigerant piping unit 47: thawing chamber fan

48: flow path switching valve 49: thawing chamber tray

51: thawing chamber door 53: gasket

55: control unit

The object is that, according to the present invention, at least one cooling chamber opened forward, the machine chamber opened rear, and a thawing chamber opened forward on one side of the cooling chamber so that frozen food can be accommodated. A main body; A door for opening and closing the cooling chamber; A thawing chamber door for opening and closing the thawing chamber; A compressor arranged inside the machine room to compress the refrigerant; A condenser connected to the discharge side of the compressor to condense the refrigerant compressed by the compressor through heat radiation; A high temperature refrigerant pipe portion connected to the condenser via the thawing chamber, one end of which is branched from the discharge side of the compressor and the other end of which allows heat transfer to the thawing chamber when the compressor performs a compression operation; A flow path switching valve disposed on the discharge side of the compressor to switch the flow path such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows into one of the high temperature refrigerant pipe part and the condenser; A mode selection unit configured to select a thawing mode in which frozen food is thawed in the thawing chamber; And a control unit for controlling the flow path switching valve to allow the refrigerant from the compressor to flow into the high temperature refrigerant pipe unit when the thawing mode is selected by the mode selection unit. Is achieved.

The heat dissipation member may further include a heat transfer member disposed within the thawing chamber so as to be capable of heat transfer with the high temperature refrigerant pipe part so as to rapidly diffuse heat of the high temperature refrigerant pipe part.

And, the heat transfer member is formed to have a cylindrical shape of the front opening, it is effective to configure the high temperature refrigerant pipe portion to be wound around the circumferential surface of the heat transfer member.

It is preferable to further include a thawing chamber tray for retrieving the food to be thawed in the interior of the thawing chamber.

When the thawing chamber door is accommodated in the thawing chamber, the thawing chamber door may be formed integrally with the front portion of the thawing chamber tray so as to contact the front opening of the thawing chamber to block the thawing chamber. to be.

It is preferable to further include a thawing chamber fan disposed in the thawing chamber to circulate air in the thawing chamber.

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

1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator having a thawing chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the thawing chamber region of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the thawing chamber region of FIG. 1. As shown in these drawings, the refrigerator having the thawing chamber includes a main body 11, a compressor 33 disposed in the lower rear region of the main body 11 to compress the refrigerant, and one side of the compressor 33. A condenser 35 disposed in the condenser 35 for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 33 through heat dissipation, a thawing chamber 41 for opening food to one side of the main body 11 to be defrosted therein, and The thawing chamber door 51 which opens and closes the thawing chamber 41 and one end is connected to the discharge side of the compressor 33 and the other end is mutually connected to the inflow side of the condenser 35 via the thawing chamber 41. It is arranged on the high temperature refrigerant pipe 45 and the discharge side of the compressor 33 is connected to the refrigerant during the compression operation of the compressor 33 can flow to any one of the high temperature refrigerant pipe 45 and the condenser 35. The flow path switching valve 48 for switching the flow path of the refrigerant so that the food to be thawed is accommodated in the thawing chamber 21. Mode selection unit 23 for selecting the thawing mode to be thawed, and when the thawing mode is selected by the mode selection unit 23, the flow path switching so that the refrigerant from the compressor 33 flows to the high temperature refrigerant piping unit 45. The control part 55 which controls the valve 48 is comprised.

In the main body 11, a freezing chamber 21 and a refrigerating chamber 25 are formed, respectively, with partitions 12 formed along the vertical direction, and the freezing chamber 21 and the refrigerating chamber 25 are formed on the front surface of the main body 11. The freezing chamber door 22 and the refrigerating chamber door 27 are hinged to each other so as to open and close the front openings.

The upper surface of the main body 11 is provided with a control unit 55 to control each drive component including a thawing chamber fan 47 and the like to be described later, the thawing mode on the front surface of the freezing chamber door 22 of the main body 11 And a thawing mode selection button 24a for selecting the light, a plurality of selection buttons 24b for selecting the operation mode of the freezer compartment 21 and the refrigerating chamber 25, and a display unit 24c for displaying the set conditions. One mode selector 23 is provided. Here, the thawing mode is formed of a plurality of modes each having a different thawing time so as to select an appropriate thawing time according to the characteristics of the frozen food.

The machine chamber 31 opened rearward is formed in the rear lower region of the main body 11, and the compressor 33 for compressing the refrigerant is provided in the lower region of the internal refrigerating chamber 25 of the machine chamber 31. One side of the compressor 33 is provided with a condenser 35 for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 33 by heat radiation, one side of the condenser 35 by blowing toward the condenser 35 to dissipate the refrigerant A heat radiating fan 37 for promoting is provided.

On the other hand, the thawing chamber 41 is opened in the lower side of the refrigerating chamber 25 of the main body 11 to be opened to accommodate food to be thawed therein. The thawing chamber 41 is surrounded by a heat insulating wall, and a heat transfer member 43 having a rectangular cylindrical shape opened forward is provided inside the thawing chamber 21.

A thawing chamber fan 47 is provided in the upper upper region of the thawing chamber 41 to circulate air in the thawing chamber 41 so as to promote thawing of food, and the food to be thawed inside the thawing chamber 41. The thawing chamber tray 49 is retractably housed so as to support and to facilitate the access of food to be thawed.

The thawing chamber tray 49 includes a bottom plate portion 50a that is formed in a plate shape to support food from the lower side, and a rim portion 50b that is bent upward from the edge of the bottom plate portion 50a and extends along a circumferential direction. It is composed. Here, the rim portion 50b is formed to be as low as possible so that the water (drip) of the food after thawing to the bottom surface of the thawing chamber 41, and at the same time as possible to facilitate heat transfer to the food. desirable.

The thawing chamber door 51 is integrally formed on the front portion of the thawing chamber tray 49 so as to block the front opening area of the thawing chamber 41 when the thawing chamber tray 49 is stored. In the front area of the handle 52 is formed for withdrawal and storage. The inner surface of the thawing chamber door 51 is provided with a gasket 53 which contacts the front opening edge of the thawing chamber 41 to hermetically close the thawing chamber 41 to the outside, and has a thawing chamber door 51. ) Is preferably formed as a heat insulating member or configured such that a heat insulating layer such as a vacuum is formed therein.

On the other hand, around the heat transfer member 43, the high temperature refrigerant pipe 45 is formed so that the temperature inside the thawing chamber 21 can be increased by the high temperature refrigerant compressed when the refrigerant of the compressor 33 is compressed. It is wound along the circumferential direction of the heat transfer member 43. The inlet side of the high temperature refrigerant pipe section 45 is branched from the outlet side of the compressor 33 so that the compressed refrigerant can flow, and the outlet side is connected in communication with the inlet side of the condenser 35.

In the refrigerant discharge pipe of the compressor 33, when the thawing mode is selected by the thawing mode selection button 24a, the refrigerant in the high temperature state compressed by the compressor 33 flows to the high temperature refrigerant pipe part 45. Is provided with a flow path switching valve 48 for switching the.

4 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator provided with a thawing room of FIG. 1. As shown in the drawing, the control unit 55, which is composed of a microcomputer or the like with a built-in control program, includes a mode selection unit 23 for selecting a thawing mode and a high temperature refrigerant compressed and discharged from the compressor 33 when the thawing mode is selected. Flow path switching valve 48 and thawing chamber fan 47 are electrically connected to each other so that the gas flows into the high temperature refrigerant pipe part 45 and circulates air in the thawing chamber 21 to promote thawing of food. have.

By this configuration, in the case of thawing frozen food, the handle 52 of the thawing chamber door 51 is pulled forward to draw out the thawing chamber tray 49 from the thawing chamber 41, and the thawing chamber tray ( The food to be thawed on 49) is placed and the thawing chamber tray 49 is stored in the thawing chamber 41.

If one of the thawing modes is selected by operating the thawing mode selection button 24a corresponding to the characteristics of the food to be thawed among the plurality of thawing modes, the controller 55 controls the thawing chamber fan 47 for a time corresponding to the selected thawing mode. It is controlled to drive the rotation.

On the other hand, when the compressor 33 is rotationally driven, a compression action of the refrigerant is started, and the compressed high temperature and high pressure refrigerant flows to the condenser 35 via the high temperature refrigerant pipe 45. As the high temperature refrigerant flows inside the high temperature refrigerant pipe part 45, heat energy of the refrigerant is transferred to the high temperature refrigerant pipe part 45 and the heat transfer member 43, whereby the temperature inside the thawing chamber 41 is increased. As it rises, the thawing action of the food stored in the thawing chamber tray 49 proceeds. At this time, the thawing chamber fan 47 circulates the air inside the thawing chamber 41 to promote thawing of food.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, a case of a so-called side-by-side refrigerator having a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment formed with a partition wall formed along the up and down direction is described as an example. It may be configured to be formed.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the case where the thawing chamber is formed below the refrigerating chamber is illustrated, but the thawing chamber may be formed below the freezing chamber.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the case where the thawing chamber tray and the thawing chamber door are formed integrally with each other is described as an example. However, the thawing chamber door may be configured to be hinged to one side of the front opening of the thawing chamber.

Although the above-described and illustrated embodiments have described, for example, the high temperature refrigerant pipe portion wound around the thawing chamber, the high temperature refrigerant piping portion may be formed on at least one of a bottom surface, a side wall, an upper surface, or a rear wall of the thawing chamber. have.

In addition, in the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the outlet end of the high-temperature refrigerant pipe unit is connected to the inlet side of the condenser, for example. It can also be configured to be connected in communication with each other.

As described above, according to the present invention, the main body is formed with a thawing chamber opened forward to accommodate food to be thawed, one end is connected to each other in communication with the discharge side of the compressor and the other end is arranged to be heat transfer to the thawing chamber A high temperature refrigerant pipe portion connected to the condenser, a mode selection portion for selecting a thawing mode, and a flow path that is disposed on the discharge side of the compressor to switch the flow path so that refrigerant discharged from the compressor can flow into any of the high temperature refrigerant piping portion and the condenser By providing a switching valve and a control unit for controlling the flow path switching valve so that the refrigerant flows into the high temperature refrigerant pipe when the thawing mode is selected, a refrigerator having a thawing chamber capable of quickly and easily thawing frozen food is provided. .

In addition, according to the present invention, by having a heat transfer member for quickly diffusing the heat of the high temperature refrigerant pipe portion inside the thawing chamber, by providing a thawing chamber fan for circulating air in the thawing chamber, it is possible to efficiently thaw frozen food A refrigerator with a thawing room is provided.

Claims (6)

A main body including at least one cooling chamber opened forward, a machine chamber opened rearward, and a thawing chamber opened forward on one side of the cooling chamber to accommodate frozen food; A door for opening and closing the cooling chamber; A thawing chamber door for opening and closing the thawing chamber; A compressor arranged inside the machine room to compress the refrigerant; A condenser connected in communication with the discharge side of the compressor to condense the refrigerant compressed by the compressor through heat radiation; A high temperature refrigerant pipe portion connected to the condenser via the thawing chamber, one end of which is branched from the discharge side of the compressor and the other end of which allows heat transfer to the thawing chamber when the compressor performs a compression operation; A flow path switching valve disposed on the discharge side of the compressor to switch the flow path such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows into one of the high temperature refrigerant pipe part and the condenser; A mode selection unit configured to select a thawing mode in which frozen food is thawed in the thawing chamber; And a control unit for controlling the flow path switching valve to allow the refrigerant from the compressor to flow into the high temperature refrigerant pipe unit when the thawing mode is selected by the mode selection unit. The method of claim 1, And a heat transfer member disposed in the thawing chamber so as to be heat-transferable from the high temperature refrigerant pipe part to rapidly diffuse the heat of the high temperature refrigerant pipe part. The method of claim 2, The heat transfer member is formed to have a tubular shape of the front opening, the high temperature refrigerant pipe portion is a refrigerator having a thawing chamber, characterized in that wound around the circumferential surface of the heat transfer member. The method of claim 1, And a thawing chamber tray configured to be retractable inside the thawing chamber to support food to be thawed. The method of claim 4, wherein The thawing chamber door is formed integrally with a front portion of the thawing chamber tray to contact the front opening of the thawing chamber to block the thawing chamber when the thawing chamber tray is accommodated in the thawing chamber. Refrigerator with thawing room. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, And a thawing chamber fan arranged in the thawing chamber to circulate air in the thawing chamber.