KR20080015340A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator is provided to minimize the temperature difference between an ice making compartment and a refrigerator compartment and ensure effective ice making using relatively less amount of chilled air by concentrating the chilled air to an icemaker tray, instead of cooling the entire ice making compartment. A refrigerator comprises a refrigerator compartment(11a), an ice making compartment(30), and an icemaker. The ice making compartment is defined as an independent space within the refrigerator compartment. The icemaker, which mounted inside the ice making compartment, comprises an icemaker tray(110) for containing water to be frozen into ice cubes, a flow path forming member(130) disposed under the icemaker tray to form a chilled air flow path(120) having a chilled air inlet in between the bottom side of the icemaker tray, wherein the chilled air flow path forming member includes a heat insulating material to prevent heat transfer therethrough, and a chilled air supply unit(140) for supplying chilled air to the chilled air flow path, wherein the chilled air supply unit includes a chilled air supply nozzle(142) whose one end is inserted to the chilled air inlet.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

      1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

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

      3 is a view showing the main configuration of the interior of the ice making chamber in FIG.

      Figure 4 is a bottom view showing an ice tray in the refrigerator according to the present invention.

      FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines I-I and II-II in FIG. 3. FIG.

      * Description of symbols on the main parts of the drawings *

      10: main body 11a: refrigerator

      30: ice tray 110: ice tray

      120: ice making flow path 123: flow path forming plate

      130: flow path forming member 140: cold air supply means

      142: cold air supply nozzle 170: ice reservoir

      171: Insulation of ice bins

      The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator in which an ice maker is installed in a refrigerator compartment.

      The refrigerator is a device for supplying the cold air generated by the refrigeration cycle to the storage compartment to maintain the freshness of various foods for a long time. In general, a refrigerator compartment is divided into a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment. Recently, a refrigerator having a relatively low usage of a refrigerating compartment located at a lower portion of the refrigerator compartment, which is relatively used for convenience of a user, has been developed.

      Meanwhile, an ice maker may be installed in the refrigerator so that the user can be supplied with ice conveniently. The ice maker is generally installed inside the freezer compartment. However, in the refrigerator in which the freezer compartment is located below the refrigerating compartment, when the ice maker is installed in the freezer compartment, the user needs to bend the waist to draw ice.

      In view of such a problem, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-117536 discloses a refrigerator in which an ice maker is installed in a refrigerating chamber.

      The disclosed refrigerator is partitioned by a separate insulating partition inside the refrigerating compartment, and includes an ice making chamber having an ice maker for storing ice and ice storage therein, and an evaporator installed inside the ice making chamber. Therefore, in the disclosed refrigerator, the ice making chamber is independently cooled by an evaporator installed therein, thereby allowing the ice making operation to be performed without being affected by the temperature of the refrigerating chamber.

      However, since the conventional refrigerator as described above has a structure in which the inside of the ice making chamber is entirely cooled through the cold air generated by the evaporator, there is a problem in that the ice making efficiency is lowered. That is, since the conventional refrigerator cools the ice making room as a whole, in order to make ice within a predetermined time, a large amount of cold air must be supplied to the ice making room, and the ice making time is delayed if a sufficient amount of cold air is not supplied.

      In addition, as described above, if the ice making chamber is cooled as a whole and the temperature difference between the ice making chamber and the refrigerating chamber is large, condensed water due to the temperature difference is formed on the outer side of the insulating partition wall of the ice making chamber exposed to the refrigerating chamber. This problem can be solved by increasing the thickness of the insulation partition wall surrounding the ice making chamber sufficiently, but this causes a problem that the storage space of the refrigerating compartment is reduced due to the thick insulation partition wall.

      The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator such that the temperature difference between the ice-making room and the refrigerating chamber as small as possible while making ice making efficiently even with a relatively small amount of cold. have.

A refrigerator according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a refrigerator comprising a refrigerating compartment, an ice making chamber provided as an independent space inside the refrigerating compartment, and an ice making apparatus installed in the ice making chamber, wherein the ice making apparatus is an ice making machine. An ice making tray containing water to be contained; and a flow path forming member disposed below the ice making tray to form an ice making flow path between the bottom surface of the ice making tray; and cold air supply means for supplying cold air to the ice making flow path. It is characterized by including.

Preferably, the flow path forming member has a heat insulating material for blocking heat transfer through the flow path forming member, and the ice making flow path is formed to be bent by at least one flow path forming plate.

The flow path forming plate may be integrally formed with the ice tray.

      The ice making apparatus may further include an ice storage container disposed under the ice making tray to store the ice iced in the ice making tray, and the ice making flow path is configured to discharge cold air passing through the ice making flow path to the ice storage container. Includes a cold air outlet.

      The ice storage container preferably has a heat insulating material for blocking heat transfer between the inside and the outside of the ice storage container.

      The ice making flow path may have a cold air inlet through which cold air flows into the ice making flow path, and the cold air supply means may include a cold air supply nozzle having one end inserted into the cold air inlet.

      On the other hand, the ice making tray, the flow path forming member and the flow path forming plate may be formed of a material capable of torsional deformation.

      Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a view showing the main configuration of the interior of the ice making chamber in FIG.

      1 and 2, the refrigerator according to the present invention includes a main body 10 having a storage compartment 11 for storing food, a door 20 for opening and closing the storage compartment 11, and ice. It has the ice-making apparatus 100 provided in the refrigerating chamber 11a so that it may be made and supplied to a user.

      The main body 10 is configured to include an outer wound 12 forming the outer surface thereof and an inner wound 13 disposed at regular intervals from the outer wound 12 to form the storage chamber 11 therein.

Insulation 14 is formed in the space between the outer box 12 and the inner box 13 to prevent cold air from being lost.

      The storage compartment 11 is divided up and down by the intermediate partition 15, and a refrigerating chamber 11a for refrigerating and storing food is formed at the upper side, and a freezing chamber 11b for freezing and storing food is formed at the lower side. The refrigerating compartment door 20a is hinged to the main body 10 so as to be rotatable, and the freezing compartment door 20b is coupled to the main body 10 so as to be opened and closed in a sliding manner.

      On the other hand, a dispenser 21 is provided on the front side of the refrigerating compartment door 20a so that a user may be provided with ice made by the ice maker 100 without opening the refrigerating compartment door 20.

      At the rear of the refrigerating compartment 11a, a refrigerating compartment side cold air generation chamber 16a is formed, in which cold air to be supplied to the refrigerating compartment 11a is generated, and a freezer compartment cold air generation in which cold air to be supplied to the freezing compartment 11b of the freezing compartment 11b is generated. The thread 16b is provided. Each of the cold air generating chambers 16a and 16b has evaporators 17a and 17b for cooling the surrounding air through heat exchange with a refrigerant, and a circulation fan 18a for circulating air cooled by the evaporators 17a and 17b. , 18b) are respectively installed.

      As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, an ice making chamber 30 is provided at one side of the refrigerating chamber 11a and an ice making apparatus 100 is installed in the ice making chamber 30. The ice making chamber 30 is partitioned into an independent space by the single station partition wall 31 because it must maintain a much lower temperature than the refrigerator compartment 11a.

      The ice making apparatus 100 includes an ice making tray 110 in which ice is formed by cold air by containing water to be iced, and a bottom surface 110a of the ice making tray 110 disposed below the ice making tray 110. The flow path forming member 130 forming the ice making flow path 120, the cold air supply means 140 for supplying cold air to the ice making flow path 120, and the water supply unit 150 for supplying water to the ice making tray 110. ), An ice making unit 160 for separating the ice in the ice making tray 110 from the ice making tray 110, and a lower portion of the ice making tray 110 so as to store the ice separated by the ice making unit 160. Including an ice storage container 170 installed in the, a transport unit 180 for transporting the ice in the ice storage container 170, and a grinding unit 190 for crushing the ice transported by the transport unit 180 It is composed.

      Cold air supply means 140 is one end is in communication with the freezing chamber side cold air production chamber (16b) and the other end is a cold air supply duct 141 extending toward the ice making chamber 30, one end is in communication with the ice making channel 120 and the other end is It is configured to include a cold air supply nozzle 142 is connected to the cold air supply duct 141.

The cold air supply duct 141 is provided with a damper 143 for opening and closing the cold air supply duct 141. When the circulation fan 18b operates while the damper 143 is open, the cold air generated by the evaporator 17b is generated. The cold air supply duct 141 and the cold air supply nozzle 142 are supplied to the interior of the ice-making flow path 120. The cold air supply nozzle 142 located inside the ice making chamber 30 is preferably insulated by a heat insulator 144, which prevents heat loss from the cold air supply nozzle 142 prior to ice making, thereby improving ice making efficiency. It is to increase.

      One side of the ice making channel 120 is formed with a cold air inlet 121 into which one end of the cold air supply nozzle 142 is inserted, and on the other side of the ice making channel 120, the cold air passing through the ice making channel 120 is an ice storage container 170. The cold air outlet 122 is formed to be discharged to).

      In particular, the flow path forming member 130 forming the ice making channel 120 is preferably formed of a heat insulating material to block heat transfer from the outside of the ice making channel 120 to the inside of the ice making channel 120, the ice making tray ( 110 is preferably formed of a metal material having a good heat transfer rate. Then, the cold air in the ice making channel 120 can be efficiently used only for ice making water in the ice making tray 110.

      In addition, the present invention is provided with a flow path forming plate 123 to further improve the ice making efficiency.

      Figure 4 is a bottom view showing an ice tray in the refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 5 (a) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I in Figure 3, Figure 5 (b) is taken along the line II-II in Fig. It is a cross section.

      As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ice making channel 120 is provided with at least one flow path forming plate 123 extending in a direction perpendicular to the length direction of the ice making channel 120. These flow path forming plates 123 improve the ice making efficiency by allowing the ice making path 120 to be a meandering flow path so that the cold air passes through the ice making path 120 and the ice tray 110 is heat-transmitted over a long section. Let's do it. The flow path forming plate 123 is preferably formed integrally with the bottom surface 110a of the ice making tray 110 as shown in FIG. 5, but may be integrated with the flow path forming member 130.

      Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the ice making unit 160 includes an ejector shaft 161 rotatably installed on the upper side of the ice making tray 110 along the length direction of the ice making tray 110 and the ice making tray 110. And a plurality of ejector arms 162 extending radially from the ejector shaft 161 at a location corresponding to each of the cells.

      In addition to this ice method, a commonly used ice method includes a twist method (a method of twisting the ice tray while inverting the ice tray up and down to separate the ice). When the twist method is used, the above-described ice tray 110 and the flow path are formed. The member 130 and the flow path forming plate 123 should be formed of a material capable of twisting deformation.

      The ice storage container 170 installed at the lower side of the ice making tray 110 is opened at an upper portion so as to store the ice falling off from the ice making tray 110 by the ice making unit 160. In particular, the cold air passing through the ice making channel 120 in the present invention is introduced into the ice reservoir 170 through the open upper portion of the cold air outlet 122 and the ice reservoir 170. At this time, the ice reservoir 170 is preferably to be insulated by all the heat insulating material 171 except the open top, which is to prevent the heat transfer between the inside and outside of the ice reservoir 170 to prevent the ice storage ( The inside of the 170 to maintain a lower temperature than the ice-making chamber space (S) outside the ice reservoir (170).

      The cold air introduced into the ice storage container 170 cools the ice stored in the ice storage container 170, and then spreads to the ice making room space S outside the ice storage container 170, and the cold air spread into the ice making room space S. It returns to the freezing chamber 11b through the cold air return duct 40 which connects one side of the ice-making chamber 30 and the one side of the freezing chamber 11b.

      Meanwhile, the transfer unit 180 is installed inside the ice storage container 170 and rotates, and the auger 181 and the auger 181 for transferring ice toward the ice discharge port 172 formed on one side of the ice storage container 170. It is configured to include a motor 182 for rotation, the grinding unit 190 is a fixed cutter 191 fixed to the ice outlet 172 side of the ice reservoir 170, and a rotary cutter to rotate with the auger 181 It consists of 192. The crushing unit 190 is for supplying crushed ice to the user by grinding the ice as needed.

      Hereinafter, the operation of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

      When the circulation fan 18b operates while the damper 143 is open, the freezing chamber side cold air is guided toward the ice making chamber 30 through the cold air supply duct 141. The cold air guided by the cold air supply duct 141 is supplied to the ice making path 120 formed under the ice tray 110 through the cold air supply nozzle 142. The cold air supplied to the ice making passage 120 cools the water in the ice making tray 110 while flowing along the meandering passage formed by the passage forming plate 123. As described above, the present invention is not configured to cool the ice making chamber 30 as a whole and to make ice, but to concentrate ice on the ice tray 110 when the cold air is in the coldest state. do.

      The cold air passing through the ice making passage 120 is introduced into the ice storage container 170 through the cold air outlet 122. The cold air that has cooled the water in the ice making tray 110 while passing through the ice making channel 120 has a higher temperature than before passing the ice making channel 120, but still has a temperature below zero. In the present invention, such cold air is directly removed. It is to be able to cool the ice in the ice reservoir 170 more efficiently by allowing it to be introduced into the ice reservoir 170 without spreading to the entire ice chamber 30.

      After cooling the ice in the ice storage container 170, the cold air whose temperature further rises spreads to the ice making room space S around it, and the freezing chamber through the cold air return duct 40 communicated to one side of the ice making room 30. Return to 11b. At this time, since the ice reservoir 170 is insulated by the heat insulator 171, the ice storage space S outside the ice reservoir 170 may maintain a higher temperature than the inside of the ice reservoir 170.

     Therefore, the present invention reduces the temperature difference between the ice making room and the refrigerating room as compared with the case where the temperature of the ice making room is kept low overall.

      As described above, the present invention has an effect of improving the ice making efficiency by having an ice making flow path formed so that cold air can intensively cool the ice making tray.

      In addition, the present invention by reducing the temperature difference between the ice making room and the refrigerating compartment by allowing the cold air flows into the ice making, ice storage and ice compartment space sequentially, thereby minimizing the generation of condensed water on the outer surface of the ice making room exposed to the humid cold compartment It can be effective.

Claims (8)

A refrigerator comprising a refrigerating compartment, an ice making chamber provided as an independent space inside the refrigerating compartment, and an ice making apparatus provided in the ice making chamber. The ice making apparatus includes an ice making tray containing water to be iced; and A flow path forming member disposed below the ice making tray to form an ice making flow path between the bottom surface of the ice making tray and Cold air supply means for supplying cold air to the ice making flow path; Refrigerator comprising a. The method of claim 1, The flow path forming member includes a heat insulating material for blocking heat transfer through the flow path forming member. The method of claim 1, The ice making flow path is bent by at least one flow path forming plate. The method of claim 3, And the flow path forming plate is integrally formed with the ice making tray.       The method of claim 1,       The ice making apparatus further includes an ice storage container disposed under the ice making tray to store the ice iced in the ice making tray, and the ice making flow path is cold air for discharging the cold air passing through the ice making flow path to the ice storage container. A refrigerator comprising an outlet.       The method of claim 5,       The ice reservoir has a refrigerator, characterized in that it comprises a heat insulating material for blocking the heat transfer between the inside and outside of the ice reservoir.       The method of claim 1,       And the ice making flow path has a cold air inlet through which cold air flows into the ice making flow path, and the cold air supply means includes a cold air supply nozzle having one end inserted into the cold air inlet.       The method of claim 3,       The ice making tray, the flow path forming member and the flow path forming plate is formed of a material capable of twisting deformation.

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