KR20210089551A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator capable of improving ice-making performance by blocking the inflow of air from outside the ice-making compartment into the interior of the ice-making compartment. According to the present invention, the refrigerator comprises: a refrigerator body having a refrigerating compartment and an ice-making compartment at an upper portion and a freezing compartment at a lower portion; an ice-making compartment evaporator which supplies cold air to the ice-making compartment; a centrifugal fan positioned adjacent to the ice-making compartment evaporator to suck in cool air from the ice-making compartment and discharge it toward the ice-making compartment evaporator; and an ice-making compartment drainage unit which drains the defrosting water generated by the ice-making compartment evaporator.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator capable of improving ice-making performance by blocking the inflow of air from outside the ice-making chamber into the interior of the ice-making chamber.

BACKGROUND ART In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance for storing food in a refrigerated or frozen state in a storage compartment opened and closed by a door, and typically includes a refrigerator compartment for storing food in a low-temperature refrigerated state and a freezer compartment for freezing food and storing it in a frozen state. be prepared

In addition, the refrigerator may additionally include an ice-making chamber for generating and storing ice for the convenience of the user, and a dispenser may be provided so that the user can take out the ice stored in the ice-making chamber to the outside.

Recently released refrigerators tend to provide a refrigerating compartment, which is used relatively more frequently than the freezer compartment, on the upper part of the main body, and provide a freezer compartment that is used relatively less than the refrigerating chamber on the lower part of the main body. A French door type refrigerator in which the refrigerating compartment is opened and closed by two rotatable doors arranged side by side and the freezer compartment is opened and closed by a slidably installed drawer-type door is in the spotlight.

Such a French door type refrigerator is gradually increasing in size according to the needs of consumers. As a related art, there is one disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0531298.

Korean Patent No. 10-0674573

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problem, and improves the ice making performance by preventing air from flowing into the ice making chamber from the outside of the ice making chamber due to the pressure difference inside the ice making chamber according to the negative pressure formed inside the ice making chamber. The purpose is to provide a refrigerator that can be cooked.

A refrigerator according to claim 1 of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a refrigerator main body having a refrigerating compartment and an ice making compartment at the upper part and a freezing compartment at the lower part; an evaporator for an ice-making chamber that supplies cold air to the ice-making chamber; a centrifugal fan positioned adjacent to the ice-making chamber evaporator to suck in cool air from the ice-making chamber and discharge it toward the ice-making chamber evaporator; and an ice-making chamber drain for draining the defrost water generated by the ice-making chamber evaporator, wherein the ice-making chamber drain unit has a pressure maintaining part for maintaining the interior of the ice-making chamber at atmospheric pressure or higher.

In the refrigerator according to claim 2 of the present invention, the pressure maintaining unit is interlocked with the operation of the centrifugal fan to block the drain unit for the ice making chamber.

In the refrigerator according to claim 3 of the present invention, the ice-making chamber drain unit includes a defrost water receiver and a defrost water drain pipe, and the pressure maintaining unit is provided in the defrost water receiver or the defrost water drain pipe.

In the refrigerator according to claim 4 of the present invention, the pressure maintaining part is formed in the defrost water drain pipe, and the pressure maintaining part consists of a drain trap.

In the refrigerator according to claim 5 of the present invention, the drain trap has a sealing structure in which water with a height of 6 to 10 mm is bent.

In the refrigerator according to claim 6 of the present invention, the refrigerating compartment and the ice-making compartment are formed as independent insulating spaces as they are integrally foamed.

In the refrigerator according to claim 7 of the present invention, the freezing compartment is integrally foamed together with the refrigerating compartment and the ice making compartment to form an insulating space independent of each other.

According to the present invention, there are the following effects.

The pressure maintaining part is formed in the drain part for the ice-making chamber, so that the internal pressure of the ice-making chamber does not fall below atmospheric pressure (negative pressure) by the suction of the centrifugal fan, and the air outside the ice-making chamber (especially cold air in the refrigerating chamber) is removed by the pressure difference. Prevent inflow into the ice chamber.

In addition, since the pressure maintaining unit is implemented as a sealed water structure in which water is accumulated, it also serves to block a portion of the cold air discharged from the centrifugal fan from flowing out to the drain unit for the ice making chamber.

In addition, since the drain trap, which is a pressure holding part, is disposed inside the machine room, the internal space of the machine room is wide, so it is easy to arrange a curved drain trap with a relatively large occupied space, and A/S is possible (other parts are due to urethane foam) a/s impossible), freezing can be prevented by the location of the drain trap as well as the internal temperature of the machine room.

In addition, due to the arrangement of the centrifugal fan that sucks in the cold air from the ice storage bucket side and discharges it to the lower side of the ice-making chamber evaporator, the cold air flows evenly throughout the ice-making chamber to increase the ice-making efficiency.

On the other hand, since the refrigerating chamber and the ice-making chamber are integrally foamed to form an insulated space independent of each other, the number of manufacturing steps is very small, so productivity is high and durability is greatly improved.

Moreover, since the freezing compartment is integrally foamed with the refrigerating compartment and the ice making compartment to form an insulating space independent from each other, the number of manufacturing steps is very small, so that productivity is higher and durability is further improved.

1 is a front perspective view of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the refrigerator compartment door of FIG. 1 in an open state;
Fig. 3 is a rear view of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3;
Figure 5 is a rear view of the state in which the rear plate of the outer case (outer box) is removed in Figure 3;
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5;
7 is a pressure graph showing the case in which (a) there is no drain trap of FIG. 6, (b) there is.
FIG. 8 is a front view schematically illustrating a process of forming the refrigerator body of FIG. 1;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the prior art, and detailed descriptions are omitted.

1 is a front perspective view of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the refrigerator compartment door of FIG. 1 in an open state, FIG. 3 is a rear view of FIG. 1 , and FIG. It is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6, FIG. 5 is a rear view of the outer case (outer box) in a state in which the rear plate is removed in FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a pressure graph showing a case in which there is no drainage trap (a) and a case in which there is (b), and FIG. 8 is a front view schematically illustrating the formation process of the refrigerator body of FIG. 1 .

The refrigerator according to the present embodiment includes a refrigerator body 100 and a machine room 300 that form an exterior as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5 .

The refrigerator body 100 includes a refrigerating chamber 110 , a freezing chamber 130 , and an ice making chamber 150 for making ice, which are storage spaces.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the refrigerating compartment 110 and the ice making compartment 150 are provided above the refrigerator body 100 , and the freezing compartment 130 is provided at the bottom of the refrigerator body 100 .

As shown in FIG. 8 , the refrigerator body 100 integrally divides three rooms, which are the refrigerating compartment 110 , the freezing compartment 130 , and the ice-making compartment 150 , and then injects and foams liquid urethane foam, which is an insulating material, so as to be independent of each other. is formed as an insulated space. In another embodiment, the refrigerator body 100 may divide the refrigerating compartment 110 and the ice-making compartment 150 and then inject and foam liquid urethane foam as an insulating material to form an insulating space independent of each other.

The partition wall dividing the refrigerating compartment 110 and the freezing compartment 130 and the compartment dividing the refrigerating compartment 110 and the ice making compartment 150 may be formed integrally with the inner case or may be formed separately and combined, and the partition wall is a separate insulating material. Thus, the refrigerating compartment 110 and the freezing compartment 130 may be partitioned.

The refrigerator body 100 includes refrigerating compartment doors 111 and 112 for opening and closing the refrigerating compartment 110 , and a freezing compartment door 131 which opens and closes in a drawer type in the freezing compartment 130 .

The ice-making chamber 150 is also opened and closed by the separately installed ice-making chamber door 151 as shown in FIG. 2 .

An ice maker 160 for manufacturing ice and a bucket 170 for storing ice are included in the ice maker 150 as shown in FIG. 4 .

The dispenser 115 is formed on the front surface of any one of the refrigerator compartment doors 111 and 112 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , a cooling unit 180 for supplying cool air to the ice-making chamber 150 is included at the rear of the ice-making chamber 150 .

The cooling unit 180 includes a centrifugal fan 190 and an evaporator 200 for an ice-making chamber.

The centrifugal fan 190 is disposed between the ice storage bucket 170 and the ice maker evaporator 200, and the ice maker evaporator 200 is disposed behind the ice maker 160 and the ice storage bucket 170 ( see Fig. 4).

Unlike the conventional axial fan, the centrifugal fan 190 is disposed just behind the bucket 170 for storing ice, so that the cold air in the ice-making chamber 150 is sucked and discharged in the circumferential direction, and the discharged cold air is an evaporator for the ice-making chamber. Heat exchange is performed while passing from the lower end of the 200 toward the upper end. The heat-exchanged cold air passes through the ice maker 160 and the ice storage bucket 170 and forms a refrigeration cycle that is again sucked by the centrifugal fan 190 (refer to the arrow in FIG. 4 ).

Due to the position of the centrifugal fan 190 and the centrifugal fan 190, cold air is evenly circulated from the top to the bottom of the ice-making chamber 150, so that the ice-making efficiency is good, and the forced flow from the bottom to the top of the evaporator 200 for the ice-making chamber This allows for rapid heat exchange.

On the other hand, since the evaporator 200 for the ice-making room is separately provided, the drain unit 500 for the ice-making room is required for draining the defrosting water in the ice-making room. The ice-making room drain 500 includes a defrost water receiver 510 and a defrost water drain pipe 530 , and as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 , the defrost water drain pipe 530 is extended to the machine room 300 . can be formed.

The drain unit 500 for the ice-making chamber is located at the lower end of the evaporator 200 for the ice-making chamber and is configured to drain the defrost water easily, but it is located between the cold air passages of the refrigeration cycle to cause pressure drop due to cold air outflow becomes this In particular, the centrifugal fan 190 sucks cold air from the ice-making chamber 150 and blows it to the lower end of the evaporator 200 . Some of the blown cool air flows out through the ice-making chamber drain 500 and flows into the ice-making chamber 150 . ) to drop the internal pressure below atmospheric pressure (negative pressure). When the inside of the ice-making chamber 150 drops to a negative pressure, external air, particularly cold air from the refrigerating chamber 110, flows into the ice-making chamber 150, which may cause an abnormality in the ice-making performance.

In order to solve this problem, the drain unit for the ice-making chamber includes a pressure maintaining unit.

When the pressure maintaining part is formed in the ice-making chamber drain 500, as shown in FIG. 7b, the position where the centrifugal fan 190 is located inside the ice-making chamber 150 is formed close to atmospheric pressure, and thereafter, it is maintained above atmospheric pressure. , it is possible to block the inflow of air from the outside of the ice-making chamber into the interior of the ice-making chamber.

The pressure maintaining unit interlocks with the operation of the centrifugal fan 190 to block the ice-making chamber drain 500, and may be formed in the defrost water receiver 510 or the defrost water drain pipe 530 shown in FIG. When the pressure maintaining unit is formed in the defrost water receiver 510, the pressure maintaining unit may be configured in the form of a valve or a blocking film. When the pressure maintaining part is formed in the defrost water drain pipe 530 , it may be configured as a drain trap 550 .

The drain trap 550 is an S-shaped or U-shaped trap, and has a sealing structure in which water is partially pooled to prevent air from passing through.

As shown in FIG. 6 , when the drain trap 550 is formed as a U-shaped trap, the height of the number of rods is preferably about 6 to 10 mm. This can be changed to an appropriate height to prevent pressure drop in the ice-making chamber 150 through the ice-making chamber drain 500 according to the wind pressure of the centrifugal fan 190 .

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, by disposing the drain trap 550 inside the machine room 300, the inner space of the machine room 300 is greater than the space between the rear plate 101 of the inner case (inner case) and the outer case (outer case). As it is wider, it is easy to arrange the curved drain trap 550 that will occupy a relatively large amount of space, and easy A/S (other parts are filled with urethane foam, so A/S is impossible), and the drainage trap 550 inside Seal water is not frozen by the internal temperature of the machine room (300).

The drain trap 550 includes a trap valve capable of stagnating water in the drain pipe.

On the other hand, since the evaporator 200 for the ice-making room is separately provided, the drain unit 500 for the ice-making room is required for draining the defrosting water in the ice-making room. The ice-making room drain 500 includes a defrost water receiver 510 and a defrost water drain pipe 530 , and as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 , the defrost water drain pipe 530 is extended to the machine room 300 . can be formed.

As described above, although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art can make various modifications or variations of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims. can

100: refrigerator body 110: refrigerator compartment
130: freezing compartment 150: ice making compartment
160: ice machine 170: ice storage bucket
190: centrifugal fan 200: evaporator for ice making room
300: machine room 301: compressor
303: condenser 400: drain for refrigerating compartment
500: drain for ice-making room 510: defrost water receiver
530: defrost water drain pipe 550: pressure maintaining part (drainage trap)

Claims (7)

a refrigerator body having a refrigerating compartment and an ice making compartment at the upper part and a freezing compartment at the lower part;
an evaporator for an ice-making chamber that supplies cold air to the ice-making chamber;
a centrifugal fan positioned adjacent to the ice-making chamber evaporator to suck in cool air from the ice-making chamber and discharge it toward the ice-making chamber evaporator; and
and a drainage unit for the ice-making room for draining the defrosting water generated by the evaporator for the ice-making room;
The drain unit for the ice making chamber is a refrigerator in which a pressure maintaining unit for maintaining the inside of the ice making chamber above atmospheric pressure is formed. The method according to claim 1,
The pressure maintaining unit interlocks with the operation of the centrifugal fan to block the drain unit for the ice making chamber. The method according to claim 1,
The ice-making chamber drain unit includes a defrost water receiver and a defrost water drain pipe,
The pressure maintaining unit is provided in the defrost water receiver or the defrost water drain pipe. 4. The method according to claim 3,
The pressure maintaining part is formed in the defrost water drain pipe,
The pressure maintaining unit is a drain trap refrigerator. 5. The method according to claim 4,
The drain trap is a refrigerator in which water with a height of 6 to 10 mm is bent. The method according to claim 1,
The refrigerator and the ice-making chamber are integrally foamed to form an insulating space independent of each other. 7. The method of claim 6,
The freezer compartment is integrally foamed with the refrigerating compartment and the ice making compartment to form an independent insulating space.

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