MXPA97005337A - Frigorifico to download cold air from a door using a device generator of a curtain of a - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with a cabinet that forms a freezer compartment, with one of its sides open, as well as a door for opening and closing an opening of said cabinet and an evaporator for generating cold air, said refrigerator comprises: device for generating an air curtain said device being provided with a cold air duct provided with a cold air discharge door, open in an area adjacent to the opening of said cabinet, as well as a means for driving the cold air generated by the air. said evaporator, into said cold air duct, said air curtain being used to close said cabinet opening, by means of the air discharged through the cold air discharge door; arranged in said door and provided with a cold air suction opening, which acts in combination with the cold air discharge opening when said door is closed, as well as a plurality of openings for feeding cold air, open on an internal surface of said door, said doorway being used to supply cold air to the freezer compartment, and which has been provided from said device through of the cold air discharge opening, at the moment said door is closed, a door temperature sensor, arranged adjacent to the internal surface of said door, to detect a temperature existing in an area adjacent to said door, in the freezer compartment, and a temperature sensor of the freezer compartment, arranged adjacent to an internal surface of said freezer compartment, which is located on the side opposite the internal surface of said door, in order to detect a temperature existing in an area away from said door, in the freezer compartment, where or half fan is programmed to operate at the moment when the temperature detected by said door temperature sensor is greater than the temperature detected by said temperature sensor of the freezer compartment.

Description

REFRIGERATOR FOR DOWNLOADING COLD AIR FROM A DOOR USING A GENERATOR DEVICE AN AIR CURTAIN Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator for discharging cold air from a door, using a device generating an air curtain and, more particularly, to a refrigerator equipped with a device to generate an air curtain that will close the Opening of a refrigeration compartment at the time the door is opened, as well as a door duct to supply the cooling compartment with cold air provided by the device when the door is closed.

Background of the Invention Figure 1 shows a conventional refrigerator, showing a refrigerator equipped with a device to generate an air curtain in order to close the opening of a refrigeration compartment. The refrigerator is equipped, as shown in Figure 1, with a cabinet 10 forming a freezer compartment 21 and a fresh food compartment 22, which are separated from each other by means of a wall 27, as well as a door of the freezer compartment 24 and a door of the fresh food compartment 25, which open and close both the freezer compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22, respectively. The doors 24, 25 are mounted so that they rotate on a hinge, in the cabinet 10. A compressor 23 is installed in the lower rear part of the cabinet and an evaporator 29 is installed in a rear part of the freezer compartment 21, to generate cold air by means of the evaporation of the refrigerant supplied from the compressor 23. On the upper side of the evaporator 29 is installed a cooling fan 19, for driving the cold air generated by the evaporator 29, in order to supply cold air to both the freezer compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22. A device 20 for generating an air curtain, is provided on the upper side of the food compartment fresh 22. The generating device of an air curtain 20, comprises a cold air duct 13, provided on the upper side of the fresh food compartment 22, as well as a fan 11 for driving the cold air of the evaporator 29 into the interior of the duct of cold air 13. The cold air duct 13 is formed with a cold air discharge door 15, located in an external oar thereof, which opens downwards in the area adjacent to an opening of the fresh food compartment 22. The cold air driven into the cold air duct 13 is discharged downwards, thus generating the air curtain to close the fresh food compartment opening 22. In the fresh food compartment 22, there is provided a sensor (not shown), to detect the opening and closing of the door of the fresh food compartment 25, and the fan 11 is programmed to operate only when the opening of the door 25 is detected by the sensor. In this way, the air curtain is generated only when the door 25 is opened, to prevent the loss of cold air through the opening of the fresh food compartment 22, at the moment the door 25 is opened. A plurality of cold air openings 16, 18 are formed in the rear surfaces of both the freezer compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22. When the door 25 is closed, the cold air of the evaporator 29 is driven by the cooling fan 19 for which is fed into the freezer compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22 and, therefore, the food items stored both in the freezer compartment 21 and in the fresh food compartment will be kept frozen and refrigerated, respectively. Nevertheless, in a similar conventional refrigerator, although the loss of cold air is prevented by means of the air curtain, since the cold air in the area adjacent to the door 25 comes in contact with the outside air at the moment when the air is opened. door 25 and is lost through an opening located between the door 25 and the cabinet 10, when said door 25 is closed, there is a problem that the temperature of the fresh food compartment 22, in the area adjacent to the door 25 it may decrease compared to the temperature of the other areas in the fresh food compartment 22. In addition, as the refrigerator trend increases in size, given that the temperature distribution in each of the areas of the fresh food compartment 22 may become more irregular, the food items stored in the fresh food compartment 22 may become too cold or too cold.

Objects of the Invention The present invention has been proposed to overcome the problems previously described in the prior art and, therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that is capable of maintaining a uniform temperature in the compartment of the invention. cooling, thus enhancing the efficiency of cooling by effectively eliminating the loss of cold air through the opening of the refrigeration compartment and supplying cold air from the inner surface of the door, and especially, to provide a refrigerator in which The device generating the air curtain is of different use, supplying cold air from the door when using the device generating the air curtain. To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator equipped with a cabinet forming a freezer compartment, with one of its sides open, as well as a door for opening and closing an opening of the cabinet, and an evaporator for generating cold air, the refrigerator comprises: a device for generating an air curtain, the device being provided with a cold air duct, which is provided with a cold air discharge door, opened in an area adjacent to the opening of the cabinet, as a means to drive the cold air generated by the evaporator to the interior of the cold air duct; the air curtain to close the cabinet opening, discharging the cold air through the cold air discharge door; and a door duct which is disposed therein and which is provided with a cold air suction door, which acts in combination with the cold air discharge door at the moment the door is closed, as well as of a plurality of cold air supply doors, open on an inner surface of the door, said door duct feeding the freezer compartment, with the cold air provided by the device, through the cold air discharge door, 5 at the moment the door closes. At this point, it is preferable that the refrigerator is provided with a means for detecting a temperature in the freezer compartment, the ventilation means being programmed based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensing means. The temperature sensing means may be provided with a temperature sensor of the door, arranged adjacent to the internal surface thereof, to detect a temperature in an area adjacent to the door located in the freezer compartment, as well as of a temperature sensor of the freezer compartment, which is disposed adjacent to an internal surface of the freezer compartment and which is located in opposite manner to the inner surface of the door, to detect a temperature in a remote area of the door in the freezer compartment. In this situation, the fan means is programmed to operate at the moment when the temperature detected by the door temperature sensor is higher than the temperature detected by the temperature sensor of the freezer compartment. In addition, the refrigerator according to the present invention is provided with a means for detecting the opening and closing of the door and the fan means is programmed to operate at the moment that an open state of the door is detected through the detector means of opening and closing, so that the air curtain prevents the loss of cold air whenever the door is open. Also, it is preferable that a plurality of cold air openings to feed the cold air generated by the evaporator, are formed on each of the internal surfaces of the freezer compartment, so that the cold air is evenly distributed in said freezer compartment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention may be better understood and its various objects and advantages fully appreciated, from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a view of a side section of a conventional refrigerator equipped with a device for generating an air curtain; Figure 2 is a view of a side section of a refrigerator according to the present invention; Y Figure 3 is a schematic perspective of the refrigerator of Figure 2.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment The invention will now be described in detail, with reference to the drawings. Figure 2 is a view of a side section of a refrigerator according to the present invention; and Figure 3 is a schematic perspective of the refrigerator of Figure 2. The refrigerator according to the present invention is equipped, like the conventional refrigerator shown in Figure 1, with a cabinet 30 that forms a freezer compartment 41 and a compartment fresh foods 42, which are separated from each other by means of a wall 47, as well as a door of the freezer compartment 44 and a door of the fresh food compartment 45, which open and close, both the freezer compartment 41 and the compartment 42 fresh foods, respectively. The doors 44, 45 are mounted so that they rotate on a hinge, in the cabinet 30. In a lower rear part of the cabinet 30 a compressor 43 is installed, and in a rear part of the freezer compartment 41 an evaporator 49 is installed, to generate cold air by evaporating the refrigerant fed from the compressor 43. A cooling fan 39 for driving the cold air generated by the evaporator 49, is installed on the upper side of said evaporator 49, to supply cold air, both the freezer compartment 41 and the fresh food compartment 42. A device 40 for generating an air curtain is provided on the upper side of the fresh food compartment 42. The generating device of the air curtain 40 comprises an air duct cold 33, provided on the supepor side of the fresh food compartment 42 and a fan 31, to drive the cold air from e the evaporator 49 to the interior of the cold air duct 33. The cold air duct 33 is formed with a cold air discharge door 35 located at one of the ends thereof, which opens downwards in the adjacent area to an opening in the fresh food compartment 42. The cold air driven into the cold air duct 33 is discharged downwards, thereby generating the air curtain to close the opening of the fresh food compartment 42. It is adopted a transverse flow fan, capable of driving the air uniformly, as a fan 31. A door duct 50 is disposed in the door of the fresh food compartment 45. The duct of the door 50 is provided with a door cold air aspiration 53, which opens on an upper part of the door 45, as well as a plurality of cold air supply doors 51, open on an internal surface of the door 45. The cold air suction door 53 acts in combination with the cold air discharge door 35, at the moment when the door 45 closes. In this way, when the door 45 is closed, the cold air supplied by the generating device of an air curtain 40, is fed into the interior of the door duct 50, through the cold air suction door 53, and the cold air supplied into the interior of the door conduit 50, is fed into the interior of the fresh food compartment 45, through the cold air supply doors 51. On the front surface of the fresh food compartment 42 is a push button switch 60 is installed. Said push-button switch 60 is pressed by the door 45, at the moment said door 45 closes and is released when the door 45 opens. A microprocessor (not shown) installed in the refrigerator, it detects that the door 45 opens, when the push-button switch 60 is released. The fan 31 is put into operation at the moment when the opening of the door 45 is detected, by means of the push-button switch 60. In this way, it is generated the air curtain at the moment the door 45 is opened, to eliminate the loss of cold air when said door 45 is opened. Two temperature sensors 63 and 65, are provided in the fresh food compartment 42. The sensors of temperatures 63 and 65, consist both of a temperature sensor of the door 63, arranged adjacent to the internal surface of the door 45, to detect the temperature in the area adjacent to said door 45 in the fresh food compartment 42 , as of a temperature sensor of the freezer compartment 65, arranged adjacent to the rear inner surface of the fresh food compartment 42, to detect the temperature in the area away from the door 45 in the fresh food compartment 42. The temperatures detected, respectively, by the two temperature sensors 63 and 65, are introduced into the microprocessor. If the difference between the two temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 63 and 65 exceeds a predetermined value, in other words, if the temperature in the area adjacent to the door 45, which is detected by means of the sensor The temperature of the door 63 is greater than the temperature in the rear area of said door 45, which is detected through the sensor of the freezer compartment 65, in a higher proportion than the predetermined value, then the microprocessor drives the fan 31 to supplying cold air to the door conduit 30. On the inner rear surface of the fresh food compartment 42, a plurality of cold air rear openings 38 are formed, while on the inner side surfaces of the fresh food compartment 42, a plurality of cold air side openings 58. When the door 45 is closed, the cold air of the evaporator 49 is supplied into the fresh food compartment 42, through each of the cold air openings 38 and 58, thus cooling the food items stored in the fresh food compartment. Next, both the operation and the utility of the refrigerator according to the present invention will be described. When the closing of the door 45 is detected by means of the push button switch 60, the microprocessor drives both the fan 31 and the cooling fan 39, based on the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 63 and 65. That is, in the case that the temperatures in the fresh food compartment 42 detected by the two temperature sensors 63 and 65, are lower than the temperature corresponding to the degree of cooling fixed and adjusted by the user, then both the fan 31 and the cooling fan 39 are put into operation, thus supplying cold air inside the compartment of fresh food 42. In that case, the cold air is discharged into the fresh food compartment 42, from each of the internal surfaces thereof and through each of the cold air openings 38 and 58, and since the cold air suction door 53 of the door conduit 50, acts in combination with the cold air discharge door of the air duct fr or 33, then the air blown into the interior of the cold air duct 33, is discharged from the inner surface of the door 45, through the cold air supply doors 51 of the door duct 50. Therefore, the cold air is supplied to the interior of the fresh food compartment 42 from the four internal surfaces and which are: the inner rear surface, two internal inner surfaces and the inner surface of the door 45, of the fresh food compartment 42. In addition, in case the temperature detected by the temperature sensor of the door 63 is greater than the temperature in the fresh food compartment 42, detected by the temperature sensor of the freezer compartment 65, in a greater proportion than a predetermined value, then the microprocessor will also drive, both the cooling fan 49 and the fan 31, thus supplying cold air to the compartment d e fresh foods 42, coming from the four internal surfaces. Accordingly, both the uniform supply of cold air into the fresh food compartment 42, and the maintenance of uniform distribution of the refrigeration degree in said fresh food compartment 42 can be achieved. At the moment when the door is opened 45 is detected through the push button switch 60, then the microprocessor will drive the fan 31, 5 regardless of the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 63 and 65. In such case, since the conduit of the door 33 is separated from the conduit cold air 33, the cold air supplied to the interior of the cold air duct 33, is discharged downwards through the cold air discharge door 35, thus conforming the air curtain closing the opening of the food compartment fresh 42. In this way, the loss of cold air is eliminated when the door is open, preserving the cold air inside the ompartimiento of fresh foods 42. As described above and in accordance with the present invention, the loss of cold air is eliminated by means of the air curtain at the moment the door is opened and the cold air is supplied from the door at the moment when the door is opened. that it closes, in this way the level of uniform cooling intensity can be maintained inside the fresh food compartment. Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in a detailed manner, it is well understood that it has been by way of example and illustration only, and that it should not be taken as a means of limitation, in which both the spirit and the the scope of the present invention are limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. Novelty of the invention 1. A refrigerator equipped with a cabinet that forms a freezer compartment, with one of its sides open, as well as a door to open and close an opening of said cabinet and an evaporator to generate cold air, said refrigerator comprises: a device for generating an air curtain, said device being provided with a cold air duct provided with a cold air discharge door, open in an area adjacent to the opening of said cabinet, as well as a means for driving the air cold generated by said evaporator, into said cold air duct; said air curtain being used to close the aforementioned cabinet opening, by means of air discharged through the cold air discharge door; and a door conduit that is disposed in said door and provided with a cold air suction opening, which acts in combination with the cold air discharge opening when said door is closed; as well as a plurality of cold air feed openings open in an inner surface of said door; said door conduit being used to supply cold air to the freezer compartment, and which has been provided from the said device through the cold air discharge opening, at the time said door is closed.
2. 2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cold air discharge opening is disposed on the upper side of the freezer compartment and open downwards.
3. 3. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air driving means is formed by a transverse flow fan.
4. 4. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for detecting a temperature in the freezer compartment, wherein said fan means is programmed to operate based on the temperature detected by said temperature sensing means.
5. 5. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 4, wherein said temperature sensing means comprises: a door temperature sensor, arranged adjacent to the inner surface of said door, for sensing a temperature in an area adjacent to said door; the mentioned door, in the freezer compartment; and a temperature sensor of the freezer compartment, arranged adjacent to an internal surface of said freezer compartment, which is located on the side opposite the inner surface of said door, in order to detect a temperature in a remote area of said door, in the freezer compartment, wherein said half fan is programmed to operate at the moment when the temperature detected by said door temperature sensor is greater than the temperature detected by said temperature sensor of the freezer compartment.
6. 6. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 4, further comprising means for detecting the opening and closing of said door; wherein said fan means is programmed to operate at the moment that an opening state of said door is detected, through the mentioned opening and closing detector means.
7. 7. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of cold air openings are formed to supply the cold air generated by said evaporator, on each of the internal surfaces of the freezer compartment.
8. 8. A refrigerator equipped with a cabinet that forms, both a freezer compartment, with one of its sides open, as a door to open and close an opening of said cabinet and an evaporator to generate cold air, said refrigerator comprises: a device to generate a curtain of air, said device being provided with a cold air duct, which in turn has a cold air discharge opening, open downward in an area located adjacent to an upper side of the opening of said cabinet, as well as a means to drive the cold air generated by said evaporator into the cold air duct mentioned; said air curtain being used to close the opening of said cabinet, by means of the cold air discharged downwards through the cold air discharge opening; a door duct which is arranged in said door and provided with a cold air suction opening, which acts in combination with the cold air discharge door when said door is closed; as well as a plurality of cold air feed openings open in an inner surface of said door; said doorway being used to supply cold air to the freezer compartment, provided from said device and through the cold air discharge opening, when said door is closed; means for detecting temperatures in an area adjacent to said door, in the freezer compartment and in an area remote from said door, in said freezer compartment; and means for detecting the opening and closing of said door, wherein said fan means is programmed to operate at the moment that a temperature existing in an area adjacent to said door, is greater than the temperature existing in an area far from the said door, as well as when an opening state of said door is detected, through the aforementioned opening and closing detector means.