US3403529A

US3403529A - Refrigeration condensate handling means

Info

Publication number: US3403529A
Application number: US592426A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Carroll J Reber
Original assignee: Philco Ford Corp
Current assignee: Space Systems Loral LLC
Priority date: 1966-11-07
Filing date: 1966-11-07
Publication date: 1968-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 1985-10-01

Description

Oct. 1, 1968 c. J. REBER, JR

REFRIGERATION CONDENSATE HANDLING MEANS Filed Nov. 7, 1966 Z a 4, 3 a y a ,40 44,50 W a F z a i 2 a u w G J 4 J H H k 7 H Z H a I I2 4 W 0 w a 3 .T W 2 Z K m I M C v Q INVENTOR. (4/4/7011 J Ki!!! J4.

United States Patent 01 3,403,529. Patented Uct. 1, 1968 3,403,529 REFRIGERATION CONDENSATE HANDLING MEANS Carroll J. Reber, Jr., Havertown, Pa., assignor to Philco- Ford Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 592,426 7 Claims. (Cl. 62-277) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A self-defrosting refrigerator having a condenser comprising a generally planar heat exchanger folded into generally U-shaped form. The space between the legs of the U accommodates disposition of a defrost water disposal pan therebetween. Heat from the condenser sections, combined with the air stream moved thereover by a fan, aids in evaporating the defrost water.

This invention relates to refrigeration, and is especially concerned with improvements in compressor-condenser units of the type generally mounted in the lower portion of a household refrigerator.

Recent improvements in construction of household refrigerators have made possible increased useable storage volume without appreciable changes in overall dimensions of cabinet structure. The overall dimensions are limited by existing accommodations in the home, such for example as sizes of doorways, alcoves, and the like. These substantial increases in storage volume have been made possible through improved insulating and structural materials that have permitted cabinet wall thicknesses to be decreased. However cabinet space requirements for the so-called condensing units have not been appreciably decreased, and stand in the way of achieving further increases in storage volume.

It is, therefore, an objective of the invention to provide refrigerator structure that affords improved storage space without appreciably affecting the overall space occupied by such structure.

It is another objective of this invention to provide a refrigerating unit that enhances both available storage space and performance of a household refrigerator.

It is a further and more specific objective of the invention to improve the performance and reduce the cost of a self-defrosting refrigerator.

In achievement of the foregoing as well as other objectives, the invention contemplates provision of a selfdefrosting cabinet type refrigerator having an improved, compact, compressor and condenser arrangement which affords a proportionate increase in the food storage volume without change in the overall dimensions of the cabinet, and in which arrangement the condenser comprises a generally planar heat exchanger folded into a generally U-shaped or preferably V-shaped form. The space between the legs of the V is suflicient to permit a defrost water disposal pan to be nested therein, and the construction and arrangement is such that heat from the condenser, combined with the air stream moving thereover, evaporates the defrost water. Advantageously, the apparatus of the invention, in which the disposal pan is substantially surrounded by warm condenser surfaces, obviates the need for an electrical heater for the defrost water.

The manner in which the foregoing as well as other objectives and advantages of the invention may best be achieved will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in light of the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational showing of a refrigerator embodying the invention, and from which parts have been removed for convenience of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view with parts broken away and looking in the direction of arrows 2-2 applied to FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section taken generally along the line indicated by arrows 3-3 applied to FIG- URE 2.

With particular reference to FIGURES 1 and 2, a refrigerator cabinet 10 having outer shell 11 and an inner liner 12 spaced therefrom by suitable thermal insulation 13, comprises a below-freezing food storage chamber or compartment 14, and an above-freezing food storage chamber or compartment 15, disposed below the former chamber. Door structure 16 for the cabinet is provided in accordance with well known practice, as shown in FIGURE 2, but has been omitted from FIGURE 1 for convenience of illustration.

Compartments

14 and 15 are separated from one another by an insulated partition 17 which extends horizontally within cabinet liner 12.

A refrigerating unit is provided to cool the interior of the cabinet, and includes a pair of

evaporators

21 and 22 arranged in series refrigerant flow circuit with a compressor 23, and a condenser 24 having special features characteristic of this invention and hereinafter to be more fully described.

Refrigerator 10 is of the self defrosting type and is provided with conventional control means (not shown) operable to regulate the temperature within the storage compartment as well as to provide for cyclic defrost of at least one of the evaporators. For example, the lower evaporator 22 may comprise a cooling plate of relatively low mass that cycles between above-freezing and below-freezing temperatures. By such operation, frost accumulated upon the plate is melted and flows from the plate into a trough 25 provided on the rear wall of cabinet liner 12. Defrost water then flows from trough 25 through a suitable conduit 26 into the defrost water disposal pan 27 provided in the compressor and condenser compartment 31. It is the unique, cooperative disposition of compressor 23, condenser 24, and defrost water disposal pan 27 to which this invention is particularly directed.

In especial accordance with the invention, and as best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, condenser 24 comprises a pair of generally planar

heat exchanger sections

28 and 29 fashioned into a reversely bent form. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, each of

sections

28 and 29 comprises, preferably, a heat exchanger of the wire and tube type. However, it will be appreciated from what follows that each of the condenser sections may comprise generally planar fin and tube heat exchangers. The invention contemplates that

sections

28 and 29 either may be separately formed and positioned as shown, or that they may comprise a single heat exchanger bent into the illustrated V form. The bend may also be into a generally U form. However, the V form is preferred since it projects a greater area of the wire-and-tube heat exchange surface into the moving air stream.

Condenser 24 is supported on the floor of compartment 31 by bracket means 41 and 42, and is suspended from the top of the compartment by bracket means 43. It Will of course be understood that other suitable support means may be resorted to for maintaining the desired angular disposition of the condenser sections. The space between the legs of the V is essentially a slot-like opening sulficient to receive defrost water disposal pan 27, which pan conveniently is supported for sliding movements on side rails 30 in order that it may be removed for cleaning as the need arises. Removal of the pan is achieved by removing grill 37, which conveniently may be held in place by spring clips, and sliding the pan along rails 30 through 3 the slot-like opening defined by the confronting evaporator sections.

As is best seen in FIGURE 3, a central vertically extending partition 32 is arranged to divide machine compartment 31 into first and second regions, which in the present embodiment of the invention are left-hand and right-hand regions, respectively. The front region of partition 32 includes a V shaped opening 381 within which the V shaped condenser 24 is received, and the partition region between

condenser sections

28 and 29 includes a wedge-shaped partition section 32a. This latter partition section includes a horizontally extending open ended slot that permits passage of pan 27 through the front of compartment 31 when grill 37 is removed.

As seen further in FIGURE 3, a propeller-type fan 34 is disposed over an opening 33 provided in a rear portion of partition 32. Fan motor 35 is disposed in the left hand region of compartment 31, and compressor 23 is located in the right hand region of the compartment. R- tation of fan 34 by its motor is effective to induce air flow in accordance with the flow arrows applied to FIGURE 3. While a propeller-type fan has been illustrated, it will be understood that other well known type air impellers can be used. For example, centrifugal blowers and crossfiow blowers are well suited for this purpose.

Advantageously, heat from condenser 24 combined with moving air is effective to evaporate the defrost water, thus obviating the need for an especially provided heating unit for defrost water disposal. The angular disposition of

condenser sections

28 and 29 ensures air flow over substantially all surface portions of the condenser, such fiow being further enhanced by the defrost pan, since it is cooperably disposed in relationship to the compartment walls and partition 32 to afford well-defined flow paths for the c iigulated air.

As will be further appreciated, and with reference to FIGURE 2, the compressor, condenser and disposal pan arrangement of the present invention makes possible a machine compartment of lesser size, thereby affording increased storage volume in food compartment 15. Particularly, the invention has made possible a reduction in space required for the condenser and disposal pan assembly in the vertical dimension. In so doing, advantage has been taken of the available front-to-rear space without change in cabinet dimensions. Moreover, due to the additional available space, it has been made possible to use a heat exchanger having more Widely spaced secondary heat exchange surface elements that are less likely to become clogged with dust and the like, and that are more readily cleaned when such accumulations are present. As best seen in FIGURE 2, this reduction in the vertical dimension has made it possible to lower the overlying portion of the insulated cabinet bottom wall, increasing the space available for the crisper drawer 36 as well as accommodating a longer door on which additional storage shelves may be placed. Also as is seen in FIGURE 2, the rear of cabinet is devoid of refrigerating unit components, and in further view of the fact that cooling air flows into and out of compartment 31 through the front grill 37 only, the rear wall of the cabinet can be placed substantially flush with the wall of a room. Moreover, the top and sides of the cabinet can be enclosed in view of the pattern of air circulation afforded by the invention.

I claim:

1. A refrigerant condensing unit for use in combination with a refrigerator having an insulated food storage compartment, a machine compartment, and defrostable cooling means for said food storage compartment, said condensing unit being adapted for disposition in such machine compartment, and comprising: a compressor; a condenser connected to said compressor and including a pair of generally planar heat exchanger sections adapted to extend across such compartment and being disposed in confronting spaced relation; and pan means for receiving defrost water from such cooling means, disposed between and spaced from confronting surface portions of the heat exchanger sections.

2. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structure defining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartment adjacent thereto, refrigerating unit means for said cabinet structure, comprising: an evaporator for cooling said storage compartment; and a condenser and compressor in said machine compartment, said condenser being reversely shaped to comprise a pair of generally planar heat exchanger sections extending across said compartment in confronting spaced relation and having adjacent edge portions disposed in contiguous relation, each said heat exchanger section comprising a planar array of tubing over which extends a plurality of spaced elongate wires that serve as secondary heat exchange surfaces; and means connecting said evaporator, compressor, and condenser in series refrigerant flow circuit.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, and further characterized in that said evaporator is of the automatically defrostable type, and by the inclusion of defrost water disposal means comprising a pan for receiving defrost water, said pan extending substantially the width of said machine compartment and disposed between and spaced from the confronting heat exchanger sections.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 and characterized in that partition means is cooperably disposed with said machine compartment to form a first and second region, said partition means including an opening, and said compressor being disposed in said second region, said apparatus further including an air impeller for directing air through said opening, said impeller being operable to draw air into said compartment through said first region for flow over portions of said heat exchanger sections and said pan, and to direct air through the opening in said partition for discharge through said second region for flow over said compressor and the remaining portions of said heat exchanger sections and the pan.

5. A refrigerant condensing unit for use in combination with a refrigerator having an insulated food storage compartment, a machine compartment, and defrostable cooling means for said food storage compartment, said condensing unit being adapted for disposition in such machine compartment, andcomprising: a compressor; a condenser connected to said compressor and including a pair of generally planar heat exchanger sections adapted to extend across such compartment and being disposed in confronting spaced relation, each said heat exchanger section comprising a generally planar array of tubing over which extends a plurality of spaced elongate wires that serve as secondary heat exchange surfaces; and pan means for receiving defrost water from such defrostable cooling means, and disposed between confronting surface portions of the heat exchanger sections.

6. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structure defining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartment adjacent thereto having a front opening, refrigerating unit means for said cabinet structure comprising: an evaporator for cooling said storage compartment; a condenser and compressor in said machine compartment, said condenser being reversely shaped to comprise a pair of generally planar heat exchanger sections extending across said compartment in confronting spaced relation and having adjacent edge portions disposed in contiguous relation, said heat exchanger sections defining a slot-like opening in substantial alignment with and readily accessible from the front opening of said machine compartment; a generally planar moisture disposal container positioned between said heat exchanger sections and movable into and out of said machine compartment through its opening and said slot-like opening; and means connecting said evaporator, compressor, and condenser in series refrigerant flow circuit.

7. In refrigeration apparatus of the type including cabinet structure defining a refrigerated storage compartment and a machine compartment adjacent thereto, refrigerating unit means for said cabinet structure, comprising: an evaporator of the automatically defrostable type for cooling said storage compartment; a condenser and compressor in said machine compartment, said condenser being reversely shaped to comprise a pair of generally planar heat exchanger sections extending across said compartment in confronting spaced relation and having adjacent edge portions disposed in contiguous relation, each said heat exchanger section comprising a planar array of tubing over which extends a plurality of spaced, elongated wires that serve as secondary heat exchange surfaces; defrost water disposal means comprising a pan for receiving defrost water from said defrostable evaporator,

said pan extending substantially the width of said machine compartment and disposed between the confronting heat exchanger section; and means connecting said evaporator, compressor, and condenser in series refrigerant flow circuit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,144 5/ 1954 Grimshaw 62-279 2,721,451 10/ 1955 Schumacher 62279 2,859,595 11/ 1958 Murphy 62-279 3,050,957 8/1962 Robbie 62277 3,111,818 11/1963 Dolan 62-279 WILLIAM J. WYE, Primary Examiner.