Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-11
2004-03-16
Norman, Marc (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C236S049300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06705099
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator and particularly, to a concentration cooling apparatus for a refrigerator, capable of swiftly maintaining a temperature inside of a chilling chamber as a uniform temperature by performing a swift cooling operation of a high temperature load by concentratedly injecting cold air into a region where a high temperature load is occurred inside the chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a refrigerator includes a freezing chamber for keeping frozen food, and a chilling chamber for keeping chilled food, and a refrigerating cycle for supplying cold air to the freezing chamber and chilling chamber is positioned therein.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view showing a partially cut section of a conventional refrigerator, and
FIG. 2
is a longitudinal sectional view showing a conventional chilling chamber.
The conventional refrigerator includes a main body
104
in which a pair of doors
102
opened and closed in both directions are mounted at the front side, having a receiving space therein, a freezing chamber
106
which is positioned at the left side of the main body
104
, for keeping frozen food, a chilling chamber
108
which has a plurality of shelves
114
for keeping refrigeration food therein, which is divided by the freezing chamber
106
and partition
110
and is positioned at the right side of the main body
104
, and a cold air supplying apparatus which is installed at the upper side of the freezing chamber
106
, for supplying air which is cooled passing the refrigerating cycle to the freezing chamber
106
and chilling chamber
108
.
The cold air supplying apparatus includes a ventilation fan
120
which is mounted on the upper rear wall of the freezing chamber
106
, for coercively ventilating air which is cooled by passing the refrigerating cycle, a panel
128
which is positioned at the lower side of the ventilation fan
120
, having a plurality of cold air discharging ports
130
are formed therein to supply cold air into the freezing chamber
106
, a cold air supply path
132
which is formed at the upper side of the partition
110
for flowing cold air ventilated from the ventilation fan
120
to the chilling chamber
108
, a cold air discharging duct
134
which is mounted at the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
and is connected to the cold air supply path
132
, for discharging cold air into the chilling chamber, and a cold air inflow path
138
which is formed at the lower side of the partition
110
, and in which cold air which completed cooling operation circulating in the chilling chamber
108
is flowed into the refrigerating cycle.
Here, a plurality of cold air discharging ports
136
for discharging cold air to the chilling chamber
108
are formed at the front and lower sides of the cold air discharging duct
134
.
A temperature sensor
140
is attached on one side of the chilling chamber
108
, blocks supply of cold air to the chilling chamber
108
when the temperature of the chilling chamber
108
is lower than a predetermined level, and supplies cold air from the freezing chamber
106
when the temperature is higher than a predetermined level.
The operation of the conventional art with the above composition will be described as follows.
Firstly, when the refrigerating cycle is driven and the ventilation fan rotates, the cold air cooled by passing through the refrigerating cycle is discharged respectively to the cold air discharging port
130
of the panel
128
and cold air supply path
132
by a ventilation pressure of the ventilation fan
120
.
The cold air discharged to the cold air discharging port
130
performs a freezing operation of a frozen food stored in the freezing chamber
106
circulating inside the freezing chamber
106
.
The cold air supplied to the cold air supply path
132
is flowed to the cold air discharging duct
134
and is discharged into the chilling chamber through the cold air discharging port
136
which is formed in the cold air discharging duct
134
.
Therefore, the cold air discharged into the chilling chamber
108
performs cooling operation of the chilled food stored in the chilling chamber
108
circulating in the chilling chamber
108
, and the cold air which stops being cooled is flowed to the cold air inflow path
138
formed at the lower side of the partition
110
and is cooled again by the refrigerating cycle.
However, in the conventional refrigerator, since the cold air discharging duct is positioned at the upper side of the chilling chamber and cold air is supplied from the upper side to the lower side of the chilling chamber through the cold air discharging port formed in the cold air discharging duct, temperature deviation became deepened according to the distance from the cold air discharging port. Since the cold air is discharged only from the cold air discharging duct of the chilling chamber, it took much time to make temperature inside the chilling chamber uniform when a high temperature load is occurred due to a receiving food and the like in the chilling chamber. Therefore, a chilling time became longer, thus to degrading freshness of food stored in the chilling chamber.
Also, since the temperature sensor and cold air discharging port are positioned under the condition that they are respectively fixed in a predetermined region, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor was limited in a predetermined region in the chilling chamber and since cold air discharging was also limited in a predetermined region, in case a high temperature load is occurred in a region out of the portion where the temperature sensor can detect temperature, it took much time to get rid of temperature deviation inside the chilling chamber, and accordingly, the temperature inside the chilling chamber could not be swiftly uniformized.
Particularly, since the cold air discharging port is formed a the rear portion of the chilling chamber, cold air is concentrated in the rear portion and center portion of the chilling chamber near from the cold air discharging port. Therefore, food near the rear portion was over-cooled by much effect of the cold air and food which was kept near the door far from the cold air discharging port could not be relatively affected by the cold air and was under-cooled.
That is, since the internal temperature of the chilling chamber gains a more serious deviation according to the distance from the cold air discharging port, the distribution of the temperature inside the chilling chamber can not be uniformed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a concentration cooling apparatus for a refrigerator, capable of swiftly maintaining a temperature inside of a chilling chamber as a uniform temperature by increasing a cooling speed of the high temperature load by concentratedly discharging cold air to a region where the high temperature load is occurred.
Also, the other object of the present invention is to provide a concentration cooling apparatus for refrigerator, capable of widening the sensing range of the temperature sensor by rotating a nozzle having a cold air injection port for discharging the cold air and the temperature for sensing temperature therein up and down as well as in the circumferential direction, and actively coping with the high temperature load occurred inside the chilling chamber by widening the cold air discharging range of the cold air injection port.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a concentration cooling apparatus for a refrigerator, comprising a housing which is respectively mounted in one or more cold air guiding paths formed on a side wall of the chilling chamber to guide cold air to the side wall of the chilling chamber a nozzle which is rotatably supported in the housing, for concentratedly injecting cold air to a region where a high temperature load is occurred in the chillin
An Kwang-Hyup
Cho Seong-Ho
Choi Jay-Ho
Lee In-Seop
Lee In-Won
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
LG Electronics Inc.
Norman Marc
LandOfFree
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