Refrigeration – Gas controller or director – Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-19
2001-05-01
McDermott, Corrine (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Gas controller or director
Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
C062S412000, C062S441000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223553
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to an air flow arrangement for a refrigerator assembly used to store food items in a controlled humidity and temperature environment.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the art of refrigerators, particularly household refrigerators, it is often desirable to create varying humidity and/or temperature storage zones to enhance the preservation of different food items. For instance, it is common to accommodate the storage requirements for certain food items, such as dairy products, meats, fruits and vegetables, by forming separately enclosed storage areas within a fresh food compartment. In most instances, these storage areas are designed to be maintained at temperatures which are different from the temperature of the remainder of the fresh food compartment.
In at least the case of fruits and vegetables, it is typically desirable to isolate these food items from direct contact with a flow of cooling air, especially any cold air flowing into the fresh food compartment from a freezer compartment of the refrigerator, mainly because this cold air can be fairly dry. Therefore, in order to isolate the fruits and vegetables from the desiccating effects of the cold air so as to maintain the moisture content of the fruits and vegetables, it has heretofore been proposed to provide a specialized storage receptacle, such as a crisper, within a refrigerator fresh food compartment. A crisper generally takes the form of a slidable bin which is sealed to maintain a relatively high humidity level, while the walls of the bin are chilled to establish a desirable temperature within the bin.
Many different food storage compartment designs have been proposed in the art in an attempt to establish and maintain effective humidity and temperature conditions within the compartment while attempting to avoid the development of condensation. However, there still exists a need for an improved storage compartment system which can maintain a desired humidity level, accurately control the temperature and minimize the tendency for condensation within the compartment. In designing a specialty food storage compartment for a refrigerator, consideration must be taken of the manner in which a flow of cooling air is effectively and efficiently supplied to and exhausted from the food, vegetable, meat or the like bin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an air flow system for a high performance refrigerator storage compartment which is constructed to prevent the loss of humidity, provide an accurately controlled temperature environment and minimize the potential for condensation within a food storage receptacle. The high performance refrigerator storage compartment includes an enclosure, which is mounted within a fresh food compartment of a refrigerator, and a food receptacle, preferably in the form of a bin or drawer, which is slidably mounted between a retracted position, wherein a food storage body portion of the receptacle is generally sealed within the enclosure, and an extended position, wherein the food receptacle is at least partially withdrawn from the enclosure to access the storage body.
In the most preferred form, the enclosure has an open frontal portion and is defined by inner and outer housings. More specifically, the inner housing is concentrically positioned within and internally spaced from the outer housing. Numerous vanes extend between the inner and outer housings and define flow passages or channels over, around and beneath the inner housing. A rear portion of the enclosure is subdivided by a partition wall into upper and lower plenum chambers. A fan is disposed in the partition wall to generate a flow of cooling air into the upper plenum chamber which is guided by the vanes to flow within the passages across a top wall of the inner housing, down along side walls thereof, along the bottom wall of the inner housing and to the lower plenum chamber. In this manner, the cooling air extends around the entire inner housing to establish a uniform, accurate temperature for the food storage receptacle.
Although the preferred form of the invention recirculates a majority of the air flow in order to ensure a minimal temperature gradient through the recirculated air stream, the outer housing is formed with an intake opening which fluidly communicates the freezer compartment of the refrigerator with the interior of the enclosure, while an exhaust opening also leads from the enclosure. At least one temperature sensor is preferably provided to sense the temperature in the enclosure for use in controlling the flow of cold air from the freezer compartment, in combination with controls provided at the front of the bin.
The system also preferably incorporates a variable moisture permeable film, such as a shape memory polymer, which extends across a portion of the inner housing. The presence of the film aids in assuring optimum humidity, minimum condensation and accurate temperature control within the bin in order to improve the useful life of the food items stored therein. The film has associated characteristics enabling the humidity permeability to increase with increasing temperatures. When the temperature in the bin is low, the film functions to prevent the escape of water vapors from within the bin. However, when the temperature increases, excess water vapor will be permitted to escape, thus greatly reducing the possibility of dew condensation.
The present invention is particularly concerned with the manner in which cooling air is supplied to and exhausted from the high performance storage compartment. In accordance with the invention, the fresh food compartment of the refrigerator has a main cooling air supply inlet and a main return air outlet. An air tunnel insert is positioned in a mullion zone between fresh food and freezer compartment liners of the refrigerator. The insert includes an enlarged opening which aligns with the return air outlet such that the insert aids in defining the return air passage. In addition, the insert includes a cooling air supply through hole which is aligned with an additional opening in the fresh food and freezer liners and which functions to define a passage for directing a supply of cooling air from the freezer compartment directly to the enclosure of the high performance storage system within the fresh food compartment. Exhaust air from the enclosure is directed through another opening in the fresh food liner and into a channel defined by the insert. The channel directs this exhaust air, within the mullion zone, to mix with the main return air from the remainder of the fresh food compartment at the return air passage.
In accordance with the most preferred embodiment of the invention, upper and lower high performance food storage compartments are provided and a single air tunnel insert is formed with separate air supply passages and separate channels for respective exhaust air flows. Further in accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, each of the channels is defined by four walls, three of which are defined by the insert itself, and the fourth being defined by a portion of the fresh food liner against which the insert is seated. Therefore, the insert is formed with grooves leading to the main return air passage and these grooves are covered by the fresh food liner in order to define the channels. The use of the air tunnel insert provides for the dedicated air supply passages and effectively combines the return air flows from both specialty compartments and the overall fresh food compartment, while assuring that the air returns to the evaporator coil area near the defrost heater for the refrigerator.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
REFERENCE
Albert Jane
Smith, Jr. Richard D.
Vestal, II William J.
Diederiks, Jr. Everett G.
Jiang Chen-Wen
Maytag Corporation
McDermott Corrine
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