Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-10
2004-02-24
Norman, Marc (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C236S049300, C062S187000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06694761
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator, and in particular to a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator capable of distributing cold air selectively to the rear and the side surfaces of a chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator is partitioned into a freezing chamber for storing frozen food and a chilling chamber for storing cold food, and it has a refrigerating cycle for supplying cold air into the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber.
FIG. 1
is a perspective-sectional view illustrating the conventional refrigerator, and
FIG. 2
is a sectional view illustrating a chilling chamber of the conventional refrigerator.
The conventional refrigerator consists of a main body
104
on which a pair of doors
102
open/closed in two ways installed on the front; a freezing chamber
106
placed on the left of the main body
104
and storing frozen food; a chilling chamber
108
partitioned from the freezing chamber
106
by a separation wall
110
, placed on the right side of the main body
104
; and a cold air supply apparatus supplied air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle (not shown) to the freezing chamber
106
and the cooling chamber
108
.
The cold air supply apparatus includes a blower
120
installed at the upper rear surface of the freezing chamber
106
and forcibly ventilating air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle; a panel
128
installed at the front portion of the blower
120
and having plural cold air discharge holes
130
for discharging cold air inside the freezing chamber
106
; a cold air supply path
132
formed at the upper portion of the separation wall
110
in order to make the cold air ventilated from the blower
120
flow into the chilling chamber
108
; a cold air discharge duct
134
installed at the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
and discharging the air supplied from the cold air supply path
132
into the chilling chamber
108
; and a cold air inflow path
138
formed at the lower portion of the separation wall
110
and making the cold air finishing the cooling operation while circulating the chilling chamber
108
flow into the refrigerating cycle.
A damper
150
for opening/closing the cold air supply path
132
is installed on the cold air supply path
132
in order to pass/cut off cold air to the chilling chamber
108
, and a temperature sensor
152
for sensing a temperature inside the chilling chamber
108
is installed inside the chilling chamber
108
.
In the conventional refrigerator, when the refrigerating cycle is operated and the blower
120
is rotated, cold air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle is respectively discharged into cold air discharge holes
130
of a panel
128
and the cold air supply path
132
by the ventilation pressure of the blower
120
.
The cold air discharged through the cold air discharge holes
130
performs the cooling operation of frozen food stored in the freezing chamber
106
while circulating inside the freezing chamber
106
.
And, the cold air supplied to the cold air supply path
132
flows into the cold air discharge duct
134
and is discharged into the chilling chamber
108
through cold air discharge holes
136
formed on the cold air discharge duct
134
. The cold air discharged into the chilling chamber
108
performs the cooling operation of cold food stored in the chilling chamber
108
while circulating inside the chilling chamber
108
, and the cold air finishing the cooling operation flows into the cold air inflow path
138
formed at the lower portion of the separation wall
110
and is cooled again while passing the refrigerating cycle.
Herein, the temperature sensor
152
detects a temperature inside the chilling chamber
108
, when a temperature is not greater than a set temperature, the damper
150
is operated so as to close the cold air supply path
132
, when a temperature is not less than a set temperature, the damper
150
is operated so as to open the cold air supply path
132
and perform the cold air supply.
However, in the conventional refrigerator, a cold air discharge duct is installed at the upper portion of a chilling chamber, cold air is supplied from the upper portion to the lower portion of the chilling chamber through cold air discharge holes formed on the cold air discharge duct, a temperature variation inside the chilling chamber is big according to a distance from the cold air discharge holes. And, because cold air is discharged only from the cold air discharge duct, when a high temperature load occurs due to foodstuff stored inside the chilling chamber, etc., lots of time is required for equalizing a temperature inside the chilling chamber, and freshness of the foodstuff stored in the chilling chamber may be lowered due to delay in cooling.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, plural cold air discharge holes can be formed inside the chilling chamber, and each cold air discharge hole is connected with each other in order to distribute cold air inside the chilling chamber evenly. However, in that case, because a cold par flow path is lengthened according to the increase of the number of cold air discharge holes, a discharge pressure of cold air is lowered, a cold air flow rate is decreased, and accordingly it is disadvantageous in the heat transmission aspect.
In addition, when a blower for providing a ventilation pressure is installed on each cold air discharge hole in order to prevent the cold air flow rate decrease, a structure of a refrigerator is complicated, a production cost is increased, and a power consumption and noise of the refrigerator are increased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator which is capable of preventing cold air discharge pressure lowering phenomenon and distributing cold air inside a chilling chamber evenly by forming cold air path so as to discharge cold air from the rear and side surfaces of the chilling chamber and distributing cold air to the rear and side surfaces of the chilling chamber selectively by using one damper without adding additional parts.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cold air supply apparatus of a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention includes a blower installed at the upper of a freezing chamber and forcibly ventilating air cooled while passing a refrigerating cycle; a cold air discharge duct installed at the upper portion of a chilling chamber so as to communicate with a cold air supply path formed at the upper portion of a separation wall partitioning the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber and discharging cold air from the upper portion of the chilling chamber; a side cold air path connected with a certain side of the cold air discharge duct, formed at the side wall of the chilling chamber and guiding cold air to the side surface of the chilling chamber; and a damper installed on a certain side of the cold air discharge duct in order to open/close the cold air supply hole, the side cold air path and both the side cold air path and the cold air discharge duct selectively.
The cold air discharge duct is installed on the rear upper portion of the chilling chamber so as to communicate with the cold air supply hole, a cold air discharge hole is respectively formed at the front and lower surfaces of the cold air discharge duct to discharge cold air inside the chilling chamber, and the side cold air path is connected to the bottom portion of the cold air discharge duct.
The damper is rotationally installed on the upper surface of the cold air discharge duct by a hinge shaft, and a damper driving unit for rotating the damper is connected to the hinge shaft.
The damper cuts off cold air supply to the chilling chamber by closing the cold air supply hole when it is placed on a first position according to the operation of the damper driving unit, cold air supply to the side co
An Kwang-Hyup
Cho Seong-Ho
Choi Jay-Ho
Lee In-Seop
Lee In-Won
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
LG Electronics Inc.
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