Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-07
2003-10-28
Norman, Marc (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S414000, C236S049300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637225
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and in particular to a concentrated cooling apparatus and a refrigerator having the same capable of performing instant cooling operation and maintaining a temperature inside a cooling chamber uniformly by jetting cold air intensively at a high-temperature load occurred region inside the chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator is partitioned into a freezing chamber for storing is 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
having a pair of doors
102
; 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 having plural shelves
114
for putting cold food; and a cold air supply unit supplied air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle (not shown) to the freezing chamber
106
and the cooling chamber
108
.
The cold air supply unit 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 lower 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
, communicating with the cold air supply path
132
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.
Herein, plural cold air discharge holes
136
for discharging cold air into the chilling chamber
108
are formed at the front and lower surfaces of the cold air discharge duct
134
.
And, a temperature sensor
140
is installed at a certain side of the chilling chamber
108
, when a temperature inside the chilling chamber
108
is not greater than a set value, cold air supply into the chilling chamber
108
is stopped, when a temperature inside the chilling chamber
108
is not less than a set value, cold air is supplied into the chilling chamber
108
.
In the conventional refrigerator, when the refrigerating cycle is operated and the blower
120
is circulated, cold air cooled while passing the refrigerating cycle is respectively discharged into cold air discharge holes
230
of a panel
128
and the cold air supply path
132
by the ventilation pressure of the blower
120
.
The cold air discharged into 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.
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 addition, because a temperature sensor and cold air discharge holes are fixed at a certain region, there are some difficulties to detect a temperature of a certain portions of the chilling chamber through the temperature sensor and cold air are discharged onto only limited region, herein, when a load occurs on the certain regions, lots of time is required for solving the temperature variation, and accordingly a temperature inside the chilling chamber may not be uniformly maintained.
In particular, because the cold air discharge holes are formed at the rear of the chilling chamber, cold air supply is concentrated on the rear and center portions of the chilling chamber around the cold air discharge holes, foodstuff stored on that portions may be excessively cooled, in addition, foodstuff stored on portions separated from the cold air discharge holes may be weakly cooled.
In more detail, the temperature variation inside the chilling chamber is big according to a distance from the cold air discharge holes, and accordingly a temperature distribution inside the chilling chamber may not be uniform.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a concentrated cooling apparatus and a refrigerator having the same capable of equalizing a temperature variation inside a chilling chamber instantly by installing a concentrated cooling apparatus inside the chilling chamber and discharging cold air intensively on a high-temperature load occurred region inside the chilling chamber and maintaining freshness of foodstuff stored in the chilling chamber by improving a cooling speed on the high-temperature load occurred region.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a concentrated cooling apparatus of a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention includes housings respectively installed to at least one cold air guide path formed at the side wall of a chilling chamber in order to guide cold air to the side wall of the chilling chamber; a nozzle rotatively supported by the housings and jetting cold air intensively to a high-temperature load occurred region inside the chilling chamber; a temperature sensor installed on the front of the nozzle rotating with the nozzle and sensing the high-temperature load occurred region; and a nozzle driving unit installed at a certain side of the housings to rotate the nozzle.
The housing installed a cold air guide hole formed on the cold air guide path so as to communicate with each other, and the other housing is an cover installed to the open upper surface of the housing so as to expose the nozzle to the front thereof.
The housing having a contact protrusion is inwardly formed from the bottom central portion of the housing so as to contact with the nozzle, and plural first support rollers are installed at the circumference of the contact protrusion to support the nozzle rotatively.
A first hot wire is installed on the inner circumference of the contact protrusion to prevent frozen over on the contact portion with the nozzle.
The cover is formed a insert hole for receiving the nozzle rotatively, and plural second support rollers are installe
An Kwang-Hyup
Cho Seong-Ho
Choi Jay-Ho
Lee In-Seop
Lee In-Won
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Norman Marc
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