Refrigeration – Automatic control – Refrigeration producer
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-07
2003-05-20
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Refrigeration producer
C062S407000, C062S412000, C062S414000, C062S426000, C062S440000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06564566
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling air circulating device in a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a cooling air circulating device in a refrigerator, which is capable of impartially supplying cooling air to a chilling chamber and uniformly maintaining the spread of temperature of the chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a refrigerator is divided into a freezing chamber for keeping an ice making container and frozen food and a chilling chamber for keeping cold food. The refrigerator includes a freezing cycle for supplying cooling air to the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber.
A common type refrigerator, where the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber are arranged in a vertical direction, and a side-by-side type refrigerator having a large capacity, where the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber are arranged in a horizontal direction, are mainly used.
FIG. 1
is a vertical sectional view showing a cooling air supplying device of a side-by-side type refrigerator according to a conventional technology.
FIG. 2
is a horizontal sectional view showing the cooling air supplying device of the side-by-side type refrigerator according to the conventional technology.
A conventional refrigerator includes a main frame
104
, in which a pair of doors
102
hi-directionally opened and closed are installed in the front portion and a receipt space is included, a freezing chamber
106
arranged on either the left side or the right side of the main frame
104
, the freezing chamber
106
for keeping frozen food, a chilling chamber
108
separated from the chilling chamber
106
by a mullion wall
110
and arranged on the other side of the main frame
104
, the chilling chamber
108
keeping cold food, a blast fan
115
installed in the upper portion of the freezing chamber
106
, the blast fan
115
for forcibly blowing air frozen while passing through the evaporator
112
of the freezing cycle to the freezing chamber
106
, and a chilling chamber cooling air circulating device for supplying the cooling air blown by the blast fan
115
to the chilling chamber
108
.
A plurality of shelves
114
are installed to be separated from each other by a predetermined distance in the freezing chamber
106
and the chilling chamber.
108
so that food can be kept by layers. Vegetable boxes
116
and
117
for keeping vegetables are bedded in the lower portion of the shelves
114
.
The chilling chamber cooling air circulating device includes a cooling air supply path
118
formed in the upper portion of the mullion wall
110
so as to suck up the cooling air blown from the blast fan
115
installed in the freezing chamber
106
into the chilling chamber
108
, a cooling air discharge duct
120
installed in the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
and connected to the cooling air supply path
118
, the cooling air discharge duct
120
for discharging the cooling air supplied to the cooling air supply path
118
to the chilling chamber
108
, and a cooling air suction path
122
formed in the lower portion of the mullion wall
110
, the cooling air suction path
122
for sucking up the cooling air that completed a cooling operation while circulating in the chilling chamber
108
into the freezing cycle.
The cooling air discharge duct
120
is horizontally arranged in the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
. One side of the cooling air discharge duct
120
connected to the cooling air supply path
118
. A plurality of cooling air discharge openings
124
for discharging the cooling air to the chilling chamber
108
are formed in the front portion.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, the plurality of vegetable boxes
116
and
117
can be bedded in the lower portion of the chilling chamber by layers. The cooling air suction path
122
is formed in a predetermined position of the mullion wall
110
separated from the bottom of the chilling chamber by a predetermined distance.
That is, the cooling air suction path
122
is formed in one surface of the vegetable box
116
bedded in the upper portion among the vegetable boxes
116
and
117
bedded by layers. A deodorant
140
for removing the bad smell of the cooling air sucked up from the chilling chamber into the freezing cycle is installed in the cooling air suction path
122
.
According to the conventional side-by-side type refrigerator having the above structure, when the freezing cycle is driven and a blast fan
115
is rotated, the air frozen while passing through the evaporator
112
is discharged into the freezing chamber
106
by the blast pressure of the blast fan
115
and is supplied to the chilling chamber through the cooling air supply path
118
.
The cooling air supplied to the cooling air supply path
118
is sucked up into the cooling air discharge duct
120
and is discharged into the chilling chamber
108
through the cooling air discharge openings
124
formed in the cooling air discharge duct
120
. The cooling air discharged into the chilling chamber
108
cools the cold food kept in the chilling chamber
108
while circulating in the chilling chamber
108
. The cooling air that completed the cooling operation is sucked up into a cooling cycle through the cooling air suction path
122
formed in the lower portion of the mullion wall
110
and is cooled again while passing through the evaporator
112
.
However, according to the chilling chamber cooling air circulating device of the above conventional refrigerator, since the path, through which the cooling air that completed the cooling operation while circulating in the chilling chamber is sucked up into the freezing cycle, is formed in the lower portion of the mullion wall, it takes longer to suck up the cooling air that completed the cooling operation. Accordingly, the cooling air whose temperature has risen above a predetermined temperature stays longer in the chilling chamber. Therefore, the cooling air is not impartially distributed to the chilling chamber. As a result, the chilling chamber is partially cooled. Accordingly, the spread of temperature of the chilling chamber is not uniform.
In particular, since only one cooling suction path exists, the cooling air cannot smoothly circulate in the chilling chamber and the temperature of the cooling air discharged from the upper portion of the chilling chamber rises toward the lower portion of the chilling chamber. Accordingly, the food stored in the upper portion of the chilling chamber is excessively cooled and the food stored in the lower portion of the chilling chamber is weakly cooled.
Also, the cooling air suction path, through which the cooling air that circulated in the chilling chamber is sucked up, is formed in the lower portion of the mullion wall so as to be separated from the bottom of the chilling chamber by a predetermined distance, the cooling air does not reach the vegetable box bedded in the lower portion of the chilling chamber. Accordingly, the cooling of the vegetable box deteriorates.
Also, the deodorization effect of the deodorant installed on the cooling air suction path increases in proportion to the amount of air that passes through the cooling air suction path. Since the size of the cooling air suction path is small, the size of the deodorant becomes small. Therefore, the deodorization effect of the deodorant deteriorates.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling air circulating device of a refrigerator, which is capable of impartially cooling an entire chilling chamber and making the spread of temperature of the chilling chamber uniform by letting cooling air sucked up into the respective cells divided by the shelves of the chilling chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cooling air circulating device of a refrigerator, which is capable of rapidly cooling food and reducing time for cooling the food by letting the cooling air sucked up into the respective cells of the chilling chamber, to thus minimize time, for which the
Choi Young Seok
Kang Byung Gyu
Kim Sang Bae
Ali Mohammad M.
Fleshner & Kim LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Tapolcai William E.
LandOfFree
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