Refrigeration – Gas controller or director – Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-03
2002-05-07
Esquivel, Denise L. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Gas controller or director
Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
C062S411000, C062S441000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06381982
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refrigerator; and, more particularly, to a cooling air circulating system for use therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There is shown in
FIG. 1
a cross sectional view of a refrigerator employing a conventional cooling air circulating system.
As shown, the refrigerator
10
includes a freezer chamber
20
at its upper part, a refrigerator chamber
22
at its lower part, a compartment
24
positioned between the freezer chamber
20
and the refrigerator chamber
22
and a cooling air circulating system.
The cooling air circulating system has an evaporator
30
for cooling air therearound at back of the freezer chamber
20
, a first blower
32
installed at an upper back of the freezer chamber
20
, for supplying the cooling air into the freezer chamber
20
, a second blower
34
(see
FIG. 2
) installed at a vicinity of the first blower
32
, for supplying the cooling air into the refrigerator chamber
22
, a louver
36
formed with a plurality of holes
38
through which the cooling air is supplied into the freezer chamber
20
and positioned between the freezer chamber
20
and the evaporator
30
, and a duct system for guiding the air.
The duct system includes a first cooling air return duct
42
provided at the compartment
24
in such a way that the freezer chamber
20
is communicated with the evaporator
30
, for returning the air in the freezer chamber
20
to the evaporator
30
, a second cooling air return duct
44
provided at the compartment
30
in such a way that the refrigerator chamber
22
is communicated with the evaporator
30
, for returning the air in the refrigerator chamber
22
to the evaporator
30
, and a cooling air supplying duct
46
provided at the back side
12
of the refrigerator
10
, for guiding the cooling air from the evaporator
30
to the refrigerator chamber
22
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the cooling air supplying duct
46
downwardly, linearly extends from an upper right side of back of the freezer chamber
20
and then branches into a left and a right sides
22
a
,
22
b
of the refrigerator chamber
22
so as to feed the cooling air into the refrigerator chamber
22
.
The operation of the conventional cooling air circulating system will now be described with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
When a door
14
of the freezer chamber
20
or a door
16
of the refrigerator chamber
22
is opened and closed, the interior temperature of the freezer or the refrigerator chambers
20
,
22
increases. In this case, the temperature detecting unit (not shown) detects the increased temperature in the freezer and the refrigerator chambers
20
,
22
to output the temperature detecting signal into the microcomputer (not shown). Next, the microcomputer allows a refrigerant to circulate, changing the interior temperatures of the freezer or the refrigerator chambers
20
,
22
into desired temperatures.
To be more specific, the air having a relatively high temperature in the freezer chamber
20
flows toward the evaporator
30
through the first cooling air return duct
42
by means of the first blower
32
, exchanging its heat with the evaporator
30
. Thereafter, the air having a relatively low temperature is fed into the freezer chamber
20
through the holes
38
of the louver
36
by means of the first blower
32
, resulting in maintaining the interior temperature of the freezer chamber
20
at the desired temperature.
Similarly, the air having a relatively high temperature in the refrigerator chamber
22
flows toward the evaporator
30
through the second cooling air return duct
44
, exchanging its heat with the evaporator
30
. The air having a relatively low temperature flows to a location at a vicinity of the branched portion of the cooling air supplying duct
46
by means of the second blower
34
. Thereafter, the air having a relatively low temperature is forced into the left and the right side
22
a
,
22
b
of the refrigerator chamber
22
which, in turn, is fed into the refrigerator chamber
22
, resulting in maintaining the interior temperature of the refrigerator chamber
22
at the desired temperature.
In the refrigerator employing the cooling air circulating system described above, the first blower, together with the second blower, are installed at back of the freezer chamber, which, in turn, sets a limit to the location at which the holes of the louver are formed, causing the interior temperature of the freezer chamber to be nonuniform. In addition, the second blower, together with the first blower, is located at back of the freezer chamber, which, in turn, sets a limit to the design of the cooling air supplying duct, hindering the cooling air from being uniformly distributed into the refrigerator chamber, resulting in the interior temperature of the refrigerator chamber becoming nonuniform.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a refrigerator including an improved cooling air circulating system.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling air circulating system for use in a refrigerator having a freezer chamber equipped with an evaporator and a refrigerator chamber, comprising: a blower installed at a substantially upper central portion of back of the freezer chamber, for supplying a cooling air from the evaporator into the freezer chamber, a first cooling air supplying duct for guiding a cooling air from the evaporator into the refrigerator chamber, the cooling air supplying duct downwardly, linearly extending from the blower to a substantially upper, central portion of back of the refrigerator chamber and then being horizontally, linearly branched into a left and a right sides of the refrigerator chamber, a cooling air supplying device provided at the branched portion of the first cooling air supplying duct, for supplying the cooling air from the evaporator into the refrigerator chamber through the first cooling air supplying duct, and a second cooling air supplying duct for allowing the cooling air supplying device to supply the cooling air from the evaporator into the refrigerator chamber.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4077229 (1978-03-01), Gelbard et al.
patent: 5285655 (1994-02-01), Sung-Il et al.
patent: 5323624 (1994-06-01), Schwalm
patent: 5826437 (1998-10-01), Kim
patent: 5875642 (1999-03-01), Lee et al.
patent: 5896748 (1999-04-01), Park
patent: 5992164 (1999-11-01), Kim
patent: 5997254 (1999-12-01), Tosaki
patent: 6041616 (2000-03-01), Jeong
patent: 928447 (1992-05-01), None
Daewoo Electronics Co. Ltd.
Esquivel Denise L.
Jiang Chen-Wen
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
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