Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-10
2003-09-30
Jones, Melvin (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S415000, C062S440000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06625998
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator, and in particular to a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator which is capable of coping with a load on a chilling chamber and performing an intensive cooling at a part at which the load has occurred by adjusting a quantity of cooling air discharged into the chilling chamber.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a refrigerator is partitioned into a freezing camber for preserving frozen foods and making ice and a chilling chamber preserving cold foods, and a cooling cycle for supplying cooling air to the freezing chamber and the chilling chamber is included.
Presently, a refrigerator can be largely divided into a general type arranging a freezing chamber and a chilling chamber up and down and a side by side type arranging a freezing chamber and a chilling chamber side by side mainly applied to a large refrigerator.
FIG. 1
is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a cooling air supply device for a side by side type refrigerator in accordance with the prior art, and
FIG. 2
is a transverse sectional view illustrating the cooling air supply device for the side by side type refrigerator in accordance with the prior art.
The conventional refrigerator is constructed with a main body
104
having a pair of doors
102
opened/closed at front surface, a freezing chamber
106
placed at one of the right and left sides of the main body
104
and preserving frozen foods, a chilling chamber
108
demarcated by a mullion wall
110
, placed at one of the right and left sides of the main frame
104
and preserving cold foods, a ventilation fan
114
installed to the upper portion of the freezing chamber
106
and compulsorily ventilating air cooled by passing an evaporator
112
of a cooling cycle to the freezing chamber
106
, and a device for controlling a cooling air supply in order to supply the cooling air ventilated by the ventilation fan
114
to the chilling chamber
108
.
A plurality of shelves
114
are installed inside the freezing chamber
106
and the chilling chamber
108
at a certain intervals in order to preserve foods by layers, and vegetable containers
116
,
117
for preserving vegetables are placed at the lower portion of the chilling chamber
108
.
The device for controlling the cooling air supply includes a cooling air supply path
118
formed at the upper portion of the million wall
110
so as to suck the cooling air ventilated by the ventilation fan
114
installed to the freezing chamber
106
into the chilling chamber
108
, and a cooling air discharge duct
120
installed to the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
, connected with the cooling air supply path
118
and discharging the cooling air supplied to the cooling air supply path
118
to the chilling chamber
108
.
And, a cooling air suction path
122
sucking the cooling air finished the cooling operation while circulating the chilling chamber
108
into the evaporator
112
of the cooling cycle is formed at the lower portion of the million wall
110
.
The cooling air discharge duct
120
is transversely placed at the upper portion of the chilling chamber
108
, connected to the cooling air supply path
118
and includes a plurality of cooling air discharge holes
124
formed at the front surface in order to discharge the cooling air to the chilling chamber
108
.
In the side by side type refrigerator, when the cooling cycle is operated and the ventilation fan
220
is rotated, the air cooled while passing the evaporator
112
is discharged into the freezing chamber
106
by a ventilation pressure of the ventilation fan
220
and supplied to the chilling chamber
108
through the cooling air supply path
118
.
The cooling air supplied to the cooling air supply path
118
is sucked into the cooling air discharge duct
120
and discharged inside the chilling chamber
108
through the plurality of cooling air discharge holes
124
formed at the cooling air discharge duct
120
. The cooling air discharged inside the chilling chamber
108
performs the cooling operation of cold foods while circulating the chilling chamber
108
, the cooling air finished the cooling operation is sucked into the cooling air cycle through the cooling air suction path
122
formed at the lower portion of the million wall
110
and is cooled again while passing the evaporator
112
.
However, in the device for controlling the cooling air supply of the refrigerator in accordance with the prior art, a quantity of cooling air discharged into a chilling chamber through a plurality of cooling air discharge holes is regular, when a temperature inside the chilling chamber rises instantly by an opening/closing of a chilling chamber door or coming in and out of foods, a cooling time for lowering the chilling chamber temperature increases, and it is impossible to coping with a load on the chilling chamber appropriately.
In addition, when the chilling chamber is cooled by cooling air passing the plurality of cooling air discharge holes, because the cooling air is continuously discharged into the chilling chamber after a temperature inside the cooling air reaches an optimum level, an efficiency of a refrigerator is lowered.
In addition, because cooling air is uniformly discharged to a whole chilling chamber although a load has occurred on a certain part of the chilling chamber due to lots of preserved foods, a temperature distribution inside the whole chilling chamber is irregular.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator which is capable of regularly maintaining a temperature distribution inside a whole chilling chamber in a short time by intensively discharging cooling air to a part when a temperature at the part rises due to lots of preserved foods, etc.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator which is capable of coping with a temperature rise of a refrigerator actively by supplying lots of cooling air instantly by applying a discharge pressure to cooling air discharged into a chilling chamber when a temperature inside the chilling chamber rises due to lots of preserved foods or opening/closing of a door, etc.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator which is capable of improving an efficiency of a refrigerator by supplying cooling air to a freezing chamber by varying a flow path of cooling air supplied to a chilling chamber when a temperature inside the chilling chamber reaches an optimum level.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, a device for controlling a cooling air supply of a refrigerator in accordance with the present invention includes a cooling air supply path formed at the upper portion of a mullion wall demarcating a chilling chamber and a freezing chamber and supplying cooling air ventilated by a ventilation fan to the chilling chamber, a cooling air guide path diverged from the cooling air supply path and guiding the cooling air to each part of the chilling chamber, a cooling air duct connected to the cooling air guide path and discharging the cooling air to each partition demarcated by shelves of the chilling chamber and a cooling air control means intensively discharging the cooling air to a partition at which a load has occurred of the partitions demarcated by the shelves of the chilling chamber.
The cooling control means includes a temperature sensing means respectively installed to each partition demarcated by the selves of the chilling chamber, an opening/closing means respectively formed at each of a plurality of cooling air discharge holes formed at each partition of the chilling chamber and performing an opening/closing operation of each of the plurality of cooling air discharge holes and a control unit oper
Choi Young Seok
Kang Byung Gyu
Kim Sang Bae
Fleshner & Kim LLP
Jones Melvin
LG Electronics Inc.
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