Refrigeration – Gas controller or director – Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-15
2002-06-11
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Gas controller or director
Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
C062S414000, C454S195000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06401482
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator with a so-called double-acting door, and more particularly, to a door cooling air supply apparatus of a refrigerator having a double-acting door that is capable of switching a flowing path of cooling air supplied from a refrigerator main body to a door when the door is selectively opened rightward or leftward of the refrigerator main body.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1
is a schematic view showing the structure of a door cooling air supply apparatus of a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art, and
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A′ in
FIG. 1
detailing a cooling air flowing path in the state that the door of the refrigerator of
FIG. 1
is closed.
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the refrigerator includes a main body
10
including a freezing compartment and a cooling compartment
13
and a freezing compartment door
15
and a cooling compartment door
17
hinged at one side of the main body
10
to open and close the front openings of the freezing compartment and the cooling compartment
13
.
Shelves
19
are disposed one above the other inside the cooling compartment
13
, and a cooling compartment cooling duct
21
is disposed extending in the vertical direction at a rear side of the cooling compartment
13
of the main body to discharge cooling air into the cooling compartment
13
.
A cooling air conduit duct
23
is buried inside the insulation behind the liner forming the rear wall and the right wall of the cooling compartment
13
to communicate cooling air from the duct
21
to the cooling compartment door
17
. A connection end portion
24
is formed at the front opening region of the duct
23
to communicate with a door cooling duct (to be described).
A plurality of door pockets
18
are separately disposed on panel face of the cooling compartment door
17
.
A door cooling air duct
25
is formed at the central area of the cooling compartment door
17
for supplying cooling air to bottle type foodstuffs such as bottled beverages kept in the door pockets
18
disposed below, in communication with the cooling air conduit duct
23
.
A plurality of cooling air discharging holes
26
for discharging cooling air therethrough are separately in the door cooling air duct
25
arranged along the longitudinal direction thereof.
A connecting portion
28
is formed at a hinge coupling portion side area of the door cooling air duct
25
to communicate with the connecting end portion
24
of the cooling air conduit duct
23
so that cooling air can flow in thereto from the cooling air conduit duct
23
.
The above-described conventional door cooling apparatus for a refrigerator, however, has a problem that since the cooling air conduit duct
23
for supplying cooling air to the cooling compartment door
17
is buried in the insulation behind the liner forming the rear wall and the right wall of the cooling compartment
13
, which is integrally formed with the main body
10
, it is impossible to change the cooling air passage arrangement after manufacture.
Alternatively, in case of a refrigerator with a so-called “double-acting” door in which a door is hinged at both sides whereby it can be selectively opened rightward and leftward, when the cooling compartment door
17
is pivoted around the side opposite to the side where the connecting portions
24
,
28
for communicating of the refrigerator cooling air conduit duct
23
with the door cooling air duct
25
is formed, since the connecting portions
24
,
28
of the cooling air conduit duct
23
and the door cooling air duct
25
hardly align with each other accurately, in such case cooling air is leaked or is not smoothly supplied from the main body
10
to the cooling compartment door
17
while the door is opened.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a door cooling air supply apparatus for a refrigerator with a double-acting door that is capable of switching a flow passage of cooling air supplied from a main body to a door according to an opening direction of the door when the door is selectively opened leftward or rightward of the main body.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a door cooling supply apparatus for a refrigerator with a main cooling air duct and a double-acting door including: a first cooling air separating duct and a second cooling air separating duct separated from the main cooling air duct; a door cooling air duct installed at the cooling compartment door to discharge cooling air from the cooling compartment door to the cooling compartment and connected to the first and the second cooling air separating ducts; a plurality of door opening sensing means for detecting an opening direction of the cooling compartment door; a controller for determining the opening direction of the cooling compartment door according to the detection made by the door opening sensing means; and a cooling air switching unit installed at an area where the main cooling air duct is separated into the first cooling air separating duct and the second cooling air separating duct and selectively opening one of the first and the second cooling air separating duct controlled by the controller.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4671078 (1987-06-01), Pink
patent: 5573323 (1996-11-01), Kim et al.
patent: 5765388 (1998-06-01), Jeon
patent: 5946934 (1999-09-01), Kim et al.
patent: 5979174 (1999-11-01), Kim et al.
patent: 6038880 (2000-03-01), Oh
patent: 6044659 (2000-04-01), Ji
Kim Sang Bae
Lee Jae Hee
Fleshner & Kim LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Tapolcai William E.
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