Refrigeration – Cooled enclosure – Plural cooled compartments
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-19
2003-10-07
Esquivel, Denise L. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Cooled enclosure
Plural cooled compartments
C062S447000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06629429
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an arrangement of cooling functional elements or control elements in a refrigerator.
BACKGROUND ART
Recently, there is an increasing demand to increase the capacity of refrigerators. On the other hand, the housing problem limits the installation space of a refrigerator and, in order to realize an increase in capacity, it is necessary to reconsider void spaces or spaces having a low practical use within the refrigerator body. By reducing such spaces, it is possible to enhance the volumetric efficiency and increase the effective internal capacity without increasing the installation space.
Various countermeasures have been proposed to enhance the volumetric efficiency. One of the typical countermeasures is to enhance the heat insulating efficiency of a heat insulating material in the refrigerator body to directly increase the internal volume of a cabinet. Another typical countermeasure is to reduce the volume occupied by electronic control boards or cooling functional elements such as a refrigerating cycle, fans, a damper device, cooling ducts, etc. for cooling the cabinet, because such volume is an ineffectual one with respect to a storage space within the cabinet, though the above elements are necessary and indispensable.
Because the former countermeasure depends greatly on a technical development of the heat insulating material itself, the latter has been mainly employed to enhance the mounting efficiency of the cooling functional elements or the control elements.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-338681 discloses this kind of conventional refrigerator.
FIG. 16 is a front view of the conventional refrigerator. FIG. 17 is a sectional view of the conventional refrigerator. In FIGS. 16 and 17, 1 denotes a refrigerator body, and 2 denotes a heat insulating partition wall for partitioning the interior of the refrigerator body 1 into upper and lower chambers and having a rising portion 2a on the rear side thereof. 3 denotes a refrigerating compartment and 4 denotes a vegetable compartment formed below the refrigerating compartment 3, both located separately above the heat insulating partition wall 2. 5 denotes an upper freezing compartment and 6 denotes a lower freezing compartment, both located separately below the heat insulating partition wall 2. Further, 7 denotes a low-temperature compartment located below the refrigerating compartment 3 and controlled at a temperature lower than the temperature in the refrigerating compartment 3.
8 denotes a pivoted door mounted on a front opening of the refrigerating compartment 3, and 9, 10, and 11 denote drawer-type doors mounted on front openings of the vegetable compartment 4, the upper freezing compartment 5, and the lower freezing compartment 6, respectively. Further, 12, 13, and 14 denote slidable storage containers secured to the drawer-type doors 9, 10, 11, respectively, and 15 denotes a storage container accommodated within the low-temperature compartment 7. 16 denotes shelves for partitioning the refrigerating compartment 3 into a plurality of storage compartments.
17 denotes a machinery compartment formed at a lower portion and a lower rear portion of the refrigerator body 1. 18 denotes a compressor of a refrigerating cycle disposed inside the machinery compartment and rearwardly of the lower freezing compartment 6, and 19 denotes a condenser disposed below the lower freezing compartment 6. 20 denotes an evaporating dish disposed in a space below the condenser 19 for evaporating water produced by defrosting. 21 denotes a cooler of the refrigerating cycle disposed inside the upper freezing compartment 5 at a rear portion thereof and extending in a vertical direction above the compressor 18. Further, 22 denotes a forced draft fan disposed above the cooler 21 and confronting the rising portion 2a at a location rearwardly of the vegetable compartment 4.
23 denotes an air-duct control panel disposed rearwardly of the vegetable compartment 4 and the low-temperature compartment 7 and accommodating a damper device 24 for regulating the amount of chilly air supplied to the refrigerating compartment 3 and the vegetable compartment 4, a damper device 25 for regulating the amount of chilly air supplied to the low-temperature compartment 7, and an electronic control board 26 for controlling electrically-driven devices such as the compressor 18, the forced draft fan 22, the damper devices 24, 25 and the like.
27 denotes a first chilly-air discharge duct for introducing into the refrigerating compartment 3 chilly air sent from the forced draft fan 22 via the damper device 24. The first chilly-air discharge duct 27 has chilly-air discharge ports 28 defined therein one above another at a central portion of the refrigerating compartment 3 so as to confront the storage compartments between the shelves 16. 29 denotes a second chilly-air discharge duct for introducing the chilly air into the low-temperature compartment 7 via the damper device 24. The second chilly-air discharge duct 29 has a chilly-air discharge port 30 defined therein at a rear portion of the low-temperature compartment 7.
31 denotes a chilly-air suction duct for returning the chilly air from the vegetable compartment 4 to the cooler 21 and having a chilly-air suction port 32 defined therein at a rear portion of the vegetable compartment 4. The chilly air discharged into the refrigerating compartment 3 and the low-temperature compartment 7 circulates from a communication port 33 defined in a lower rear portion of the low-temperature compartment 7 to the chilly-air suction port 32 via a peripheral portion of the storage container 12 of the vegetable compartment.
34 denotes a chilly-air discharge port for discharging the chilly air from the forced draft fan 22 into the upper freezing compartment 5 and the lower freezing compartment 6. The rising portion 2a of the heat insulating wall is positioned in front of the chilly-air discharge port 34 so as to direct the chilly air downwardly. Further, 35 denotes a chilly-air suction port for returning the chilly air to a lower portion of the cooler 21.
36 denotes a temperature detector mounted on a rear wall of the upper freezing compartment 5 for detecting the temperature inside the freezing compartments. 37 denotes a temperature detector mounted on a rear wall of the refrigerating compartment 3 for detecting the temperature inside the refrigerating compartment. 38 denotes a temperature detector mounted on a rear wall of the low-temperature compartment 7 for detecting the temperature inside the low-temperature compartment.
Further, 39 denotes a defrosting heater adjacent to a lower portion of the cooler 21, 40 denotes a drip pan for receiving water produced by defrosting, and 41 denotes a discharge pipe. The discharge pipe 41 communicates the drip pan 40 with the evaporating dish 20.
The operation of the refrigerator of the above-described construction is explained hereinafter.
When the temperature detected by the temperature detector 36 is higher than a set value, the compressor 18 is operated, and chilly air cooled by the cooler 21 is caused to forcibly flow by the forced draft fan 22 and is discharged into the upper freezing compartment 5 and the lower freezing compartment 6 via the chilly-air discharge port 34. Thereafter, the chilly air is returned to the cooler 21 via the chilly-air suction port 35. When the temperature detected by the temperature detector 36 becomes lower than the set value, the compressor 18 is stopped. Such operations are repeatedly carried out, and the interior of the freezing compartments is cooled to, for example, a freezing temperature of −18° C.
When the temperatures detected by the temperature detectors 36, 37 are higher than respective set values, the damper device 24 is opened, and the chilly air cooled by the cooler 21 is caused to forcibly flow by the forced draft fan 22 and is discharged into the refrigerating compartment 3 via the first chilly-air discharge duct 27 and the chilly-air discharge ports 28. The chilly air that has cooled the int
Kawamura Takao
Manabe Akihiko
Ohashi Yoshiki
Drake Malik N.
Esquivel Denise L.
Matsushita Refrigeration Company
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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