Refrigerator

Details Refrigerator Refrigerator

1999-11-26

2001-09-25

Doerrler, William (Department: 3744)

Refrigeration

Gas controller or director

Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure

C062S414000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06293122

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator, in which a circulation path of cold air in the refrigerator is simplified for increasing an effective space of the refrigerator and improving refrigerator efficiency.
2. Background of the Related Art
A related art refrigerator will be explained with reference to FIG.
1
. The related art refrigerator is provided with a freezing chamber
2
, a refrigerating chamber
4
, which are separated by a barrier
5
, and a heat exchange chamber
6
in rear of the refrigerating chamber
2
. In detail, there are an evaporator
7
and fan
8
in the heat exchange chamber
6
. There is a shroud for guiding flow of cold air in front of the fan
8
, and there is a grill pan
12
having a cold air discharge opening
12
a
for the freezing chamber in front of the shroud
11
. And, there is a refrigerating chamber duct
4
a
in rear of the refrigerating chamber
4
, and there are freezing chamber feed back duct
5
a
and a feed back duct
5
b
in the barrier
5
for feeding the cold air circulated through the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber respectively back to the heat exchange chamber
6
.
Circulation paths of the cold air will be explained with reference to FIG.
1
. The cold air heat exchanged in the heat exchange chamber
6
has one portion supplied to the freezing chamber
2
and the other potion supplied to the refrigerating chamber
4
. In detail, the cold air is supplied to the freezing chamber
2
through an opening
11
a
in the shroud
11
and openings
12
a
in the grill pan
12
as well as to the refrigerating chamber duct
4
a
connected to a space between the shroud
11
and the grill pan
12
. The cold air supplied to the freezing chamber
2
and the refrigerating chamber
4
has heat exchanged with stored food as the cold air circulates through insides of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber. The cold air circulated through the freezing chamber
2
and the refrigerating chamber
4
is fed back to the heat exchange chamber
6
through the freezing chamber feed back duct
5
a
and the feed back duct
5
b,
respectively.
In the meantime, as shown in
FIG. 2
, there is an insulating layer
1
formed in a rear wall, i.e., between an outer case
1
a
and inner cases
2
a
and
4
a,
of the refrigerator by foaming and stuffing with polyurethane which has an excellent insulating property. However, there is an insulating layer in the barrier
5
of styrofoam formed to a required shape and inserted therein such that the freezing chamber feed back duct
5
a
and the feed back duct
5
b.
In detail, a styrofoam insulating member
5
c
formed in a required shape is inserted in the barrier
5
in advance, and gaps between a rear end of the insulating memeber
5
c
and the inner cases
2
a,
and
4
a
are selected with a tape
5
a.
Then, foam is stuffed in a space between the outer case
1
a
and the inner cases
2
a
and
4
a
of the refrigerator, to form an insulating layer
1
. The rear end of the styrofoam insulating member
5
c
is sealed for preventing infiltration of the foam liquid into the barrier
5
. Styrofoam, which cost higher than polyurethane, is stuffed in the barrier
5
instead of polyurethane for preventing deformation of the feed back duct by a foaming pressure of polyurethane.
However, the related art refrigerator structure has the following problems.
First, the use of styrofoam in the barrier as an insulating member in the related art causes many problems. The poorer insulating property of the styrofoam than polyurethane requires to provide a thicker styrofoam for obtaining a desired insulating performance, which in turn reduces effective spaces of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber. The requirement to seal the end portion of the styrofoam insulating member for stuffing a space between the inner cases and the outer case of the refrigerator with foam when the styrofoam insulating member is used causes an increased process steps required in preliminary assembly line, that drops a productivity. Besides, the styrofoam is expensive, and we should refrain from using the styrofoam in view of environment conservation.
Second, the related art cold air circulating paths have the following disadvantages; the cold air circulated through the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber respectively is guided to a front surface of the evaporator
7
before being fed back to the heat exchange chamber, which results in concentrated contact of the cold air at the front surface of the evaporator, that leads to a poor heat exchange efficiency. And, the complicated path of the cold air to the refrigerating chamber with the shroud and the grill pan and bends results in a high flow path resistance, which impedes a smooth supply of the cold air to the refrigerating chamber, with a poor refrigerator efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator which can maximize an effective space for storage of food.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator in which a cold air circulating path is optimized for increasing a heat exchange efficiency.
Other object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator in which an assembly process is simplified for improving a productivity.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the refrigerator includes cold air supplying means in front of a heat exchange chamber for supplying cold air heat exchanged in the heat exchange chamber to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, a discharge guide in rear of a barrier in communication with the cold air supplying means, for guiding the cold air from the cold air supplying means to the refrigerating chamber, and cold air feed back means in rear of the barrier and the rear wall of the refrigerator for guiding the cold air circulated through the refrigerating chamber to the heat exchange chamber.
The cold air supplying means includes a cold air flow passage having at least one cold air discharge opening for permitting the cold air discharged from the heat exchange chamber to flow to the freezing chamber, and, preferably, further includes a cold air feed back opening for feeding the cold air circulated through the freezing chamber back to a front surface of the heat exchange chamber.
The discharge guide includes a cold air discharge passage in communication with the cold air passage in the cold air supply means, and a defrosted water drain passage in communication with the heat exchange chamber.
The cold air feed back means is fitted under the barrier and includes a feed back duct assembly having a feed back duct for flowing the cold air circulated through the refrigerating chamber, and a feed back guide having an inlet side in communication with an outlet side of the feed back duct assembly, and an outlet side in communication with rear of the heat exchange chamber.
The barrier is stuffed with polyurethane, to form an insulating layer.
Thus, the reduction of a barrier thickness permits to maximize effective spaces of the refrigerator, and the optimized circulating flow paths improves a heat exchange efficiency.
And, the simplified assembly process can improve a productivity.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description a

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