Refrigeration – Refrigeration producer – Heat exchange between diverse function elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-30
2001-09-18
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Refrigeration producer
Heat exchange between diverse function elements
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289691
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator which contains a heat exchanger which mates an outer surface of a connection refrigerant tube between a food compartment evaporator and a freezer compartment evaporator with an outer surface of an intercooler refrigerant tube extended from a condenser.
A refrigerator including an intercooler refrigerating system which exchanges heat between a refrigerant tube extended from one region of a condenser with that of a refrigerant tube in an evaporator is known. With this refrigerator, subcooling of the condensed refrigerant and increasing of the temperature of the refrigerant flowing back to a compressor is achieved.
FIG. 5
shows a configuration of a refrigerator having a conventional intercooler refrigerating system. As depicted, the conventional refrigerating system includes a compressor
51
installed on the lower rear side of the main body of the refrigerator, a condenser
53
formed of a condenser tube
54
disposed over the whole region of the main body, a capillary tube
55
for expanding the refrigerant, a food compartment evaporator
58
for evaporating the refrigerant and cooling a food compartment, and a freezer compartment evaporator
57
for evaporating the refrigerant and cooling a freezer compartment.
The freezer compartment evaporator
57
and the food compartment evaporator
58
are connected in series to each other so that the refrigerant flows from the freezer compartment evaporator
57
to the food compartment evaporator
58
. As shown in
FIG. 6
, the food compartment evaporator
58
is comprised of a plurality of heat transfer fins
63
which are disposed with spaces therebetween of a certain distance and a refrigerant tube which serpentines through the heat transfer fins
63
.
The refrigerant tube of the food compartment evaporator
58
is formed of an inner tube
60
having a predetermined small diameter and an outer diameter tube
62
next to the outer surface of the inner tube
60
, as particularly shown in FIG.
7
. The inlet or entrance of a connection refrigerant tube
59
is connected to the freezer compartment evaporator
57
and the outlet or exit of the connection refrigerant tube
59
is connected to the inlet of the outer tube
62
of the food compartment. The condenser tube
54
extended from the condenser
53
is soldered at the entrance of the inner tube
60
of the food compartment. The connecting tube
65
is connected to the outlet of the outer tube
62
and to the inlet of compressor
51
. Finally, the inlet of the capillary tube
55
is connected to the outlet inner tube
60
.
Thus, the refrigerant tube in the food compartment evaporator
58
is comprised of the outer tube
62
and the inner tube
60
which are extruded integrally. The refrigerant supplied from the freezer compartment evaporator
57
flows through the outer tube
62
and the refrigerant supplied from the condenser
53
flows through the inner tube
60
. Thus, the refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
flows in the opposite direction to that flowing through the outer tube
62
.
When the refrigerating system operates, the refrigerant compressed in the compressor
51
flows into the condenser
53
and is condensed while flowing through the condenser tube
54
. The refrigerant flowing through the condenser tube
54
flows into the inner tube
60
of the refrigerant tube in the food compartment evaporator
58
. The refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
is in heat exchange with the refrigerant flowing through the outer tube
62
thereof. Thus, the refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
is subcooled by the refrigerant in outer tube
62
before being discharged to the refrigerant tube connected to the capillary tube
55
. Then, the refrigerant is expanded through the capillary tube
55
. The expanded refrigerant flows into the freezer compartment evaporator
57
. Low temperature refrigerant flowing into the freezer compartment evaporator
57
is in heat exchange with the freezer compartment, thereby increasing the temperature of the refrigerant. Then, the refrigerant flows into the outer tube
62
in the food compartment evaporator
58
. The refrigerant flowing through the outer tube
62
receives heat from the refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
, thereby increasing the temperature of the refrigerant in outer tube
62
. Then, the refrigerant in outer tube
62
flows back to the compressor
51
through the compressor tube
65
.
In the above refrigerating system, heat exchange between the refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
in the refrigerant tube for the food compartment evaporator
58
and the refrigerant flowing through the outer tube
62
therein is achieved. It will be appreciated that the temperature of the refrigerant flowing through the inner tube
60
decreases; as a result, a condensation efficiency of the refrigerant increases. In addition, the refrigerant flowing through the outer tube
62
flows into the compressor
51
after its temperature increases, thus preventing damage to the compressor
51
.
Meanwhile, the condenser tube
54
is connected to the inner tube
60
of the food compartment evaporator
58
, and the connection refrigerant tube
59
and the compressor tube
65
are connected to the outer tube
62
thereof. The inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
have smaller diameters than that of the condenser tube
54
, the connection refrigerant tube
59
and the compressor tube
65
. Thus, in order to connect the inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
to their respective tubes, both ends of the inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
should be expanded in their diameters sufficiently so as to be suitable to the diameters of the corresponding tubes.
However, since the inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
are extruded integrally, it is not so easy to expand the diameters of the inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
. As a pair of connection points exists at both ends of the inner tube
60
and the outer tube
62
, working ability deteriorates and the refrigerant leakage possibility increases.
To conserve energy and improve efficiency of the system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,837 (Radermacher) discloses a subcooling system for a refrigeration cycle of a multi-compartment refrigeration apparatus. In this apparatus, the heat exchange relationship can be effected by an internal subcooler in which nonazeotropic working fluid leaving the condenser is directed though a conduit within the tube of a fin-tube evaporator, the conduit being of smaller dimension than the tube of the evaporator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,805 (Radermacher) discloses a tandem refrigeration system which can reliably cool two or more compartments economically and efficiently. This is accomplished by operating the system with a single compressor, providing two evaporators in series, operating the evaporators at the same pressure level at any given time, and operating only one evaporator fan at a time. However, such systems still have the problem of working ability deterioration and of refrigerant leakage possibility as described above.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator in which a tubing work is facilitated and a refrigerant leakage possibility decreased while maintaining a high efficiency of a refrigerating system.
To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator including a compressor, a condenser for condensing a refrigerant supplied from said compressor, and a pair of evaporators which are connected in series for evaporating the refrigerant supplied from the condenser. The refrigerator also includes: a connection refrigerant tube connecting the pair of evaporators; and an intercooler refrigerant tube extended from said condenser and contacting the outer surface of the connection refrigerant tube for heat-exchanging with the connection refrigerator tube.
Preferably, said intercooler refrigerant tube and sai
Kang Sung-Cheol
Kim Eui-Joon
Kim Kwang-Il
Ali Mohammad M
Larson & Taylor PLC
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd
Tapolcai William E.
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