Refrigeration – Gas controller or director – Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-18
2001-03-13
Doerrler, William (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Gas controller or director
Cooled gas directed relative to cooled enclosure
C062S441000, C062S298000, C062S187000, C062S447000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199400
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refrigerator damper control and lighting housing that provides effective air flow regulation and a single lamp source for illuminating the fresh food compartment and control dials of the housing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Refrigerators have been constructed so that thermostats may be manually adjusted by the user to change the thermostat setting and thus control the temperature inside the refrigerator. In somne refrigerators the control to adjust the thermostat is located at the front of the refrigerator and the thermostat is located adjacent the rear wall of the refrigerator. In most refrigerators an evaporator of the refrigerant system is located adjacent to the fieezer compartment either in the rear wall of the freezer compartment or in the mullion partition separating the freezer compartment from the fresh food compartment. A portion of the cold air resulting from the operation of the evaporator flows into the freezer compartment and a portion is directed to flow into the fresh food compartment. Typically, the thermostat controls the operation of the refrigerant system and is positioned in the fresh food compartment to sense the temperature of the air within the fresh food compartment. The thermostat sensor is located adjacent the cold air entry port into the fresh food compartment which in most cases is at the rear of the compartment.
When the temperature inside the refrigerator reaches a preset upper limit the thermostat turns on the compressor and the refrigerant system is operated in the normal manner to reduce the temperature of the interior compartment of the refrigerator. When the temperature reaches a preset lower limit the thermostat turns the compressor off. It is also known to provide a control adjustment of a damper that controls the amount of air passing through the cold air entry port into the refrigerator compartment. The thermostat control generally maintains the temperature of the refrigerator including the fresh food compartment and the freezer compartment at a set level. The damper control then controls the amount of air entering into the refrigerator compartment so that the relative temperature of the refrigerator relative to the freezer compartment can be adjusted and controlled.
There have been numerous designs for providing housings for permitting manual control of the damper and for providing illumination into the fresh food compartment. However, most damper controls are complicated and require sophisticated mounting and in some instances may not be readily accessible for repair. With respect to the lighting systems, in many refrigerators, the control for the thermostats requires additional light guides in the form of fiber optics or requires the use of an additional lamp source immediately behind the dials used to control either the thermostat and/or the damper. The fiber optics or additional light source are additional costs factors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a damper control and lighting assembly housing for use in a refrigerator which may be readily mounted to the refrigerator top wall, is easily accessible for repair and maintenance, provides effective and simplistic damper control, and illuminates all control dials through one source which is also used to illuminate the refrigerator compartment.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a refrigerator having an freezer food compartment, a fresh food compartment, and a mullion partition separating the freezer food compartment from the fresh food compartment. The mullion partition has a lower wall defining an upper wall of the fresh food compartment. An air flow passageway is disposed between the freezer and fresh food compartments with an air flow outlet in a rear wall of the fresh food compartment. An air damper is mounted for sliding movement across the air flow passageway to control air flow into the fresh food compartment through the air flow outlet. A damper control and lighting assembly housing is mounted to the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. The housing comprises a bridge section extending across the width of the fresh food compartment and mounted against the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. The housing has first and second rotating dials located in the bridge section. The first dial controls the temperature of the refrigerator and the second dial operates the air damper to control air flow into the refrigerator fresh food compartment. The second dial has a circumference disk shaped surface, a post extending outwardly from the disk shaped surface, and a dial flange extending around a major circumference portion of the disk shaped surface. The dial flange has two edges spaced circumferentially apart from each other around the dial. The housing has a connecting arm having the air damper at a first end thereof. The connecting arm extends towards the second dial. The connecting arm has at its second end an opening for receiving the post of the second dial. Rotational movement of the second dial directly imparts substantially linear movement of the connecting arm to move the air damper to control air flow through the air outlet. The linear movement of the connecting arm and rotational movement of the second dial is limited by the two edges of the dial flange engaging opposing sides of the connecting arm depending on rotational directional movement of the second dial.
By limiting rotational movement of the dial, the dial flange effectively controls linear movement of the connecting arm and regulation of air through the air outlet. The housing permits for easy access to a user of the control dials at the front of the refrigerator while operating a damper at the rear of the refrigerator. The control mechanism is mounted below the refrigerator food compartment upper wall and in front of the rear wall making it easy to replace and repair.
In the preferred embodiment, the rotation of the second dial is limited by the two edges of the dial flange to an angle of less than 120 degrees.
In accordance another aspect of the present invention there is provided a refrigerator having an freezer food compartment, a fresh food compartment, and a mullion partition separating the freezer food compartment from the fresh food compartment, the mullion partition has a lower wall defining the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. The improvement is a damper control and lighting assembly housing mounted to the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. The housing comprises a bridge section extending across the width of the fresh food compartment having a forward flange laying flush against the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. The forward flange includes spaced apart openings through which mounting fasteners pass to mount the bridge section to the upper wall of the fresh food compartment. A front facing panel display wall extends down from the bridge section into the fresh food compartment rearwardly and perpendicular to the forward flange and is easily accessible to a user. The front facing panel display wall has cut-out sections. The first and second dials each having a portion passing through a corresponding cut-out section in the front facing panel display wall for viewing and adjustment by a user. The first and second dials are located in the bridge section and are adapted to rotate about a corresponding vertical axis. The first dial controls the temperature of the refrigerator and the second dial operates a damper to control air flow into the fresh food compartment. The housing has a bulb shaped receiving surface spaced rearwardly of and below the front facing panel display wall. The bulb shaped receiving surface is adapted to receive an incandescent lamp utilized for illuminating fresh food compartment. The incandescent lamp has a line of sight passing over the bulb shaped receiving surface with at least a portion of the first dial to illuminate the first dial.
In the preferred construction, the incandescent lamp is ho
Banicevic Nedo
Dang Muc
Camco Inc.
Doerrler William
Shulman Mark
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