Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-12
2003-07-29
Wayner, William (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S199000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06598410
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a refrigerator including a cold storage zone evaporator, a freezing zone evaporator, a first passage through which refrigerant is caused to flow into the cold storage zone evaporator and a second passage through which the refrigerant is caused to flow into the freezing zone evaporator, the first and second passages being in parallel with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have conventionally been provided household refrigerators having a cold storage zone
1
and a freezing zone
2
as shown in FIG.
18
. The zones
1
and
2
are divided by a heat insulation partition wall
3
. The cold storage zone
1
is further divided by a partition plate
4
into an upper cold storage compartment
1
a
and a lower vegetable compartment
1
b.
Only a freezing compartment
2
a
is defined in the freezing zone
2
.
A cold storage component compartment
5
is defined deep in the vegetable compartment
1
b
in the cold storage zone
1
. An evaporator
6
, a fan
7
and an electric heater
8
all for the cold storage zone are disposed in the cold storage component compartment
5
. A refrigerating component compartment
9
is defined deep in the freezing compartment
2
a
in the freezing zone
2
. An evaporator
10
, a fan
11
and an electric heater
12
are also disposed in the freezing component compartment
9
. Air in the cold storage zone
1
is circulated by the fan
7
while in contact with the evaporator
6
, as shown by arrows in FIG.
18
. Air in the freezing zone
2
is also circulated by the fan
11
while in contact with the evaporator
10
, as shown by arrows in FIG.
18
. Thus, both fans
7
and
11
are for air circulation in the refrigerator. The heater
8
dissolves frost adherent to the evaporator
6
thereby to remove the frost. The heater
12
also dissolves frost adherent to the evaporator
10
thereby to remove the frost. Thus, the heaters
8
and
12
are for defrosting. A machine compartment
13
is provided in a lowest rear of the refrigerator. A compressor
14
is disposed in the machine compartment
13
.
FIG. 19
shows an exemplified arrangement of equipment composing a refrigerating cycle for the foregoing refrigerator. A refrigerant is circulated through the equipment so that the refrigerating cycle is carried out. In the shown refrigerating cycle, the two evaporators are individually provided for the cold storage and freezing zones
1
and
2
respectively and connected in parallel with each other. The refrigerant is compressed by the compressor
14
into a high-temperature high-pressure gas, which enters a condenser
15
. The condenser
15
is cooled by a heat-dissipating fan (not shown) such that the refrigerant is cooled into an ordinary temperature high-pressure liquid. The liquefied refrigerant is introduced from the condenser
15
into a three-way valve
16
having one entrance and two exits. A capillary tube
17
for the cold storage zone is connected to one of the exits, whereas a capillary tube
19
for the freezing zone is connected to the other exit. The valve
16
switches the direction of the refrigerant between a case where an atmosphere in the cold storage zone
1
is cooled and a case where an atmosphere in the freezing zone
2
is cooled.
FIG. 20
shows a flow of the refrigerant by way of arrows in the case where the atmosphere in the cold storage zone
1
is cooled. In this case, the refrigerant flowing out of the condenser
15
enters the cold storage zone capillary tube
17
by the switching of the valve
16
. The refrigerant passes through the capillary tube
17
to be introduced into the cold storage zone evaporator
16
. The capillary tube
17
reduces the pressure of an ordinary temperature high-pressure liquid refrigerant so that the refrigerant fed to the evaporator
16
is easily evaporated. The capillary tube
17
also controls a flow rate of the liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant having entered the evaporator
6
evaporates into a gaseous refrigerant. During evaporation, an ambient heat is absorbed so that the evaporator
6
is cooled. The cold storage zone fan
7
is operated so that air in the cold storage zone
1
is circulated while in contact with the cooled evaporator
6
, whereupon the atmosphere in the cold storage zone
1
is cooled. The liquid refrigerant evaporates in the evaporator
6
into gaseous refrigerant, which is returned through a suction pipe
18
into the compressor
14
to be re-compressed.
On the other hand, the refrigerant flows through a path as shown by arrows in
FIG. 21
when the atmosphere in the freezing zone
2
is cooled. More specifically, the refrigerant flowing out of the condenser
15
further flows through the three-way valve
16
into a capillary tube
19
for the freezing zone. The refrigerant further flows through the capillary tube
19
into the freezing zone evaporator
10
. In the evaporator
10
, the refrigerant evaporates into a gaseous refrigerant. The evaporator
10
is cooled during the evaporation. Thereafter, the refrigerant returns through a check valve
20
and the suction pipe
18
into the compressor
14
. An accumulator (not shown) may or may not be provided between the freezing zone evaporator
10
and the check valve
20
. Thus, the refrigerating cycle as shown in
FIG. 19
has a passage through which the refrigerant flows so that the atmosphere in the cold storage zone is cooled and a passage through which the refrigerant flows so that the atmosphere in the freezing zone is cooled, both passages being in parallel with each other. The three-way valve
16
switches between the passages.
A temperature in the freezing zone
2
is required to be lower than a temperature in the cold storage zone
1
. For this purpose, an evaporating temperature at which the refrigerant evaporates in the freezing zone evaporator
10
should be lower than an evaporating temperature at which the refrigerant evaporates in the cold storage zone evaporator
6
. An evaporating pressure needs to be reduced in order that the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant may be reduced. Accordingly, the freezing zone capillary tube
19
is throttled more than the cold storage zone capillary tube
17
so that the refrigerant having passed through the capillary tube
19
evaporates at a lower pressure and a lower temperature. The check valve
20
prevents the refrigerant from flowing into the freezing zone evaporator having a lower temperature to be re-condensed.
On the other hand, conventional refrigerators have been provided including a single evaporator used to cool both the cold storage and freezing zone evaporators although not shown in the drawings. Other conventional refrigerators have further been provided including two evaporators for the cold storage zone and freezing zones respectively, although the evaporators are not shown in the drawings. The evaporators are connected in series to each other. In these conventional refrigerators, atmospheres in both of the cold storage and freezing zones are cooled simultaneously.
However, in the foregoing refrigerators with parallel connected evaporators
6
and
10
, the valve
16
is switched so that the refrigerant flows selectively through one of the evaporators
6
and
10
. Accordingly, the atmospheres in the cold storage and freezing zones
1
and
2
are only cooled alternately. Accordingly, when electric power is supplied to the refrigerator with its interior not being sufficiently cooled, it takes a long time to cool the interiors of the compartments in both cold storage and freezing zone
1
and
2
so that respective set temperatures are reached. For the purpose of solving this problem, the refrigerant is caused to flow simultaneously into both evaporators while atmospheres in the compartments are not sufficiently cooled. In this case, however, since an amount of refrigerant circulated is increased, there are possibilities that the compressor
14
may be overloaded, that the temperature of the condenser
15
may be increased excessively, that a cooling operat
Tago Masato
Temmyo Minoru
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Wayner William
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