KR101637353B1

KR101637353B1 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: KR101637353B1
Application number: KR1020100009039A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 조일현; 김창준
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2010-02-01
Filing date: 2010-02-01
Publication date: 2016-07-07
Also published as: KR20110089575A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator capable of appropriately distributing cold air to an internal storage space of a refrigerator by forming a guide portion in a plurality of discharge openings provided in a refrigerant supply duct for supplying cold air generated in a cooling system.

Description

Refrigerator {REFRIGERATOR}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of appropriately distributing cool air to an internal storage space of a refrigerator by forming a guide portion in a plurality of discharge openings provided in a refrigerant supply duct for supplying cold air generated in a cooling system will be.

Generally, a refrigerator is a device that puts food into a freezer or a fridge and keeps it fresh for a long time.

The refrigerator may be divided into a refrigerator having one evaporator in which one evaporator is installed in the freezer compartment and a refrigerator having two evaporators in which the evaporator is installed in the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment.

In the refrigerator provided with the two evaporators, an evaporator is installed in each of the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment to independently cool the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment.

The refrigerator having one evaporator supplies cold air generated through the evaporator installed in the rear of the freezer room to the freezer compartment as well as the freezer compartment to cool the freezer compartment and the refrigerating compartment together.

To this end, a cold air flow path is connected to a cold air supply duct provided at a rear of the refrigerating chamber in a heat exchange chamber provided with an evaporator at the rear of the freezing chamber, and chilled air is discharged and supplied through a plurality of cold air discharge openings formed on the refrigerating chamber front side of the cold air supply duct.

In order to effectively utilize the space by partitioning the storage space inside the refrigerating chamber, a plurality of shelves and drawers are generally installed.

However, if a refrigerator or freezer is provided with a special refrigerator that is kept at a lower temperature than other storage compartments, the refrigerator should be supplied with more cold air.

A damper or a fan may be separately installed in the discharge port of the special cooler to discharge a larger flow rate than the discharge port of the other compartment.

In addition, when the size of the discharge port of the special cooler is formed larger than that of the other discharge port, the heat insulating material inside the duct is visible through the discharge port when the door of the refrigerator is opened.

In addition, since the discharge port on the upstream side of the cool air supply duct has a larger refrigerant flow rate discharged from the discharge port on the downstream side, the discharge port must be formed larger toward the downstream side, and the size of the discharge port is greatly varied.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator and a freezer compartment in which a flow rate of a refrigerant discharged through a plurality of discharge ports provided in a refrigerant supply duct of a refrigerator is adjusted by a guide portion formed inside the refrigerant supply duct, And it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator which can maintain the temperature of each storage compartment at an appropriate temperature.

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator body having a refrigerating chamber for refrigerating and storing food therein and a freezing chamber for refrigerating and storing food; A cool air supply duct for guiding cool air generated in a cooling system including a compressor, an evaporator, an expansion device, and an evaporator to be supplied to the freezing chamber and the freezing chamber; A plurality of discharge ports provided on a front surface of the cool air supply duct such that the cool air is discharged toward the plurality of storage compartments provided in the cold storage and the freezer compartments by shelves and drawers; And a guide portion protruding inwardly from the cool air supply duct around the discharge port and guiding the cool air flowing in the cool air supply duct to be discharged to the discharge port.

Preferably, the guide portion is formed to be bent toward the upstream side in the flow direction on the downstream side in the flow direction of the cool air flowing in the cool air supply duct.

Wherein the refrigerating chamber includes a special cool chamber maintained at a temperature lower than that of the other storage compartment and the guide portion provided at the discharge port for supplying cool air to the special cool chamber is supplied with cool air to the discharge port of the special cool chamber .

Preferably, the cold air supply duct includes a front case having the plurality of discharge ports and a guide portion, and a rear panel coupled to the front case.

In addition, it is preferable that the guide portion is formed gradually increasing toward the downstream side in the flow direction from the upstream side in the flow direction of the cold air flowing in the cold air supply duct.

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, the flow rate of the refrigerant discharged through the plurality of discharge ports provided in the cold air supply duct of the refrigerator is adjusted by the guide portion formed inside the cold air supply duct, thereby controlling the temperature of each storage chamber of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber There is an effect that the temperature can be maintained at an appropriate temperature.

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, the size and shape of the guide portion are appropriately designed without increasing the size of the discharge port, so that the flow rate of the refrigerant discharged through each discharge port is appropriately distributed to realize the target temperature of each storage compartment.

Accordingly, there is no need to separately install a blowing fan inside the cool air supply duct, and the size of the discharge port is maintained as it is in the prior art, so that the heat insulator inside the cool air supply duct is visible when the refrigerator door is opened.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a refrigerant flow in a refrigerator according to the present invention.
2 is a rear perspective view illustrating a front case of a refrigerant supply duct installed in a refrigerator in a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a rear view showing a front case of the refrigerant supply duct shown in FIG.
Fig. 4 is a rear view showing the front case c according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 2 compared with the conventional example (a) and the comparative example (b).

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a refrigerant flow in a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the drawings, the refrigerator 10 of the present invention has a refrigerating chamber 20 at an upper portion thereof and a freezing chamber 40 at a lower portion thereof.

In the refrigerating chamber 20, a plurality of shelves 21 are provided to efficiently use the storage space, and the storage space is divided into a plurality of storage compartments. A plurality of storage shelves 24 are also provided on the inner side of the refrigerator compartment door, and drawer compartments 26 and 27 are provided on the lower side so as to be pulled out in the front-rear direction.

A shelf 41 is also provided in the freezing compartment 40 to form a plurality of storage compartments 42 and a storage shelf 44 is provided on the inner side of the freezing compartment door. It is preferable that a drawer compartment 46 is also provided in the lower part of the freezing compartment 40, like the refrigerating compartment 20.

A cooling system for generating cold air to be supplied into the storage compartment of the refrigerator 10 is provided at the rear of the freezing compartment 40. The refrigeration system of the refrigerator includes a compressor 150 which sucks and compresses gaseous refrigerant at a low temperature and a low pressure to produce gaseous refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure and a gaseous refrigerant discharged from the compressor at a high temperature and a high pressure, A low-temperature low-pressure low-temperature low-pressure low-temperature low-pressure low-temperature low-pressure low-pressure refrigerant passing through the expansion device 170; a condenser 160 for converting the liquid refrigerant into a saturated liquid refrigerant; And an evaporator 180 for exchanging heat with the surrounding air while discharging refrigerant of the refrigerant to evaporate the refrigerant.

The evaporator 180 of the cooling system is installed inside the heat exchange chamber 100 provided behind the freezing chamber 40. In the vicinity of the evaporator (180), a blowing fan (182) for promoting heat exchange between the air passing through the evaporator and the refrigerant is provided.

A part of the cool air generated in the heat exchange chamber 100 by the operation of the cooling system is discharged into the freezing chamber 40 through the discharge port 110 provided on the rear surface of the freezing chamber 40. The remainder of the cool air flows into the cool air supply duct 200 provided at the rear of the refrigerator compartment 20 through the connection duct 120 connected upward in the heat exchange chamber 100.

The cool air supply duct 200 is vertically formed on the rear surface of the refrigerating chamber 20 and has a plurality of discharge ports 210, 220 and 230 for discharging cool air into the refrigerating chamber 20 on the front wall thereof.

The drawer compartments 26 and 27 of the refrigerating compartment 20 form a somewhat enclosed storage space and can be maintained at a temperature different from that of the other storage compartments unlike the other storage compartments 22 which are only partitioned by the shelves 22 . In particular, the lower drawer compartment 27 of the drawer compartment may be a special cooling compartment that is controlled to be maintained at a lower temperature than other storage compartments of the refrigerating compartment. For example, while the other storage compartments of the refrigerating compartment 20 are controlled at 2-5 [deg.] C, they can be controlled at -2 [deg.] C.

Even if the internal temperatures of the plurality of storage compartments partitioned in the refrigerating chamber 20 are controlled to be different from each other, the cool air is generated in the cooling system and supplied through the cool air supply duct. However, it is necessary to control the internal temperature of each storage compartment to be maintained at a proper temperature by controlling the flow rate distribution of the cool air supplied to each storage compartment through the plurality of discharge ports.

The cool air generated in the heat exchange chamber 100 and supplied to the cool air supply duct 200 through the connection duct 120 flows upward and downward through the plurality of outlets 210, ) To the respective storage compartments.

If the sizes of the plurality of discharge ports 210, 220, and 230 are all the same, the cool air flow rate discharged through the discharge ports 210 is the largest at the lowermost discharge port 210, and gradually decreases toward the uppermost discharge port 210.

Therefore, when it is desired to control all of the plurality of storage compartments in the refrigerating compartment to the same temperature, it is general that the size of the plurality of discharge ports is gradually increased from the bottom to the top.

In the case where the drawer compartment 27 in the refrigerating compartment 20 is a special cold compartment, the flow rate of cool air discharged through the lowermost discharge port 210 must be increased. For this, in the present invention, the guide part 300 is protruded to the inside of the cool air supply duct 200 around the discharge port 210, so that the cool air flowing in the cool air supply duct flows into the discharge port 210 Guide a large amount of liquid to be discharged.

The guide part 300 may be bent toward the upstream side in the flow direction on the downstream side in the flow direction of the cold air flowing in the cold air supply duct 200.

1, the guide unit 300 may protrude substantially horizontally from the upper surface of the discharge port 210 on the inner surface of the front wall of the cool air supply duct 200, have. The horizontal portion may be formed in a curved shape so that the cold air flow is smooth.

1, the guide portion 300 is formed only in the lowermost discharge port 210. However, as shown in FIG. 2, all the discharge ports 220 except the uppermost discharge port 230 are provided with guide portions 300 300 may be provided. Since the upper surface of the cold air supply duct 200 is closed without forming the guide portion separately in the uppermost discharge port 230, most of the cold air that has flowed to the uppermost discharge port 230 may be discharged through the discharge port 230.

Even when the guide portion 300 is formed around each of the plurality of discharge ports 210 and 220 except for the uppermost discharge port 230, the refrigerating chamber 20 can be kept at a lower temperature than the other storage compartments 22 And a special cool chamber 27 maintained at a predetermined temperature. In this case, the guide portion 300 provided at the discharge port 210 for supplying the cool air to the special cooling chamber 27 is supplied with more cool air to the discharge port 210 of the special cooling chamber 27 than the guide portion of the other discharge port .

For this purpose, the guide part 300 may be formed to have a larger size than the case where the guide part 300 is controlled at the same temperature. Since the guide portion 300 is provided around the discharge port 210 on the lowermost side of the cold air supply duct 200, the guide portion may be relatively small in order to discharge the same cold air flow rate. The guide part 300 is formed to be larger than the original part so as to discharge more cool air into the special cooling chamber 27.

Accordingly, even if the size of the discharge port 210 is maintained or is rather small for the cooling of the special cooling chamber 27, more cool air flow rate can be discharged through the discharge port 210.

The guide part 300 shown in FIG. 1 has a shape in which the discharge port 210 is formed on the front surface of the guide member 300 and the upper and the lower surfaces thereof are closed by the guide part 300, to be. Therefore, the flow rate of the cool air flowing into the cool air supply duct 200 can be discharged through the discharge port 210. [

The refrigerator includes a top mount type in which a freezing chamber is disposed at an upper portion of a refrigerating chamber according to arrangement of a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, a bottom freezer type in which a freezing chamber is disposed at a lower portion of the refrigerating chamber, And a side by side type partitioned into left and right sides by the partition wall.

The refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 is a bottom freezer type refrigerator in which a freezing room is disposed at a lower portion of a refrigerator, but the present invention is not limited to such a refrigerator. All three types of refrigerators are provided with cool air supply ducts for supplying cool air generated in the cooling system to the storage space inside the refrigerator, and the cool air supply duct is provided with a plurality of discharge openings . Accordingly, the refrigerator according to the present invention, which can appropriately distribute the cool air through the plurality of discharge openings formed in the cool air supply duct, can be applied to all of the three types of refrigerators described above.

Next, the structure of the cold air supply duct 200 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view showing a front case 250 of a cold air supply duct 200 installed in a rear side of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cool air supply duct 200 And a front case 250. Fig.

The cold air supply duct 200 is provided at the rear of the refrigerating chamber 20 and forms a cold air supply passage therein. When the refrigerating chamber 20 is referred to as the front, the plurality of discharge ports and the guide portion And a case 250 and a rear panel (not shown) coupled thereto.

The front case 250 includes a pair of side walls 260 and a top wall 270 formed to protrude with a predetermined width, since the front case 250 is coupled with the rear panel to form a cool air flow path therein.

As shown in FIG. 2, the front case 250 may further include a bottom wall 280 at a lower portion thereof. The bottom wall 280 is integrally connected to the side walls 260 and has a hole 285 through which cool air supplied from below can pass.

The front case 250 shown in FIG. 1 includes a rear portion of the drawer cells 26 and 27 and a plurality of rear portions of the storage compartments 22 provided thereon in the cold air supply duct 200 shown in FIG. 1 as separate members The front case of the cool air supply duct 200 provided at the rear portion of the plurality of storage compartments 22 is preferable.

The shape and structure of the cold air supply duct 200 provided at the rear portion of the drawer compartments 26 and 27 may be appropriately formed so that the upper portion thereof communicates with the cold air flow passage with reference to FIG.

The plurality of discharge ports are disposed symmetrically with respect to both side walls of the cool air supply duct 200. Here, in order to clearly distinguish the positions of the discharge ports 220, reference numerals 222, 224, and 226 are used in order from the bottom.

The three pairs of discharge ports 222, 224, and 226 are all formed in the same size, but they may be formed to gradually increase in size from the bottom to the top.

Guide portions 310, 320, and 330 are formed on the three pairs of discharge ports 222, 224, and 226, respectively. On the other hand, the uppermost discharge port 230 is not provided with the guide portion as described above.

The guide portions 310, 320 and 330 protrude from the inner surface of the front case 250. However, unlike the guide portion of FIG. 1, the guide portions 310, 320, and 330 are formed to cover the discharge ports 222, 224, It is not. In other words, the guide portion 300 of FIG. 1 has a cross-sectional shape of "a" shape when viewed from the left room, while the guide portions 310, 320, 330 of FIGS. Quot; a "shape or a cross-sectional shape symmetrical thereto.

Further, the guide portions 310, 320, and 330 are bent in the upstream direction downstream of the cool air supply duct, and the bent portions are formed into curved surfaces having a predetermined radius of curvature. Accordingly, the guide portions 310, 320, and 330 smoothly guide a part of the cool air flowing inside the cool air supply duct to be discharged through the respective discharge ports 222, 224, and 226.

The three pairs of guide portions 310, 320, and 330 surround the three side surfaces of the plurality of discharge ports 222, 224, and 226 together with the side walls 260. When the front case 250 is coupled with the rear panel, the top panel of the discharge ports 222, 224, and 226 is also covered with the rear panel in FIG. Therefore, when cold air enters from the lower portion of the guide portion surrounding each of the ejection openings, the cold air is guided and ejected through the ejection openings as long as the cold air does not flow backward.

The guide portions 310, 320, and 330 may be formed to be gradually larger toward the downstream side in the flow direction from the upstream side in the flow direction of the cold air flowing in the cold air supply duct 200.

3, the three pairs of guide portions are sequentially arranged from below in the order of a lower guide portion 310 provided in the lower discharge port 222, a middle portion guide portion 320 provided in the middle portion discharge port 224, When the upper guide part 330 is provided at the discharge port 226, the lower guide part 310 is the smallest among the sets and the upper guide part 330 is the largest. Of course, it is not necessary to provide a separate guide portion in the uppermost discharge port 230.

As described above, even when the guide portion has the same size, the coolant is guided by the guide portion on the upstream side when the cool air flows through the cool air supply duct 200, the largest amount of which is guided. Therefore, the size of the guide portion is gradually increased toward the downstream side, that is, toward the upper side, in order to distribute the appropriate flow rate.

Hereinafter, effects according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4 in comparison with the conventional example and the comparative example.

FIG. 4 (a) is a front view showing a state in which the uppermost discharge port is formed relatively large and the remaining three pairs of discharge ports are formed in the same size according to the related art, and FIG. 4 (b) 1.5 times larger. In the front case of Figs. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the guide portion is not formed at the discharge port.

4 (c) is a front view showing a front case having guide portions formed in three pairs of discharge ports of a front case according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the size of which increases gradually from bottom to top.

The mass flow rate of cool air discharged through each outlet of the refrigerant supply duct including the three front cases was measured and the results are shown in Table 1 below.

Conventional example Comparative Example Example Mass flow rate Kg / s ratio Kg / s ratio Kg / s ratio Top outlet 0.0032 52.5% 0.0027 44.3% 0.0027 44.3% The upper discharge port 0.0011 18.0% 0.0013 21.3% 0.0012 19.7% Middle outlet 0.0009 14.8% 0.0011 18.0% 0.0011 18.0% The lower discharge port 0.0008 13.1% 0.0009 14.8% 0.0010 16.4% Sum 0.0061 100% 0.0061 100% 0.0061 100%

As shown in Table 1, the same cool air flow rate of 0.0061 Kg per second was supplied to the refrigerant supply duct.

The cool air flow rate discharged through the lower discharge port was 0.0008 Kg / s in the conventional case, 0.0009 Kg / s in the comparative example and 0.00100 Kg / s in the embodiment. In particular, it can be seen that more cool air can be discharged through the discharge port forming the guide portion than in the comparative example in which the size of the discharge port is increased.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it can be confirmed that the cool air flow rates discharged through the three pairs of discharge ports are most controlled.

Table 2 below shows the results of measuring the time until the temperature inside the refrigerating compartment reaches 10 占 폚 by performing the 100% operation at 30 占 폚.

Cooling time (minutes) Conventional example Comparative Example Example The upper discharge port 56.0 60.0 57.0 Middle outlet 64.0 64.2 61.7 The lower discharge port 94.7 73.3 67.5 Average 65.8 65.8 62.1

As shown in Table 2, it is understood that the cooling time of the embodiment is lower than that of the conventional example and the comparative example.

Particularly, in the case of the lower discharge port, 73.3 minutes was required in the comparative example in which the discharge port size was increased, but 67.5 minutes in the embodiment. Therefore, it can be understood that the present invention of forming the guide portion on the discharge port can discharge more cold air than the case of increasing the size of the discharge port.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, Changes will be possible.

10: Refrigerator
20: Cold storage room
21: Shelf
22: Storage compartment
26: Drawer cell
27: drawer room (special cool room)
40: Freezer
100: heat exchange chamber
110: Freezer outlet
120: Connection duct
150: compressor
160: condenser
170: expansion valve
180: Evaporator
200: Cold air supply duct
210, 220, 230: outlet of the refrigerating compartment
250: Cooling supply duct front case
260: side wall
270: Upper wall
300: guide portion

Claims

1. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator body having a refrigerating chamber for refrigerating and storing foods therein and a freezing chamber for refrigerating and storing food;
A cool air supply duct vertically provided on the rear side of the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment to supply cool air generated in a cooling system including a compressor, an evaporator, an expansion device, and an evaporator;
A plurality of discharge ports provided on a front surface of the cool air supply duct such that the cool air is discharged toward the plurality of storage compartments provided in the cold storage and the freezer compartments by shelves and drawers;
And a plurality of guide portions protruding from the plurality of discharge ports to the inside of the cool air supply duct and guiding the cool air flowing in the cool air supply duct to be discharged to the discharge port,
Wherein the plurality of guide portions are formed gradually larger toward the downstream side in the flow direction from the upstream side in the flow direction of the cold air flowing in the cold air supply duct.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the guide portion is bent toward the upstream side in the flow direction at the downstream side in the flow direction of the cold air flowing in the cold air supply duct.

3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the refrigerating chamber includes a special cool chamber maintained at a lower temperature than the other storage compartment,
Wherein a guide portion provided at a discharge port for supplying cold air to the special refrigerating chamber is formed to supply cool air to a discharge port of the special refrigerating chamber more than a guide portion of another discharge opening.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The cold air supply duct
A front case having the plurality of discharge ports and guide portions,
And a rear panel coupled to the front case.

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