CN106766569B

CN106766569B - Air supply device for air-cooled refrigerator and air supply method using same

Info

Publication number: CN106766569B
Application number: CN201710060357.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王富冈; 丁维超
Original assignee: Jiangsu Leili Motor Co Ltd
Current assignee: Jiangsu Leili Motor Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-01-24
Filing date: 2017-01-24
Publication date: 2022-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2037-01-24
Also published as: CN106766569A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an air supply apparatus for an air-cooled refrigerator, a refrigerator including the air supply apparatus, and a method of supplying air using the apparatus, the air supply apparatus including an air supply device and a blower including a housing and a blower impeller accommodated in the housing, the blower impeller being for sucking air and guiding an air flow to an air flow inlet of the air supply device, the air supply device including: the damper comprises a shell, a damper and a shell cover, wherein the shell defines a first space and a second space, and the first space receives a transmission mechanism; the second space is used for airflow; the first space and the second space are isolated from each other, the cover is engaged with the housing to enclose the transmission mechanism in the first space, the face plate of the damper extends into the second space so that the damper is opened and closed by power transmitted by the transmission mechanism, and when the damper is opened, the air-cooled airflow entering through the airflow inlet can exit the second space through the corresponding airflow outlet; when the damper is closed, the air-cooled airflow cannot leave the second space via the airflow outlet.

Description

Air supply device for air-cooled refrigerator and air supply method using same

Technical Field

The invention relates to an air supply device for an air-cooled refrigerator and an air supply method for the refrigerator by using the same.

Background

The air-cooled refrigerator generates cold air through a built-in evaporator, and the cold air circularly flows to each storage space of the refrigerator through an air duct to realize refrigeration. For the air-cooled refrigerator, if the temperature distribution in the storage space is not uniform, the operation efficiency of the refrigerator may be reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to perform precise distribution and flow control of the cool air introduced into each storage space.

Also, a plurality of different storage spaces in the refrigerator, or a plurality of sub-spaces in a single storage space, require different cooling power according to how many stored items are. Therefore, the air supply device is required to control the distribution of the cooling capacity blown to/entering different storage spaces so as to realize better cooling effect without causing excessive or insufficient cooling capacity of part of the spaces.

In particular, if only one evaporator system is employed to generate cool air in a refrigerator having a plurality of compartments and the cool air is supplied into a plurality of storage compartments, it is necessary to employ a suitable air supply apparatus capable of sucking the cool air from the evaporator, guiding it to an air supply device inlet, and controlling the flow direction and distribution of the cool air by the air supply device.

The driving device adopted by the air supply device in the prior art is arranged in the air duct, so that the driving device for controlling/driving the opening and closing of the air door can be exposed in the cold air flowing channel, and the driving device can be fragile or damaged due to long-term exposure in the cold air. Further, the lubricant that is disposed at the driving device and contributes to the movement of the driving device may be blown away by cold air, causing the lubricant to run off and the movement of the damper to become dry, further accelerating the damage of the damper and its driving device.

The air-cooled refrigerator generates cold air through an evaporator. Through the air supply device, cold air circularly flows to each storage space of the refrigerator through the air duct, so that the aim of refrigeration is fulfilled. The air supply device is arranged at the rear part of the refrigerator, and the volume of the air supply device directly influences the volume of the refrigerator. It is desirable to achieve the maximum effective volume inside the refrigerator under the premise of providing enough cold air, which determines that the air blowing device at the rear of the refrigerator has the smallest volume as possible under the premise of providing enough cold air, so as to achieve the effect of enlarging the effective storage space inside the refrigerator.

In addition, air supply arrangement among the prior art is at the in-process of switching operating condition, and cold wind probably flows out from air supply arrangement's assembly gap, is difficult to realize effectively sealed to the air supply, and this makes the accurate temperature control effect of refrigerator reduce. The technical problem which is generally existed and needs to be solved in the air supply device in the refrigerator is solved, but no good technical scheme is provided so far.

In addition, in various working states of the air supply device in the prior art, no state can realize the complete closing of the air supply opening, so that at least a small amount of cold air is still blown in under the condition that the continuous supply of the cold air is not needed, and the waste of cold energy is caused; meanwhile, when the air supply device is in a certain working state, the air supply opening adjusting piece can partially shield the air inlet, so that cold air is prevented from directly flowing to the air supply opening, and the cold air transfer efficiency is reduced. This requires a reasonable requirement on the operating conditions of the supply air outlet. It is further desirable to minimize the torque of the drive components while still satisfying the function of the air-moving device. The existing air supply device has difficulty in meeting the requirements, so that a better technical scheme is needed.

The above information is presented as background information only to aid in understanding the present invention. No determination is made as to whether any of the above information is likely to be suitable as prior art with respect to the present invention, and no assertion is made.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides an air supply device, which comprises a fan for sucking and guiding cold air and an air supply device, wherein the air supply device can reasonably distribute the flow and the flow path of the cold air according to the cold air requirements of different storage cabinets or the cold air requirements of a plurality of different storage spaces in one storage cabinet, so that the fresh-keeping performance and the air cooling efficiency of a refrigerator are optimized, and meanwhile, the good service life of the refrigerator is ensured.

The present invention relates to an air supply apparatus for an air-cooled refrigerator, wherein the air supply apparatus includes an air supply device and a fan including a housing and a fan impeller accommodated in the housing, the fan impeller being for sucking air and guiding an air flow to an air flow inlet of the air supply device, the air supply device including: the air conditioner comprises a shell, a damper and a shell cover, wherein the shell limits a first space and a second space, and the first space receives a transmission mechanism which transmits power to the damper; the second space is used for airflow; the first space and the second space are isolated from each other, the housing cover is engaged with the housing to enclose the transmission mechanism in the first space, the panel of the damper is extendable into the second space so that the damper can be opened and closed by power transmitted from the transmission mechanism, and when the damper is opened, the air-cooled airflow entering the second space via the airflow inlet provided in the housing can exit the second space via the airflow outlet provided in the housing corresponding to the airflow inlet; when the damper is closed, the air-cooled airflow cannot leave the second space via the airflow outlet.

In an alternative embodiment, the housing is generally cuboid in shape, and the airflow outlet and the airflow inlet are arranged on opposite surfaces of the housing such that the airflow path defined by the second space between the airflow inlet and the airflow outlet is rectilinear.

In an alternative embodiment, the first space includes a first subspace for receiving a driving mechanism for driving the movement of the damper and a second subspace for receiving a driving motor, the first subspace and the second subspace being arranged one above the other in a vertical direction of the air blowing device.

In an alternative embodiment, the housing comprises a partition arranged in a horizontal direction and a side wall arranged in a vertical direction, the partition separating the first subspace and the second subspace, the side wall separating the second subspace from the second subspace.

In an alternative embodiment, the face plate of the damper includes a base and a boss formed on a surface of the base facing the airflow inlet, the boss having approximately the same width as the base.

In an alternative embodiment, the boss itself is formed of a compressible sealing material.

In an alternative embodiment, the drive mechanism includes a motor, a pinion gear, a reduction gear set, and a drive mechanism for driving movement of the damper.

In an alternative embodiment, the reduction gear pair is a reduction gear drive.

In an alternative embodiment, the drive mechanism comprises: the air door driving wheel is provided with a groove track; the air door driving rod comprises a column, and the column is matched with the groove track; the groove track is arranged to vary in radius in the circumferential direction of the damper drive wheel such that when the damper drive wheel is rotated via torque output by the motor, the groove track drives the post fitted therein to translate, thereby further driving movement of the damper.

In an alternative embodiment, the groove track of the damper drive wheel is provided on a surface of the damper drive wheel facing the second space, and the damper drive lever is provided closer to the second space than the damper drive wheel.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper drive levers are disposed on the side of the corresponding damper that is adjacent to the motor.

In an alternative embodiment, a compensation spring is provided at the damper drive lever to compensate for backlash in the drive mechanism during the drive.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper drive lever is formed as one piece, the compensation spring and a portion of the damper drive lever are disposed in a recess formed in a partition for separating the first and second sub-spaces, and the compensation spring is disposed such that the damper drive lever tends to move the damper toward the closed position.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper drive lever includes a drive lever body having a recess formed therein for receiving the drive lever slider and the compensation spring, and a drive lever slider and a compensation spring positioned such that the damper drive lever tends to move the damper toward the closed position.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper drive lever further includes a rack gear that engages the sector gear of the damper drive member to convert the translational movement of the damper drive lever into rotational movement of the damper.

In an alternative embodiment, the angle of rotation of the damper between the open and closed positions is between 30 ° and 60 °.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper driver is a separate component from the damper.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper driver is formed integrally with the damper.

In an alternative embodiment, the air supply device includes a plurality of dampers and a plurality of airflow outlets controlled to open and close by the plurality of dampers, and each of the dampers is driven to switch between an open position and a closed position by a corresponding drive mechanism.

In an alternative embodiment, the air supply device comprises three dampers and three airflow outlets controlled to open and close by the three dampers.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper groups of the plurality of dampers have a plurality of different operating states, and switching between the plurality of operating states of the damper groups is effected by rotation of respective damper drive wheels in respective drive mechanisms.

In an alternative embodiment, the plurality of damper drive wheels corresponding to the plurality of dampers in the damper group are formed in the form of a plurality of gears that are intermeshed and have the same number of teeth so that the plurality of dampers are opened and closed at the same time.

In an alternative embodiment, the damper group switches from one operating state to another every time the damper drive wheel rotates through a fixed angle from the first position of the damper group.

In an alternative embodiment, only one damper is actuated each time the damper group is switched from one operating condition to another, from the first position of the damper group, and during the switching of the operating condition, the radius of only one of the grooved tracks of the plurality of damper drive wheels corresponding to the plurality of dampers in the damper group is changed.

In an alternative embodiment, a compensation spring is provided at the damper drive lever, and in the first position of the damper group, the plurality of dampers of the damper group are each in a closed position, and the damper group further comprises an initial position prior to the first position, in which the compensation spring exerts a greater pressure on the damper drive lever than in the first position, so that the damper drive lever holds the damper in a fully closed position, which achieves a better blocking and sealing action on the air flow than the closed position of the damper.

The invention also relates to an air-cooled refrigerator which comprises the air supply equipment.

The invention also relates to a method for supplying air or refrigerating according to the air supply equipment.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following description only relate to some embodiments of the present invention and are not limiting on the present invention.

FIG. 1a is a schematic top perspective view of an air delivery apparatus including an air delivery device and a fan;

FIG. 1b is a schematic bottom perspective view of an air delivery apparatus including an air delivery device and a fan;

FIG. 2a is a schematic front perspective view of an air supply arrangement showing an airflow inlet of the air supply arrangement;

FIG. 2b is a schematic rear perspective view of the air-moving device, showing the airflow outlet of the air-moving device;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the air supply arrangement showing various components thereof;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a housing of the air delivery device;

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the housing of FIG. 4 taken along section line A-A with the housing cover secured to the housing to more clearly show the upper space of the housing;

FIG. 6a shows an enlarged view of an alternative embodiment of the damper;

FIG. 6b shows an enlarged view of another alternative embodiment of the damper;

FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of the blower with the cover removed to better illustrate the arrangement of the power transfer mechanism;

FIG. 8 illustrates a bottom perspective view of the blower device with portions of the housing transparentized to show a bottom view of the power transmission mechanism;

fig. 9a-9h schematically illustrate various operating states in which a damper of an air supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is moved in response to rotation of a damper driving wheel.

Fig. 10 shows an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of an air-moving device.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a damper drive lever of the blower of FIG. 10.

Fig. 12 shows a cross-sectional view of the air blowing device of fig. 10.

FIG. 13 shows an alternative arrangement of a drive system for driving rotation of the damper.

FIG. 14 illustrates a bottom perspective view of the blower apparatus of FIG. 10.

FIGS. 15a-15i schematically illustrate various operational states in which a damper of the air supply apparatus of FIG. 10 moves in response to rotation of a damper drive wheel, according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16a shows a schematic top perspective view of a wind turbine;

FIG. 16b shows a schematic top perspective view of a wind turbine;

fig. 17 is an exploded view of the fan, showing a specific structure of each component of the fan.

Detailed Description

The following description is provided with reference to the accompanying drawings to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims. It includes various specific details to assist in this understanding, but these details should be construed as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims. Moreover, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words "comprise" and variations of the words, for example "comprising" and "comprises", mean "including but not limited to", and are not intended to (and do not) exclude other components, integers or steps.

Features, integers or characteristics described in conjunction with a particular aspect, embodiment or example of the invention are to be understood to be applicable to any other aspect, embodiment or example described herein unless incompatible therewith.

It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The expression "comprising" and/or "may comprise" as used in the present invention is intended to indicate the presence of corresponding functions, operations or elements, and is not intended to limit the presence of one or more functions, operations and/or elements. Furthermore, in the present invention, the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" are intended to indicate the presence of the features, amounts, operations, elements, and components disclosed in the specification, or combinations thereof. Thus, the terms "comprising" and/or "having" should be understood as presenting additional possibilities for one or more other features, quantities, operations, elements, and components, or combinations thereof.

In the present invention, the expression "or" comprises any and all combinations of the words listed together. For example, "a or B" may comprise a or B, or may comprise both a and B.

Although expressions such as "1 st", "2 nd", "first" and "second" may be used to describe the respective elements of the present invention, they are not intended to limit the corresponding elements. For example, the above expressions are not intended to limit the order or importance of the corresponding elements. The above expressions are used to distinguish one element from another. For example, the first damper and the second damper are both damper devices and represent different damper devices. For example, a first damper may be referred to as a second damper, and similarly, a second damper may be referred to as a first damper, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

When an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element, but it is understood that intervening elements may be present. Alternatively, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, it is understood that there are no intervening elements present between the two elements.

References herein to "upper", "lower", "left", "right", etc. are merely intended to indicate relative positional relationships, which may change accordingly when the absolute position of the object being described changes.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Singular references include plural references unless there is a significant difference in context, scheme or the like between them.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present specification and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Figures 1 through 15, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present invention in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in any suitably arranged air supply arrangement and refrigerator incorporating the same. The terminology used to describe various embodiments is exemplary. It should be understood that these are provided solely to aid in the understanding of this specification and their use and definition do not limit the scope of the invention in any way. The use of the terms first, second, etc. to distinguish between objects having the same set of terms is not intended to represent a temporal order in any way, unless otherwise specifically stated. A group is defined as a non-empty group containing at least one element.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the embodiments described are only a few embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the described embodiments of the invention without any inventive step, are within the scope of protection of the invention. It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each exemplary embodiment should generally be considered as available for similar features or aspects in other exemplary embodiments.

Fig. 1a is a schematic top perspective view of air supply apparatus 1, and fig. 1b is a schematic bottom perspective view of air supply apparatus 1. The air supply device 1 comprises an air supply device 100 and a fan 500, wherein the fan 500 is used for sucking air flow from a cold air forming device (such as an evaporator) and guiding and conveying the air flow to an air flow inlet 101 (fig. 2a) of the air supply device 100, and the air supply device 100 is used for reasonably distributing the air flow introduced to the air flow inlet 101 to one or more storage spaces of the refrigerator so as to realize reasonable distribution of cold energy in the refrigerator. The following describes the structure of the two parts of the air supply apparatus 1, i.e., the air supply device 100 and the fan 500, respectively. In particular, fig. 2-15 detail the structure of the air supply device and possible embodiments, while fig. 16-17 show the structure of the fan 500.

Fig. 2a is a schematic front perspective view of an air supply device 100, showing an air flow inlet 101 of the air supply device 100. Fig. 2b is a schematic rear perspective view of air supply device 100, showing airflow outlet 102 of air supply device 100. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2b, the air supply device 100 comprises three air flow outlets 102, and the three air flow outlets 102 have similar sizes and shapes. In alternative embodiments, the number of airflow outlets 102 may be specifically selected depending on the application, for example, may be selected to be less than three or more than three. Further, in alternative embodiments, the shape of the plurality of airflow outlets 102 may be selected to be different. For example, the plurality of gas flow outlets may have the same height but different outlet widths; or the plurality of gas flow outlets may have different heights and different widths.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the entire air supply device 100 is configured to be rectangular. The three airflow outlets 102 of the rectangular shape may be provided larger than the circular structure in the case of the same volume, thereby reducing the flow resistance of the airflow.

As used herein, relative or spatial terms such as "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left" and "right" are used merely to distinguish reference units and do not necessarily require a particular position or orientation in air supply apparatus 100 or in the surrounding environment of air supply apparatus 100. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the air-moving device 100 is oriented with respect to a vertical axis Z, a lateral axis Y, and a longitudinal axis Z. The axes X, Y, Z are perpendicular to each other. Although vertical axis Z appears to extend in a vertical direction generally parallel to gravity, it should be understood that axis X, Y, Z need not have any particular orientation with respect to gravity.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of air supply device 100, showing various components of air supply device 100. The air blowing device 100 includes a housing 110 and a housing cover 180. The housing 110 and the cover 180 receive a plurality of other components in a space defined by the housing 110 and the cover 180, thereby forming the air blowing device 100 shown in fig. 2a and 2 b. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the casing 110 of the air blowing device 100.

The housing 110 includes opposing front 121 and rear 122 faces, upper 123 and lower 124 faces, and left 126 and right 127 sides. The housing 110 comprises two

spaces

112, 113 separated by a horizontal partition 111, as shown in fig. 4. The two

spaces

112, 113 are hereinafter referred to as an upper space 112 and a lower space 113, respectively. The motor receiving space 114 is separated from the upper space 112 and the lower space 113 separated in the vertical direction Z in the lateral direction Y by vertical side walls 115. In a preferred embodiment, the housing 110 is formed as one body by integral injection molding, and thus the design of the housing 110 requires consideration of convenience of demolding of the integral structure; in alternative embodiments, the partition 111, the sidewall 115, etc. may be formed as separate components from the housing 110 and assembled to the housing 110 during assembly, reducing the complexity of the overall assembly and thus the difficulty of injection molding and/or demolding.

In the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3 and 4, the upper volume 112 is adapted to receive a drive mechanism that drives the transition (e.g., rotation) of the damper 140 between the open and closed positions. The lower space 113 is an air flow passage and extends between the air flow inlet 101 and the air flow outlet 102. The damper 140 extends in the lower passage 113 and is switchable (e.g., rotatable) between an open position and a closed position via a drive mechanism disposed in the upper space 112. The motor receiving space 114 is configured to receive a motor 160 and one or more reduction gears (e.g., a gear or worm gear pair, preferably a gear pair). The torque output by the motor 160 is transmitted to the drive mechanism via one or more reduction gears, thereby driving rotation of the damper.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pinion gear 161 is coupled to an output shaft of the motor 160 and is engaged with the reduction gear 170. The reduction gear 170 drives the damper for rotation via a drive mechanism (including, in the illustrated embodiment, the damper drive wheel 150, the damper drive lever 130, and the damper drive 141). However, in alternative embodiments, the reduction gearing may be more than one in number, such that the pinion gear 161 is coupled to the drive mechanism that drives the rotation of the damper through multiple stages of reduction.

In the illustrated embodiment, the motor receiving space 114 is separated from the upper space 112 and the lower space 113, which are separated in the vertical direction Z, in the lateral direction Y by vertical side walls 115, and the height of the motor receiving space 114 is substantially equal to the sum of the heights of the upper space 112 and the lower space 113. In this way, the motor receiving space is formed to a great depth in the height direction so as to be able to receive a motor having a large volume/height without interfering with the driving mechanism disposed in the upper space 112 or the air flow of the lower space 113. In an alternative, a motor having a smaller volume may be selected so that the motor may be disposed in the upper space 112, thereby making the structure of the air blowing mechanism 100 more compact, and a larger sectional area of the air flow passage may be achieved, facilitating the circulation of the cool air. Furthermore, the motor is also not limited to being arranged in a vertical direction Z (as shown in fig. 3), but may alternatively be arranged in a horizontal direction (e.g. the output shaft of the motor is parallel to a horizontal plane defined by the transverse axis Y and the longitudinal axis X), and the direction of the axis of rotation may be changed using a bevel gear drive or a worm gear drive.

The assembly relationship of the components of the air blowing device 100 will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 3 and 4.

The upper space 112 of the housing 110 is for receiving the damper drive wheel 150. Specifically, each of the pivot shafts 116 provided on the partition 111 is received in the center hole 151 of the corresponding damper drive wheel 150, so that the damper drive wheel 150 can rotate relative to the corresponding pivot shaft 116. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and 4, the housing 110 includes three pivots 116, and the air-moving device 100 includes three dampers 140 and thus three corresponding damper drive wheels 150. However, in alternative embodiments, blower 100 may include more or less than three dampers 140 and a corresponding number of damper drive wheels 150, such that the number of pivots 116 provided on partition 111 may be increased or decreased accordingly. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the air supply device 100 having three dampers 140 and three damper drive wheels 150 is specifically described. Other air delivery arrangements having other numbers of dampers 140 and damper drive wheels 150 can be implemented on a similar principle and will not be described in detail below.

A bearing may be provided at the pivot 116 to allow the damper drive wheel 150 to freely rotate about the pivot 116. In addition, lubricant may be provided at the pivot 116 for lubrication to facilitate free rotation of the damper drive wheel 150 about the pivot 116, reducing rotational resistance and avoiding wear.

The partition 111 is also provided with an opening 117. An opening 117 penetrates the partition 111 and communicates the upper space 112 and the lower space 113. The opening 117 is for receiving the damper 140 such that the panel 142 of the damper 140 extends in the lower space 113. A drive mechanism disposed in the upper space 112 is capable of moving the damper 140 (e.g., rotating the damper 140) according to cooling demand such that the damper 140 moves between an open position and a closed position.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the drive mechanism that drives the rotation of the damper 140 includes a damper drive wheel 150, a damper drive lever 130, and a damper drive 141. Specifically, the damper drive wheel 150 is rotated by the torque output from the motor. The damper drive wheel 150 is provided on the lower surface thereof with a groove track arranged so that the distance in the radial direction varies in the circumferential direction (the specific structure can be seen from fig. 8). The posts 132 of the damper drive lever 130 fit in the groove tracks and translate in the longitudinal direction X as the damper drive wheel 150 rotates. The rack gear 133 on the damper drive lever 130 engages the sector gear 144 of the damper drive 141 so that translational movement of the damper drive lever 130 is translated into rotational movement of the damper drive 141. The damper driver 141 engages a boss at one end of the rotational shaft of the damper 140 such that the damper driver 141 can drive the damper to rotate between the open and closed positions. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the damper driver 141 is formed as two separate parts from the damper 140 and engages with a shaped protrusion at one end of the rotational shaft 143 of the damper 140, thereby driving the damper 140 to rotate; however, in alternative embodiments, the damper drive 141 may be integrally formed (e.g., co-molded) with the damper 140.

As can be seen from the embodiment shown in fig. 3, there are a plurality of power transmission means including a gear transmission, a post-groove track transmission, a rack-and-pinion transmission, in the power transmission mechanism from the torque output of the motor 160 to the rotation of the damper 140. In order to facilitate power transmission and reduce frictional resistance, a lubricant such as lubricating oil or grease is provided at the plurality of power transmission devices, thereby reducing loss and improving transmission efficiency.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 illustrates only one possible embodiment of a drive mechanism that drives the rotation of the damper 140. In alternate embodiments, any other drive mechanism capable of driving the rotation of the damper may be employed, such as, but not limited to, including additional one or more transmissions, omitting one or more transmissions, or replacing one or more of the power transfer devices shown in FIG. 3 with other transmissions.

The lower space 113 of the housing 110 is an airflow passage and extends between the airflow inlet 101 and the airflow outlet 102. The panel 142 of the damper 140 extends in the lower space 113 and is movable (e.g., rotatable) between an open position and a closed position. In the open position of damper 140, airflow enters lower space 113 from airflow inlet 101, passes through lower space 113, and exits lower space 113 from airflow outlet 102; in the closed position of the damper 140, the damper 140 closes the airflow communication between the airflow inlet 101 and the airflow outlet 102, so that the airflow does not flow out from the airflow outlet 102, and the cooling effect is suppressed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, air-moving device 100 includes three dampers 140 and three corresponding airflow outlets 102. In the embodiment according to the present invention, the three dampers 140 have their respective open and closed positions, respectively, and the three respective airflow outlets 102 perform the on-off of the cold air according to the states of the three dampers 140, respectively. In this way, reasonable control and distribution of the flow paths of the cold air flow and the cold air can be achieved through a plurality of state combinations of the three dampers 140, thereby satisfying different refrigeration demands.

The cover 180 is disposed over the housing 110 and encloses the upper space 112 of the housing 110, thereby enclosing the motor 160, one or more reduction gears, a drive mechanism for driving rotation of the damper, in the upper space 112 and/or the motor receiving space 114. One or more fasteners 181 are used to secure the cover 180 to the fastener receptacles on the housing 110. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the one or more fasteners 181 are formed in the form of self-tapping screws and the fastener-receiving elements are formed in the form of holes that receive the self-tapping screws; in alternate embodiments, any type of fastener and fastener receiver for securing the cover 180 and the housing 110 may be employed. Alternatively, the cover 180 and the housing 110 may be fixed together by gluing, snapping, or welding.

As can be seen in connection with fig. 3, the portion of the damper drive lever 130 where the rack 133 is provided is spaced from the portion where the post 132 is provided along the vertical axis Z. Specifically, the portion of the damper drive lever 130 where the rack 133 is provided is lower than the portion where the post 132 is provided in the vertical direction Z. The partition 111 is provided with a recess 125 for receiving a portion of the damper drive lever 130 where the rack gear 133 is provided. Such an arrangement reduces the height of the first space 112 and thus the height of the air-blowing device 100. Further, since the groove rail 152 (fig. 8) of the damper driving wheel 150 is provided on the lower surface of the damper driving wheel, i.e., facing the direction of the air flow passage, the damper driving lever 130 engaged therewith is provided below the damper driving wheel 150 on the side close to the air flow passage; and the rack gear 133 of the upper surface of the damper driving lever 130 is engaged with the sector gear 144 of the damper driving member 141 provided above the rack gear 133, so that such an arrangement maximizes the height of the upper space 112, further reducing the height of the entire apparatus.

Further, in conjunction with fig. 3 and 4, the recess 125 is disposed at the interval between the damper and the damper, so that the damper drive lever 130 received in the recess 125 is also disposed at the interval between the damper and the damper, so that a portion of the damper drive lever 130 (particularly, a portion including the rack 133) partially overlaps with the damper 140 in the longitudinal direction X in which the airflow circulates. Such an arrangement greatly improves the space utilization rate, reduces the length of the air supply device 100 in the longitudinal direction X, and thus reduces the length of the air flow path, so that the air supply device 100 is more compact and the refrigeration efficiency is also improved.

Fig. 5 shows a sectional view of the assembled air blowing device 100 taken along a sectional line a-a shown in fig. 4, in which the case cover 180 is fixed to the case body 110 to more clearly show the upper space 112 of the case body 110. The open and closed positions of the damper 140 are schematically illustrated in FIG. 5. As can be clearly seen in fig. 5, when the damper 140 is in the open position, an airflow can pass from the airflow inlet 101 to the airflow outlet 102 through the lower space 113; when the damper 140 is in the closed position, airflow is blocked from exiting the airflow outlet 102 by the face plate 142 of the damper 140.

The sectional view shown in fig. 5 shows the upper space 112 and the lower space 113 isolated from each other. As described above, the upper space 112 is a space defined by the partition 111 and the cover 180 of the case 110, and receives therein a driving mechanism for driving the damper 140 to rotate. The lower space 113 is an air flow passage, and the face plate 142 of the damper 140 extends into the lower space 113 through the opening 117 in the partition 111. The motor receiving space 114 is not shown in fig. 5, but as can be seen in fig. 4, the motor receiving space 114 is separated from the lower space 113 by a side wall and communicates with the upper space 112 (to effect the transfer of power from the motor to the damper driver).

This layered isolation design of the housing 110 isolates the power transmission mechanism of the blower device 100 (including all power transmissions from the motor 160 to the damper driver 141) from the airflow path, thereby preventing airflow from blowing directly to the power transmission mechanism. In the illustrated embodiment, the motor 160 and the pinion gear 161 and the reduction gear 170 are disposed in the motor receiving space 114 formed at the lateral side of the case 110, the driving mechanisms (the damper transmission wheel 150, the damper transmission rod 130, and the damper transmission member 141) are disposed in the upper space 112 formed at the upper portion of the case 110, and the air flow passage is configured as the lower space 113 formed at the lower portion of the case 110.

Such an arrangement of the air blowing device 100 achieves complete separation of the air flow passage from the power transmission mechanism, thereby avoiding the power transmission mechanism from being exposed to a cold air flow. As described above, at the plurality of power transmission devices of the power transmission mechanism and the joints thereof, a lubricant such as lubricating oil or grease; the power transmission mechanism is prevented from being exposed in cold airflow so that the lubricant cannot be volatilized too fast due to the direct blowing of the airflow, thereby avoiding the unsmooth operation or the noise of the power transmission mechanism caused by the lack of the lubricant and maintaining the good lubricating condition of the transmission mechanism and the high-efficiency transmission of the power. Therefore, the operation efficiency of the blower device 100 can be improved, and the service life thereof can be prolonged.

However, the layered isolation design of the housing 110 is not limited to the structure of the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or 4, but may be designed to any structure capable of isolating the power transmission mechanism from the airflow path. For example, the power transmission mechanism may be disposed at a lower portion of the housing 110, and the airflow passage may be disposed at an upper portion of the housing 110; or the motor and the power transmission mechanism are disposed together at the upper/lower portion of the housing 110 such that the respective other half portions (lower/upper portions) are integrally disposed as the airflow passages. It will be appreciated that any structure that isolates the power transmission mechanism from the airflow path that would occur to one skilled in the art without the need for inventive work upon reading the foregoing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is within the scope of the present invention.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates the open and closed positions of the damper 140. During movement of the damper 140 from the open position to the closed position (or vice versa), the damper 140 rotates through the angle θ. As shown in fig. 5, θ is an acute angle less than 90 °. Preferably, θ is in the range of 30 ° to 60 °. More preferably, θ is set at an angle of 45 °. If the rotation angle θ of the damper is too small (for example, less than 30 °), the length of the damper increases, the self weight of the damper increases, and the moment of the driving member required for opening and closing the damper increases due to the increase of the arm length when the damper is pushed by wind force when the cold air stream is conveyed; further, as the length of the door panel increases, the overall distance of the air supply device in the flow direction of the air current increases, resulting in an increase in volume, there may be a problem of material waste in the actual production process, and the force transmitted to the end of the damper may be small due to the long length of the door panel, making it difficult to ensure a good seal of the damper at the end. If the rotation angle θ of the damper is selected to be too large (e.g., greater than 60 °), the engagement stroke between the transmission (e.g., the damper drive lever 130 and the damper drive member 141) in the drive mechanism may be increased (e.g., the size of the damper drive wheel 150 and/or the damper drive lever 130 needs to be designed to be large), further increasing the overall volume of the air supply apparatus 100. When the rotation angle of the air door is too large, the moving distance of the air door driving rod (and the rack on the air door driving rod) is lengthened, and meanwhile, the radius change rate of the groove track on the lower surface of the air door driving wheel changes steeply due to the increase of the moving distance of the rack, so that the torque loss of the motor is increased when the door panel is in a switching state. Therefore, the reasonable selection of the rotation angle θ of the damper can reduce the volume of the blower 100 while minimizing the torque loss of the motor.

In the closed position of the damper 140, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower end of the face plate 142 of the damper engages the bottom wall of the lower space 113 to block the flow of air from the air flow outlet 102. The edge of the face plate 142 of the damper 140 that engages the bottom wall of the lower space 113 is optionally provided with a seal to prevent leakage of the airflow in a sealed manner when the damper 140 is in the closed condition. Compared with the arrangement mode of the air doors for controlling the opening degree of the airflow outlet through the overlapping degree between the air doors and the airflow outlet, the arrangement mode of the air doors can avoid the leakage of air caused by gaps existing between the air doors and the airflow outlet in the closed state of the air doors, so that the sealing of the airflow and the blocking of cold air can be better realized in the closed state of the air doors.

FIG. 6a shows an enlarged view of an alternative embodiment of the damper 140. In the illustrated embodiment, the face plate 142 of the damper 140 includes a base 147 and a boss 146 formed on a surface of the base 147 facing the airflow inlet 101. The width of the boss 146 and the base 147 are approximately the same. In this embodiment, the boss 146 itself is formed of a compressible sealing material, and/or is itself formed as a seal. In the closed state of the damper 140, both side edge portions of the boss/seal 146 engage with the respective mating surfaces 118 (see fig. 3) formed at the cooling outlet 102 of the housing 110, achieving a good airtight seal; and/or the lower edge of the boss 142/seal 146 sealingly engages the lower wall of the airflow passage and/or a corresponding surface 119 (shown in fig. 3 and 5) on the lower wall to achieve a good air-tight seal.

FIG. 6b shows an enlarged view of another alternative embodiment of the damper 140'. In the embodiment shown in fig. 6b, the surface area of the boss 146 'is smaller than the surface area of the base 147'. A step is formed at both sides of the panel 142 ' and has a step surface 148 ' (only one side of the step surface 148 ' can be seen in fig. 6b), respectively. When the damper is in the closed state, the stepped surfaces 148 'formed on both sides of the face plate 142' engage the mating surfaces 118 (see fig. 3) of the corresponding steps formed at the cooling outlet 102 of the housing 110 and are sealed as air tight as possible. In an alternative embodiment, the lateral width of the base 147 'of the face plate 142' of the damper 140 'is slightly less than the lateral width of the airflow outlet 102 at the rear face 122 so that the rotation of the damper 140' is not subject to frictional resistance between the damper edge and the airflow passage side walls. In another alternative embodiment, a sealing material is disposed at the stepped surface 148 'such that when the damper is in the closed condition, the stepped surface 148' and the mating surface 118 engage in a gas-tight manner to prevent leakage of the cooling air. In yet another alternative embodiment, the lower edge of the face plate 142 ' of the damper 140 ' is also provided with a sealing material so that when the damper is in the closed condition, the lower edge of the face plate 142 ' sealingly engages the corresponding stepped surface 119 (shown in FIGS. 3 and 5) on the lower wall and/or the lower wall of the airflow passage.

While several implementations of the gas seal have been described above, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any arrangement of seals that facilitates improved sealing between the damper 140 and the gas outlet 102 is within the scope of the present invention.

In an alternative embodiment, a recessed structure having ribs (as shown in fig. 3) is provided on the surface of the base 147 opposite to the boss 146, so that it is possible to reduce the material required to manufacture the damper 140, achieve a weight reduction of the damper 140, and thus reduce the power/torque required to rotate the damper, while ensuring the strength of the damper 140. In alternative embodiments, the form of the reinforcing bars is also not limited to the form of one X-shape shown in fig. 3, but may be designed in any other form, for example including two X-shapes side by side, including four X-shapes arranged in a 2X 2 array, etc.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the air blowing device 100 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped form, as shown in fig. 2 to 5. The rectangular parallelepiped structure of the air blowing device 100 is easier to install than other shapes (such as having a circular or annular surface) and is convenient for an operator to operate. The air supply device 100 is generally used in a refrigerator or other cooling system. When the air supply device 100 is installed in a refrigerator or other cooling system, it is generally necessary to wrap or adhere sound-deadening and/or heat-insulating materials, such as insulating cotton or foam insulation, around the entire periphery of the air supply device 100 in order to reduce noise and keep warm. If the entire structure of air supply device 100 is an irregular shape other than a rectangular parallelepiped (such as a curved surface having a circular or annular surface), it is necessary to wrap a strip-shaped or planar insulating layer and/or a sound-deadening layer on the circular or annular surface when air supply device 100 is installed in a target cooling system. The bonding between the planar insulating layer and/or the sound attenuation layer and the curved surface may be weak, which easily causes the defects of degumming or separation; and the outer surface of the insulation layer and/or the sound-deadening layer bonded or wrapped around the air blowing device may also be uneven. Thus, the curved surface of air moving device 100 may increase the difficulty for an installer to attach the insulation and/or sound damping layer, and the weak bond between the insulation and/or sound damping layer and the air moving device may also reduce the insulation performance. In the embodiment of the present invention, the air supply device 100 is a cuboid, so that the surfaces of the device, which are attached to the heat insulation layer and/or the sound attenuation layer, are all flat surfaces, thereby facilitating the operation of bonding the heat insulation layer and/or the sound attenuation layer by an operator; and the adhesive is not easy to be removed, so that the heat-insulating layer and/or the noise reduction layer are tightly attached to the outer surface of the air supply device 100, and a good heat-insulating/noise reduction effect is ensured.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the air blowing device 100 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped form, and the air flow inlet 101 and the air flow outlet 102 are arranged at the opposite faces of the rectangular parallelepiped, respectively, as shown in fig. 2 to 5. In this way, the flow path of the airflow through the airflow passage arranged between the airflow inlet 101 and the airflow outlet 102 is in the form of a straight line. In other words, the air flow enters from the air flow inlet 101, flows through the air flow path in a straight line form, and exits from the air flow outlet 102. In this way, the flow of the air flow in the air flow passage is not bent or changed in direction, so that the air flow path (i.e., the distance between the air flow inlet 101 and the air flow outlet 102) is shortened, the resistance to the flow of the cold air is reduced, and the cold energy transfer efficiency is improved.

Fig. 7 shows a top view of the blower device 100 with the cover 180 removed to better illustrate the arrangement of the power transmission mechanism. Fig. 8 shows a bottom perspective view of blower device 100, with portions of housing 110 being transparentized to show a bottom view of the power transmission mechanism.

As described above with reference to fig. 3, the torque output by the motor 160 is transmitted to the damper drive wheel 150 via the pinion gear 161 and the reduction gear 170. The back of the damper drive wheel 150 is provided with a recessed track 152, and the post 132 of the damper drive lever 130 fits in the recessed track 152, so that rotational movement of the damper drive wheel 150 is converted into translational movement of the damper drive lever 130 in the longitudinal direction X (fig. 3). The damper drive lever 130 is also provided with a rack portion 133 (fig. 3), and the rack 133 is engaged with a sector gear 144 (fig. 3) of the damper drive member 141, thereby converting the translational movement of the damper drive lever 130 in the longitudinal direction X into the rotational movement of the damper drive member 141. The rotational movement of the damper driver 141 further drives the rotation of the panel 142 of the damper 140 such that the damper 140 rotates between the open and closed positions. In an alternative embodiment, the compensation spring 131 is disposed behind the damper drive lever 130 (as shown in fig. 3, 7-8), such that the compensation spring 131 can press against the damper drive lever 130 by its own spring force to compensate for the transmission backlash of the drive system during movement. The pressure of the compensation spring 131 against the drive rod 130 tends to move the damper toward the closed position. Specifically, during the opening of the damper 140, the compensation spring is compressed by the pressure of the damper driving lever 130, and the damper is normally opened; the compensation spring is restored during the closing of the damper 140, and exerts pressure on the damper driving lever 130 by its own elastic force to compensate for the transmission gap generated during the overall transmission of the driving system. Particularly, in the closed state of the damper, it is difficult to ensure that the damper can achieve a good sealing state due to manufacturing tolerances and fit clearances of the groove rail and/or the damper drive rod, etc.; at this time, the compensation spring 131 can exert a pressure on the damper drive lever that tends to close the damper more tightly, thereby ensuring a good sealing state of the damper.

In the illustrated embodiment, air supply device 100 includes three dampers, and thus includes three sets of drive mechanisms for driving the three dampers, respectively. Each set of drive mechanisms includes a corresponding damper drive wheel 150, damper drive lever 130 and damper drive member 141, respectively. The three damper driving wheels 150 are interlocked by gear engagement, and the three damper driving wheels 150 drive their corresponding damper driving levers 130 and damper driving members 141, respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the number of teeth of the three damper driving wheels 150 is the same, so that convenient and simple linkage of the three gears can be realized, opening and closing time consistency of a plurality of dampers can be realized, and a control program of the refrigerator is simplified.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the rotation of the three dampers is driven by a single motor (i.e., motor 160). Hereinafter, for convenience of description, components in the three sets of driving mechanisms are respectively added with suffixes "a", "B", and "C" in order from far to near from the motor. That is, the three damper drive wheels are labeled 150A, 150B, 150C, respectively, in order from far to near from the motor 160, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The damper drive levers and damper drives corresponding to the three

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are then respectively labeled 130A, 130B, 130C and 141A, 141B, 141C (not labeled in fig. 7 and 8), the dampers corresponding thereto are respectively labeled 140A, 140B, 140C, and the airflow outlets corresponding thereto are respectively labeled 102A, 102B, 102C. In the illustrated embodiment, the three

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are of similar shape and size; however, in alternative embodiments, the three

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C may be of different sizes.

The torque of the motor 160 is transmitted to one of the damper drive wheels 150C through the pinion gear 161 and the reduction gear 170. In the illustrated embodiment, the reduction gear pair from the motor to the damper drive wheels is implemented as a single reduction gear 170. In alternative embodiments, the reduction gearing pair may comprise more than one reduction gearing; and the reduction gear pair may be formed in other forms than a gear pair, such as a worm gear pair. In the illustrated embodiment, the reduction gear 170 transmits the torque output by the motor to the damper drive wheel 150C, the damper drive wheel 150C is directly coupled to the damper drive wheel 150B to thereby transmit the torque directly to the damper drive wheel 150B, and the damper drive wheel 150B is directly coupled to the damper drive wheel 150A to thereby transmit the torque directly to the damper drive wheel 150A. Thus, the

damper drive wheels

150C and 150A rotate in the same direction, and the damper drive wheel 150B rotates in the opposite direction to the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150C. In an alternative embodiment, intermediate transition wheels may be provided between the

damper drive wheels

150C, 150B and between the

damper drive wheels

150B, 150A such that the rotational directions of the

damper drive wheels

150C, 150B, 150A are the same.

In the illustrated embodiment, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are aligned along the lateral direction Y of the housing 110, thereby contributing to shortening the length of the airflow passage between the airflow inlet 101 and the airflow outlet 102, reducing losses, and improving cooling efficiency.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the three damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are staggered from the three

dampers

140A, 140B, 140C, respectively, in the lateral direction Y of the housing 110, and the three damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are each disposed on the same side of the

dampers

140A, 140B, 140C, respectively. Such an arrangement can further shorten the length of the air blowing device in the Y-axis direction; meanwhile, due to the short width of the air door driving rod, the air door driving rod and the air door are staggered along the transverse direction Y, and the length of the air supply device along the transverse direction Y is not excessively increased. Therefore, the volume of the air supply device can be reduced on the whole by staggering the three damper driving rods and the three dampers along the transverse direction Y and arranging the three dampers on the same side of the dampers. In addition, arranging the damper drive lever on the side of the damper close to the motor can shorten the length of the transmission path from the motor to the damper drive lever, thereby improving the efficiency and reliability of power transmission, and further shortening the length of the air supply device 100 in the transverse direction Y, reducing the volume of the air supply device.

As shown in fig. 8, recessed

tracks

152A, 152B, 152C are provided on the back of the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C, which receive and guide the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C, respectively, and drive rotation of the

dampers

140A, 140B, 140C through engagement between the rack on the damper drive levers and the sector gears on the damper drive levers. In particular, the shape of the groove track is designed such that the groove track varies in radius in the circumferential direction of the damper drive wheel, so that the three

dampers

140A, 140B, 140C can be opened and closed in a predetermined manner with the rotation of the damper drive wheel. In this context, the radius of the groove track refers to the distance of the centerline of the groove track from the axis of rotation of the damper drive wheel.

Specifically, when the motor 160 is operated, all three damper drive wheels rotate accordingly. The radius of the groove track disposed on the back surface of the damper driving wheel varies in the circumferential direction and the variation rate of the radius is different from each other, so that the three dampers are moved in a predetermined manner. FIGS. 9a-9h schematically illustrate various operational states in which dampers 140A, 140B, 140C of blower apparatus 100 are moved in response to rotation of

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

A top view of the damper and its drive mechanism is shown in fig. 9a-9h, with the housing 110, cover 180, motor 160 and pinion 161, and reduction gear 170 omitted to clearly show the condition of the damper and its drive wheels. In addition, since the groove rail is provided on the back of the damper drive wheel, the groove rail and its position in each state are schematically shown in dotted lines in fig. 9a to 9 h.

Fig. 9a shows a first state of the damper group. In this first state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are in their first positions, not rotated (i.e., rotated through 0 ° relative to the first positions, as shown in fig. 9 a). At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are also in their respective first positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The radius of the groove tracks in which the posts 132A, 132B, 132C are located is R1, and the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are all in a retracted position, such that the

dampers

140A, 140B, 140C are all in a closed position. Therefore, in this first state, the

dampers

140A, 140B, and 140C are all closed, and no cool air is discharged from the airflow outlets 102A, 102B, and 102C.

Fig. 9b shows a second state of the damper group. In this second state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 50 ° relative to the first position, each in their second position. Since the rotation directions of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150C are the same and the rotation directions of the

damper drive wheels

150B and 150A, 150C are opposite, in the perspective of fig. 9B, the damper drive wheel 150A rotates clockwise by 50 °, the damper drive wheel 150B rotates counterclockwise by 50 °, and the damper drive wheel 150C rotates clockwise by 50 °. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective second positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The notch tracks 152A and 152C are of constant radius during 0-50 deg. rotation of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150C, i.e., the notch tracks where the posts 132A and 132C are located are still at radius R1, and the damper drive levers 130A, 130C are in the retracted position, so that the

dampers

140A and 140C are in the closed position. The groove track 152B changes in radius during 0-50 rotation of the damper drive wheel 150B, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132B is located changes from R1 to R2, and the damper drive lever 130B changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 140B changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the first state to the second state, the

dampers

140A, 140C are kept closed, and the damper 140B is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 102B.

Fig. 9c shows a third state of the damper group. In this third state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 100 ° relative to the first position, in their third positions, respectively. In the perspective of fig. 9C, damper drive wheel 150A has rotated 100 ° clockwise, damper drive wheel 150B has rotated 100 ° counterclockwise, and damper drive wheel 150C has rotated 100 ° clockwise. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective third positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The groove tracks 152A and 152B have a constant radius during 50-100 ° rotation of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150B, i.e., the groove track radius at which the post 132A is still R1 and the groove track radius at which the post 132B is still R2, the damper drive lever 130A is in the retracted position, the damper 140A is in the closed position, the damper drive lever 130B is in the extended position, and the damper 140B is in the open position. The radius of the groove track 152C changes during 50-100 of rotation of the damper drive wheel 150C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132C is located changes from R1 to R2, and the damper drive lever 130C changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 140C changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the second state to the third state, the damper 140A is kept closed, the damper 140B is kept open, and the damper 140C is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 102B and 102C.

Fig. 9d shows a fourth state of the damper group. In this fourth state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 150 ° relative to the first position, each in their fourth position. In the perspective of fig. 9d, the damper drive wheel 150A rotates 150 ° clockwise, the damper drive wheel 150B rotates 150 ° counterclockwise, and the damper drive wheel 150C rotates 150 ° clockwise. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective fourth positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The groove tracks 152A and 152C have a constant radius during 100-. The groove track 152B changes in radius during 100-150 deg. rotation of the damper drive wheel 150B, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132B is located changes from R2 to R1, and the damper drive lever 130B changes from the extended position to the retracted position, so that the damper 140B changes from the open position to the closed position. Therefore, from the third state to the fourth state, the damper 140A is kept closed, the damper 140C is kept open, and the damper 140B is changed from the open position to the closed position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 102C.

Fig. 9e shows a fifth state of the damper group. In this fifth state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 200 ° relative to the first position, each in their fifth position. In the view of fig. 9e, the damper drive wheel 150A rotates through 200 ° clockwise, the damper drive wheel 150B rotates through 200 ° counterclockwise, and the damper drive wheel 150C rotates through 200 ° clockwise. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective fifth positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The radius of the groove tracks 152B and 152C is unchanged during the 150-. The groove track 152A changes in radius during the 150-200 rotation of the damper drive wheel 150A, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132A is located changes from R1 to R2, and the damper drive lever 130A changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 140A changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the fourth state to the fifth state, the damper 140B is kept closed, the damper 140C is kept open, and the damper 140A is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 102A and 102C.

Fig. 9f shows a sixth state of the damper group. In this sixth state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 250 ° relative to the first position, each in their sixth position. In the perspective of fig. 9f, damper drive wheel 150A rotates 250 ° clockwise, damper drive wheel 150B rotates 250 ° counterclockwise, and damper drive wheel 150C rotates 250 ° clockwise. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are also in their respective sixth positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The groove tracks 152A and 152B have a constant radius during the 200- 250 rotation of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150B, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 132A is still R2 and the groove track radius where the post 132B is still R1, the damper drive lever 130A is in the extended position, the damper 140A is in the open position, the damper drive lever 130B is in the retracted position, and the damper 140B is in the closed position. The groove track 152C changes in radius during 200-250 rotation of the damper drive wheel 150C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132C is located changes from R2 to R1, and the damper drive lever 130C changes from the extended position to the retracted position, such that the damper 140C changes from the open position to the closed position. Therefore, from the fifth state to the sixth state, the damper 140A is kept open, the damper 140B is kept closed, and the damper 140C is changed from the open position to the closed position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 102A.

Fig. 9g shows a seventh state of the damper group. In this seventh state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 300 ° relative to the first position, in their seventh positions, respectively. In the perspective of fig. 9g, damper drive wheel 150A rotates clockwise through 300 °, damper drive wheel 150B rotates counterclockwise through 300 °, and damper drive wheel 150C rotates clockwise through 300 °. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective seventh positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The groove tracks 152A and 152C do not change in radius during the 250- 300 rotation of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150C, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 132A is located is still R2 and the groove track radius where the post 132C is located is still R1, the damper drive lever 130A is in the extended position, the damper 140A is in the open position, the damper drive lever 130C is in the retracted position, and the damper 140C is in the closed position. The groove track 152B changes in radius during the 250-300 rotation of the damper drive wheel 150B, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132B is located changes from R1 to R2, and the damper drive lever 130B changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 140B changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the sixth state to the seventh state, the damper 140A is kept open, the damper 140C is kept closed, and the damper 140B is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 102A and 102B.

Fig. 9h shows an eighth state of the damper group. In this eighth state, the

damper drive wheels

150A, 150B, 150C are rotated through an angle of 350 ° relative to the first position, respectively in their eighth position. In the perspective of fig. 9h, the damper drive wheel 150A rotates through 350 ° clockwise, the damper drive wheel 150B rotates through 350 ° counterclockwise, and the damper drive wheel 150C rotates through 350 ° clockwise. At this time, the posts 132A, 132B, 132C on the damper drive levers 130A, 130B, 130C are in their respective eighth positions in the respective groove tracks 152A, 152B, 152C. The groove tracks 152A and 152B have a constant radius during 300- 350 ° rotation of the

damper drive wheels

150A and 150B, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 132A is still R2 and the groove track radius where the post 132B is still R2, the damper drive levers 130A, 130B are in the extended position, and the

dampers

140A, 140B are in the open position. The groove track 152C changes in radius during 300 and 350 rotation of the damper drive wheel 150C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 132C is located changes from R1 to R2, and the damper drive lever 130C changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 140C changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the seventh state to the eighth state, the

dampers

140A and 140B are kept open, and the damper 140C is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 102A, 102B, 102C.

Table 1 summarizes relevant parameters for eight operating states of air supply apparatus 100 and the states of the various dampers according to the embodiment shown in fig. 9a-9 h.

TABLE 1 exemplary operating conditions of the air blowing device 100

State numbering	Rotation angle of driving wheel of air door	Damper 140A	Damper 140B	Damper	140C
							1	0°	Closing device	Closing device	Closing device
2	50°	Closing device	Opening device	Closing device
					3	100°	Closing device	Opening device	Opening device
4	150°	Closing device	Closing device	Opening device
					5	200°	Switch (C)	Closing device	Opening device
6	250°	Opening device	Closing device	Closing (A)
					7	300°	Switch (C)	Opening device	Closing device
8	350°	Opening device	Opening device	Opening device

FIGS. 9a-9h illustrate various alternative states of the damper. In accordance with the summary of table 1, and with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 9a-9h, the damper drive wheel set changes from one state to another every 50 ° of rotation of the damper drive wheel set. In alternative embodiments, the angle through which the damper drive wheel set rotates when the damper sets change from one state to another may be selected to be other angles, such as greater or less than 50 °. In another alternative embodiment, the angle through which the damper group is rotated when switching between different states may not be fixed, such as by being rotated differently for each of the two different states.

In the illustrated embodiment, the air supply includes three dampers, and thus three corresponding drive mechanisms. In the case of three dampers, the damper group comprises 2³8 different operating states. In alternative embodiments, the air supply arrangement may include any number N of dampers, such as more than three, or less than three, such that the damper set correspondingly includes 2^NA different operating state.

In the illustrated embodiment, only one damper is actuated and the other two dampers remain in place during each switching of the damper group. For example, when the damper group switches from the first state to the second state, only the second damper is actuated; when the air door group is switched from the second state to the third state, only the third air door acts; when the air door group is switched from the third state to the fourth state, only the second air door acts; by analogy, only one damper is actuated in each subsequent state change. Thus, at each change of state of the damper group (i.e. each 50 ° rotation of the damper drive wheel in the illustrated embodiment), only one of the groove tracks has a varying radius and the other two groove tracks have no varying radius. Therefore, according to the sequential change of the radii of the three groove tracks, the working states of the eight air door groups of the air supply device 100 are realized. Only one air door acts (namely the state is changed) when the state of the air door group is switched every time, so that the torque loss output by the motor is small. Thus, a motor with smaller power and smaller volume can be adopted for driving the state switching of the air door group, so that the whole volume of the air supply device 100 is more compact; meanwhile, the torque for driving the state change of the air door is small, and the torque born by the power transmission mechanism for outputting the torque of the motor 160 to the rotation of the air door 140 is low, so that the power transmission mechanism is not easy to damage, and the service life is prolonged.

In an alternative embodiment, a scheme may be employed in which two (or more) dampers are actuated simultaneously each time the state is switched. The scheme can more flexibly configure the sequence among various air door states of the air supply device; however, the power consumed to open and close the two (or more) dampers will increase, thereby increasing the power required to be output by the motor, potentially increasing the cost and size of the motor.

Fig. 10 shows another embodiment of an air supply arrangement, hereinafter designated air supply arrangement 200. Air supply device 200 is substantially similar in structure to air supply device 100. Fig. 11 shows an enlarged perspective view of the damper drive lever 230 of the air blowing device 200.

Unlike the integrated structure of the damper drive lever 130 of the air supply device 100 in fig. 3, the damper drive lever 230 of the air supply device 200 in fig. 10 is constituted by a plurality of components. As shown in fig. 11, the damper drive lever 230 includes a drive lever body 234, a drive lever slider 235, and a compensation spring 231. A rack 233 is provided on one end of the drive rod body 234 and a post 232 is provided on the drive rod slider 235. At the end of the drive rod body opposite the rack 233 is provided a recess 236 for receiving the slider 235 and the compensation spring 231 therein. Similar to air supply apparatus 100, posts 232 on slider 235 fit into recessed tracks 252 provided on the back of damper drive wheel 250, thereby converting rotational movement of damper drive wheel 250 into translational movement of damper drive rod 230. Similar to blower device 100, rack 233 engages sector gear 244 of damper drive lever 241, thereby translating movement of damper drive lever 230 into rotational movement of damper drive lever 241. The damper driver 241 further drives the damper 240 to rotate between the open and closed positions.

In the air blowing device 200, the compensation spring 231 is provided at an end of the drive lever main body 234 opposite to the rack 233. The compensating spring 231 is pressed against the driving lever body 234 by its own elastic force for compensating a transmission gap of the driving system during the movement. The pressure of the compensation spring 231 against the drive rod body 234 tends to move the damper toward the closed position. Specifically, during the transition of the damper 240 from the open position to the closed position, the compensating spring 231 is compressed by the pressure of the slider 235 and further transmits the pressure to the driving lever main body 234 to compensate for the transmission gap generated during the overall transmission of the driving system. Particularly, in the closed state of the damper, it is difficult to ensure that the damper can achieve a good sealing state due to manufacturing tolerances and fit clearances of the groove rail and/or the damper drive rod, etc.; at this time, the compensation spring 231 can exert a pressure on the drive lever main body 234 such that the damper tends to close more tightly, thereby ensuring a good sealing state of the damper. Optionally, the compensation spring 231 also serves to enhance the sealing effect at the initial closed position of the damper (as will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings).

Fig. 12 shows a cross-sectional view of air supply device 200, showing a cross-sectional view of damper drive lever 230, damper drive member 241, and damper drive wheel 150. In the cross-sectional view shown in fig. 12, the damper 240 is omitted to more clearly illustrate the cooperative relationship between the drive systems for driving rotation of the damper.

Specifically, the portion of the damper drive rod 230 where the rack is provided is spaced from the portion for accommodating the drive rod slider 235 along the vertical axis Z. Specifically, the portion of the damper drive lever 230 where the rack is provided is lower than the portion for accommodating the drive lever slider 235 in the vertical direction Z. The partition 211 is provided with a recess 225 (fig. 10) for receiving the portion of the damper drive lever 230 where the rack 233 is provided. Such an arrangement reduces the height of the upper space and thus the height of the air blowing device 200. Further, since the groove track (fig. 14) of the damper driving wheel 250 is provided on the lower surface of the damper driving wheel, i.e., facing the direction of the air flow passage, the damper driving lever 230 engaged therewith is provided below the damper driving wheel 150, near the side of the air flow passage; and the rack gear 233 of the upper surface of the damper driving lever 230 is engaged with the sector gear 244 of the damper driving piece 241 disposed above the rack gear 233, so that such an arrangement maximizes the height of the upper space, further reducing the height of the entire apparatus.

Further, in connection with fig. 10, the recess 225 is arranged at the interval between the damper and the damper, so that the damper drive lever 230 received in the recess 225 is also arranged at the interval between the damper and the damper, so that a portion of the damper drive lever 230 (particularly, a portion including the rack 233) partially overlaps with the damper 240 in the longitudinal direction X in which the airflow circulates. Such an arrangement greatly improves the space utilization rate, reduces the length of the air supply device 200 in the longitudinal direction X, and thus reduces the length of the air flow path, so that the air supply device 200 is more compact and the refrigeration efficiency is improved.

FIG. 13 shows an alternative arrangement of a drive system for driving rotation of the damper. In this arrangement, the groove track of the damper drive wheel faces away from the air flow channel, and the damper drive lever and the damper drive member are correspondingly arranged in opposite directions up and down. It can be seen that in this arrangement there is a significant waste of space above the damper drive wheel. Thus, the arrangement of the drive system shown in fig. 13 (upside down from that in the preferred embodiment of the present invention) is low in space utilization, thereby unnecessarily increasing the upper space and the height of the air blowing device.

Fig. 14 shows a bottom perspective view of blower device 200 with portions of the housing being transparentized to show a bottom view of the power transmission mechanism, more particularly to show recessed tracks 252 on the lower surface of damper drive wheel 250.

Air supply device 200 is similar in structure to air supply device 100, and air supply device 200 includes three dampers, and three sets of drive mechanisms for driving the three dampers, respectively. The components used in the three sets of drive mechanisms are similarly added with the suffixes "a", "B", and "C", respectively, in order from far to near from the motor. That is, the three damper drive wheels are labeled 250A, 250B, 250C, respectively, in order from far to near from the motor 260, as shown in FIG. 14. The damper drive levers and damper drive members corresponding to the three

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are then respectively labeled 230A, 230B, 230C and 241A, 241B, 241C (not labeled in FIG. 14), the dampers corresponding thereto are respectively labeled 240A, 240B, 240C, and the airflow outlets corresponding thereto are respectively labeled 202A, 202B, 202C. In the illustrated embodiment, the three

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are of similar shape and size; however, in alternative embodiments, the three

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C may be of different sizes.

As shown in fig. 14, recessed

tracks

252A, 252B, 252C are provided on the back of the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C, which receive and guide the posts 232A, 232B, 232C of the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C, respectively, and drive rotation of the

dampers

240A, 240B, 240C through engagement between the rack on the damper drive levers and the sector gears on the damper drive levers. In particular, the shape of the groove track is designed such that the groove track varies in radius in the circumferential direction of the damper drive wheel, so that the three

dampers

240A, 240B, 240C can be opened and closed in a predetermined manner as the damper drive wheel rotates. In this context, the radius of the groove track refers to the distance of the centerline of the groove track from the axis of rotation of the damper drive wheel.

Specifically, when the motor 260 is operated, all three damper drive wheels are rotated accordingly. The radius of the groove track disposed on the back side of the damper driving wheel varies in the circumferential direction and the variation rate of the radius is different from each other, so that the three dampers are moved in a predetermined manner. Fig. 15a to 15i schematically show various operation states in which dampers 240A, 240B, 240C of air-blowing device 200 according to another embodiment of the present invention are moved in accordance with the rotation of

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C.

Unlike air supply apparatus 100, recessed tracks 252 on the lower surface of damper drive wheel 250 of air supply apparatus 200 are arranged differently from recessed tracks 152 in air supply apparatus 100, so that air supply apparatus 200 can achieve operating states that are not exactly the same as the eight operating states of air supply apparatus 100 described with reference to fig. 9a-9 h. The description of the operating state of air-blowing device 200 will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 15a-15 i.

A top view of the damper and damper drive mechanism is shown in fig. 15a-15i, with the housing, cover, motor and pinion, and reduction gears omitted to clearly show the condition of the damper and damper drive wheels. Meanwhile, the upper portion of the damper drive wheel 250 is cut away to clearly show the respective states of the groove rail and the damper drive lever (and its corresponding components). In addition, since the groove rail is provided on the back of the damper drive wheel, the groove rail and its position in each state are schematically shown in dotted lines in fig. 15a to 15 i.

Fig. 15a shows the initial state (fully closed state) of the damper group. In this initial state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are in their initial positions, with no rotation (i.e., the rotation angles relative to the initial positions are all 0 °, as shown in fig. 15 a). At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C of the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are also in their respective initial positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The radius of the groove track where the posts 232A, 232B, 232C are located is R3'.

In this initial state of the damper group, the radius R3' of the groove track is such that the post 232 fitted in the groove track 252 is in an over-retracted position. Since the closed position of the damper is limited by the engagement surfaces with which the damper engages (e.g., engagement surfaces 118, 119 shown in fig. 10, or any other stop for limiting the closed position of the damper), over-retraction of the post 232 will cause relative movement of the drive rod slider 235 relative to the drive rod body 234 toward the axis of rotation of the drive wheel 250 and, in turn, compress the compensation spring 231. The compensation spring 231 thereby exerts a force on the drive lever body 234 toward the center of the damper drive wheel 250, further urging the damper in the closing direction.

Since this initial state corresponds to a state in which the three dampers are closed simultaneously, at which time the airflow passage is closed, resulting in a relatively large pressure in the airflow passage, a correspondingly large force is required to ensure that the dampers are in a good and sealed closed state. In this initial state, the pressure exerted on the drive lever body 234 by the compensation spring 231 resulting from the over-retraction of the post 232 then provides a large force for ensuring the damper is closed, thereby ensuring a good seal in the initial state.

Therefore, in this initial state, the

dampers

240A, 240B, 240C are all closed, no cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 202A, 202B, 202C, and good sealing is ensured.

Fig. 15b shows the first state of the damper group. In this first state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are in their first positions, rotated by an angle α relative to the initial positions. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 130C are also in their respective first positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The radius of the groove tracks where the posts 232A, 232B, 232C are located are each R1 ' (R1 ' > R3 ') and the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are each in a retracted position such that the

dampers

240A, 240B, 240C are each in a closed position. Therefore, in this first state, the

dampers

140A, 140B, and 140C are all closed, and no cool air is discharged from the airflow outlets 202A, 202B, and 202C.

The first condition of the damper group shown in figure 15B differs from the initial condition shown in figure 15a in that in the first condition the radius R1 'of the groove track where the posts 232A, 232B, 232C are located is greater than R3' when the damper levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in a retracted position rather than an over-retracted position.

When the damper group is transitioned from the initial state to the first state, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C move along the groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C, and thus correspondingly move a distance away from the center of the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C. This movement releases the compression on the compensation spring 231 so that in this first state (the damper lever is in the retracted position), the compensation spring 231 is only used to compensate for the effect on the damper seal due to manufacturing tolerances and transmission clearances, without additionally exerting a large force on the drive link body to keep the damper tight.

When the damper group is transitioned from the first state to the initial state, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C move along the groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C, and thus move a distance closer to the center of the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C, respectively. This movement creates further compression of the compensation spring 231 so that in this initial state (with the damper lever in the over-retracted position), the compensation spring 231 additionally exerts a large force on the drive link body to keep the damper tight, to achieve a good seal at the damper.

Fig. 15c shows the second state of the damper group. In this second state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 50 ° + α relative to the initial position, in their second positions, respectively. Since the direction of rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250C is the same and the direction of rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250B and 250A, 250C is opposite, in the perspective of fig. 15C, the damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise 50 ° + α, the damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise 50 ° + α, and the damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise 50 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective second positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The notch tracks 252A and 252C are of constant radius during the rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250C from α to 50 ° + α, i.e., the notch tracks at which the posts 232A and 232C are still at radius R1', and the damper drive levers 230A, 230C are in the retracted position, and thus the

dampers

240A and 240C are in the closed position. The groove track 252B changes in radius during the rotation of the damper drive wheel 250B from a to 50 + a, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232B is located changes from R1 'to R2', and the damper drive lever 230B changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 240B changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the first state to the second state, the

dampers

240A, 240C are kept closed, and the damper 240B is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 202B.

Fig. 15d shows a third state of the damper group. In this third state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 100 ° + α with respect to the initial positions, respectively, in their third positions. In the viewing angle of fig. 15d, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 100 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 100 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 100 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective third positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252A and 252B have a constant radius during the 50 ° + α to 100 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250B, i.e., the groove track radius at which post 232A is still R1 'and the groove track radius at which post 232B is still R2', the damper drive lever 230A is in the retracted position, the damper 240A is in the closed position, and the damper drive lever 230B is in the extended position, and the damper 240B is in the open position. The groove track 252C changes in radius during 50 ° + α to 100 ° + α rotation of the damper drive wheel 250C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232C is located changes from R1 'to R2', and the damper drive lever 230C changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 240C changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, when going from the second state to the third state, the damper 240A is kept closed, the damper 240B is kept open, and the damper 240C is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 202B and 202C.

Fig. 15e shows the fourth state of the damper group. In this fourth state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 150 ° + α with respect to the initial position, respectively in their fourth position. In the viewing angle of fig. 15e, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 150 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 150 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 150 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective fourth positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252A and 252C have a constant radius throughout the 100 ° + α to 150 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250C, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 232A is still R1 'and the groove track radius where the post 232C is still R2', the damper drive lever 230A is in the retracted position, the damper 240A is in the closed position, and the damper drive lever 230C is in the extended position, and the damper 240C is in the open position. The groove track 252B changes in radius during a rotation of the damper drive wheel 250B from 100 ° + α to 150 ° + α, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232B is located changes from R2 'to R1', and the damper drive lever 230B changes from the extended position to the retracted position, such that the damper 240B changes from the open position to the closed position. Therefore, from the third state to the fourth state, the damper 240A is kept closed, the damper 240C is kept open, and the damper 240B is changed from the open position to the closed position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 202C.

FIG. 15f shows a fifth condition of the damper group. In this fifth state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 200 ° + α relative to the initial positions, respectively, in their fifth positions. In the viewing angle of fig. 15f, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 200 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 200 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 200 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective fifth positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252B and 252C have a constant radius during the 150 ° + α to 200 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250B and 250C, i.e., the groove track radius at which the post 232B is still R1 'and the groove track radius at which the post 232C is still R2', the damper drive lever 230B is in the retracted position, the damper 240B is in the closed position, the damper drive lever 230C is in the extended position, and the damper 240C is in the open position. The groove track 252A changes in radius during 150 ° + α to 200 ° + α rotation of the damper drive wheel 250A, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232A is located changes from R1 'to R2', and the damper drive lever 230A changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 240A changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the fourth state to the fifth state, the damper 240B is kept closed, the damper 240C is kept open, and the damper 240A is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 202A and 202C.

Fig. 15g shows a sixth state of the damper group. In this sixth state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 250 ° + α relative to the initial position, in their sixth positions, respectively. In the view of fig. 15g, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 250 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 250 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 250 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are also in their respective sixth positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252A and 252B have a constant radius during the 200 ° + α to 250 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250B, i.e., the groove track radius at which the post 232A is still R2 'and the groove track radius at which the post 232B is still R1', the damper drive lever 230A is in the extended position, the damper 240A is in the open position, the damper drive lever 230B is in the retracted position, and the damper 240B is in the closed position. The groove track 252C changes in radius during the 200 ° + α to 250 ° + α rotation of the damper drive wheel 250C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232C is located changes from R2 'to R1', and the damper drive lever 230C changes from the extended position to the retracted position, so that the damper 240C changes from the open position to the closed position. Therefore, from the fifth state to the sixth state, the damper 240A is kept open, the damper 240B is kept closed, and the damper 240C is changed from the open position to the closed position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlet 202A.

Fig. 15h shows a seventh state of the damper group. In this seventh state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 300 ° + α with respect to the initial position, respectively in their seventh positions. In the viewing angle of fig. 15h, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 300 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 300 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 300 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective seventh positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252A and 252C have a constant radius during the 250 ° + α to 300 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250C, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 232A is still R2 'and the groove track radius where the post 232C is still R1', the damper drive lever 230A is in the extended position, the damper 240A is in the open position, the damper drive lever 230C is in the retracted position, and the damper 240C is in the closed position. The groove track 252B changes in radius during the 250 ° + α to 300 ° + α rotation of the damper drive wheel 250B, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232B is located changes from R1 'to R2', and the damper drive lever 230B changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 240B changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the sixth state to the seventh state, the damper 240A is kept open, the damper 240C is kept closed, and the damper 240B is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 202A and 202B.

Fig. 15i shows an eighth state of the damper group. In this eighth state, the

damper drive wheels

250A, 250B, 250C are rotated through an angle of 350 ° + α relative to the initial position, respectively in their eighth position. In the illustrated embodiment, 350 ° + α exceeds 360 °. Alternatively, α may be less than 10 °, such that 350 ° + α is less than 360 °.

In the viewing angle of fig. 15i, damper drive wheel 250A rotates clockwise through 350 ° + α, damper drive wheel 250B rotates counterclockwise through 350 ° + α, and damper drive wheel 250C rotates clockwise through 350 ° + α. At this time, the posts 232A, 232B, 232C on the damper drive levers 230A, 230B, 230C are in their respective eighth positions in the respective groove tracks 252A, 252B, 252C. The groove tracks 252A and 252B have a constant radius throughout the 300 ° + α to 350 ° + α rotation of the

damper drive wheels

250A and 250B, i.e., the groove track radius where the post 232A is still R2 'and the groove track radius where the post 232B is still R2', the damper drive levers 230A, 230B are in the extended position, and the

dampers

240A, 240B are in the open position. The groove track 252C changes in radius during the 300 ° + α to 350 ° + α rotation of the damper drive wheel 250C, i.e., the radius of the groove track where the post 232C is located changes from R1 'to R2', and the damper drive lever 230C changes from the retracted position to the extended position, such that the damper 240C changes from the closed position to the open position. Therefore, from the seventh state to the eighth state, the

dampers

240A and 240B are kept open, and the damper 140C is changed from the closed position to the open position, so that the cool air is discharged from the air flow outlets 202A, 202B, 202C.

Table 2 summarizes the parameters associated with the nine operating states of air-moving device 200 and the states of the various dampers in accordance with the embodiment shown in fig. 15a-15 i.

TABLE 2 exemplary operating conditions of air-moving device 200

State numbering	Rotation angle of driving wheel of air door	Damper 240A	Damper 240B	Damper	240C
						Initial state	0°	Close shut-off	Close shut-off	Close shut-off
1	α	Closing (A)	Closing device	Closing device
					2	50°+α	Closing device	Switch (C)	Closing device
3	100°+α	Closing device	Opening device	Opening device
					4	150°+α	Closing device	Closing device	Opening device
5	200°+α	Switch (C)	Closing (A)	Opening device
					6	250°+α	Opening device	Closing (A)	Closing device
7	300°+α	Opening device	Opening device	Closing device
					8	350°+α	Opening device	Opening device	Opening device

FIGS. 15a-15i illustrate various alternative states of the damper. In accordance with the summary of Table 2, and with reference to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 15a-15i, upon transitioning from the initial state (i.e., fully closed state) to the first state, the damper drive wheel is rotated through an angle α; the damper drive wheel set then changes from one state to another every 50 ° of rotation of the damper drive wheel set. In alternative embodiments, the angle through which the damper drive wheel set rotates when changing from one state to another may be selected to be other angles, such as greater or less than 50 °, when switching between the first state to the eighth state of the damper set. In another alternative embodiment, the angle through which the damper group is rotated when switching between any two states between the first state to the eighth state may not be fixed, such as different for every two different states.

In the illustrated embodiment, the air supply includes three dampers, and thus three corresponding drive mechanisms. In the case of three dampersUnder the condition of the wind gate set comprising 1+2³9 (including an additional initial state, i.e., a fully off state) different operating states. In alternative embodiments, the air moving device may include any number N of dampers, such as more than three, or less than three, such that the damper groups correspondingly include 1+2 dampers^NA different operating state.

In the illustrated embodiment, in addition to the switching of the damper group between the initial state and the first state, only one damper is actuated and the other two dampers remain in the original state at each switching of the damper group. For example, when the damper group switches from the first state to the second state, only the second damper is actuated; when the air door group is switched from the second state to the third state, only the third air door acts; when the air door group is switched from the third state to the fourth state, only the second air door acts; by analogy, only one damper is actuated in each subsequent state change. Thus, in addition to the switching of the damper group between the initial state and the first state, only one of the groove tracks has a radius that changes and the other two groove tracks have no radius that changes at each switching of the damper group (i.e., every 50 ° rotation of the damper drive wheel in the illustrated embodiment). Therefore, eight working states from the first state to the eighth state of the air door group of the air supply device 100 are realized according to the sequential change of the radii of the three groove tracks. Because only one damper is operated (namely, the state is changed) when the state is switched from the first state to the eighth state of the damper group, the torque loss output by the motor is small. Thus, a motor with smaller power and smaller volume can be adopted for driving the state switching of the air door group, so that the whole volume of the air supply device 200 is more compact; meanwhile, the torque for driving the state change of the air door is smaller, and the torque born by the power transmission mechanism for outputting the torque of the motor 260 to the rotation of the air door is lower, so that the power transmission mechanism is not easy to damage, and the service life is prolonged.

Fig. 16a shows a schematic top perspective view of the fan 500, and fig. 16b shows a schematic bottom perspective view of the fan 500. Specifically, the airflow inlet 501 of the fan 500 is connected to other mechanisms, such as an evaporator (not shown) for generating cool air; an air flow outlet 502 of the fan 500 is connected to the air flow inlet 101 of the air supply device 100 to guide the air flow to the air supply device 100 and reasonably distribute the air flow into one or more storage spaces of the refrigerator through the air supply device 100.

The airflow outlet 501 of the fan 500 is preferably configured to have substantially the same cross-sectional area as the whole of the three airflow inlets 101 of the air supply device 100, so that the airflow flowing out of the fan 500 can smoothly flow into the air supply device 100 without being blocked, thereby improving the air supply efficiency.

Fig. 17 is an exploded view of the fan 500, showing a specific structure of each component of the fan 500. The fan 500 includes a housing and a fan wheel 530 accommodated in the housing. The housing of the blower 500 includes an upper housing 510 and a lower housing 520. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper housing 510 is generally planar in shape and, together with the lower housing 520, forms a rectangular parallelepiped structure of the blower 500 and forms a space for receiving the blower wheel 530. In an alternative embodiment, the lower housing 520 may also be formed in a generally planar shape, with the space for receiving the fan wheel 530 formed in the upper housing.

The fan wheel 530 includes a plurality of centrifugal wheels 531, the plurality of centrifugal wheels 531 being rotatable about a rotational center of the fan wheel 530, and being rotatable to draw cool air from a cool air forming device (such as an evaporator) and guide the cool air toward the air flow outlet 502. The fan wheel 530 includes an upper plate 532 that is mounted to a corresponding mounting portion 511 of the upper housing 510 by a plurality of mounting clips 533. Specifically, the mounting snap 533 is mounted at the mounting portion 511 by means of the damper pad 534, wherein the damper pad 534 helps to reduce vibration due to suction gas by rotation of the impeller, thereby reducing energy loss and reducing noise.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper housing 510 includes an opening 512 for receiving the fan wheel 530 such that when the fan 500 is assembled, the upper surface of the upper housing 510 is substantially flush with the upper surface of the upper plate 532. Such an arrangement may reduce the height of the blower 500 as much as possible, or increase the effective height of the centrifugal impeller, improving the suction efficiency of the gas suction. In an alternative embodiment, the upper housing 510 may also have no openings such that the upper plate 532 of the fan 530 is fully received in the housing and is located below the upper housing 510.

Furthermore, in the illustrated embodiment, the airflow inlet 501 (fig. 16b) is arranged at the bottom surface of the fan 500; however, in alternative embodiments, the airflow inlet 501 may be appropriately arranged according to the position of the cold air forming device (e.g., evaporator) connected thereto.

In addition, the lower housing 520 also includes

baffles

521, 522 for directing the airflow. The

deflectors

521, 522 are arranged to direct the airflow drawn by the centrifugal impeller 531 towards the airflow outlet 502 and to adapt (in the illustrated embodiment widen) the airflow cross-section to substantially coincide with the overall cross-section of all the airflow inlets of the air supply arrangement 100. Specifically, the

air deflectors

521 and 522 form air flow channels for guiding air flow to the air supply device 100, and prevent cold air from irregularly flowing in a space formed by the upper casing 510 and the lower casing 520 of the whole fan 500 to cause loss of cold energy, thereby improving the efficiency of air flow guiding of the whole fan.

The structure of the air blowing device 1 is described above taking as an example an assembly of the fan 500 and the air blowing device 100; in an alternative embodiment, fan 500 may also be used in conjunction with air-moving device 200 shown in FIG. 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the blower 500 and the

air supply devices

100, 200 are separate components and may be connected together by a variety of connection means, such as by bolting, ultrasonic welding, gluing, snap-fit connection, or the like; in alternative embodiments, the fan 500 and the

air supply devices

100, 200 may be formed as a unitary member and be co-formed, such as by integral injection molding.

The above description is intended to be illustrative of the present invention and not to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims appended hereto.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various features of the various embodiments of the invention described hereinabove may be omitted, added to, or combined in any manner, respectively. For example, the blower device 100 described with reference to fig. 3-9h may also employ the damper drive lever 230 shown in fig. 11; or the air supply device 100 described with reference to fig. 3-9h can also adopt the arrangement of the groove tracks 252 shown in fig. 15a-15i and the corresponding 9 working states; or various combinations of the air delivery devices may be used in conjunction with the fan 500 described with reference to fig. 16-17, and so forth.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An air supply device (1) for an air-cooled refrigerator,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the air supply device (1) comprises an air supply device (100) and a fan (500),

the fan (500) comprises a housing and a fan wheel (530) accommodated in the housing, the fan wheel (530) being used for drawing air and guiding air flow to an air flow inlet (101) of the air supply device (100),

the air supply device (100) comprises: a housing (110), a damper (140), a housing cover (180),

wherein,

the housing (110) defines a first space and a second space,

the first space receives a transmission mechanism that transmits power to the damper (140);

the second space (113) is used for airflow;

the first space and the second space (113) are isolated from each other,

the housing cover (180) engages with the housing (110) to enclose the transmission mechanism within the first space,

the face plate (142) of the damper (140) is extendable into the second space (113) such that the damper (140) is openable and closable via power transmitted by the transmission mechanism, and when the damper (140) is opened, an air-cooled airflow entering the second space (113) via an airflow inlet (101) provided to the housing (110) can exit the second space (113) via an airflow outlet (102) provided to the housing (110) corresponding to the airflow inlet (101); the air-cooled airflow cannot leave the second space (113) via the airflow outlet (102) when the damper (140) is closed,

the air supply device (100) is connected with the fan (500), and an air flow outlet (502) of the fan (500) is connected to an air flow inlet (101) of the air supply device (100) so as to guide air flow to the air supply device (100).

2. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 1,

the housing (110) has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the airflow outlet (102) and the airflow inlet (101) are arranged on opposite surfaces of the housing (110) such that an airflow path defined by a second space between the airflow inlet (101) and the airflow outlet (102) is a straight line.

3. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 1,

the first space including a first subspace (112) for receiving a drive mechanism for driving movement of the damper and a second subspace (114) for receiving a drive motor (160),

the first subspace (112) and the second subspace (113) are arranged in a stacked manner in the vertical direction (Z) of the air supply device (100).

4. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 3,

the housing (110) comprises a partition (111) arranged in a horizontal direction and a sidewall (115) arranged in a vertical direction, the partition (111) separating the first subspace (112) and the second subspace (113), the sidewall (115) separating the second subspace (114) and the second space (113).

5. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 1,

the face plate (142) of the damper (140) includes a base (147) and a boss (146) formed on a surface of the base (147) facing the airflow inlet (101), the boss (146) having approximately the same width as the base (147).

6. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 5,

the boss (146) itself is formed of a compressible sealing material.

7. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 1,

the transmission mechanism comprises a motor (160), a pinion (161), a reduction transmission pair and a driving mechanism for driving the air door (140) to move.

8. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 7,

the reduction transmission pair is in reduction gear transmission.

9. An air supply arrangement (1) as claimed in claim 7,

the drive mechanism includes:

a damper drive wheel (150) having a grooved track (152) disposed thereon,

a damper drive lever (130) including a post (132), the post (132) cooperating with the groove track (152),

the groove track (152) is arranged to vary in radius in a circumferential direction of the damper drive wheel (150) such that when the damper drive wheel (150) is rotated via torque output by the motor, the groove track (152) drivingly translates the post (132) fitted therein, thereby further driving movement of the damper (140).

10. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 9,

the groove rail (152) of the damper driving wheel (150) is provided on a surface of the damper driving wheel (150) facing the second space (113), and

the damper drive lever (130) is disposed closer to the second space than the damper drive wheel.

11. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 9,

the air door driving rod (130) is arranged on the side, close to the motor (160), of the corresponding air door.

12. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 9,

and a compensation spring (131) is arranged at the air door driving rod and used for compensating the clearance of the driving mechanism in the transmission process.

13. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 12,

the damper drive lever (130) is formed in one body,

the compensation spring (131) and a part of the damper drive lever (130) are disposed in a recess (125) formed on a partition (111) for separating the first subspace (112) and the second subspace (113), and

the compensation spring is arranged such that the damper drive lever (130) tends to move the damper toward a closed position.

14. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 12,

the damper drive lever (230) includes a drive lever main body (234), a drive lever slider (235), and a compensation spring (231), the drive lever main body (234) is provided with a notch (236) for accommodating the drive lever slider (235) and the compensation spring (231), and,

the compensation spring (231) is arranged such that the damper drive lever (230) tends to move the damper towards a closed position.

15. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 9,

the damper drive lever (130) further includes a rack (133) that engages a sector gear of a damper drive member (141) to convert translational movement of the damper drive lever (130) into rotational movement of the damper (140).

16. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 9,

the angle of rotation of the damper (140) between the open and closed positions is between 30 ° and 60 °.

17. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 15,

the damper driving member (141) and the damper (140) are separate components.

18. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 15,

the damper driving part (141) is formed integrally with the damper (140).

19. An air supply arrangement (1) according to any of claims 9-18,

the air supply device (100) includes a plurality of dampers (140A, 140B, 140C) each of which is driven by a corresponding drive mechanism to switch between an open position and a closed position, and a plurality of airflow outlets (102A, 102B, 102C) controlled to open and close by the plurality of dampers.

20. Air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 19,

the air supply device (100) comprises three dampers (140A, 140B, 140C) and three airflow outlets (102A, 102B, 102C) controlled to be opened and closed by the three dampers.

21. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 19,

the damper groups of the plurality of dampers (140A, 140B, 140C) have a plurality of different operating states, and switching between the plurality of operating states of the damper groups is effected by rotation of respective damper drive wheels (150A, 150B, 150C) in the respective drive mechanisms.

22. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 21,

the plurality of damper drive wheels corresponding to the plurality of dampers in the damper group are formed in the form of a plurality of gears which are meshed with each other and have the same number of teeth so that the plurality of dampers are opened and closed at the same timing.

23. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 21,

from the first position of the damper group, the damper group switches from one operating state to another every time the damper drive wheel rotates through a fixed angle.

24. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 21,

from the first position of the damper group, only one damper is actuated each time the damper group is switched from one operating state to another, and during this operating state switching, the radius of only one of the groove tracks (152) of the drive wheels of the plurality of dampers corresponding to the plurality of dampers in the damper group is changed.

25. An air supply arrangement (1) according to claim 21,

a compensation spring (231) is arranged at the air door driving rod,

in the first position of the damper group, the plurality of dampers of the damper group are each in a closed position, and,

the damper group further comprising an initial position prior to the first position in which the compensation spring (231) exerts a greater pressure on the damper drive lever (230) than in the first position such that the damper drive lever (230) holds the damper in a fully closed position,

the fully closed position of the damper achieves a better blocking and sealing action for the air flow than the closed position of the damper.

26. An air-cooled refrigerator comprising an air supply apparatus (1) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 25.

27. A method of supplying air or cooling with an air supply arrangement (1) according to any of claims 1-25.