KR100213632B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a cooling chamber, comprising: a cold air duct provided on a side wall of the cooling chamber to guide the flow of cold air and having at least one cold air discharge opening opened toward the cooling chamber; A pair of plate-shaped bodies installed horizontally on the opening face of the cold air discharge port, the shutter opening and closing the cold air discharge port by mutual access; And a driving unit for carrying the pair of shutters closer to each other. As a result, the cooling air can be distributedly supplied to the cooling chamber, and the cold air discharge port can be closed to prevent the relative high temperature in the cooling chamber from being introduced into the cold air duct. Therefore, the idea that occurs in the evaporator is lowered to increase the operating efficiency of the refrigeration system, and the aesthetics in the cooling chamber are improved.

Description

Refrigerator

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to install a shutter that is open and close at an opening for cold air discharging formed in a cooling chamber to distribute cold air, and to block cold air flowing into the cold air duct during closing. The refrigerator relates to a reduction in the concept of the evaporator.

In recent years, refrigerators, which have become larger in size, are equipped with a cold air distribution device in order to eliminate problems such as temperature deviations in the cooling chamber and to remove four sections which are difficult to reach cold air. In order to simplify the configuration and to distribute the cold air more effectively, such a cold air distributing device has been continuously studied, and thus various types of things have been proposed by the present applicant. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the cold air distribution device disclosed in PCT application WO 95/27278 filed by the applicant.

As can be seen in the figure, the conventional cold air distribution device 110 is composed of a rotation shaft 121, a plurality of cold air distribution blades 111 and a drive motor 131 for rotating the rotation shaft 121. The rotary shaft 121 is rotatably installed at the rear of the cold air discharge opening opened toward the cooling chamber in the cold air duct provided on the rear side of the refrigerating chamber 3, and the rotary shaft 121 of the driving motor 131 is disposed on the upper portion of the rotary shaft 121. To be combined. The cold air distribution blades 111 are formed in a plate-shaped body curved in a wave shape with respect to the plane including the axis of the rotation shaft 121, and are spaced apart from each other to correspond to each of the cold air discharge ports 16 along the rotation shaft 121. It is. At the upper and lower ends of each cold air distributing wing 111, a pair of end plates 113 formed of an upper plate 113a and a lower plate 113b is formed, and an intermediate plate is formed between the upper plate 113a and the lower plate 113b. 115 is provided to divide the cold air distribution blade 111 into the first blade portion 117 and the second blade portion 119. Each wing portion 117, 119 is bent to form an S-shaped cross section, and each wing portion 117, 119 of each cold air distribution wing 111 is bent in the opposite direction to each other.

FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view of the refrigerator in which the cold air distribution device of FIG. 6 is installed, and the cold air distribution device 110 is installed in the cold air duct as shown in the drawing. Thus, when the driving motor 131 rotates the rotary shaft 121 at a low speed, the cold air supplied along the cold air duct 15 is converted to the flow path direction by the curved plate surface of the cold air distribution blades 111, left and right in the refrigerating chamber Spread out and discharged. On the other hand, when intensive cooling is necessary for a specific site, the rotating shaft 121 is stopped in accordance with the direction of the cold air distribution blade 111 so that cold air is concentrated discharged toward the site. By such a cold air distribution device 110, it becomes possible to realize uniform cooling and concentrated cooling in the refrigerating chamber 3.

By the way, in the refrigerator 101 having the conventional cold air distribution apparatus 110, the cold air discharge port formed in the rear wall surface of the cooling chamber is left open, so that the relatively high temperature in the cooling chamber is introduced into the cold air duct. Thus, there is a problem in that the high temperature introduced causes an frost on the evaporator, which degrades the good operation of the refrigeration system. In addition, the cold air distribution device 110 for distributing cold air in the cooling chamber is difficult to manufacture easily due to its configuration, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the refrigerator 101, and also having a smooth curved surface. Vortex is formed around the cold air discharge port by the cold air distribution wing, and thus there is a limit in uniformly distributing the cold air.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention, in consideration of these problems in the prior art, by installing a shutter that can be opened and closed in the cold air outlet, supply the cold air in the refrigerating compartment when opening, the refrigerator to block the inflow of relative high temperature in the refrigerating compartment when closing To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of uniformly distributing cold air by removing the vortex shape generated around the cold air discharge port, and controlling the amount of cold air discharged into the refrigerating chamber.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator having improved aesthetics in a refrigerating compartment.

1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to the present invention,

2 is a side cross-sectional view of FIG.

3 is an exploded perspective view of a shutter device according to the present invention;

4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of the assembled state of Figure 3, a view for explaining the operating state of the shutter device according to the invention,

6 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional cold air distribution device,

7 is a side cross-sectional view of the refrigerator in which the cold air distribution device of FIG. 6 is installed.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

2, 3: Cooling chamber 5: Intermediate bulkhead

6, 7: door 9a, 9b: temperature sensor

12a, 12b: evaporator 13a, 13b: cooling chamber fan

15: cold air duct 16a, 16b, 16c: cold air discharge

21: duct member 23: protrusion

25: duct cover 30: shutter device

33a, 33b: Shutter 35: bending part

37: sliding part 41: guide member

43: elastic detail 45: flange

47: protrusion 49: tension spring

50: connecting string 51: drive shaft

57: drive motor 61: action lever

63: fixed bar 65: roller

According to the present invention, a refrigerator having a cooling chamber, comprising: a cold air duct provided on a side wall of the cooling chamber to guide the flow of cold air and having at least one cold air outlet opening toward the cooling chamber; A pair of plate-shaped bodies installed horizontally on the opening face of the cold air discharge port, the shutter opening and closing the cold air discharge port by mutual access; It is achieved by a refrigerator, characterized in that it comprises a drive unit for mutually carrying the pair of shutters.

Here, the cold air duct is composed of a duct cover having the cold air discharge port and the duct member spaced apart from each other so as to form a cold air flow path between the duct cover; Preferably, the pair of shutters may be installed so as to allow sliding access in a left and right direction opposite to the rear surface of the duct cover. In this case, the central area of the duct cover may be projected forward with respect to the reference plate surface and be gently curved surface. A protruding portion is formed along the longitudinal direction, and the cold air discharging opening is formed in the protruding portion; Preferably, the pair of shutters includes a sliding portion sliding with respect to both side reference plate surfaces of the duct cover, and a bending portion corresponding to the protruding portion.

On the other hand, the driving unit, the elastic bias means for elastically biasing the pair of shutters in a half state; A connecting string connecting the back surface of the separated shutter along the mutual sliding direction; A drive shaft rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the rear surface of the cold air discharge port; It is installed to be rotatable integrally to the drive shaft, it can be simply configured to include an action lever for accessing the pair of shutters by mutually interacting with the connecting strap when the drive shaft is rotated.

At this time, the actuation lever, and the fixed bar fixed in the horizontal direction to the drive shaft; It may be configured to include a roller for rotating the axis of rotation in parallel with the drive shaft at both ends of the fixed bar, whereby the action straps in contact in the rotating plane of the roller, the rotation of the roller When the action strap is pushed toward the cold air outlet side, the shutters are close to each other.

The elastic urging means may include: a flange having a pair of first fixing holes facing the pair of shutters on the rear surfaces of both reference plate surfaces of the duct cover; A projection having a second fixed hole in each of the shutters opposite to the fixed hole; It can be simply configured to include a tension spring that is fixed to both ends of the first fixed hole and the second fixed hole.

In addition, it is preferable to further include a guide member which is provided on the rear surface of both reference plate surfaces of the duct cover facing each other up and down along the sliding direction of the shutter, and guides the opening and closing of each shutter.

On the other hand, the cooling chamber is partitioned into a plurality of storage zones arranged in the upper and lower layers; The cold air discharge port may be provided along the longitudinal direction of the protrusion of the duct cover to be attached to the storage area.

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

1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 7, the refrigerator includes a pair of cooling chambers divided into a freezer compartment 2 and a refrigerating compartment 3 by an intermediate partition 5 in an almost rectangular main body. Opening / closing doors 6 and 7 are provided on the front of openings 2 and 3, respectively. The refrigerator compartment 3 is provided with a plurality of shelves 8 for placing food to partition the refrigerator compartment 3 into a plurality of food storage areas in the vertical direction. The special refrigeration chamber 18 used for storing the food suitable for a specific temperature range is formed in the upper side of the refrigerating chamber 3, and the vegetable chamber 19 for storing vegetables is formed in the lower side of the refrigerating chamber 3. As shown in FIG.

In the main body 4, a compressor 11, a condenser, a freezer compartment evaporator 12a, and a refrigerator compartment evaporator 12b, which are not shown, are installed to perform a refrigeration cycle, and cold air is generated in each of the evaporators 12a and 12b. A freezer compartment fan 13a and a refrigerating compartment fan 13b are installed above the evaporators 12a and 12b to forcibly blow cold air generated in each of the evaporators 12a and 12b to the freezer compartment 2 or the refrigerator compartment 3.

The cold air duct 15 is provided in the rear wall surface of the refrigerating chamber 3. The cold air duct 15 is comprised by the duct cover 21 and the duct cover 25 which is couple | bonded with the front surface of this duct member 21, and forms the predetermined | prescribed cold air flow path between them, In the duct cover 25, Cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d opened toward the refrigerating chamber 3 are formed. The cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d formed in the cold air duct 15 are opened and closed by the opening and closing device 30 to be described later in detail, and the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d are opened. The cold air blown into the cold air duct 15 by the refrigerator compartment fan 13b is supplied into the refrigerator compartment. On the other hand, the circulation duct 17 connecting the refrigerating chamber 3 and the refrigerating chamber evaporator 12b is formed behind the cold air duct 15 so as to be isolated from the cold air duct 15. The cold air which cooled the refrigerator compartment 3 returns to the refrigerator compartment evaporator 12b via this circulation duct 17. As shown in FIG.

3 is an exploded perspective view of the shutter device according to the present invention. As can be seen in the figure, the front surface of the duct cover 25 has a protrusion 23 which protrudes slightly from the reference plane 24 to form a smooth curved surface, and three cold air along the longitudinal direction of the protrusion 23. Discharge ports 16a, 16b, 16c are provided. As a result, the cold air flowing through the cold air duct 15 is distributed in the refrigerating chamber 3 through the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c in a large discharge angle range.

The shutter device 30 opens and moves a pair of shutters 33a and 33b and the shutters 33a and 33b provided on the rear surface of the duct cover 25 so as to open and close the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b and 16c. Drive section 43, 50, 51, 57, 61. A pair of shutters (33a, 33b) can be approached opposite to each other with respect to the center line that vertically bisects the cold air outlet (16a, 16b, 16c), each shutter on the upper and lower reference back 24 of the duct cover (25) The guide member 41 which guides the left-right sliding of 33a, 33b is provided. The pair of left and right shutters 33a and 33b is a rectangular plate-like body, and corresponds to the sliding portion 37 and the protruding portion 23 of the duct cover 25 which are in contact with the reference back surface 24 of the duct cover 25. It has a bending part 35 bent in a gentle curved surface. The sliding part 37 which contacts the reference back surface 24 is slid left and right with respect to the reference back surface 24 by the driving parts 43, 50, 51, 57, 61 which will be described later in detail. On the other hand, the guide member 41 is formed with sliding grooves on the opposite surfaces facing each other, and the upper and lower edges of the shutters 33a and 33b are fitted into these sliding grooves. Thus, the pair of shutters 33a and 33b are accessible in opposite directions, i.e., sliding left and right.

The driving unit slides the back of the pair of shutters 33a and 33b with the elastic biasing unit 43 for elastically biasing the pair of shutters 33a and 33b in a separated state. The drive shaft 51 rotatable in the vertical direction to the rear of the connecting air strip 50, the cold air discharge port 16a, 16b, 16c to connect along the direction, and integrally rotatable to the drive shaft 51 is installed By interacting with the connecting string 50 at the time of rotation, it has an actuating lever 61 which makes the pair of shutters 33a and 33b approach each other. The elastic portion 43 may include a first fixing hole facing the tension spring 49 and the rear surface of the duct cover 25, that is, the shutters 33a and 33b facing each other in the central region of both reference surfaces 24. The projection part 47 which has the flange 45 which has 44, and the 2nd fixed hole 46 which opposes the 1st fixed hole 44 in the back surface of the sliding part 37 of each shutter 33a, 33b, respectively. It consists of). Both ends of the tension spring 49 are fixed to the first fixing hole 44 and the second fixing hole 46, respectively, so that the pair of shutters 33a and 33b can be held in a half state, respectively. do.

On the other hand, the connecting string 50 is disposed along a straight line connecting the projections 47 formed on the back of each shutter (33a, 33b), both ends are fixed to the bending portion 35 adjacent to the sliding portion 37, respectively Will be. To this end, the bent portion 35 of each of the shutters 33a and 33b has a through hole 36 through which the connecting string 50 penetrates, respectively, and the end of the penetrating connecting string 50 has a fixing protrusion (not shown). Or it is fixed by the fixing piece 39. At this time, it is preferable to fix the connecting string 50 so that the pair of shutters 33a and 33b are kept in a taut state in which they are separated from each other.

In addition, one end 55a of the driving shaft 51 is coupled to the driving motor 57, and the other end 55b is rotatably received in the rotation shaft hole 29 provided in the lower edge 27 of the duct cover 25. do. The drive motor 57 is preferably composed of a stepping motor capable of controlling forward and reverse rotation and stop angle, and is accommodated in an accommodating bracket (not shown) on the upper portion of the duct cover 25.

On the other hand, the actuating lever 61 is composed of a fixed bar 63 fixed to the drive shaft 51 in the horizontal direction, and a pair of rollers 65 rotatably supported at both ends of the fixed bar 63. have. The fixed bar 63 is coaxially coupled to the drive shaft 51 to rotate integrally, and the roller 65 is rotatable independently of the axis of rotation parallel to the drive shaft 51, respectively. When the drive shaft 51 rotates, the rollers 65 installed on both sides rotate to form a predetermined rotation plane, and at this time, the action strap 50 is partially in contact with the rotation plane of the roller 65. do. A guide groove 67 is provided along the circumferential length direction of the rolling surface of the roller 65 to which the action strap 50 contacts, and the action strap 50 fitted between the guide grooves 67 to the outside. It will not be dismissed.

Accordingly, when the fixing bar 63 is rotated, the roller 65 pushes the tensioning action string 50 into the guide groove 67 to the cold air discharge port side, and at this time, the elastic spring is elastically urged by the tension spring 49. The shutters 33a and 33b on both sides are pulled by the action string 50 which is gradually pushed to be approached to each other. Thus, the openings of the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c are blocked.

4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of the assembled state of FIG. 3, and illustrate the operating state of the shutter device 30 according to the present invention. The drive motor 57 is driven by the output signal of the control unit (not shown) to rotate the drive shaft 51 by 360 degrees. Accordingly, the working lever 61 is also rotated to form a rotation plane having a predetermined radius. The roller 65 is in contact with the action string 50 sequentially when the action lever 61 rotates, A is the point at which the roller 65 and the action string 50 is in contact with each other, B is the action string ( 50 is a point where the roller 65 is separated from each other, and C is a point at which the shutters 33a and 33b on both sides close the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the state where the action string 50 and the roller 65 are not in contact with each other, both shutters 33a and 33b respectively restrained by the two tension springs 49 are separated from each other and the cold air discharge port ( 16a, 16b, and 16c remain open. Then, the roller 65 and the action string 50 is in contact with each other at the point A by the rotation of the drive shaft 51, the action string in the section from point A to point C on the partial arc on which the roller 65 moves 50 is gradually pushed toward the cold air discharge side. At this time, as the tension springs 49 on both sides gradually increase, the shutters 33a and 33b on both sides approach, and thus the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c are gradually closed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the roller 65 reaches point C, the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c are completely closed.

On the other hand, in the length section of the partial circle from the point C to the point B, the action string 50 is gradually pulled toward the drive shaft side by the restoring force of both tension springs 49, and the shutters 33a and 33b are separated from each other. Accordingly, the cold air outlets 16a, 16b, and 16c are gradually opened, and when the roller 65 reaches point B, the cold air outlets 16a, 16b, and 16c are completely opened. As the shutters 33a and 33b approach each other in this way, the cold air from the cold air duct 15 is discharged into the refrigerating chamber through the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b and 16c in the open state. At this time, since the opening width of the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, 16c changes according to the position where the shutters 33a, 33b approach, the amount of cold air discharged into the refrigerating chamber is also changed.

On the other hand, since the driving motor 57 used in the present embodiment is a stepping motor that can be stopped at a predetermined stop angle position according to the control signal of the controller, the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c are opened when necessary. It can be kept closed for a predetermined time. For example, when the temperature in the refrigerating compartment rises sharply above the temperature set by the user due to the opening of the refrigerating compartment door 7, the control unit is based on the signals from the temperature sensors 19a and 19b installed in the refrigerating compartment. The drive motor 57 is controlled to stop at the predetermined position to open the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c. When the temperature in the refrigerating chamber is lower than the set temperature, the control unit stops the drive motor 57 at a position for closing the cold air discharge ports 16a, 16b, and 16c. At this time, even if the temperature in the refrigerating chamber gradually rises, the relatively high temperature is prevented from entering the cold air duct 15. Thus, the idea that occurs in the evaporator 12b is lowered, thereby maintaining a good operating state of the refrigeration system.

As described above, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, a shutter that can be opened and closed is installed at a cold air outlet, and can be opened to supply cold air to the cooling chamber, and closed to block the relative high temperature in the cooling chamber from entering the cold air duct. Can be. Therefore, the idea that occurs in the evaporator is lowered can increase the operating efficiency of the refrigeration system. And, it is possible to achieve the distribution supply of the cold air effectively by removing the vortex shape generated around the cold air discharge port in the past, it is possible to adjust the amount of cold air discharged into the cooling chamber. In addition, the aesthetics in the cooling chamber are improved by the shutter which can be opened and closed intermittently.

Claims (9)

In the refrigerator having a cooling chamber, A cold air duct provided on a side wall of the cooling chamber to guide the flow of cold air and having at least one cold air discharge port opened toward the cooling chamber; A pair of plate-shaped bodies installed horizontally on the opening face of the cold air discharge port, the shutter opening and closing the cold air discharge port by mutual access; And a drive unit which allows the pair of shutters to access each other. The method of claim 1, The cold air duct is composed of a duct cover having the cold air discharge port and a duct member spaced apart from each other so as to form a cold air flow path between the duct cover; The pair of shutters are characterized in that the refrigerator is installed so that the sliding access in the left and right directions opposite to the rear surface of the duct cover is halfway. The method of claim 2, A protruding portion is formed along the longitudinal direction in a central region of the duct cover and protrudes forwardly with respect to the reference plate surface to form a smooth curved surface, and the cold air discharge port is formed in the protruding portion; The pair of shutters include a sliding part sliding with respect to both side reference plate surfaces of the duct cover, and a bending part corresponding to the protrusion part. The method of claim 1, The drive unit, Elastic biasing means for elastically biasing the pair of shutters in a half state; A connecting string connecting the back surface of the separated shutter along the mutual sliding direction; A drive shaft rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the rear surface of the cold air discharge port; And a working lever rotatably installed on the drive shaft to access the pair of shutters by interacting with the connecting string when the drive shaft is rotated. The method of claim 4, wherein The action lever, A fixed bar fixed to the drive shaft in a horizontal direction; Refrigerators, characterized in that each of the ends of the fixed bar comprises a roller rotating in the axis of rotation parallel to the drive shaft. The method according to claim 4 or 5, And the action straps partially contact with each other in the plane of rotation of the rollers, and the action straps are pushed toward the cold air outlet side when the rollers rotate to allow the shutters to approach each other. The method of claim 4, wherein The elastic bias means, A flange having a pair of first fixing holes facing the pair of shutters on the rear surfaces of both reference plate surfaces of the duct cover; A projection having a second fixed hole in each of the shutters opposite to the fixed hole; And a tension spring having both ends fixed to the first fixing hole and the second fixing hole. The method of claim 1, Refrigerator, characterized in that provided on the rear surface of the both sides of the reference plate of the duct cover in a pair facing each other in the vertical direction, the guide member for guiding the opening and closing of each shutter. The method of claim 1, The cooling chamber is partitioned into a plurality of storage zones arranged in upper and lower layers; And the cold air discharge port is provided along a length direction of the protrusion of the chin cover to be attached to the storage area.

Images