KR102342952B1 - A duct structure for cooling container-space of a and a refrigerator having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a duct structure that allows constant temperature refrigeration in a storage space on the door side and a cabinet in a cabinet by separately supplying cold air to a storage space provided on the door side of a refrigerator, and a refrigerator to which the same is applied. A duct structure of a refrigerator, comprising: a multi-duct provided in a rear space of the refrigerator to flow air upward and to discharge cold air into the refrigerator; a connection outlet provided at the upper end of the multi-duct; a connection duct communicating with and connected to the connection outlet and extending in the front-rear direction; a front duct connected to the front end of the connection duct and extending in the left and right direction; and a nozzle unit provided under the front duct and discharging cold air to the storage space of the door.

Description

A duct structure for cooling the storage space of a door and a refrigerator to which such structure is applied

The present invention relates to a duct structure of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a duct structure that allows constant temperature refrigeration in a storage space on the door side and a cabinet in a cabinet by separately supplying cold air to a storage space provided on the door side of the refrigerator, and a refrigerator to which the same is applied will be.

1 shows a refrigerator 10 including a door 20 having an outer door 25 and an inner door 30 . In general, a shelf is installed in the interior space of the cabinet 11 of the refrigerator. The shelf is installed to efficiently use the internal space of the refrigerator. When the shelf is installed, the internal space of the refrigerator is divided into a plurality of spaces with the shelf as a boundary. In addition, a basket or a storage space for storing foods that need to be taken out frequently, such as beverages, is provided on the door 20 side of the refrigerator.

In particular, in the case of a door equipped with an external door 25 and an internal door 30, the purpose of installing the internal door separately is to prevent the cold air from leaking out when the door is opened and closed. A partition cover for dividing the space and the storage space of the door is provided. In addition, the partition cover is provided with an opening for communicating with the interior of the door so that the cold air in the refrigerator can be supplied to the storage space on the door side.

However, since a shelf having a bottom plate made of glass or transparent synthetic resin material has a shape in which the bottom plate is blocked, it is difficult to expect smooth air flow between a plurality of divided spaces separated by the shelf. In addition, when food placed on a shelf blocks cold air discharged toward the front from the multi-duct provided on the rear side of the cabinet, the cold air is not smoothly supplied to the storage space of the door.

In addition, the effect of installing a partition cover on the door is the second door. That is, this is to minimize the leakage of cold air in the refrigerator when the inner door 30 is opened, and the opening of the partition cover is also not very large.

According to this conventional refrigerator structure, when the inner door 30 is opened to take out food in the storage space of the door, it is possible to significantly reduce the leakage of cold air. However, as mentioned above, the food stored in the refrigerator interferes with the design-predicted flow of cold air, which tends to cause a deviation between the temperature in the refrigerator and the temperature in the storage space near the door.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, by supplying cold air directly to the storage space provided in the door without going through the space in the refrigerator, and to provide cold air to the storage space of the door regardless of the food storage location or state in the refrigerator. An object of the present invention is to provide a duct structure that can supply smoothly and a refrigerator to which the same is applied.

In addition, in the present invention, when a partition cover is provided in the storage space provided in the door to prevent the outflow of cold air, cold air can be directly supplied to the storage space provided inside the partition cover separately or without cold air inside the refrigerator. An object of the present invention is to provide a duct structure and a refrigerator to which the same is applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a duct structure capable of supplying cold air directly and smoothly to a door-side storage space with a simple structure and a refrigerator to which the same is applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a duct structure capable of smoothly supplying cold air to the storage spaces of a plurality of doors provided on the front of the refrigerator, and a refrigerator to which the same is applied.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a duct structure of a refrigerator provided with a door having a storage space separated from the inside of the refrigerator. ; a connection outlet provided at the upper end of the multi-duct; a connection duct communicating with and connected to the connection outlet and extending in the front-rear direction; a front duct connected to the front end of the connection duct and extending in the left and right direction; and a nozzle unit provided under the front duct and discharging cold air to the storage space of the door.

According to this structure, it is advantageous to maintain a constant temperature in the storage space of the door by supplying cold air from the duct provided at the rear of the cabinet directly to the door without going through the inside of the cabinet, and it is possible to reduce the temperature difference between the storage space at the door and the inside of the cabinet.

The multi-duct is provided with a first divided portion and a second divided portion that flows by dividing the cold air supplied from the lower left and right into two, and the width of the divided portion provided with the connection outlet among the first divided portion and the second divided portion is By making it wider than the width of the remaining division, it is possible to secure a supply amount of cold air so that cold air is smoothly supplied to the connection duct.

The connecting outlet is provided at one end of the upper end of the multi-duct, and a guide wall for guiding the flow of cold air to the connecting outlet is provided in the multi-duct flow space reaching the connecting outlet. This makes it possible to secure the supply amount of cold air so that the cold air is smoothly supplied to the connecting duct by branching the cold air in advance before the air flow path comes to the end of the multi-duct.

The multi-duct may have a triangular branch shape that becomes wider toward the upper end, and the guide wall becomes wider toward the upper end. According to this structure, the multi-duct can be arranged close to the center and the connecting duct can be installed close to the end, so that the space in the refrigerator can be used to the maximum. In particular, if the upper side of the triangular branch is installed so that it occupies all the wall portions between the outlet provided at the top of the multi-duct and the connected outlet, the flow of cold air does not collide with the dead-end inner wall, thereby preventing a flow loss. can

The connection outlet may be provided upward from an upper end of the multi-duct, and the rear end of the connection duct may be connected to the connection outlet through a first bending part. According to this structure, the multi-duct can not be extended to the ceiling of the cabinet, so it is easy to install the multi-duct, and the first bending part and the connecting duct can be arranged on the ceiling side of the cabinet, so that cold air flows forward without changing the shape of the existing cabinet. can send

Here, the first refraction portion may be provided in a refraction tube, which is a separate component from the connection duct. If the refraction tube is manufactured as a separate part from the connecting member or multi-duct, the production of each part can be simplified, and the parts can be shared in refrigerators of different specifications and the compatibility can be improved.

The flow cross-section of the connecting duct has a rectangular shape wider to the left and right, and the connecting duct includes a dividing wall dividing the flow cross-section into two in the left and right along the longitudinal direction. This dividing wall increases the flow rate of air in the flat and long connecting duct.

In addition, the front duct is provided with a second bending portion connected to the front end of the connection duct to change the flow direction of the air. It is preferable to have a streamlined flow trajectory that naturally converts the flow direction of the air flowing from the rear to the front toward the front duct.

The second bending portion communicates with a manifold portion having an internal flow space extending to the left and right of the front duct, and between the second bending portion and the manifold portion, the flow cross-sectional area becomes narrower from the second bending portion to the manifold portion. Since the guide accelerator is provided, it is possible to once again increase the flow rate of the cold air that has passed through the long flow path. It is important that a large amount of cold air is supplied to the storage space of the door, but considering that the cold air must be supplied at a certain flow rate into the storage space to be evenly delivered even in the storage space of the door, the above-described acceleration structure is It is effective for constant temperature operation and reduction of temperature deviation.

In addition, the nozzle unit provided at the lower part of the manifold is provided with a split vane that divides the discharge cross section, so that when cooling air is finally discharged to the storage space of the door, the flow rate of the cold air is increased and the discharge direction of the cold air is adjusted to the optimal direction. can be controlled with

In addition, the present invention provides a cabinet having an internal space for storing food therein; a door provided at the front of the cabinet to open or close the space in the cabinet, the door having a storage space that is distinct from the space in the cabinet; a multi-duct provided in the rear space of the refrigerator to flow air upward and to discharge cold air into the refrigerator; a connection outlet provided at the upper end of the multi-duct; a connection duct communicating with and connected to the connection outlet and extending in the front-rear direction; a front duct connected to the front end of the connection duct and extending in the left and right direction; and a nozzle unit provided under the front duct and discharging cold air to the storage space of the door.

The door is provided with a second door that can be opened and closed so that the storage space of the door can be accessed from the front of the first door constituting the outer part of the door, so that only the second door is opened without opening the entire door to store the door space can be accessed.

The door is provided with a pair of left and right, and the nozzle unit is provided to correspond to the storage space of the two doors, respectively, so that cold air can be smoothly provided to both the storage spaces of the two doors.

A partition cover for partitioning the storage space and the interior space of the door is provided inside the door, and cold air can be smoothly supplied into the storage space even with the partition cover.

According to the present invention, cold air is supplied directly to the storage space provided in the door through the connecting duct and the front duct without passing through the space in the refrigerator, and cold air is smoothly supplied to the storage space of the door regardless of the food storage location or state in the refrigerator. can

In addition, according to the present invention, even when a partition cover is provided in the storage space in the door to prevent the outflow of cold air, cold air can be directly supplied to the storage space inside the partition cover, so that the constant temperature refrigeration of the storage space on the door side is also smoothly can do. In particular, considering that the preservation period of food is increased by more than 40% when refrigerated at a constant temperature within 1 degree Celsius, the present invention can greatly extend the preservation period of food stored in the storage space of the door.

In addition, according to the present invention, cold air can be supplied directly and smoothly to the door-side storage space with a simple structure, and each part applied to the structure can be used in common or interchangeably with other refrigerators having different specifications. Product quality and maintenance are simple and easy.

In addition, according to the present invention, cold air can be smoothly supplied to all the storage spaces of the plurality of doors provided on the front side of the refrigerator, so that a constant temperature operation is possible for the entire space inside the refrigerator.

More specific effects according to the above-described invention will be described with reference to the specific contents of the invention below.

1 is a perspective view of a bottom freezer type refrigerator having a pair of left and right doors on the upper portion, and an outer door and an inner door;
2 is a perspective view of the duct structure of the refrigerator according to the present invention as viewed from the front;
3 is a cross-sectional view of only the multi-duct from the rear to show the internal structure of the multi-duct of the duct structure of FIG. 2;
Figure 4 is a view showing the internal structure of the multi-duct together with the duct structure of Figure 2,
5 is a plan view of the duct structure of FIG. 2 viewed from above;
6 is a perspective view showing the inside of a refrigerator to which a duct structure is applied from the rear upper part;
7 is an exploded perspective view of the refractive tube, the connecting duct and the front duct of the duct structure of FIG. 2 viewed from the rear;
8 is a view showing a cross section of a connecting duct part of the duct structure, and
9 is a view showing the structure of the nozzle unit and the split vane provided in the lower portion of the front duct.

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

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in a variety of different forms, and only these embodiments allow the disclosure of the present invention to be complete and to completely convey the scope of the invention to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is provided to inform you.

[Structure of the refrigerator]

1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottom freezer type refrigerator including a pair of left and right doors on the upper portion and an outer door and an inner door. Hereinafter, an embodiment of a refrigerator to which a duct structure according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. 6 showing the inside of the refrigerator to which the duct structure is applied from the rear upper part together with FIG. 1 .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the refrigerator 10 is a bottom freezer type refrigerator having a freezer compartment at the lower part and a refrigerating compartment at the upper part, and a freezer compartment having one door matching the width of the refrigerator at the lower part; Two doors 20 are provided on the upper part in the width direction of the refrigerator, and a double-door-type refrigerating compartment that rotates with both ends as a rotation axis when the central handle is pulled is provided. When the refrigerator is viewed from the front, the door 20 on one side (right side in the drawing in FIG. 1) is provided with a door in the form of a door in door, and the door 20 on the other side (left side in the drawing in FIG. 1) is provided with A door of a general shape is provided.

As shown on the right side of FIG. 6 , the general type door has a basket 23 capable of accommodating food therein. The basket supports the bottom and side surfaces of the storage space.

On the other hand, the door of the door-in-door structure has a structure in which the second door 30 is installed within the first door 25 , and the first door 25 becomes an external door constituting the outer portion of the door 20 , and the second door Reference numeral 30 denotes an inner door constituting the surface of the door 20 . As shown in the left side of FIG. 6 , the first door includes a partition cover 21 that divides a storage space for food stored in the basket and a space inside the cabinet on the side of the cabinet 11 together with a basket inside the door as shown in the left side of FIG. 6 . do.

When the first door 25 is opened, the basket and partition cover 21 provided at the rear of the door together with the second door 30 move and open together, so that the user can access the inside of the refrigerator. On the other hand, if only the second door 30 is opened while the first door 25 is closed, only the front portion of the door 20 is opened to access the storage space of the door from the outside, that is, from the front of the refrigerator, The storage space is kept partitioned from the space in the refrigerator by the partition cover 21 . The partition cover 21 allows a slight flow of air between the space inside the refrigerator and the storage space of the door, and prevents cold air from escaping to the outside when only the second door 30 is opened as described above. .

A plurality of shelves are provided in the refrigerator and are divided into three spaces arranged vertically. In each of these spaces, cold air is discharged from the outlet 63 of the multi-duct 60 provided at the rear of the cabinet 11 (see FIG. 2 ). It is discharged and cooled. When the door 20 is closed, some of the cold air discharged from the outlet of the multi-duct 60 passes through the space inside the refrigerator and then flows into the storage space on the door 20 side through the open portion of the partition cover 21 . do.

[duct structure]

2 is a perspective view of the duct structure of the refrigerator according to the present invention as viewed from the front, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of only the multi-duct from the rear to show the internal structure of the multi-duct of the duct structure of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is the duct of FIG. A view showing the internal structure of the multi-duct together with the structure, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the duct structure of FIG. 2 viewed from above, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the inside of the refrigerator to which the duct structure is applied from the upper rear, and FIG. An exploded perspective view of the duct structure, the connecting duct and the front duct viewed from the rear, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the connecting duct part of the duct structure, and FIG. 9 is a nozzle unit and a split vane structure provided under the front duct the drawing shown.

The installation structure of the ducts serving as passages for flowing cold air to cool the refrigerator according to the present invention includes the multi-duct 60 installed at the rear of the cabinet, connected to the upper portion of the multi-duct, and extending forward and forming the multi-duct A connection duct 80 that serves as a passage through which the flowing air flows forward, is connected to the front end of the connection duct 80 and extends in the width direction at the front upper part of the cabinet to allow the cold air flowing forward through the connection duct to the refrigerator It includes a front duct 90 that is a passage for flowing in the width direction.

The multi-duct 60 is of a flat type as shown, and an air flow path through which air flows from the lower part to the upper part is provided. Referring to FIG. 3 , the cold air blown from the lower part is divided into a flow path toward the first divided part 61 on the left (one side) of the drawing and a flow path toward the second divided part 62 on the right (other side) and flows upward. . The first and second divisions 61 and 62 are provided with discharge ports 63 formed at positions corresponding to the respective spaces in the refrigerator divided by the shelves described above and for discharging cold air to each space in the refrigerator. do.

As the cold air flows from the lower part to the upper part in the multi-duct 60 and some cold air is discharged to each outlet 63 , the amount of the cold air transferred to the upper part gradually decreases. As such, if the width of the upper and lower ducts is the same despite the decrease in the amount of cold air, the flow rate of the cold air decreases as it goes up, which reduces the flow rate of the cold air discharged to the outlet at the upper end. In consideration of this point, in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , the width is reduced in a predetermined section (i) in the vicinity of the upper ends of the first divided portion 61 and the second divided portion 62. By making the air flow area smaller than the lower part, the flow rate of cold air is increased so that cold air can be smoothly discharged even through the outlet 63 at the uppermost stage.

In addition, if a structure (not shown) is provided for guiding the flow direction of the air discharged upward through the uppermost outlet opening upward (that is, toward the inside of the refrigerator), the flow rate of cold air discharged to the uppermost shelf space is also enough can be obtained.

Meanwhile, according to the present invention, among the first and second divisions of the multi-duct 60, the side of the division to which the above-described connection duct 80 is connected has a width greater than that of the other divisions, so that the connecting duct is allows more cold air to flow in that partition equal to the amount of cold air that must flow through the front of the cabinet. In the illustrated multi-duct 60, the connecting duct 80 is connected to the first divided part 61 side, the width of the first divided part 61 is larger than that of the second divided part 62, and the distribution ratio is It is approximately 6:4, and the first divided portion is about 50% wider than the second divided portion. According to this structure, it is possible to more smoothly supply cold air toward the connection duct.

The connecting duct 80 is connected to one end of the upper end of the multi-duct 60 member. Referring to FIG. 4 , the upper end of the first divided part 61 has one side disposed far from the second divided part 62 and the other side disposed close to the second divided part 62 , and a connection duct 80 . is provided at one end of the first divided part 61 of the multi-duct 60 . When the connection duct 80 is disposed as far outside as possible, the influence of the connection duct 80 in controlling the flow amount and velocity of the cold air distributed and discharged into the refrigerator through the discharge ports 63 can be minimized. In addition, the connection duct 80 is embedded in the upper member of the cabinet, and is disposed at a position biased toward one end so as not to interfere with other components or components that may be disposed on the ceiling portion of the cabinet, such as lighting.

The cold air sent to the connection duct 80 is transmitted to the connection duct 80 through the connection outlet 65 in the form of a short duct opened upward from the upper end of one side of the multi-duct 60 . A refractive tube 70 is disposed between the connection outlet 65 and the connection duct 80 . The refractive tube is provided with a first refractive part 71 that converts the air flowing upward to the front. The connection outlet 65 is coupled to the lower portion of the first refractive part 71 , and the connection duct is coupled to the front of the first refractive part 71 .

According to the present invention, the multi-duct 60, the refractive tube 70, and the connecting duct 80 are all provided as separate parts. First, the multi-duct 60 is provided at the rear of the interior space of the cabinet, and since the discharge port 63 of the uppermost stage described above is opened upward, the upper end of the multi-duct 60 does not extend to the vicinity of the ceiling of the cabinet. . Therefore, the refractive tube 70 is coupled in such a way that it is fitted into the connection outlet 65 protruding upward from the upper end of the multi-duct 60 (refer to FIGS. 3 and 4 ), and the refractive tube 70 is connected to the ceiling of the cabinet. It can be arranged at a height corresponding to the part. In addition, the connection duct 80 may be embedded in the ceiling portion of the cabinet by being coupled to the front of the refractive tube 70 .

According to this structure, it is possible to apply the duct structure according to the present invention while changing the shape of the cabinet, not changing the design, or minimizing the shape of the cabinet compared to the existing refrigerator. In addition, as in the embodiment of the present invention, when individual parts are manufactured for each function, the production of each part can be simplified, and the parts can be shared in refrigerators of different specifications and compatibility can be improved.

As shown, the total width of the first divided portion 61 reaching the discharge port 63 and the connection discharge port 65 disposed at the upper end of the first divided portion 61 is the upper portion of the first divided portion of the multi-duct. From the height of the upper end of the predetermined section (i) of , it becomes wider as it goes up to the upper end of the first division. In addition, a guide wall 64 is provided at the upper end of the first division part to guide and secure the amount of cold air supplied to the connection outlet 65 among the cold air flowing to the upper end, and the width increases toward the upper part. It may be in the form of a widening triangular branch. The triangular branch is located in a section where the first divided portion 61 is widened from the upper end of the first divided portion 61 . As shown, the flow cross-sectional area (width) of the flow path to the connection outlet 65 provided on one side of the guide wall 64 is smaller than the flow cross-sectional area (width) of the flow path to the outlet 63 provided on the other side of the guide wall 64 . . The triangular branch has a triangular shape in which the width is gradually increased to a degree similar to the extent to which the first divided portion is widened toward the upper part. Accordingly, as shown, the widths of the two flow paths divided by the guide wall 64 (a flow path to a connection discharge port on one side of the guide wall and a flow path to a discharge port on the other side of the guide wall) can be maintained substantially constant, respectively. have.

As such, the guide wall 64, that is, the triangular branch, branches cold air in advance before the air flow path comes to the end of the first division of the multi-duct, thereby securing sufficient supply of cold air and supplying cold air to the connecting duct more smoothly. can In addition, since the width of the guide wall 64 gradually increases toward the upper part, the connection outlet 65 can be spaced apart from the outlet 63 structure by that much, so the design of the cold air discharge of the outlet 63 and the connection outlet (65) side Cold air discharge design can be done independently, so it is easy to design. In addition, the connection outlet can be arranged at the end as much as possible, so that the ceiling space of the cabinet can be maximized as described above.

The connecting duct 80 is in the form of a flat and hollow pipe. The flow cross-section of the connecting duct is a flat rectangular shape that is wider than the height, so that the insulating filler of sufficient thickness can be distributed on the lower and upper sides of the connecting duct when it is embedded in the ceiling space of the cabinet. In addition, as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 showing the cross section of the connecting duct, a dividing wall 88 is formed to divide the flow cross section into two left and right. Such a dividing wall increases the flow rate of the internal air of the connecting duct having a flat cross-section.

On the other hand, as shown in the figure, each flow section divided into two by the dividing wall is still a rectangular shape whose width is longer than its height. The embodiment of the present invention exemplifies a form in which one dividing wall 88 is provided, but as long as the shape of each flow cross-section divided in the left and right directions by the dividing wall is a rectangular shape with a longer width than a height, the dividing wall can be divided into three It is also possible to put four or four, and the cross-sections of each flow section divided by the dividing wall do not necessarily have to coincide with each other. In other words, if there is a design intention, it is possible to divide into different shapes and numbers.

In addition, according to the present invention, the connecting duct 80 is manufactured as a separate component from the front duct 90 to be described later. Therefore, since the connecting duct 80 can be manufactured in a uniform cross-section along the longitudinal direction, it is very easy to manufacture.

The front end of the connection duct 80 , that is, the front end is connected to the front duct 90 . The front duct 90 is embedded in the front of the ceiling of the cabinet, and the nozzle part 95 provided on the lower surface of the front duct is disposed at a position corresponding to the upper portion of the storage space when the door 20 is closed.

The front duct 90 is connected to the front end of the connection duct 80, and provided with a second refraction part 92 that converts the flow direction of the air flowing forward in the connection duct to the side. If the air flow inner wall structure of the second refraction part abruptly changes the flow direction of the air, turbulence occurs, which prevents smooth direction change of air flow and may cause flow loss. Therefore, the shape of this part has a streamlined shape Preferably, an inner wall structure is applied.

A portion of the second refractive portion 92 that is opened rearwardly is inserted and connected to the connection duct 80 , and is laterally connected to the manifold portion 94 . The manifold part 94 is extended in the left and right direction, that is, in the width direction from the front of the ceiling part of the cabinet, so that the cold air flow changed in the direction in the second refraction part 92 is transferred from one end of the refrigerator to the other end of the refrigerator. It provides a flow path to flow. And between the second refractive part 92 and the manifold part 94, the guide acceleration part 93 in the form of an inclined or oblique line is provided, the flow cross-sectional area of which gradually becomes narrower from the second refractive part to the manifold part. As the cold air whose flow direction has been changed through the second refraction part 92 passes through the guide accelerator 93 having a tapered shape like this, the flow velocity of the cold air is further increased. Considering that cold air must be supplied at a certain flow rate to the storage space of the door so that the cold air can flow/transfer evenly in the storage space of the door, the above-described acceleration structure is more effective for constant temperature operation of the storage space and reducing temperature deviation. effective.

A nozzle part 95 for discharging air downward is provided under the manifold part 94 . The position of the nozzle part 95 is the upper part of the storage space of the door 20 , and cold air is discharged toward the storage space. The flow rate and direction of the cold air discharged from the nozzle part 95 is controlled by the split vane 96 provided in front of the nozzle part. The split vane 96 is a part exposed to the outside from the ceiling part of the cabinet, and the split vane is not partially formed only in the portion where the nozzle part 95 is provided, and is provided long in the width direction of the cabinet, that is, in the left and right direction, so that the external aesthetic feeling was considered.

The front duct 90 includes an upper part in which the shape of the second refraction part 92 , the guide acceleration part 93 , and the manifold part 94 is formed, and the nozzle part 95 and the split vane 96 . It is divided into the lower parts formed, and the upper part of these parts is embedded inside the cabinet and surrounded by filler material, so there is no need to worry too much about the appearance, but the lower part part is exposed to the outside, so that it harmonizes with the color of the interior wall of the cabinet; It is preferable to manufacture in consideration of the uniformity of materials, etc. In the present invention, in consideration of this point, the front duct was manufactured by dividing it into an upper part embedded in the interior of the cabinet ceiling and a lower part exposed to the bottom of the cabinet ceiling. have.

The cold air flowing through the multi-duct, the refraction tube, the connecting duct, and the front duct is finally directly supplied to the storage space through the nozzle units 95 positioned above the storage space of the two doors 20 . In the present invention, the cold air flowing forward through the connection duct is directly supplied into the storage space of the door without going through the inside of the refrigerator. Therefore, when the duct structure 50 of the present invention is applied, it is advantageous to maintain a constant temperature of the storage space of the door, and it is possible to reduce the temperature difference between the storage space on the door side and the inside of the cabinet.

In the duct structure described above, the refrigerating compartment is located at an upper portion, a double-door type door is installed in front of the refrigerating compartment, and one door is a door-in-door type and the other is applied to a refrigerator having a general door type.

However, the duct structure of the present invention is applicable to a structure of a refrigerator having only one door. In addition, even when the duct structure of the present invention is applied to a refrigerator to which a general door is applied instead of a door-in-door type, sufficient cold air is supplied to the food stored in the basket of the door, so that it is possible to keep the refrigerator at a constant temperature. In addition, it goes without saying that this structure may be applied to a refrigerating compartment disposed below in a top freezer type refrigerator. In this structure, the connecting duct of the duct structure will be embedded in the cabinet portion dividing the upper freezer compartment and the lower refrigerating compartment.

On the other hand, in the present invention, when the structure in which the connecting duct is connected only in the first division of the multi-duct, that is, when the double-door refrigerator is applied, the connecting duct is not formed on both sides, but only one side is connected to supply the cold air supplied to each door. The application of the structure is exemplified.

However, unlike in the embodiment of the present invention, the first divided portion and the second divided portion are equally divided, and the connecting ducts are provided at both ends, that is, the first divided portion and the second divided portion, respectively, and at the front of the cabinet A pair of front ducts having a length of about 1/2 the width of the cabinet or less and connected to each connecting duct may be installed. However, this structure may be somewhat cumbersome than the above-described embodiment in that the number of parts and assembly man-hours are increased.

For example, among different refrigerator structures, such as double door refrigerators

i) When one side has a door-in-door structure and the other side has a general door structure;

ii) In case both sides have a door-in-door structure

For example, in the above two refrigerators, it is possible to realize the refrigerator type of i) and the refrigerator type of ii) simply by installing different doors without changing other structures of the refrigerator.

At this time, if you want to apply the structure in which the connecting ducts are installed on both sides, in the case of i), the design must be changed so that the connecting duct is provided only on the side with the door of the door-in-door structure. That is, if the door to which the door-in-door structure is applied is designed to have a corresponding connecting duct, it leads to the conclusion that the duct structure of the refrigerator in i) and the duct structure of the refrigerator in ii) above must be applied differently.

On the other hand, in the case of a structure in which a connecting member is provided on only one side and one long front member is installed as in the above-described embodiment, changes to the duct structure are made regardless of whether the door of the refrigerator is installed in the form i) or ii). Since it is not necessary to do so, there are several advantages in that parts can be shared.

[Flow of cold air through the duct structure]

Hereinafter, a process in which cold air flows in the duct structure of the present invention will be described. First, the flow of air generated by a fan (not shown) is cooled while passing through an evaporator (not shown) and supplied to the lower part of the multi-duct 60 . The cold air supplied to the lower part of the multi-duct 60 is divided and supplied into the first divided part 61 and the second divided part 62 while moving upward. Since the flow cross-section of the first divided portion 61 is about 1.5 times that of the second divided portion 62, the cold air is distributed at a similar rate and moves upward in each division.

A part of the cold air moving upward is discharged forward through the discharge port 63 provided at a predetermined position along the height direction of the multi-duct 60, and is supplied to the interior space of the cabinet divided by the shelf. Cool air flowing upward along the multi-duct supplies appropriate cold air into the refrigerator through each outlet 63 . The cold air distributed to and flowing through the second division part 62 is used to be supplied into the refrigerator through the first, second, and third outlets at the uppermost stage.

On the other hand, the cold air distributed to and flowing through the first division unit 61 is used to be supplied into the refrigerator through the first, second, and third outlets at the uppermost stage, and cold air supplied 0.5 times more than the second division unit. is supplied toward the connection outlet (65). At this time, since the connection outlet 65 is considerably spaced apart from the discharge port of the first division, the flow of cold air supplied to the connection outlet 65 does not have a significant effect on the flow of cold air toward the discharge port 63, as a result It does not significantly affect the flow of cold air in the furnace.

Since the air that has flowed toward the connection outlet 65 is guided toward the connection outlet 65 in a state in which the flow is definitely divided by the guide wall 64, such as a turbulence generated when the flow of cold air hits the dead end wall. phenomenon does not occur. That is, the upper edge of the triangular branched guide wall is positioned in the gap between the connection outlet 65 and the uppermost outlet 63, so that cold air does not collide with the dead-end inner wall, thereby preventing a flow loss. .

The cold air guided toward the connection outlet 65 flows along the streamlined inner wall of the first refraction part 71, so that the flow loss is minimized and the flow direction is switched to the front, and then divided by the dividing wall 88. It accelerates along the connecting duct 80 having a flow cross-section and moves forward.

The cold air that has reached the front is again redirected laterally in the second refraction part 92 . The second refraction part also provides a streamlined flow trajectory to minimize flow loss in the process of changing the direction of cold air. The cold air whose direction is changed in the second refraction part 92 is accelerated through the guide acceleration part 93 and enters the manifold part 94, and the cold air entering the manifold part 94 moves in the width direction, , is accelerated downward through the nozzle part 95 provided at the lower part and is discharged to the storage space of the door. And the cold air accelerated and discharged to the storage space is evenly distributed in the storage space to achieve even cooling of the storage space.

Since the temperature of the cold air discharged into the storage space is the same as the temperature of the cold air discharged from the multi-duct into the refrigerator, by reducing the temperature difference between the temperature of the air cooled in the storage space and the space in the storage space to within 1 degree Celsius, food Based on the weight reduction rate of 5%, the storage period of food can be increased by more than 40%.

In order to minimize the leakage of cold air when the door is opened, the partition cover 21 installed inside the door has room to act as an obstacle to the uniform and smooth supply of cold air in the refrigerator to the storage space. However, according to the present invention, the partition cover structure minimizes the leakage of cold air when the door is opened, and provides a sufficient and smooth supply of cool air directly to the storage space inside the partition cover, thereby maintaining a constant temperature of the storage space of the door. refrigeration can be achieved.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the illustrated drawings, but the present invention is not limited by the embodiments and drawings disclosed in the present specification. It is obvious that variations can be made. In addition, although the effects of the configuration of the present invention are not explicitly described and described while describing the embodiments of the present invention, it is natural that the effects predictable by the configuration should also be recognized.

10: refrigerator
11: Cabinet
111: first space
112: second space
113: third space
20: door
21: partition cover
22: storage space
23: basket
25: 1st door (external door)
30: 2nd door (inside door)
50: duct structure
60: multi-duct
61: first division
62: second division
63: outlet (first, second, third (topmost))
64: guide wall (triangular branch)
65: connection outlet
70: refractive tube
71: first refractive part
80: connecting duct
88: dividing wall
90: front duct
92: second refractive part
93: guide acceleration part (sloping surface, tapered surface)
94: manifold unit
95: nozzle unit
96: split vane

Claims (11)

cabinets with built-in space;
a door provided in front of the cabinet;
A first division and a second division provided in the rear space of the refrigerator to divide the cold air supplied from the lower side into two and flow to the upper side, wherein the width of the first division is equal to the second division Multiduct wider than the width of the installment;
a discharge port provided at an upper end of the first dividing unit to discharge the cold air into the refrigerator;
a connection duct connected to the upper end of the first division to provide a passage through which the cold air flowing through the multi-duct flows forward, the connection duct being connected only to the first division among the first division and the second division; and
and a guide wall provided in the flow space of the first divided portion reaching the connection duct and the discharge port, and branching the flow of cold air to the connection duct and the discharge port; and
The width of the section branched by the guide wall to reach the connection duct is narrower than the width of the section branched by the guide wall to the outlet, the refrigerator.
The method according to claim 1,
The multi-duct has a flat shape, the flow cross-section of the connecting duct has a wider rectangular shape from side to side, and the connection duct includes a dividing wall dividing the flow cross-section into two from side to side along the longitudinal direction, the refrigerator.
The method according to claim 1,
The distribution ratio of the first division unit 61 and the second division unit 62 is 6: 4, the refrigerator.
The method according to claim 1,
The upper end of the first divided portion has one side far from the second divided portion and the other side close to the second divided portion,
The connection duct is connected to the first divided part at one end of the upper end of the first divided part, the refrigerator.
The method according to claim 1,
The refrigerator, wherein the predetermined section near the upper end of each of the first divided portion and the second divided portion has a width smaller than that of the lower portion to reduce an air flow area.
6. The method of claim 5,
The guide wall is provided at the upper end of the first divided portion above the predetermined section, the refrigerator.
The method according to claim 1,
In the section in which the guide wall is provided, the overall width of the first divided part becomes wider as it goes up,
The guide wall is in the form of a triangular branch that becomes wider toward the top, the refrigerator.
8. The method of claim 7,
The degree to which the width of the triangular branch increases toward the upper part is,
The refrigerator, which corresponds to a degree to which the width of the whole of the first divided part becomes wider as it goes upward in the section in which the guide wall is provided.
9. The method of claim 8,
As the width of the triangular branch increases toward the upper part, the width of the section branching by the guide wall to the connection duct and the section branching by the guide wall reaching the outlet are substantially constant, respectively. Refrigerator kept.
5. The method according to claim 4,
It further includes; a front duct connected to the front end of the connection duct and extending in the other direction to provide a passage through which the cold air introduced from the connection duct flows laterally,
The refrigerator, wherein the connecting duct and the front duct are embedded in the ceiling of the interior space.
11. The method of claim 10,
The front duct is provided with a second refraction portion connected to the front end of the connection duct to change the flow direction of air, and the second refraction portion communicates with a manifold portion having an internal flow space extending to the left and right of the front duct. and
The refrigerator is provided with a guide acceleration part between the second refractive part and the manifold part, the flow cross-sectional area gradually becoming narrower from the second refractive part to the manifold part.

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