Abstrict A refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus for
air curtain flow comprises a cool air supply duct through which
cool air is supplied to an upper opening of a food storage chamber
by operation of a fan, and a dual air velocity generating apparatus
provided at an exit of the cool air supply duct for transforming
the air curtain flow discharged through the exit with the dual air
velocity, thereby decreasing the velocity of the air curtain flow
distal to the food storage chamber than that proximal to the food
storage chamber.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus
for air curtain flow comprising:
an evaporator for generating cool air;
a cool air supply duct through which the cool air is supplied to
an upper portion of an access opening of a food storage chamber
by operation of a fan;
an air collection duct through which the air discharged from the
upper portion of the access opening toward a lower portion of the
access opening and circulated in the food storage chamber flows
to the evaporator;
a partition plate longitudinally extended in the cool air supply
duct and dividing the cool air supply duct into an upper air passage
and a lower air passage; and
an upper honeycomb provided at an exit of the upper air passage
and a lower honeycomb provided at an exit of the upper air passage
and a lower honeycomb provided at an exit of the lower air passage,
a size of each hole of the upper honeycomb is larger than that of
the lower honeycomb.
2. The refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus
for air curtain flow according to claim 1, wherein a traverse cross-section
of the upper air passage is smaller than that of the lower air passage.
3. A refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus
for air curtain flow comprising:
an evaporator for generating cool air;
a cool air supply duct through which the cool air is supplied to
an upper opening of a food storage chamber by operation of a fan;
an air collection duct through which the air circulated in the
food storage chamber flows to the evaporator; and
a dual air velocity generating apparatus provided at an exit of
the cool air supply duct for transforming the air curtain flow discharged
through the exit with the dual air velocity, thereby decreasing
the velocity of the air curtain flow distal to the food storage
chamber than that proximal to the food storage chamber, a size of
each hole of the upper honeycomb is larger than that of the lower
honeycomb.
4. The refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus
for air curtain flow according to claim 3, wherein
the dual air velocity generating apparatus comprises a partition
plate longitudinally extended in the cool air supply duct and dividing
the cool air supply duct into an upper air passage and a lower air
passage; and
an upper honeycomb provided at an exit of the upper air passage
and a lower honeycomb provided at an exit of the lower air passage.
5. The refrigerator having dual air velocity generating apparatus
for air curtain flow according to claim 4, wherein a traverse cross-section
of the upper air passage is larger than that of the lower air passage. Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator for air curtain
flow. More specifically, the invention relates to a refrigerator
having a dual air velocity generating apparatus for air curtain
flow, thereby decreasing the velocity of the air curtain flow distal
to the food storage chamber than that proximal to the food storage
chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional refrigerator is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, which
comprises a freezing chamber 1 and a refrigerating chamber 2. A
compressor 10 is mounted on a rear lower portion of the refrigerator,
and an evaporator 20 is provided at a rear portion of the refrigerating
chamber 2. A refrigerant is compressed by operation of the compressor
10, and the compressed refrigerant flows toward the evaporator 20,
thereby cooling the circulating air by the evaporation of the refrigerant.
Fans 23, 24 for circulating cool air are provided at the rear portion
of the freezing chamber 1, and the air cooled through the evaporator
20 is supplied to the freezing chamber 1 and the refrigerating chamber
2 via each cool air duct which will be illustrated later.
The cool air duct 25 is provided in a rear portion of the freezing
chamber 1, and the cool air forcedly enters into the cool air duct
25 by the operation of the fan 23, and further enters into the freezing
chamber 1 through a plurality of openings 27 formed at a duct cover
25C provided between the freezing chamber 1 and the evaporator 20.
Another cool air duct 26 is formed behind the cool air duct 25
opposite to the freezing chamber 1. The duct 26 is branched in two
passages 26A,26B, preferably, and each passage is further extended
down along each rear side of the refrigerating chamber 2. The cool
air forcedly enters into each passage 26A,26B by the operation of
another fan 24, and further enters into the refrigerating chamber
2 through a plurality of openings 28 formed at a duct cover 26C.
Preferably, other openings 29 channeled from corresponding passages
26A,26B are provided at each inner side wall of the refrigerating
chamber 2.
A cool air supply duct 42 is arranged under a partition wall 41
divided from the freezing chamber 1 and the refrigerating chamber
2, which extends from the rear portion of the refrigerating chamber
2 to the front portion of the refrigerating chamber 2. A chamber
42a for housing an air curtain fan 44 is formed at one end of the
duct 42 proximal to the rear portion of the refrigerating chamber
2, and an air discharge opening 43 is formed at another end of the
duct 42 opposite to the chamber 42a. The air discharge opening 43
is preferably formed along the entire width of the upper portion
of an accessible opening 20C of the refrigerating chamber 2.
The fan 44 for generating the air curtain stream is housed in the
chamber 42a, thereby enabling the air to flow smoothly. Preferably,
the length of the fan 44 corresponds to the inner width of the chamber
42a, and is operated by additional motor 46.
Since the upper surface of the duct 42 is flatly extended, and
the lower surface of the duct 42 is sloped up to the air discharge
opening 43, the cross-section area of the duct 42 is decreased more
and more toward the opening 43. The velocity of the cool air flowing
along near the upper inner surface of the air duct 42 is faster
than that of the air along the lower inner surface of the air duct
42. A front end of the bent discharge opening 43 of the duct 42
is straight which causes the discharging cool air to flow straight.
An air collecting duct 47 is extended down along a rear center
portion of the refrigerating chamber 2, and plural air collecting
openings 48,48A,48B channeled from the air collecting duct 47 are
formed at a duct cover 47C.
The refrigerating chamber 2 is divided by plural shelves 49,49A,49B
, the upper surface of which is preferably flat-shaped to enhance
effective air collection. A cross-section area of the opening 48
formed at the uppermost area of the refrigerating chamber 2 is smaller
than that of the opening 48A formed at the middle height area of
the refrigerating chamber 2, and a cross-section area of the opening
48A is smaller than that of the opening 48B formed at the lower
height area of the refrigerating chamber 2. Height of each opening
48,48A,48B is determined according to volume of storage foodstuffs,
but each opening 48,48A,48B is preferably formed at approximately
halfway up each shelf 48,48A,48B. Further, each opening 48,48A,48B
has a rectangular shape having a long longitudinal side or an oval
shape.
The operation of the refrigerator configurated above is illustrated
as follows. When a door (not shown) is opened, the fan 44 commences
operation, and simultaneously the fan 24 terminates operation. The
cool air is discharged through the opening 43 by the operation of
the fan 44, thus forming the cool air curtain. The cool air circulating
in the refrigerating chamber 2 does not escapes from the refrigerating
chamber 2, thereby maintaining a constant temperature of the refrigerating
chamber.
However, even if the cool air discharged from the opening 42 has
the same low temperature between the distal layer and the proximal
layer to the refrigerating chamber, the temperature of the distal
layer of the air curtain increases greatly while the air stream
flows downward in contact with ambient temperature air. Therefore,
the air curtain flow has high temperature and the air enters into
the refrigerating chamber. The high temperature air further flows
into each air collecting opening, and recirculates in the refrigerating
chamber. Thus, there is a problem in that the temperature of the
refrigerating chamber increases, causing a decline in the cooling
efficiency of the refrigerator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator
having dual velocity generating apparatus for air curtain flow which
solves the above problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator
having dual velocity generating apparatus for air curtain flow through
which an air curtain flow has a dual air velocity, thereby resulting
the overall efficiency of the refrigerator to be improved.
To achieve the above object of the present invention, a refrigerator
having dual air velocity generating apparatus for air curtain flow
comprises an evaporator for generating cool air, a cool air supply
duct through which the cool air is supplied to an upper portion
of an access opening of a food storage chamber by operation of a
fan, an air collection duct through which the air discharged from
the upper portion of the access opening
toward a lower portion of the access opening and circulated in
the food storage chamber flows to the evaporator, a partition plate
longitudinally extended in the cool air supply duct and dividing
the cool air supply duct into an upper air passage and a lower air
passage, and an upper honeycomb provided at an exit of the upper
air passage and a lower honeycomb provided at an exit of the lower
air passage.
Further, a traverse cross-section of the upper air passage is smaller
than that of the lower air passage.
Furthermore, a size of each hole of the upper honeycomb is larger
than that of the lower honeycomb.
Alternatively, a refrigerator having dual air velocity generating
apparatus for air curtain flow comprises an evaporator for generating
cool air, a cool air supply duct through which the cool air is supplied
to an upper opening of a food storage chamber by operation of a
fan, an air collection duct through which the air circulated in
the food storage chamber flows to the evaporator, and a dual air
velocity generating apparatus provided at an exit of the cool air
supply duct for transforming the air curtain flow discharged through
the exit with the dual air velocity, thereby decreasing the velocity
of the air curtain flow distal to the food storage chamber than
that proximal to the food storage chamber.
Further, the dual air velocity generating apparatus comprises a
partition plate longitudinally extended in the cool air supply duct
and dividing the cool air supply duct into an upper air passage
and a lower air passage, and an upper honeycomb provided at an exit
of the upper air passage and a lower honeycomb provided at an exit
of the lower air passage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side vertical cross-sectional view of a refrigerator
having dual air velocity generating apparatus according to a present
invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of the dual air
velocity generating apparatus of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of a honeycomb of air passage
of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of velocity distribution of
an air curtain flow taken on line A--A of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of temperature distribution
of an air curtain flow taken on line A--A of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a side vertical cross-sectional view of a refrigerator
having air curtain flow according to a prior art; and
FIG. 7 is a front view of a refrigerator having air curtain flow
of FIG. 6.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate a refrigerator having dual air velocity
generating apparatus for air curtain flow according to the present
invention. Hereafter, components which are the same as that of the
prior art are designated by the same numerals. Thus, no detailed
explanation of those components will be provided.
The refrigerator comprises a freezing chamber 100 and a refrigerating
chamber 200. A compressor 10 is mounted on a rear lower portion
of the refrigerator, and an evaporator 20 is provided at a rear
portion of the refrigerating chamber 2. A refrigerant is compressed
by operation of the compressor 10, and the compressed refrigerant
flows toward the evaporator 20, thereby cooling the circulating
air by the evaporation of the refrigerant.
Fans 24 (one is not shown in the drawing) for circulating cool
air are provided at the rear portion of the freezing chamber 100,
and the air cooled through the evaporator 20 is supplied to the
freezing chamber 100 and the refrigerating chamber 200 via each
cool air duct which will be illustrated later.
The cool air duct (not shown) is provided in a rear portion of
the freezing chamber 100, and the cool air forcedly enters into
the cool air duct by the operation of the fan, and further enters
into the freezing chamber 100 through a plurality of openings 27
formed at a duct cover 25C provided between the freezing chamber
100 and the evaporator 20.
Another cool air duct 26 is formed behind the cool air duct opposite
to the freezing chamber 100. The duct 26 is branched in two passages
(not shown) preferably, and each passage is further extended down
along each rear side of the refrigerating chamber 200. The cool
air forcedly enters into each passage by the operation of another
fan 24, and further enters into the refrigerating chamber 200 through
a plurality of openings (not shown) formed at a duct cover (not
shown). Preferably, other openings 29 channeled from corresponding
passages (not shown) are provided at each inner side wall of the
refrigerating chamber 200.
A cool air supply duct 400 is arranged under a partition wall 41
divided from the freezing chamber 100 and the refrigerating chamber
200, which extends from the rear portion of the refrigerating chamber
200 to the front portion of the refrigerating chamber 200. A chamber
400a for housing an air curtain fan 44 is formed at one end of the
duct 400 proximal to the rear portion of the refrigerating chamber
200, and an air discharge opening 43 is formed at another end of
the duct 400 opposite to the chamber 400a. The air discharge opening
43 is preferably formed along the entire width of the upper portion
of an accessible opening 200C of the refrigerating chamber 200.
The fan 44 for generating the air curtain stream is housed in the
chamber 400a, thereby enabling the air to flow smoothly. Preferably,
the length of the fan 44 corresponds to the inner width of the chamber
400a, and is operated by an additional motor (not shown).
The duct 400 has a partition plate 420 which is longitudinally
extended, and which is divided into an upper air passage 420U and
a lower air passage 420L. A traverse cross-section of the upper
air passage 420U is smaller than that of the lower air passage 420L.
Since the upper surface of the duct 400 is flatly extended, and
the lower surface of the duct 400 is sloped up to the air discharge
opening 43, the total traverse cross-section of the duct 400 decreases
progessively toward the opening 43.
An upper honeycomb 430 is provided at an exit of the upper air
passage 420U, while a lower honeycomb 431 is provided at an exit
of the lower air passage 420L, through both of which the cool air
flows toward the lower portion of the access opening 200C as the
air curtain flow.
A size of each hole 430H of the upper honeycomb 430 is larger than
that of each hole 431H of the lower honeycomb 431. Thus, the total
number of holes 430H of the upper honeycomb 430 is smaller than
the total number of holes 431H of the lower honeycomb 431.
The detailed explanation of the air collection duct system is omitted
for the purpose of avoiding repetition.
The operation of the refrigerator configurated above is illustrated
as follows. When a door (not shown) is opened, the fan 44 commences
operation, and simultaneously the fan 24 terminates operation. The
cool air flows along the duct 400 through the opening 43 by the
operation of the fan 44. The air flowing along the upper air passage
420U enters into the upper honeycomb 430, while the air flowing
along the lower air passage 420L enters into the lower honeycomb
431. The air passing through both honeycombs 430,431 flows down
to the lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 200, and forms
an air curtain flow shown in FIG. 1. The air layer passing through
the upper honeycomb 430 or the distal layer to the refrigerating
chamber 200 is designated as an exterior air flow 500, and the air
layer passing through the lower honeycomb 431 or the proximal layer
to the refrigerating chamber 200 is designated as an interior air
flow 510.
The velocity of the interior air flow 510 becomes relatively faster
than that of the exterior air flow 500 as shown in FIG. 4. It occurs
because the size of a lower honeycomb hole 431H is smaller than
that of an upper honeycomb hole 430H. The temperature of the exterior
air flow 500 increases gradually as the exterior air flow 500 flows
downward in contact with ambient temperature air as shown in FIG.
5.
Since the exterior air flow 500 has relatively faster velocity
than the interior air flow 510, the pressure of the exterior air
flow 500 is relatively larger than that of the interior air flow
510, and also is larger than that of the air curtain flow passing
through the conventional air supply duct 42 (refer to FIG. 6).
The expelling force of the exterior air flow 500 against ambient
air is relatively larger than that of the conventional air curtain
flow. The ambient air is hindered from contacting with the exterior
air flow, thus preventing the temperature of the air curtain flow
from increasing significantly. Thus, the interior air flow 510 maintains
a relative low temperature and enters into the refrigerating chamber.
The cool air further flows into each air collection opening, and
recirculates in the refrigerating chamber, thereby maintaining a
constant low temperature in the refrigerating chamber.
According to the present invention, the cool air is supplied to
an upper portion of an access opening of a refrigerating chamber
through the air supply duct. While flowing along the air supply
duct, the cool air is divided into two air flows, one of which passes
through wide channel honeycomb, and another of which passes through
narrow channel honeycomb. Therefore, the velocity of each air flow
passing through respective honeycomb is different. The exterior
air curtain layer flow having slower velocity and high pressure
expels ambient air, and thus the interior air curtain layer flow
maintains the low temperature, thereby causing the overall efficiency
of the refrigerator to be improved. |