Abstrict A refrigerator has a blowing fan being capable of blowing bilaterally
in a cool air duct. When a door is opened, the blowing fan blows
to discharge cool air from the cool air duct, so the air curtain
for shutting off a cooling compartment is generated. When the door
is closed, the blowing fan blows to draw cool air in the cooling
compartment into the cool air duct, so the circulation of the cool
air is actively performed, and the cooling efficiency is enhanced.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A refrigerator having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment
which has an open side, a door for opening/closing an opening of
said cooling compartment, and an evaporator for generating cool
air, said refrigerator comprising:
a cool air duct having ports at both ends which are opened at areas
adjacent to said evaporator and the opening of said cooling compartment
respectively;
a blowing fan installed in said cool air duct, said blowing fan
being capable of blowing bilaterally along a longitudinal direction
of said cool air duct;
a means for sensing whether said door is opened or closed; and
a control part for controlling said blowing fan in order to convert
a blowing direction according to sensing results of said sensing
means, whereby an air curtain for shutting off the opening of said
cooling compartment is generated by discharging the cool air from
said evaporator through the port opened in said cooling compartment
when said door is opened, and air in said cooling compartment is
drawn into said cool air duct through the port opened in said cooling
compartment when said door is closed.
2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said blowing
fan is a cross flow fan.
3. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 2, wherein said cross flow
fan is disposed to be capable of discharging the cool air from said
cool air duct in a forward rotational direction in which said cross
flow fan blows at a strong force, and to draw the cool air into
said cool air duct in a reverse rotational direction in which said
cross flow fan blows at a weak force.
4. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sensing
means is a push button switch installed on said cabinet, said push
button switch being pushed and released by said door when said door
is opened and closed respectively. Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator in which the operation
for generating an air curtain to prevent the loss of cool air and
for drawing cool air to circulate the cool air through a cool air
duct are selectively performed according to the opening/closing
of a door.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional refrigerator, which shows a refrigerator
having a device for generating an air curtain for shutting off the
opening of a cooling compartment. The refrigerator has, as shown
in FIG. 1, a cabinet 10 forming a freezing compartment 21 and a
fresh food compartment 22 which are partitioned from each other
by a wall 27, and a freezing compartment door 24 and a fresh food
compartment door 25 which open/close the freezing compartment 21
and fresh food compartment 22 respectively.
A compressor 23 is installed in a lower rear part of the cabinet
10, and an evaporator 29 for generating cool air by evaporating
refrigerant supplied from the compressor 23 is installed in the
rear of the freezing compartment 21. Cooling fans 19 for blowing
the cool air generated by the evaporator 29 is installed at the
upper side of the evaporator 29. The cooling fans 19 consist of
two fans to supply the freezing compartment 21 and the fresh food
compartment 22 with the cool air respectively.
A device 20 for generating an air curtain is provided in the upper
side of the fresh food compartment 22. The air curtain generating
device 20 comprises a cool air duct 13 provided in the upper side
of the fresh food compartment 22, and a blowing fan 11 for blowing
the cool air from the evaporator 29 into the cool air duct 13. The
cool air duct 13 is formed with a cool air discharge port 15 at
one end thereof which is opened downward at the area adjacent to
an opening of the fresh food compartment 22. The cool air blown
into the cool air duct 13 is discharged downward, by which the air
curtain for shutting off the opening of the fresh food compartment
22 is generated.
In the fresh food compartment 22, a sensor (not shown) for sensing
the opening/closing of the fresh food compartment door 25 is provided,
and the blowing fan 11 is controlled to operate only when the open
state of the door 25 is sensed by the sensor. Thus, the air curtain
is generated only when the door 25 is open so as to prevent leakage
of the cool air through the opening of the fresh food compartment
22 at the open state of the door 25.
A plurality of cool air ports 16, 18 are formed at the rear walls
of the freezing compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22.
When the door 25 is closed, the cool air from the evaporator 29
is blown by the cooling fan 19 to be supplied into the freezing
compartment 21 and the fresh food compartment 22, and accordingly
the foodstuffs stored in the freezing compartment 21 and the fresh
food compartment 22 are frozen and refrigerated respectively.
The cool air supplied in the fresh food compartment 25 through
the cool air ports 18 circulates toward the evaporator 29 through
the cool air duct 13. The cool air duct 13 functions as a discharge
duct for generating the air curtain when the door 25 is open and
as a circulation duct for circulating the cool when the door is
close.
However, such a conventional refrigerator having the air curtain
generating device is burdened with the problem that the cool air
having cooled the foodstuffs in the fresh food compartment 25 is
not circulated smoothly, whereby the cooling efficiency in the fresh
food compartment 25 becomes low. That is, since the cool air duct
13 merely provides the passage through which the cool air moves
toward the evaporator 29 and does not function to circulate the
cool air in an active fashion, the circulation of the cool air depends
only on the blowing power of the cooling fans 19, so the supply
and return of the cool air are not smoothly performed. Also, since
the blowing fan 11 which is possible to blow more strongly than
the cooling fan 19 is used merely for generating the air curtain,
the usage of the blowing fan 11 is confined.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above described
problems in the prior art, and accordingly it is an object of the
present invention to provide a refrigerator in which the circulation
of the cool air is smoothly performed so that the cooling efficiency
thereof is enhanced and the usage of the blowing fan is varied.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator
having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment which has an open
side, a door for opening/closing an opening of said cooling compartment,
and an evaporator for generating cool air, said refrigerator comprising:
a cool air duct having ports at both ends which are opened at areas
adjacent to said evaporator and the opening of said cooling compartment
respectively; a blowing fan installed in said cool air duct, said
blowing fan being capable of blowing bilaterally along a longitudinal
direction of said cool air duct; a means for sensing whether said
door is opened or closed; and a control part for controlling said
blowing fan in order to convert a blowing direction according to
sensing results of said sensing means, whereby an air curtain for
shutting off the opening of said cooling compartment is generated
by discharging the cool air from said evaporator through the port
opened in said cooling compartment when said door is opened, and
air in said cooling compartment is drawn into said cool air duct
through the port opened in said cooling compartment when said door
is closed.
It is preferable that a cross flow fan is adopted as said blowing
fan, and in that situation, said cross flow fan is disposed to be
capable of discharging the cool air from said cool air duct in a
forward rotational direction in which said cross flow fan blows
at a strong force and to draw the cool air into said cool air duct
in a reverse rotational direction in which said cross flow fan blows
at a weak force.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be better understood and its various
objects and advantages will be more fully appreciated from the following
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which:
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator
having air curtain generating device;
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to
the present invention; and
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control circuit for controlling
the blowing fan in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail
with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to
the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control
circuit for controlling the blowing fan in FIG. 2. The refrigerator
according to the present invention has, like the conventional refrigerator
shown in FIG. 1, a cabinet 30 forming a freezing compartment 41
and a fresh food compartment 42 which are partitioned from each
other by a wall 47, and a freezing compartment door 44 and a fresh
food compartment door 45 which open/close the freezing compartment
41 and fresh food compartment 42 respectively.
A compressor 43 is installed in a lower rear part of the cabinet
30, and an evaporator 49 for generating cool air by evaporating
refrigerant supplied from the compressor 43 is installed in the
rear of the freezing compartment 41. At the upper side of the evaporator
49, a cooling fan 39 for blowing the cool air generated by the evaporator
49 is installed to supply the freezing compartment 41 and the fresh
food compartment 42 with the cool air.
A device 40 for generating an air curtain which shuts off the opening
of the fresh food compartment 42 according to the opening of the
fresh food compartment door 45 is provided in the upper side of
the fresh food compartment 42. The air curtain generating device
40 comprises a cool air duct 33 provided in the upper side of the
fresh food compartment 42 and a blowing fan 31 for blowing the cool
air from the evaporator 49 into the cool air duct 33. The cool air
duct 33 is formed with a cool air discharge port 35 at one end thereof
which is opened downward at the area adjacent to the opening of
the fresh food compartment 42. The cool air blown into the cool
air duct 33 is discharged downward, by which the air curtain for
shutting off the opening of the fresh food compartment 42 is generated.
The blowing fan 31 is capable of rotating in a bilateral direction,
so the blowing fan 31 may possibly blow bilaterally along the longitudinal
direction of the cool air duct 33. Also, for the blowing fan 31,
a cross flow fan which is capable of blowing uniformly is adopted,
and the cross flow fan is disposed near the cool air discharge port
35 in the cool air duct 33. The blowing power of the cross flow
fan differs in both rotational directions thereof. Assuming the
rotational directions as a forward direction and a reverse direction
in which the blowing power of the cross flow fan is strong and weak
respectively, in the present invention the cross flow fan is disposed
so that the cool air in the cool air duct 33 is discharged through
the cool air discharge port 35 when the blowing fan 31 rotates in
the forward direction, and the cool air in the fresh food compartment
25 is drawn through the cool air discharge port 35 when the blowing
fan 31 rotates in the reverse direction.
A push button switch 60 is installed on the front surface of the
fresh food compartment 42. The push button switch 60 is pushed by
the door 45 when the door 45 is closed and released when the door
45 is opened. A microprocessor 70 installed in the refrigerator
senses that the door 45 is opened when the push button switch 60
is released. The microprocessor 70 drives the blowing fan 31 according
to the state of the door 45 sensed through the push button switch
60. That is, the microprocessor 70 rotates the blowing fan 31 in
the forward direction in order to generate the air curtain when
the door 45 is opened, and in the reverse direction in order to
draw the cool air in the fresh food compartment 42 into the cool
air duct 33. The cool air drawn into the cool air duct 33 is circulated
to the evaporator 39. The circulated air is cooled by the evaporator
39 again, and blown by the cooling fan 19 to be supplied into the
fresh food compartment 42.
Since the air in the fresh food compartment 42 is circulated by
force, the circulation of the cool air into the fresh food compartment
42 is actively performed, and the cooling efficiency of the fresh
food compartment 42 is enhanced. Especially, since the air in the
fresh food compartment 42 is drawn by the blowing fan 31 used for
generating the air curtain which may possibly blow strongly, the
supply and the circulation of the cool air in the fresh food compartment
42 is sufficiently performed without the extra fans, except for
the cooling fan 39.
As described above, according to the present invention, the refrigerator
in which the cool air is smoothly circulated and the cooling efficiency
in the fresh food compartment 42 is enhanced is provided.
Although the present invention has been described and illustrated
in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration
and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, wherein
the spirit and scope of the present invention is limited only by
the terms of the appended claims. |