Abstrict A refrigerator for discharging cool air from a door is disclosed.
The refrigerator has an air curtain generating device and a door
duct. The door duct is disposed in the door and combined with the
device when the door is closed. When the door is closed, the cool
air from the device is supplied into the cooling compartment through
the door duct. Thus the degree of cooling in the cooling compartment
can be maintained uniformly. When the door is opened, the air curtain
for shutting off the opening of cooling compartment is generated
by the device.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. A refrigerator having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment
of which a side is open, a door for opening/closing an opening of
said cabinet, and an evaporator for generating cool air, said refrigerator
comprising:
a device for generating an air curtain, said device having a cool
air duct which has a cool air discharge port opened at an area adjacent
to the opening of said cabinet and a means for blowing the cool
air generated by said evaporator into said cool air duct, said air
curtain for shutting off the opening of said cabinet with cool air
discharged through the cool air discharge port;
a door duct being disposed in said door and having a cool air suction
port which is combined with the cool air discharge port when said
door is closed and a plurality of cool air supply ports opened at
an inner surface of said door, said door duct for supplying the
cooling compartment with the cool air provided from said device
through the cool air discharge port when said door is closed;
a door temperature sensor disposed adjacently to the inner surface
of said door so as to sense a temperature at an area adjacent to
said door in the cooling compartment; and
a cooling compartment temperature sensor disposed adjacently to
an inner surface of said cooling compartment which is opposite to
the inner surface of said door so as to sense a temperature at a
area distant from said door in the cooling compartment;
wherein said blowing means is controlled to operate when the temperature
sensed by said door temperature sensor is higher than the temperature
sensed by said cooling compartment temperature sensor.
2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cool air
discharge port is disposed at an upper side of the cooling compartment
and opened downward.
3. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein said blowing
means is a cross flow fan.
4. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a
means for sensing opening/closing of said door, wherein said blowing
means is controlled to operate when an opened state of said door
is sensed by said opening/closing sensing means.
5. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, a plurality of cool
air openings for supplying the cool air generated by said evaporator
are formed at each inner surface of the cooling compartment.
6. A refrigerator having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment
of which a side is open, a door for opening/closing an opening of
said cabinet, and an evaporator for generating cool air, said refrigerator
comprising:
a device for generating an air curtain, said device having a cool
air duct which has a cool air discharge port opened downward at
an area adjacent to an upper side of the opening of said cabinet
and a means for blowing the cool air generated by said evaporator
into said cool air duct, said air curtain for shutting off the opening
of said cabinet with cool air discharged downward through the cool
air discharge port;
a door duct being disposed in said door and having a cool air suction
port which is combined with the cool air discharge port when said
door is closed and a plurality of cool air supply ports opened at
an inner surface of said door, said door duct for supplying the
cooling compartment with the cool air provided from said device
through the cool air discharge port when said door is closed;
a means for sensing temperatures at an area adjacent to said door
in the cooling compartment and at a distant area from said door
in the cooling compartment; and
a means for sensing opening/closing of said door,
wherein said blowing means is controlled to operate when a temperature
at an adjacent area to said door is higher than a temperature at
a distant area from said door and when an opened state of said door
is sensed by said opening/closing sensing means. Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator for discharging
cool air from a door by using an air curtain generating device,
and more particularly to a refrigerator having a device for generating
an air curtain for shutting off the opening of a cooling compartment
when the door is opened and a door duct for supplying the cooling
compartment with the cool air provided from the device when the
door is closed.
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. The doors 24, 25 are
hingedly mounted on the cabinet 10.
A compressor 23 is installed in a lower rear part of the cabinet
10, and an evaporator 29 is installed in a rear part of the freezing
compartment 21 for generating cool air by evaporating refrigerant
supplied from the compressor 23. A cooling fan 19 for blowing the
cool air generated by the evaporator 29 is installed at the upper
side of the evaporator 29 so as to supply the freezing compartment
21 and the fresh food compartment 22 with the cool air.
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 opening
of the door 25 is sensed by the sensor. Thus, the air curtain is
generated only when the door 25 is opened so as to prevent leakage
of the cool air through the opening of the fresh food compartment
22 when the door 25 is opened.
A plurality of cool air ports 16, 18 are formed at the rear surfaces
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 so as 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.
However, in such a conventional refrigerator, although the leakage
of the cool air is prevented by the air curtain, since the cool
air in the area adjacent to the door 25 comes in contact with exterior
air when the door 25 is opened and leaks through a gap between the
door 25 and the cabinet 10 when the door 25 is closed, there is
a problem that the temperature of the fresh food compartment 22
in the area adjacent to the door 25 may fall in comparison with
the temperature at the other areas in the fresh food compartment
22. Furthermore, according to the tendency for the refrigerator
to become larger in size, since the distribution of temperature
in each area in the fresh food compartment 22 may become more uneven,
the foodstuffs stored in the fresh food compartment 22 may be over
cooled or under cooled.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed to overcome the above described
problems in the prior art, and accordingly it is the object of the
present invention to provide a refrigerator being capable of keeping
the temperature in the cooling compartment even and thus enhance
the efficiency of cooling, by effectively eliminating the leakage
of cool air through the opening of the cooling compartment and supplying
cool air from the inner surface of the door, and especially to provide
a refrigerator in which the air curtain generating device is diversified
in use thereof by supplying cool air from the door by using the
air curtain generating device.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a refrigerator
having a cabinet forming a cooling compartment of which a side is
opened, a door for opening/closing an opening of the cabinet, and
an evaporator for generating cool air, the refrigerator comprising:
a device for generating an air curtain, the device having a cool
air duct which has a cool air discharge port opened at an area adjacent
to the opening of the cabinet and a means for blowing the cool air
generated by the evaporator into the cool air duct, the air curtain
for shutting off the opening of the cabinet with cool air discharged
through the cool air discharge port; and a door duct being disposed
in the door and having a cool air suction port which is combined
with the cool air discharge port when the door is closed and a plurality
of cool air supply ports opened at an inner surface of the door,
the door duct for supplying the cooling compartment with the cool
air provided from the device through the cool air discharge port
when the door is closed.
Here, it is preferable that the refrigerator has a means for sensing
a temperature in the cooling compartment and the blowing means is
controlled on the basis of the sensed temperature by the temperature
sensing means. The temperature sensing means may be comprised of
a door temperature sensor disposed adjacently to the inner surface
of the door so as to sense a temperature at an area adjacent to
the door in the cooling compartment, and a cooling compartment temperature
sensor disposed adjacently to an inner surface of the cooling compartment
which is opposite to the inner surface of the door so as to sense
a temperature at a distant area from the door in the cooling compartment.
It that situation, the blowing means is controlled to operate when
the temperature sensed by the door temperature sensor is higher
than the temperature sensed by the cooling compartment temperature
sensor.
Furthermore, the refrigerator according to the present invention
has a means for sensing the opening/closing of the door, and the
blowing means is controlled to operate when an opened state of the
door is sensed by the opening/closing sensing means, so that the
leakage of the cool air is prevented by the air curtain whenever
the door is opened.
Also, it is more preferable that a plurality of cool air openings
for supplying the cool air generated by the evaporator are formed
at each inner surface of the cooling compartment, so that the cool
air is uniformly distributed in the cooling compartment.
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 an air curtain generating device;
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a refrigerator according to
the present invention; and
FIG. 2A is an enlarged detail of the cool air discharge port and
cool air suction port depicted in FIG. 2.
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective of the refrigerator 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; FIG. 2A is an enlarged detail of the cool
air discharge port and cool air suction port depicted in FIG. 2
and FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective of the refrigerator 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.
The doors 44, 45 are hingedly mounted on the cabinet 30.
In a lower rear part of the cabinet 30 a compressor 43 is installed,
and in a rear part of the freezing compartment 41 an evaporator
49 is installed for generating cool air by evaporating refrigerant
supplied from the compressor 43. At the upper side of the evaporator
49 a cooling fan 39 for blowing the cool air generated by the evaporator
49 is installed so as to supply the freezing compartment 41 and
the fresh food compartment 42 with the cool air.
A device 40 for generating an air curtain 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
an 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. For the blowing fan 31, a cross flow fan which
is capable of blowing uniformly is adopted.
A door duct 50 is disposed in the fresh food compartment door 45.
The door duct 50 has a cool air suction port 53 which is opened
at an upper part of the door 45 and a plurality of cool air supply
ports 51 opened at an inner surface of the door 45. The cool air
suction port 53 is combined with the cool air discharge port 35
when the the door 45 is closed. Thus, when the door 45 is closed,
the cool air provided from the air curtain generating device 40
is supplied into the door duct 50 through the cool air suction port
53, and the cool air supplied into the door duct 50 is supplied
into the fresh food compartment 45 through the cool air supply ports
51.
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(not shown) installed in the refrigerator
senses that the door 45 is opened when the push button switch 60
is released. The blowing fan 31 operates when the opening of the
door 45 is sensed through the push button switch 60. Thus, the air
curtain is generated when the door 45 is opened so that the leakage
of the cool air when the door 45 is opened is eliminated.
Two temperature sensors 63, 65 are provided in the fresh food compartment
42. The temperature sensors 63, 65 consist of a door temperature
sensor 63 disposed adjacently to the inner surface of the door 45
so as to sense the temperature at the area adjacent to the door
45 in the fresh food compartment 42, and a cooling compartment temperature
sensor 65 disposed adjacently to the rear inner surface of the fresh
food compartment 42 so as to sense the temperature at the area distant
from the door 45 in the fresh food compartment 42. The temperatures
sensed respectively by the two temperature sensors 63, 65 are inputted
into the microprocessor. If the difference between the two temperatures
sensed by the temperature sensors 63, 65 becomes more than a predetermined
value, in other words if the temperature at the area adjacent to
the door 45 which is sensed by the door temperature sensor 63 is
higher than the temperature at the rear area in the door 45 which
is sensed by the cooling compartment sensor 65 at more than the
predetermined value, the microprocessor drives the blowing fan 31
so as to supply the door duct 30 with the cool air.
At the rear inner surface of the fresh food compartment 42, a plurality
of the rear cool air openings 38 are formed, and at the side inner
surfaces of the fresh food compartment 42, a plurality of the side
cool air openings 58 are formed. When the door 45 is closed, the
cool air from the evaporator 49 is supplied into the fresh food
compartment 42 through each cool air opening 38, 58, and accordingly
the foodstuffs stored in the fresh food compartment are cooled.
Hereinbelow the operation and the effect of the refrigerator according
to the present invention will be described.
When the closing of the door 45 is sensed through the push button
switch 60, the microprocessor drives the blowing fan 31 and the
cooling fan 39 on the basis of the temperatures sensed by the temperature
sensors 63, 65. That is, if the temperatures in the fresh food compartment
42 sensed by two temperature sensors 63, 65 are lower than a temperature
corresponding to the degree of cooling set by a user, the blowing
fan 31 and the cooling fan 39 operate, and the cool air is supplied
into the fresh food compartment 42. At that situation, the cool
air is discharged into the fresh food compartment 42 from each inner
surface thereof through each cool air opening 38, 58, and since
the cool air suction port 53 of door duct 50 is combined with the
cool air discharge port of the cool air duct 33 the blown air into
the cool air duct 33 is discharged from the inner surface of the
door 45 through the cool air supply ports 51 of the door duct 50.
Accordingly, the cool air is supplied into the fresh food compartment
42 from four inner surfaces, which are the rear inner surface, two
side inner surfaces, and inner surface of the door 45, of the fresh
food compartment 42. Furthermore, if the temperature sensed by the
door temperature sensor 63 is higher than the temperature in the
fresh food compartment 42 sensed by the cooling compartment temperature
sensor 65 at more than the predetermined value, the microprocessor
also drives the cooling fan 49 and the blowing fan 31 so as to supply
the fresh food compartment 42 with the cool air from the four inner
surfaces. Accordingly, the uniform supply of the cool air into the
fresh food compartment 42 and maintenance of the even distribution
of cooling degree in the fresh food compartment 42 can be achieved.
When the opening of the door 45 is sensed through the push button
switch 60, the microprocessor drives the blowing fan 31 irrespective
of the temperatures sensed by the temperature sensors 63, 65. At
that situation, since the door duct 33 is detached from the cool
air duct 33, the cool air supplied into the cool air duct 33 is
discharged downward through the cool air discharge port 35, and
accordingly the air curtain shutting off the opening of the fresh
food compartment 42 is formed. Thus, the leakage of cool air when
the door 45 is opened is eliminated and the cool air in the fresh
food compartment 42 is preserved.
As described above, according to the present invention, the leakage
of the cool air is eliminated by the air curtain when the door is
opened and the cool air is supplied from the door when the door
is closed, and thus the maintenance of the uniform cooling intensity
in the fresh food compartment can be achieved.
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. |