U.S. patent application number 13/192600 was filed with the patent office on 2012-02-02 for refrigerator.
This patent application is currently assigned to LG ELECTRONICS INC.. Invention is credited to Moongyo JUNG, Seongjae KIM, Seunghwan OH.
Application Number | 20120023997 13/192600 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45525336 |
Filed Date | 2012-02-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120023997 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
JUNG; Moongyo ; et
al. |
February 2, 2012 |
REFRIGERATOR
Abstract
In a refrigerator, a cooling air duct for supplying cooling air
to an ice making chamber is installed to be exposed from an inner
wall face of a refrigerator chamber. Thus, the thickness of the
refrigerator main body can be sufficiently secured, and
accordingly, temperature of cooling air flowing through the cooling
air duct can be prevented from being increased by external air.
Also, since the cooling air duct is installed in a receiving space,
a generation of frost in the vicinity of the cooling air duct can
be prevented, and an increase in a fabrication cost and power
consumption when an anti-frost heater is installed can be
prevented.
Inventors: |
JUNG; Moongyo; (Seoul,
KR) ; OH; Seunghwan; (Seoul, KR) ; KIM;
Seongjae; (Seoul, KR) |
Assignee: |
LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Seoul
KR
|
Family ID: |
45525336 |
Appl. No.: |
13/192600 |
Filed: |
July 28, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/340 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25D 2317/0666 20130101;
F25D 2317/0667 20130101; F25D 17/065 20130101; F25D 2317/067
20130101; F25D 2317/062 20130101; F25C 5/22 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/340 |
International
Class: |
F25C 1/00 20060101
F25C001/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 28, 2010 |
KR |
10-2010-0073044 |
Claims
1. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator main body having a
receiving space; and a refrigerator door coupled to the
refrigerator main body to open and close the receiving space of the
refrigerator main body, wherein the refrigerator main body further
includes a cooling chamber for generating cooling air, the
refrigerator door further includes an ice making chamber for making
ice by using cooling air generated in the cooling chamber, and a
cooling air duct guiding cooling air from the cooling chamber to
the ice making chamber installed on an inner wall face of the
refrigerator main body forms the receiving space.
2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cooling air duct is
detachably attached to an inner wall face of the refrigerator door
or the refrigerator main body.
3. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein a supply side flow path and
a recovery side flow path of the cooling air duct are separately
formed.
4. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the supply side flow path
and the recovery side flow path of the cooling air duct are
integrally formed on a single plate.
5. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein a sealing projection is
formed on an inner side of the refrigerator door and protruded so
as to be inserted into the receiving space of the refrigerator main
body to form the ice making chamber, and an ice making chamber
entrance and an ice making chamber exit are formed to allow the ice
making chamber and the cooling air duct to communicate with each
other.
6. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein an opening of the cooling
air duct is formed on a section of the cooling air duct in a
lengthwise direction of the cooling air duct, and the ice making
chamber entrance and the ice making chamber exit are formed on a
face facing a rear side when the refrigerator door is closed.
7. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein the opening of the cooling
air duct is formed on a face perpendicular to a lengthwise
direction of the cooling air duct, and the ice making chamber
entrance and the ice making chamber exit are formed on a face
corresponding to the inner wall face of the refrigerator main body
when the refrigerator door is closed.
8. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein a duct receiving portion is
formed to be recessed in the vicinity of the ice making chamber
entrance and the ice making chamber exit, and the cooling air duct
is inserted into the duct receiving portion.
9. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein the refrigerator door
further includes a supply side cooling air duct and a recovery side
cooling air duct, and the supply side cooling air duct and the
recovery side cooling air duct independently communicate with the
supply side cooing air duct and the recovery side cooling air duct
provided at the receiving space of the refrigerator main body.
10. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cooling air duct is
formed on a side wall face constituting the receiving space of the
refrigerator main body.
11. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cooling air duct is
formed on an upper wall face constituting the receiving space of
the refrigerator main body.
12. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the refrigerator main body
is includes a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber
demarcated by a barrier, an evaporator is installed at the freezing
chamber side, a cooling air passage is formed in a penetrative
manner on the barrier, and a freezing chamber side cooling air duct
and a refrigerating chamber side cooling air duct are installed in
the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber, respectively,
such that they communicate with both ends of the cooling air
passage.
13. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the refrigerator main body
includes a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber demarcated
by a barrier, an evaporator is installed in the interior of the
barrier, a cooling air passage is formed to be open at one side of
the barrier, and the cooling air duct is installed in the
refrigerating chamber such that it communicates with the opening
end of the cooling air passage.
14. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the refrigerator main body
includes a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber demarcated
by a barrier, an evaporator is installed at the refrigerating
chamber side, and the cooling air duct is installed in the
refrigerating chamber.
15. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cooling air duct
includes a cooling air discharge hole communicating with the
receiving space of the refrigerator main body.
16. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator main body in which a
receiving space and a cooling chamber are demarcated; a
refrigerator door coupled to the refrigerator main body to open and
close the receiving space of the refrigerator main body and having
an ice making chamber; an evaporator installed in the cooling
chamber of the refrigerator main body; an ice making unit provided
in the ice making chamber of the refrigerator door; and a cooling
air duct provided in the refrigerator main body and guiding cooling
air generated in the cooling chamber to the ice making chamber,
wherein the cooling air duct is detachably installed on an inner
wall face of the refrigerator main body.
17. The refrigerator of claim 16, wherein the cooling air duct
includes a supply side flow path and a recovery side flow path, and
the supply side flow path and the recovery side flow path are
integrally formed by using a single plate.
18. The refrigerator of claim 16, wherein a sealing projection
forming the ice making chamber is protrusively formed on the
refrigerator door such that it is inserted into the receiving
space, and the sealing projection includes an ice making chamber
entrance and an ice making chamber exit allowing the cooling air
duct and the ice making chamber to communicate with each other.
19. A refrigerator, in which a receiving space for receiving food
items and a cooling chamber for generating cooling air are
demarcated and the receiving space and the cooling chamber are
disposed to be demarcated from an ice making chamber, wherein the
cooling chamber and the ice making chamber are connected by a
cooling air duct which passes through the receiving space, and the
cooling air duct is installed on an inner wall face of the
receiving space.
20. The refrigerator of claim 19, wherein the cooling air duct is
detachably coupled to the inner wall face of the receiving space.
Description
[0001] The present application claims priority to Korean
Application No. 10-2010-0073044 filed in Korea on Jul. 28, 2010,
the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety.
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a refrigerator and, more
particularly, to a refrigerator in which a cold air duct, which
faces an ice making chamber in a freezing chamber, is detachably
installed.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0003] In general, a home refrigerator is a device having a certain
receiving space to maintain food items, or the like, at a low
temperature. The receiving space of the home refrigerator is
divided into a refrigerating chamber maintained above zero and a
freezing chamber maintained below zero according to a low
temperature range. Recently, a refrigerator including an automatic
ice making apparatus is increasing as demand for ice is on the
rise.
[0004] The automatic ice making apparatus (referred to as an Ice
making apparatus', hereinafter) may be installed in the freezing
chamber according to am aspect of a refrigerator or installed in
the refrigerating chamber according to circumstances. When an ice
making chamber including the ice making apparatus is installed in
the refrigerating chamber, the cooling air duct for guiding cooling
air from a freezing chamber to an ice making chamber is provided to
guide cold air of the freezing chamber to the ice making
chamber.
[0005] For example, in a 3-door bottom freezer type refrigerator in
which a freezing chamber is disposed at a lower portion and a
refrigerating chamber is installed at an upper portion, an
evaporator is installed on a rear wall face of the freezing chamber
and an ice making chamber is installed at an upper portion of the
refrigerating chamber door. A cooling air duct guiding cooling air
of the freezing chamber to the ice making chamber is installed at
an inner side of one wall face of the refrigerating chamber, i.e.,
between an outer case and an inner case. A pair of cooling air
ducts are provided, and one is used as a supply duct and the other
is used as a recovery duct. Thus, a portion of cooling air
generated in the freezing chamber is guided to the ice making
chamber along the supply side cooling air duct to cool the interior
of the ice making chamber, and after the cooling operation is
finished in the ice making chamber, cooling air is recovered along
the recovery side cooling air duct. This process is repeatedly
performed.
[0006] However, in the related art refrigerator, since the cooling
air duct is installed on the side wall face f the refrigerating
chamber, when cooling air which passes through the cooling air duct
is heat-exchanged with external air, cooling air is lost. Namely, a
foaming agent is filled between the inner case and the outer case
forming the wall face of the refrigerator prevents heat
transmission between the interior of the refrigerator and external
air. However, when the cooling air duct is installed between the
inner case and the outer case, the thickness of the foaming agent
is reduced as much as the space in which the cooling air duct is
installed, narrowing the space between the cooling air duct and
external air to cause a loss of cooling air.
[0007] In addition, when the cooling air duct is installed on the
side wall face of the refrigerator, a heater must be operated in
order to prevent frost, increasing the loss of cooling air as much
and power consumption. Namely, when the cooling air duct is buried
at the inner side of the side wall face of the refrigerator, as
described above, the space between the outer case of the
refrigerator and the cooling air duct is reduced, having
possibility in which an outer circumferential surface of the
cooling air duct is frosted. In consideration of this, a heater is
installed between the cooling air duct and the outer case of the
refrigerating chamber to prevent a generation of frost or defrost
when frost is generated. In this case, however, the temperature of
cooling air which passes through the cooling air duct may be
increased by heat generated by the heater to increase the loss of
cooling air. Also, since the heater is required to be frequently
operated, power consumption is increased as much.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] An aspect of the present invention provides a refrigerator
capable of securing a sufficient insulation thickness between
cooling air, which passes through a cooling air duct, and external
air, thus reducing a loss of cooling air.
[0009] Another aspect of the present invention provides a
refrigerator capable of preventing an outer circumferential surface
of a cooling air duct from being frosted, thus reducing or
excluding the use of a heater for anti-frost with respect to the
cooling air duct, reducing power consumption, and preventing
temperature of cooling air which passes through the cooling air
duct from increasing by a heater.
[0010] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is
provided a refrigerator including: a refrigerator main body having
a receiving space; and a refrigerator door coupled to the
refrigerator main body to open and close the receiving space of the
refrigerator main body, wherein the refrigerator main body further
includes a cooling chamber for generating cooling air, the
refrigerator door further includes an ice making chamber for making
ice by using cooling air generated in the cooling chamber, and a
cooling air duct guiding cooling air from the cooling chamber to
the ice making chamber installed on an inner wall face of the
refrigerator main body forms the receiving space.
[0011] According to another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a refrigerator including: a refrigerator main body in
which a receiving space and a cooling chamber are demarcated; a
refrigerator door coupled to the refrigerator main body to open and
close the receiving space of the refrigerator main body and having
an ice making chamber; an evaporator installed in the cooling
chamber of the refrigerator main body; an ice making unit provided
in the ice making chamber of the refrigerator door; and a cooling
air duct provided in the refrigerator main body and guiding cooling
air generated in the cooling chamber to the ice making chamber,
wherein the cooling air duct is detachably installed on an inner
wall face of the refrigerator main body.
[0012] According to another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a refrigerator, in which a receiving space for
receiving food items and a cooling chamber for generating cooling
air are demarcated and the receiving space and the cooling chamber
are disposed to be demarcated from an ice making chamber, wherein
the cooling chamber and the ice making chamber are connected by a
cooling air duct which passes through the receiving space, and the
cooling air duct is installed on an inner wall face of the
receiving space.
[0013] The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and
advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from
the following detailed description of the present invention when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a 3-door bottom-freezer type
refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0015] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a cooling air duct
in the refrigerator in FIG. 1;
[0016] FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view sowing an assembled
cooling air duct in FIG. 2;
[0017] FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line I-I in FIG.
3;
[0018] FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing other example of the
cooling air duct in FIG. 2; and
[0019] FIGS. 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views showing other
examples of the cooling air duct in the refrigerator according to
an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] A refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present
invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
[0021] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a 3-door bottom-freezer type
refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, in the refrigerator according to an
embodiment of the present invention, a freezing chamber 2 is formed
at a lower portion of a refrigerator main body 1 in order to freeze
and keep food items in storage, and one refrigerating chamber 3 is
formed at an upper portion of the refrigerator main body 1 in order
to refrigerate and keep food items in storage.
[0023] The refrigerator main body 1 includes an outer case 11
forming an external appearance and an inner case 12 disposed at an
inner side of the outer case 11, separated from the outer case 11
with a foaming agent (not shown) charging space therebetween, and
forming a food item receiving space therein. The inner case 12 is
divided into a freezing chamber 2 and a refrigerating chamber 3 by
a horizontal barrier 13 formed therebetween.
[0024] One freezing chamber door 4 is installed at the freezing
chamber 2 in order to open and close the freezing chamber 2 in a
sliding manner, and a plurality of refrigerating chamber doors 5
are installed at both sides of the refrigerating chamber 3 in order
to open and close the refrigerating chamber 3 in a rotating manner
from both sides.
[0025] A mechanic chamber including a compressor and a condenser is
formed at a lower end of a rear face of the refrigerator main body
1, and an evaporator 6 (See FIG. 2) is installed on a rear wall
face, side wall face, or an upper wall face of the freezing chamber
2 or in the interior of the barrier 13 demarcating the freezing
chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 3. The evaporator is
connected with the condenser and the compressor to supply cooling
air to the refrigerating chamber or the freezing chamber 2. One
evaporator may be installed to distributedly supply cooling air to
the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 3, or a
freezing chamber evaporator and a refrigerating chamber evaporator
may be provided to independently supply cooling air to the freezing
chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 3. Here, for example, the
evaporator is installed in the freezing chamber.
[0026] An ice making chamber 51 for making ice and keeping ice in
storage is formed at an upper inner wall face of one refrigerating
chamber door 5, and an ice making device 7 for making ice is
installed in the interior of the ice making chamber 51. An ice
storage container 8 is installed at a lower side of the ice making
device 7 and receives ice made in the ice making device 7 to keep
it in storage. A dispenser (not shown) is installed at a lower side
of the ice making chamber 51 to be exposed from a front side of the
refrigerating chamber door 5 such that ice stored in the ice
storage container 8 can be drawn out from the exterior of the
refrigerator.
[0027] In this manner, in the refrigerator, when a load in the
freezing chamber 2 or the refrigerating chamber 3 is detected, the
compressor is operated to allow cooling air to be generated from
the evaporator 6. A portion of the cooling air cools the freezing
chamber 2 and then is supplied to the refrigerating chamber 3
through a refrigerating chamber supply duct (not shown), and
another portion of the cooling air generated in the evaporator 6 is
supplied to the ice making chamber 51. The cooling air supplied to
the ice making chamber 51 is heat-exchanged to allow the ice making
device 7 mounted in the ice making chamber 51 to make ice and then
recovered to the freezing chamber 2 or supplied to the
refrigerating chamber. Ice made in the ice making device 7 is
stored in the ice storage container 8 and the drawn out to the
exterior according to a request from the dispenser. This process is
repeatedly performed.
[0028] Here, when the evaporator 6 is installed in the freezing
chamber 2, a loss of cooling air is required to be reduced when
cooling air generated in the evaporator 6 is guided to the ice
making chamber 51 disposed at an upper side of the refrigerating
chamber door 5, and power consumption of the refrigerator may be
reduced when supplying cooling air, supplied to the ice making
chamber 51, to the refrigerating chamber 3 as necessary. In the
present embodiment, a loss of cooling air when cooling air is
transferred from the to freezing chamber to the ice making chamber
is reduced and cooling air of the ice making chamber is supplied to
the refrigerating chamber, thus reducing power consumption of the
refrigerator.
[0029] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a cooling air duct
in the refrigerator in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view
sowing an assembled cooling air duct in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a
sectional view taken along line I-I in FIG. 3.
[0030] As illustrated, in the refrigerator main body according to
the present embodiment, a plurality of cooing air passages 131 and
132 are formed in a penetrative manner in the barrier 13
demarcating the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 3,
and a freezing chamber cooling air duct (referred to as a `freezing
chamber duct`, hereinafter) 20 and a refrigerating chamber cooling
air duct (referred to as a `refrigerating chamber duct`,
hereinafter) 30 are formed to communicate with both ends of the
cooling air passages 131 and 132.
[0031] Both the freezing chamber duct 20 and the refrigerating
chamber duct 30 may be detachably coupled to an inner wall face of
the refrigerator main body 1, namely, on the inner wall face of the
inner case 12, or any one of the freezing chamber duct 20 and the
refrigerating chamber duct 30 may be detachably coupled to the
inner wall face, and the other may be buried between the outer case
and the inner case as those in the related art refrigerator. The
freezing chamber duct 20 and the refrigerating chamber duct 30 may
be fastened to the inner wall face of the refrigerator main body 1
through screws or may be detachably coupled to the inner wall face
by using a protrusion and a recess. Here, a sealing material (not
shown), such as a gasket, may be installed between the freezing
chamber duct 20 and the refrigerating chamber duct 30 and the inner
wall face.
[0032] The freezing chamber duct 20 may be formed extendedly and
have a hexahedral shape. A rear side, of the freezing chamber duct
20, in contact with a rear wall face of the freezing chamber 2 is
open to form one opening end, and an upper side, of the freezing
chamber duct 20, in contact with a lower surface of the barrier 13
is open to form the other opening end.
[0033] One opening end of the freezing chamber duct 20 is coupled
to communicate with the cooling chamber accommodating the
evaporator, and the other opening end of the freezing chamber duct
20 is coupled to communicate with a lower opening end of one
cooling air passage (referred to as a `first cooling air passage`,
hereinafter) 131 of the barrier 13.
[0034] Here, a lower opening end of another cooling air passage
(referred to as a `second cooling air passage`, hereinafter) 132 of
the barrier 13 may be formed to communicate with the freezing
chamber 2. However, a recovery side freezing camber duct (not
shown) may be coupled to communicate with the lower opening end of
the second cooling air passage 132. In this case, the recovery side
freezing chamber duct may be coupled to communicate with the
recovery side of the cooling chamber.
[0035] The freezing chamber duct 20 includes only a supply side
freezing chamber duct, while the refrigerating chamber duct 30 may
include both the supply size refrigerating chamber duct 31 and the
recovery side refrigerating chamber duct 32. As the supply size
refrigerating chamber duct 31 and the recovery side refrigerating
chamber duct 32, a plurality of flow paths constituting a supply
side and a recovery side may be recessed on one plate.
[0036] A lower opening end 311 of the supply side refrigerating
chamber duct 31 communicates with an upper opening end (not shown)
of the first cooling air passage 131 of the barrier 13, and a lower
opening end 321 of the recovery side refrigerating chamber duct 32
communicates with an upper opening end (not shown) of the second
cooling air passage 132 of the barrier 13.
[0037] The upper opening end (referred to as a `supply side upper
opening end`, hereinafter) 312 of the supply side refrigerating
chamber duct 31 communicates with an ice making chamber entrance
511 (to be described), and the upper opening end (referred to as a
`recovery side upper opening end`, hereinafter) of the recovery
side refrigerating chamber duct 32 communicates with an ice making
chamber exist 512 (to be described).
[0038] The supply side upper opening end 312 and the recovery side
upper opening end 322 of the refrigerating chamber duct 30 are
formed in a penetrative manner toward the front side of the
refrigerator main body 1, i.e., the refrigerating chamber door 5,
as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
[0039] The ice making chamber 51 is formed by a sealing projection
510 protruded in a band shape on an inner side of the refrigerating
chamber door. Namely, the ice making chamber 51 is defined as an
inner space formed by the sealing projection 510. Thus, the ice
making chamber entrance 511 is formed in a penetrative manner on
one portion of the sealing projection 510 toward the ice making
chamber 51, and the ice making chamber exit 512 is formed in a
penetrative manner on another portion of the sealing projection 510
toward the refrigerating chamber duct 32 from the ice making
chamber 51. For the sake of convenience, the ice making chamber
entrance 511 and the ice making exit 512 are illustrated to be
formed on one face of the sealing projection 510.
[0040] When the supply side upper opening end 312 and the recovery
side upper opening end 322 of the refrigerating chamber duct 30 are
formed at the front side, a duct receiving portion (not shown) may
be formed to be recessed with a certain depth on a corresponding
face 513 of the sealing projection 510 corresponding to the upper
opening ends 312 and 322 such that the end of the refrigerating
chamber duct 30 can be inserted thereinto, or the corresponding
face 513 may be formed to be flat as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.
[0041] As shown in FIG. 5, the supply side upper opening end 312
and the recovery side upper opening end 322 of the refrigerating
chamber duct 30 may be formed to penetrate in a widthwise direction
of the supply side refrigerating chamber duct 31 and the recovery
side refrigerating chamber duct 32, respectively. In this case,
duct receiving portions 515 and 516 may be formed with a certain
depth on the sealing face 514 forming an outer side of the sealing
projection 510 to allow the supply side refrigerating chamber duct
31 and the recovery side refrigerating chamber duct 32 to be
inserted therein, and the ice making chamber entrance 511 and the
ice making chamber exit 512 may be formed at the side of the duct
receiving portions 515 and 516.
[0042] The refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present
invention as described above has the following operational
effects.
[0043] Namely, when ice making is requested in a state in which the
refrigerating chamber door 5 is closed, the ice making device of
the ice making chamber 51 is turned on and ice making operation
starts. When the ice making operation starts, a water supply unit
(not shown) supplies water to an ice making container (not shown)
of the ice making device 7.
[0044] Next, when water supply is completed, water in the ice
making container is exposed to cooling air supplied to the ice
making chamber for more than a certain time and thus frozen.
Namely, when the refrigerating chamber door 5 is closed, a damper
(not shown) is open by the refrigerating chamber door 5 and cooling
air generated by the evaporator 6 is introduced into the freezing
chamber duct 20, and the cooling air is introduced into the
refrigerating chamber duct 31 through the first cooling air passage
131. The cooling air is introduced into the ice making chamber 51
to freeze water of the ice making container.
[0045] Thereafter, cooling air heat-exchanged with the water in the
ice making chamber 51 is returned to the freezing chamber 2 through
the recovery side refrigerating chamber duct 32 and the second
cooling air passage 132 of the refrigerator main body 1 and mixed
with cooling air supplied to the freezing chamber 2 so as to be
recovered.
[0046] In this manner, since the cooling air duct is installed to
be exposed from the inner wall face of the refrigerator main body,
the thickness of the refrigerator main body can be sufficiently
secured, and thus, the temperature of cooling air flowing through
the cooling air duct can be prevented from being increased by
external air.
[0047] Also, since the cooling air duct is installed in the
refrigerator, a generation of frost in the vicinity of the cooling
air duct can be prevented, and thus, an increase in a fabrication
cost and power consumption when an anti-frost heater is installed
can be prevented.
[0048] Meanwhile, a refrigerator according to another embodiment of
the present invention will now be described.
[0049] In the foregoing embodiment, the freezing chamber duct and
the refrigerating chamber duct are installed at the inner wall face
of the refrigerator main body, but in the present embodiment, as
shown in FIG. 6, the freezing chamber duct 20, the refrigerating
chamber duct 30, in particular, the refrigerating chamber duct 30,
are installed on a the rear wall face of the refrigerator main body
1. In this case, the refrigerating chamber duct 30 is connected to
the rear wall face and upper side wall face of the refrigerator
main body 1 to form the supply side upper opening end 312 and the
recovery side upper opening end 322 of the refrigerating chamber
duct 30.
[0050] In this case, the operational effect is similar to that of
the foregoing embodiment, so a detailed description thereof will be
omitted. Here, a cooling air discharge hole 315 communicating with
the refrigerating chamber is formed in the middle of the
refrigerating chamber duct 30, so that cooling air can be supplied
to the refrigerating chamber 3 through the cooling air discharge
hole 315. Accordingly, there is no need to additionally install a
refrigerating chamber cooling air duct to supply cooling air to the
refrigerating chamber 3, and thus, a fabrication cost can be
reduced and the capacity of the refrigerating chamber can be
increased.
[0051] Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 7, the cooling air duct may be
further formed on the refrigerating chamber door 5. In this case, a
supply side door cooling air duct (referred to as a `supply side
door duct`, hereinafter) 52 and a recovery side door duct (referred
to as a `recovery side door duct`, hereinafter) 53 may be formed at
an inner side of the sealing projection 510 of the refrigerating
chamber door 5, namely, at the inner side of the sealing projection
510 forming the ice making chamber 51 of the refrigerating chamber
door 5 such that they communicate with the supply side upper
opening end 312 and the recovery side upper opening end 322 of the
refrigerating chamber duct 30. Reference numerals 521 and 522
denote lower and upper opening ends of the supply side door duct,
respectively, and 531 and 532 denote lower and upper opening ends
of the recovery side door duct, respectively.
[0052] In this case, the operational effect is similar to that of
the foregoing embodiment, a detailed description thereof will be
omitted. In this case, since the length of the refrigerating
chamber duct protruded to the inner side of the refrigerating
chamber is short, a reduction in the capacity of the refrigerating
chamber due to the refrigerating chamber duct can be prevented.
[0053] As the present invention may be embodied in several forms
without departing from the characteristics thereof, it should also
be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited
by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless
otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within
its scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all
changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of
the claims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore
intended to be embraced by the appended claims.
* * * * *