U.S. patent application number 16/737848 was filed with the patent office on 2020-06-11 for refrigerator.
The applicant listed for this patent is HEFEI HUALING CO.,LTD. HEFEI MIDEA REFRIGERATOR CO., LTD. MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Ying JIA, Yu LI, Dongxian LIU, Fei LU, Zengqiang SI, Deming WEI, Xuezai ZHENG.
Application Number | 20200182529 16/737848 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 65318572 |
Filed Date | 2020-06-11 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200182529 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
JIA; Ying ; et al. |
June 11, 2020 |
REFRIGERATOR
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to the field of household
appliances technologies, and discloses a refrigerator with a
separate ice-making system which comprises a refrigerating
compartment and an ice-making chamber disposed inside the
refrigerating compartment, wherein an ice maker is arranged in the
ice-making chamber, the ice-making chamber is supplied with cold
air by an ice-making refrigeration system including an ice-making
evaporator, an ice-making air supply duct, an ice-making fan and an
ice-making air return duct, the ice-making air supply duct and the
ice-making air return duct are located front to back, the
ice-making evaporator is disposed in the refrigerating compartment
and located outside the ice-making chamber, and the ice-making
evaporator is communicated with the ice maker through the
ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct to
form a refrigerating cycle loop.
Inventors: |
JIA; Ying; (Hefei, CN)
; SI; Zengqiang; (Hefei, CN) ; LIU; Dongxian;
(Hefei, CN) ; ZHENG; Xuezai; (Hefei, CN) ;
LU; Fei; (Hefei, CN) ; LI; Yu; (Hefei, CN)
; WEI; Deming; (Hefei, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
HEFEI HUALING CO.,LTD.
HEFEI MIDEA REFRIGERATOR CO., LTD.
MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD. |
Hefei
Hefei
Foshan |
|
CN
CN
CN |
|
|
Family ID: |
65318572 |
Appl. No.: |
16/737848 |
Filed: |
January 8, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
PCT/CN2019/072061 |
Jan 17, 2019 |
|
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16737848 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25D 17/08 20130101;
F25D 23/066 20130101; F25D 2321/146 20130101; F25D 23/028 20130101;
F25D 2317/067 20130101 |
International
Class: |
F25D 17/08 20060101
F25D017/08; F25D 23/02 20060101 F25D023/02; F25D 23/06 20060101
F25D023/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 28, 2018 |
CN |
201811436035.4 |
Claims
1. A refrigerator with a separate ice-making system, comprising: a
refrigerating compartment and an ice-making chamber disposed inside
the refrigerating compartment; an ice maker provided inside of the
ice-making chamber; and an ice-making refrigeration system
configured to refrigerate the ice-making chamber, the ice-making
refrigeration system including an ice-making evaporator, an
ice-making air supply duct, an ice-making fan provided in
downstream of the ice-making air supply duct, and an ice-making air
return duct; wherein the ice-making air supply duct and the
ice-making air return duct are provided outside of the ice-making
chamber and on back of the refrigerator; the ice-making air supply
duct is provided in front of or in back of the ice-making air
return duct; the ice-making evaporator is provided in upstream of
the ice-making air supply duct, and disposed inside the
refrigerating compartment and outside the ice-making chamber; and
the ice-making evaporator is air communicated with the ice maker
through the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air
return duct to form a refrigerating cycle loop.
2. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 1,
further comprising a refrigerating air duct disposed in the
refrigerating compartment, the refrigerating air duct includes an
air duct front cover plate, air duct foam, and an air duct rear
cover plate disposed in order of front to rear; wherein, the
ice-making air return duct is provided between the air duct foam
and the air duct rear cover plate, and the air duct front cover
plate is disposed on an outer surface of the rear wall of a
refrigerating compartment liner.
3. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 2,
further comprising a cover plate assembly disposed on rear of the
ice-making chamber and configured to seal inside of the ice-making
chamber, the cover plate assembly includes an ice-making front
cover plate, an ice-making back cover foam, and an ice-making rear
cover plate disposed in order of front to rear; and the ice-making
evaporator is mounted on an outer side of the rear wall of the
refrigerating compartment liner.
4. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 3,
wherein the ice-making air supply duct is provided between the air
duct rear cover plate and the ice maker rear cover plate, and the
ice-making evaporator is installed in the ice-making air supply
duct.
5. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 4,
further comprising a defrosting heating tube disposed below the
ice-making evaporator and proximal to outside of the ice-making air
supply duct and the ice-making air return duct.
6. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 1,
wherein the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air
return duct are both located between the ice-making evaporator and
the ice maker; the ice-making fan is disposed between the
ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct, and
provided on an ice-making fan base; an ice-making inner air duct is
provided in the ice maker; and the ice-making air supply duct, the
ice-making inner air duct and the ice-making air return duct are
sequentially connected to form the refrigerating cycle loop.
7. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 2,
further comprising a main refrigeration system disposed in the
refrigerating compartment, wherein the main refrigeration system
includes a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating air supply
duct, a refrigerating fan, and a refrigerating air return duct;
wherein, the refrigerating air supply duct is provided between the
air duct foam and the air duct rear cover plate, the refrigerating
fan directs cold air into the refrigerating air supply duct; and
the refrigerating air return duct is formed between the air duct
rear cover plate and the rear side wall of the refrigerating
compartment liner.
8. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 2,
wherein the air duct front cover plate and the air duct rear cover
plate are mounted on an outer side of the rear side wall of the
refrigerating compartment liner.
9. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 3,
wherein in the ice-making air supply duct: the air duct rear cover
plate and the ice maker rear cover plate are lapped and sealed by a
first fitting surface; the air duct foam and the refrigerating
compartment liner are sealed by a second fitting surface; the air
duct rear cover plate and the refrigerating compartment liner are
fixedly sealed by a third fitting surface; and the air duct rear
cover plate and the refrigerating compartment liner are sealed by a
fourth fitting surface.
10. The refrigerator with a separate ice-making system of claim 3,
wherein in the ice-making air return duct: the air duct foam and
the ice maker front cover plate are sealed by a fifth fitting
surface; the air duct foam and the ice maker front cover plate are
sealed by a sixth fitting surface; the air duct foam and the ice
maker rear cover plate are sealed by a seventh fitting surface; and
the air duct foam and the ice maker rear cover plate are sealed by
a eighth fitting surface.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application is a continuation of International
Application No. PCT/CN2019/072061, filed on Jan. 17, 2019, which
claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 201811436035, 4
filed on Nov. 28, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference
in its entirety.
FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of household
appliances technologies, and particularly to a refrigerator with a
separate ice-making system.
BACKGROUND
[0003] At present, an ice-making evaporator in the existing
refrigerator is typically disposed in the ice-making chamber, and
thus the effective area of the ice-making evaporator is still
limited by the size of the ice-making chamber, and it cannot match
the heat load demand of the ice maker well, thereby affecting the
ice making speed of the ice maker. At the same time, the
frost-reducing capacity of the ice-making evaporator itself is also
affected which requires frequent heating and defrosting, resulting
in energy consumption loss and affecting the quality of ice cubes
stored in the ice bucket.
SUMMARY
Technical Problems to be Solved
[0004] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a
refrigerator with a separate ice-making system capable of solving
at least one of the technical problems in the prior art that the
effective area of the ice-making evaporator is limited and the
ice-making efficiency is affected since the ice-making evaporator
in the existing refrigerator is typically disposed in the
ice-making chamber.
[0005] The present disclosure provides a refrigerator with a
separate ice-making system, comprising: a refrigerating compartment
and an ice-making chamber disposed inside the refrigerating
compartment, wherein an ice maker is arranged in the ice-making
chamber, the ice-making chamber is supplied with cold air by an
ice-making refrigeration system including an ice-making evaporator,
an ice-making air supply duct, an ice-making fan and an ice-making
air return duct, the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making
air return duct are located front to back, the ice-making
evaporator is disposed in the refrigerating compartment and located
outside the ice-making chamber, and the ice-making evaporator is
communicated with the ice maker through the ice-making air supply
duct and the ice-making air return duct to form a refrigerating
cycle loop.
[0006] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the refrigerator
further comprises a refrigerating ice-making air duct disposed in
the refrigerating compartment, the refrigerating ice-making air
duct includes an air duct front cover plate, air duct foam, and an
air duct rear cover plate disposed in order from front to rear, the
ice-making air return duct is provided between the air duct foam
and the air duct rear cover plate, and the air duct front cover
plate is disposed on an outer side surface of the rear side wall of
a refrigerating compartment liner.
[0007] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the refrigerator
further comprises a cover plate assembly disposed on a rear side of
the ice maker and capable of sealing the inside of the ice maker,
the cover plate assembly includes an ice maker front cover plate,
ice maker back cover foam, and an ice maker rear cover plate
disposed in order from front to rear; and the ice-making evaporator
is mounted on an outer side of the rear side wall of the
refrigerating compartment liner.
[0008] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the ice-making
air supply duct is provided between the air duct rear cover plate
and the ice maker rear cover plate, and the ice-making evaporator
is installed in the ice-making air supply duct.
[0009] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the refrigerator
further comprises a defrosting heating tube disposed below the
ice-making evaporator and proximal to the outside of the ice-making
air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct.
[0010] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the ice-making
air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct are both located
between the ice-making evaporator and the ice maker, the ice-making
fan is disposed between the ice-making air supply duct and the
ice-making air return duct through an ice-making fan base; an
ice-making inner air duct is formed in the ice maker, and the
ice-making air supply duct, the ice-making inner air duct and the
ice-making air return duct are sequentially connected to form the
refrigerating cycle loop.
[0011] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the refrigerator
further includes a main refrigeration system disposed in the
refrigerating compartment, the main refrigeration system including
a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating air supply duct, a
refrigerating fan, and a refrigerating air return duct, wherein a
refrigerating air supply duct is formed between the air duct foam
and the air duct rear cover plate, the refrigerating fan directs
cold air into the refrigerating air supply duct; and a
refrigerating air return duct is formed between the air duct rear
cover plate and the rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment
liner.
[0012] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the air duct
front cover plate and the air duct rear cover plate are mounted on
an outer side of the rear side wall of the refrigerating
compartment liner by screws.
[0013] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the
ice-making air supply duct, the air duct rear cover plate and the
ice maker rear cover plate are lapped and sealed from front to rear
by a first fitting surface; the air duct foam and the refrigerating
compartment liner are sealed at the lower part by a second fitting
surface; the air duct rear cover plate and the refrigerating
compartment liner are fixedly sealed by a third fitting surface
through a screw at the left side; and the air duct rear cover plate
and the refrigerating compartment liner are sealed by a four
fitting surface through a sponge at a right side.
[0014] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the
ice-making air return duct, the air duct foam and the ice maker
front cover plate are sealed by a fifth fitting surface at an upper
part; the air duct foam and the ice maker front cover plate are
sealed by a sixth fitting surface at a lower part; the air duct
foam and the ice maker rear cover plate are sealed by a seventh
fitting surface at a left side; and the air duct foam and the ice
maker rear cover plate are sealed by a eight fitting surface at a
right side.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the overall structure of
a refrigerator with a separate ice-making system according to some
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a general assembly
explosion structure of a refrigerator with a separate ice-making
system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the back structure of FIG.
1;
[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the internal structure
(E-E section) of the ice-making air return duct and the ice-making
air supply duct of FIG. 3;
[0019] FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional structural view (D-D
cross section) corresponding to the ice-making evaporator and the
refrigerating evaporator of FIG. 1 and
[0020] FIG. 6 is a partial enlarged view showing A of FIG. 4.
TABLE-US-00001 [0021] Description of the reference numbers 1 ice
maker 1a ice-making inner air duct 2 ice-making evaporator 3
ice-making air supply duct 4 ice-making fan 5 ice-making air return
duct 6 air duct front cover plate 7 air duct foam 8 air duct rear
cover plate 9 refrigerating compartment liner 10 defrosting heating
tube 11 cover plate assembly 111 ice maker front cover plate 112
ice maker rear cover foam 113 ice maker rear cover plate 12
refrigerating evaporator 13 refrigerating air supply duct 14
refrigerating fan 16 ice-making fan base 5-10-1 first fitting
surface 3-13-1 second fitting surface 5-13-1 third fitting surface
5-13-2 fourth fitting surface 3-8-1 fifth fitting surface 3-8-2
sixth fitting surface 3-5-1 seventh fitting surface 3-5-2 eighth
fitting surface 17 refrigerating compartment 18 ice-making chamber
19 refrigerating ice-making air duct 20 refrigerating air return
duct 21 air cavity
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] The specific implementations of the present disclosure are
further described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings
and embodiments. The following examples are intended to illustrate
the disclosure, but are not intended to limit the scope of the
disclosure.
[0023] In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be
noted that unless explicitly stated and defined otherwise, the
terms "installed," "connected with," and "connected" shall be
understood broadly, for example, it may be either fixedly connected
or detachably connected, or can be integrated; it may be
mechanically connected, or electrically connected; it may be
directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate
medium, or may be internal communication between two elements. The
specific meanings of the terms above in the present disclosure can
be understood by a person skilled in the art in accordance with
specific conditions
Embodiment 1
[0024] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the refrigerator is schematically
shown to include a refrigerating compartment 17 and an ice-making
chamber 18 disposed inside the refrigerating compartment 17. Of
course, in the interior of the refrigerator, there may be
compartments such as a freezing compartment and a
temperature-changing compartment. The specific form of the
refrigerator is not specifically limited, and may be a cross-door
refrigerator with a refrigerating compartment 17 above and two
compartments below, and the like.
[0025] An ice maker 1 is disposed inside the ice-making chamber 18,
which is supplied with cold air by an ice-making refrigeration
system including an ice-making evaporator 2, an ice-making air
supply duct 3, an ice-making fan 4 and an ice-making air return
duct 5, the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the ice-making air
return duct 5 are located front to back, the ice-making evaporator
2 is disposed inside the refrigerating compartment 17 and located
outside the ice-making chamber 18, and the ice-making evaporator 2
is communicated with the ice maker 1 through the ice-making air
supply duct 3 and the ice-making air return duct 5 to form a
refrigerating cycle loop. Specifically, the cold air of the
ice-making evaporator 2 is introduced into the inside of the ice
maker 1 through the ice-making air supply duct 3 by the ice-making
fan 4 and exchanges heat with the air in the ice maker 1 after
being transferred to the ice maker 1, heat-exchanged cold air is
introduced back to the inside of the ice-making evaporator 2 by the
ice-making air return duct 5 and the heat exchange is repeated, and
the above steps are executed cyclically.
[0026] The arrangement of the ice-making fan 4 can speed up the
flow velocity of cold air as well as the refrigerating circulation,
thereby improving the refrigerating efficiency.
[0027] In the present disclosure, since the ice-making evaporator 2
is disposed in the refrigerating compartment 17 and located outside
the ice-making chamber 18, a defrosting heating tube 10 described
below in the ice-making evaporator 2 is disposed distal from the
ice-making chamber 18 and an ice storage bucket in the ice-making
chamber 18 by allowing both the ice-making air supply duct 3 and
the ice-making air return duct 5 to be connected to the ice maker
1, and thus the heat transfer to the ice-making chamber 18 during
the heating and defrosting of the ice-making evaporator 2,
especially the heat transfer into the ice storage bucket is reduced
and ice cubes in the ice storage bucket are prevented from melting
on the surfaces of the ice cubes during the heating and defrosting,
thereby further effectively improving the ice-making
efficiency.
[0028] In addition, since the space in the refrigerating
compartment 17 is much larger than the space of the ice-making
evaporator 2, it is convenient to install the ice-making evaporator
2 and increase the effective area of the ice-making evaporator 2,
the heat load of the ice maker 1 and the area of the ice-making
evaporator 2 are more rationally matched, the ice-making speed of
the ice maker 1 is increased, the frost-reducing capacity of the
ice-making evaporator 2 is improved, the heating defrosting
frequency of the ice-making evaporator 2 is lowered, the energy
consumption is reduced, and the surface quality of the ice cubes is
improved.
[0029] In the present disclosure, since the ice maker 1 and the
ice-making evaporator 2 are disposed in the refrigerating
compartment 17 of the refrigerator respectively, the cold air is
introduced into the inside of the ice maker 1 in the ice-making
chamber 18 through a shorter ice-making air supply duct 3 by an
ice-making fan 4 disposed at the back of the ice-making chamber 18
for making ice, and thus the loss of cooling capacity is small and
the ice-making efficiency is ensured.
[0030] In an embodiment of the present disclosure as shown in FIG.
1, the ice-making evaporator 2 may be disposed at the rear of the
ice-making chamber 18.
[0031] In addition, since the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the
ice-making air return duct 5 are disposed in order from front to
rear in the refrigerating compartment 17, the ice-making evaporator
2 can be changed from an original narrow and high shape to a wide
and short shape in the case that the area of the ice-making
evaporator 2 is constant so that in the case where the defrosting
heating tube 10 is located at the lower end of the ice-making
evaporator 2 as described below, the heat transfer resistance of
the ice-making evaporator 2 is greatly reduced, the heat can be
transferred to the distal end of the ice-making evaporator 2 in the
shortest time, the defrosting time is shortened and the defrosting
efficiency is improved.
[0032] In another embodiment, the positions of the ice-making air
supply duct 3 and the ice-making air return duct 5 may be
interchanged, that is, the ice-making air supply duct 3 can be
located on the front side of the ice-making air return duct 5 and
can also be located on the rear side of the ice-making air return
duct 5.
[0033] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in order to further optimize the
refrigerator in the above technical solution, the refrigerator, on
the basis of the above technical solution, further comprises a
refrigerating ice-making air duct 19 disposed in the refrigerating
compartment 17, the refrigerating ice-making air duct 19 includes
an air duct front cover plate 6, air duct foam 7, and an air duct
rear cover plate 8 disposed in order from front to rear, wherein an
ice-making air return duct 5 is provided between the air duct foam
7 and the air duct rear cover plate 8, and the air duct front cover
plate 6 is disposed on an outer side surface of the rear side wall
of a refrigerating compartment liner 9. Specifically, the
refrigerating ice-making air duct 19 may be shared by a
refrigerating air supply duct 13, a refrigerating air return duct
20, the ice-making air supply duct 3, and the ice-making air return
duct 5 as described below. This greatly improves the versatility
between the structural members, saves both installation space and
raw materials, and reduces the difficulty of the manufacturing
process.
[0034] It should be noted that the left and right sides and the
lower sides of the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the ice-making
air return duct 5 of the present disclosure can be fixed by the air
duct rear cover plate 8 and the refrigerating compartment liner 9,
and the upper sides of the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the
ice-making air return duct 5 can be fixed by the ice maker rear
cover plate 113 as described below so as to realize the sealing
between the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the ice-making air
return duct 5 in the ice-making refrigeration system and the
refrigerating compartment 17, thereby preventing the cold air in
the ice-making refrigeration system from entering the refrigerating
compartment 17. Further, it is avoided to affect the normal
temperature in the refrigerating compartment 17 and ensure the
normal operation of the refrigerating compartment 17.
[0035] As shown in FIG. 2, in order to further optimize the
refrigerator in the above technical solution, the refrigerator, on
the basis of the above technical solution, further comprises a
cover plate assembly 11 disposed on a rear side of the ice maker 1
and capable of sealing the inside of the ice maker 1, the cover
plate assembly 11 includes the ice maker front cover plate 111, an
ice maker back cover foam 112, and an ice maker rear cover plate
113 disposed in order from front to rear. It should be noted that
the ice maker front cover plate 111, the ice maker back cover foam
112, and the ice maker rear cover plate 113 can be fastened into a
whole by screws, and then integrally mounted at the rear side of
the ice maker 1, thereby realizing the sealing of the interior of
the ice maker 1.
[0036] The ice-making evaporator 2 is mounted on the outer side
surface of the rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment
liner 9. Specifically, the ice-making evaporator 2 can be fixedly
mounted on the outer side surface of the rear side wall of the
refrigerating compartment liner 9 by a fastener such as a
screw.
[0037] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in one embodiment of the present
disclosure, the ice-making air supply duct 3 is provided between
the air duct rear cover plate 8 and the rear side wall of the ice
maker rear cover plate 113, and the ice-making evaporator 2 is
installed in the ice-making air supply duct 3. Specifically, an air
cavity 21 is formed between the air duct rear cover plate 8 and the
rear side wall of the ice maker rear cover plate 113, and the
ice-making air supply duct 3 is a part of the air cavity 21. By
disposing the ice-making evaporator 2 in the ice-making air supply
duct 3, it is possible to facilitate direct and rapid transport of
the cold air inside the ice-making evaporator 2 into the ice maker
1 inside the ice-making chamber through the ice-making air supply
duct 3, such that the water in the ice trays of the ice maker is
rapidly converted into all-solid ice cubes, thereby greatly
improving the ice-making efficiency.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 3, in order to further optimize the
refrigerator in the above technical solution, the refrigerator, on
the basis of the above technical solution, further comprises a
defrosting heating tube 10 disposed below the ice-making evaporator
2 and proximal to the outsides of the ice-making air supply duct 3
and the ice-making air return duct 5. It should be noted that,
during the defrosting operation, the heat of the defrosting heating
tube 10 can be simultaneously transmitted to the ice-making air
inlet duct 3 and the ice-making air return duct 5 for defrosting,
thereby avoiding the case that the ice blockage of the ice-making
air return duct 5 occurs.
[0039] In addition, since the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the
ice-making air return duct 5 are arranged in parallel, the sealing
fitting surfaces with the ice maker 1 are effectively reduced, so
that the sealing structure is more simple and reliable.
[0040] As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, in another embodiment of
the present disclosure, the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the
ice-making air return duct 5 are both located between the
ice-making evaporator 2 and the ice maker 1.
[0041] The ice-making fan 4 is disposed between the ice-making air
supply duct 3 and the ice-making air return duct 5 through the
ice-making fan base 16. The arrangement of the ice-making fan base
16 can improve the fixing strength and the fixing stability of the
ice-making fan 4, and prevent the ice-making fan 4 from
falling.
[0042] An ice-making inner air duct 1a is provided in the ice maker
1, and the ice-making air supply duct 3, the ice-making inner air
duct 1a and the ice-making air return duct 5 are sequentially
communicated and form the refrigerating cycle loop. In this way,
the cold air can be continuously transferred to the inside of the
ice maker 1 to exchange heat with the air in the ice maker 1, so
that the purpose of cooling the interior of the ice maker 1 is
achieved, and the water in the ice trays of the ice maker 1 may be
rapidly converted into all-solid ice cubes, thereby improving the
ice-making efficiency.
[0043] As shown in FIG. 2, in another embodiment, the refrigerator
is further schematically shown to further include a refrigerating
refrigeration system disposed in the refrigerating compartment, the
refrigerating refrigeration system including a refrigerating
evaporator 12, a refrigerating air supply duct 13, a refrigerating
fan 14, and a refrigerating air return duct 20, wherein the
refrigerating air supply duct 13 is provided between the air duct
foam 7 and the air duct rear cover plate 8, the refrigerating fan
14 directs cold air into the refrigerating air supply duct 13. The
refrigerating refrigeration system is configured to refrigerate in
the refrigerating compartment so as to ensure that the temperature
of the refrigerating compartment can be kept constant at all times,
and the temperature in the refrigerating compartment can be 5
degrees above zero.
[0044] Thus it can be seen, the refrigerating refrigeration system
for refrigerating in the refrigerating compartment according to the
present disclosure and the ice-making refrigeration system for
refrigerating in the ice maker 1 are independent of each other and
two separate refrigeration systems that are not communicated.
Therefore, in the process of making ice, the temperature in the
refrigerating compartment is not affected at all, and the normal
use of the refrigerating compartment can be ensured.
[0045] A refrigerating air return duct 20 is provided between the
air duct rear cover plate 8 and the rear side wall of the
refrigerating compartment liner 9. That is, the refrigerating air
return duct 20 is a part of the air cavity 21 constituted by the
rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment liner 9 and the air
duct rear cover plate 8.
[0046] In one embodiment, the air duct front cover plate 6 and the
air duct rear cover plate 8 are mounted on an outer side of the
rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment liner 9 by screws.
That is, the air duct front cover plate 6 and the air duct rear
cover plate 8 are detachably connected and fastened to the outer
side surface of the rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment
liner 9 by screws or rivets.
[0047] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in an embodiment of the present
disclosure, in the ice-making air supply duct 3, the air duct rear
cover plate 8 and the ice maker rear cover plate 113 are lapped and
sealed from front to rear by a first fitting surface 5-10-1.
[0048] The air duct foam 7 and the refrigerating compartment liner
9 are sealed at the lower part by a second fitting surface
3-13-1.
[0049] The air duct rear cover plate 8 and the refrigerating
compartment liner 9 are fixedly sealed by a third fitting surface
5-13-1 through a screw at the left side.
[0050] the air duct rear cover plate 8 and the refrigerating
compartment liner 9 are sealed by a four fitting surface 5-13-2
through a sponge at the right side.
[0051] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, in the
ice-making air return duct 5, the air duct foam 7 and the ice maker
front cover plate 111 are sealed by a fifth fitting surface 3-8-1
at an upper part.
[0052] The air duct foam 7 and the ice maker front cover plate 111
are sealed by a sixth fitting surface 3-8-2 at a lower part.
[0053] The air duct foam 7 and the ice maker rear cover plate 113
are sealed by a seventh fitting surface 3-5-1 at a left side.
[0054] The air duct foam 7 and the ice maker rear cover plate 8 are
sealed by a eight fitting surface 3-5-2 at a right side.
[0055] It should be noted that the formation of the third fitting
surface 5-13-1 can effectively prevent the cold air in the
ice-making refrigeration system from entering the refrigerating air
supply duct 13 and resulting in frosting of the cold storage
evaporator 12.
[0056] The formation of the fourth fitting surface 5-13-2 can
prevent cold air from entering the refrigerating compartment, and
further prevent the temperature in the refrigerating compartment
from being too low to make the temperature of the refrigerating
compartment cannot be maintained within an appropriate range,
thereby affecting the normal operation of refrigerating
compartment.
[0057] It should be noted that the above-mentioned first to eighth
fitting surfaces are formed in order to seal and prevent leakage of
cold air, that is, prevent the cold air from exchanging and mixing
between the refrigerating refrigeration system and the ice-making
refrigeration system. At the same time, the case that the leakage
of cold air to the outside of the refrigerator is prevented. In
this way, the ice-making efficiency is greatly improved and the
cooling efficiency in the refrigerating compartment of the
refrigerator is effectively ensured.
[0058] In sum up, the cold air of the ice-making evaporator 2 is
introduced to the inside of the ice maker 1 through the ice-making
air supply duct 3 by the ice-making fan 4 and exchanges heat with
the air in the ice maker 1 after being transferred into the ice
maker 1, heat-exchanged cold air is introduced back to the inside
of the ice-making evaporator 2 by the ice-making air return duct 5
and the heat exchange is repeated, and the above steps are executed
cyclically.
[0059] The arrangement of the ice-making fan 4 can speed up the
flow velocity of cold air as well as the refrigerating circulation,
thereby improving the refrigerating efficiency.
[0060] In the present disclosure, the ice-making evaporator 2
disposed inside the refrigerating compartment and outside the
ice-making chamber is connected to the ice maker 1 through, both
the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the ice-making air return duct
5, and a defrosting heating tube 10 described below in the
ice-making evaporator 2 is disposed distal from the ice-making
chamber and an ice storage bucket in the ice-making chamber and
thus the heat transfer to the ice-making chamber during the heating
and defrosting of the ice-making evaporator 2, especially the heat
transfer into the ice storage bucket is reduced and ice cubes of
the ice storage bucket are prevented from melting on the surfaces
of the ice cubes during the heating and defrosting, thereby further
effectively improving the ice-making efficiency.
[0061] In addition, since the space in the refrigerating
compartment is much larger than the space of the ice-making
evaporator 2, it is convenient to install the ice-making evaporator
2 and increase the effective area of the ice-making evaporator 2,
the heat load of the ice maker 1 and the area of the ice-making
evaporator 2 are more rationally matched, the ice-making speed of
the ice maker 1 is increased, the frost-reducing capacity of the
ice-making evaporator 2 is improved, the heating defrosting
frequency of the ice-making evaporator 2 is lowered, the energy
consumption is reduced, and the surface quality of the ice cubes is
improved.
[0062] In the present disclosure, since the ice maker 1 and an
ice-making evaporator 2 are disposed in the refrigerating
compartment of the refrigerator respectively, the cold air is
introduced into the inside of the ice maker 1 in the ice-making
chamber through a shorter ice-making air supply duct 3 by an
ice-making fan 4 disposed at the back of the ice-making chamber for
making ice, and thus the loss of cooling capacity is small and the
ice-making efficiency is ensured.
[0063] In addition, since the ice-making air supply duct 3 and the
ice-making air return duct 5 are disposed in order from front to
rear in the refrigerating compartment, the ice-making evaporator 2
can be changed from an original narrow and high shape to a wide and
short shape in the case that the area of the ice-making evaporator
2 is constant so that in the case where the defrosting heating tube
10 is located at the lower end of the ice-making evaporator 2 as
described below, the heat transfer resistance of the ice-making
evaporator 2 is greatly reduced, the heat can be transferred to the
distal end of the ice-making evaporator 2 in the shortest time, the
defrosting time is shortened and the defrosting efficiency is
improved.
[0064] The embodiments above are only the preferred embodiments of
the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the
disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions,
improvements, etc., which are within the spirit and principles of
the present disclosure, should be included in the protection scope
of the present disclosure.
* * * * *