Patent Application
20130067948
The present application claims priority to Korean Application No. 10-2011-0093097, filed in Korea on Sep. 15, 2011, which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field
A cooling apparatus for a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle-shaped duct is disclosed herein.
2. Background
Cooling apparatuses are known. However, they suffer from various disadvantages.
Embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements, and wherein:
Description will now be given in detail of an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle shape according to embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Where possible, like reference numerals have been used to indicate like elements, and repetitive description has been omitted.
Technical terms used in this specification are used to merely illustrate specific embodiments, and should be understood that they are not intended to limit the present disclosure. As far as not being defined differently, all terms used herein including technical or scientific terms may have the same meaning as those generally understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs, and should not be construed in an excessively comprehensive meaning or an excessively restricted meaning. In addition, if a technical term used in the description of the present disclosure is an erroneous term that fails to clearly express the idea of the present disclosure, it should be replaced by a technical term that can be properly understood by the skilled person in the art. In addition, general terms used in the description of the present disclosure should be construed according to definitions in dictionaries or according to its front or rear context, and should not be construed to have an excessively restrained meaning.
In general, a refrigerator is a freezing and refrigerating device capable of keeping food in a fresh state for a long period of time by lowering a temperature inside the refrigerator by means of repetition of a refrigeration cycle of compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation of a refrigerant.
The compressor 10 may be installed at one side in a machine room 1, and the condenser 20, which may generate a lot of heat, may be installed at a side of the compressor 10. The compressor 10 and the condenser 20 may be connected via a connection pipe 40, which may function as a refrigerant connection passage that allows the flow of the refrigerant. A cooling fan 30 may be located at a side of the condenser 20 and may be axially coupled to a motor (not shown), to cool the compressor 10 by forcibly blowing heat generated within the machine room 1, in particular, heat generated in the condenser 20.
A machine room case 50 may be provided that forms an outer wall of the machine room 1. The machine room case 50 may protect the components and may include a plurality of inlets for smooth cooling of the inside of the machine room 1.
With the above-described configuration of
In the thusly-configured machine room of
Further, as the cooling fan 30 is located at one side of the condenser 20, air that flows through or by the condenser 20 may be heated. Accordingly, compression efficiency of the compressor may be lowered, thereby increasing power consumption. Also, air of a high temperature discharged at a front of the condenser 20 may be re-sucked via a suction portion, lowering a heat exchange rate of the condenser 20 by the cooling fan 30.
In such a cooling method for a machine room of a refrigerator, the compressor and condenser have been cooled using external air introduced in response to rotation of the fan blades of the cooling fan located within the machine room. However, the limited small space of the machine room may cause interference with other components upon installation, and the rotation of the fan blades may generate a lot of noise.
In contrast, in a cooling system for a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle-shaped duct or nacelle duct according to embodiments discussed herein below, more air may be acquired by a smaller cooling fan than the above-discussed cooling fan, and actually less air may be introduced by the cooling fan so as to reduce power consumption by a motor for driving the cooling fan. Also, interference of the fan blades with various components may be reduced or prevented, remarkably reducing noise due to the fan blades. In addition, with the installation of a nacelle-shaped duct or nacelle duct at an outside of the condenser, a space for the condensing system may be reduced when the condensing system is inserted into a central opening of the nacelle duct, maximizing space usage.
Hereinafter, description will be given in detail of an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle-shaped duct or nacelle duct in accordance with embodiments, with reference to
An apparatus for cooling a machine room 100 of a refrigerator using a nacelle-shaped duct or nacelle duct according to embodiments, as shown in
As shown in
The nacelle duct 300 may include a non-exposed blade-type blowing fan disposed at or in an opening formed at a central portion thereof, and a blade or blades of the blowing fan may not be exposed. Referring to
The nacelle duct 300 may not blow internal air of the machine room 100, but rather, may blow external air introduced into the machine room 100. Referring to
The nacelle duct 300 will be described with reference to
As shown in
Referring to
The air flow path 314 of the blowing device 310, as shown in the cross-sectional view of
The air flow path 314 may be a hollow space formed within the square-like frame of the blowing device 310, and may allow external air sucked in by the blowing fan 330 to be discharged via the blow nozzle 313 by flowing up from a lower portion thereof. The air flow path 314 may be defined by the outer barrier 311a and the inner barrier 311b formed as flat plates and the rear curved portion 312 formed at a rear thereof and facing the condenser 20, to minimize resistance of the air flow. A front surface of the air flow path 314 is shown having the blow nozzle 313 as a cut-off groove that blows air toward the compressor 10, in accordance with this embodiment.
The blow nozzle 313, referring to
Hereinafter, description will be given of the blowing fan 330 with reference to
The blowing fan 330 may be disposed inside the fan mounting device 350. The blowing fan 330 may be driven by the drive motor (not shown) and function as a cooling fan. That is, the blowing fan 330 may be located in a lower portion of the nacelle duct 300 in a non-exposed state, so as to induce air introduced via an external air inlet 357 in the form of a lower open space, which will be explained later, toward sides to be blown into the air flow path 314 of the blowing device 310.
Without exposing the blowing fan 330 in the machine room 100, noise generated due to rotation of the blowing fan 330 within a sealed space may be reduced, and interference with other components within the machine room 100 may be avoided, preventing mis-operation. In addition, installation of the blowing fan 330 inside the space defined by the sealed fan mounting device 350 and cover 320 may result in an increase in cooling efficiency due to protection of the blowing fan 330 from contaminants, such as dust, within the machine room 100, and improvement of durability due to the rare need to clean the blowing fan 330.
The plurality of blades 333 may blow external air sucked in from the lower portion toward side surfaces of the fan mounting device 350. As shown in
Referring to
The drive shaft 331 may be connected to a rotational shaft of the drive motor (not shown) located at the lower portion of the nacelle duct 300, to rotate the blowing fan 330.
The cover 320, as shown in
The mounting recess 321 may be designed to correspond to a shape of an upper portion of the fan mounting device 350, such that the cover 320 may be engaged with the corresponding upper portion in a sealed state. The drive shaft inserting portion 323 may allow for insertion of the drive shaft 332 of the blowing fan 330 therein, facilitating rotation of the blowing fan 330.
The fan mounting device 350, referring to
The fan mounting device 350 may include the external air inlet 357 formed at a lower portion thereof for introduction of external air therethrough. Accordingly, the external air may be used to cool the machine room 100 of the refrigerator. That is, the blowing fan 330 may blow air introduced via the external air inlet 357 toward the sides of the fan-mounting device 350, such that the air may flow via the air flow path 314 of the blowing device 310.
The external air inlet 357, referring to
In accordance with embodiments, internal air of the machine room 100 may be heated due to the compressor 10 and the condenser 20. Therefore, the internal air of the machine room 100 may not be utilized, but rather, external air introduced into the machine room 100 may be used to cool the machine room 100, improving cooling efficiency.
The fan mounting device 350 may include an outer casing 351 that functions as an external barrier that surrounds an outer circumference of the blowing fan 330, a recessed portion 352, in which the blowing fan 330 may be inserted with a spaced gap therebetween, and blow openings 353a and 353b that allow air generated by the blowing fan 330 to be discharged toward or into the blowing device 310.
The outer casing 351, as shown in
The recessed portion 352 may be formed along an inner circumferential surface of the outer casing 351. An edge portion of each blade 333 of the blowing fan 330 may rotate along the recessed portion 351 such that the external air flows. With the plurality of blades 333 fixedly reinforced by the blade frame 331, the blade frame 331 may be inserted into the recessed portion 352 with a spaced gap therebetween, smoothing rotation of the blowing fan 330.
The blow openings 353a and 353b may be through holes formed at portions where the blowing device 310 and the fan mounting device 350 are engaged with each other. The formation of the blow openings 353a and 353b may allow air generated by the blowing fan 330 to flow toward the air flowing path 314 of the blowing device 310. The blow openings 353a and 353b, as shown in
The fan mounting device 350 may include duct fixing holes 354 formed at a lower side of an outer circumference of the outer casing 351 to fix the nacelle duct 300 onto a bottom of the machine room 100. The duct fixing holes 354 may be fixing holes formed at or on protruding ribs 354a to fix that nacelle duct 300 using, for example, bolts.
A system that cools the compressor 10 using air heated air by the condenser 20 via the cooling fan 30 may have extremely low cooling efficiency. In contrast,
The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure. The present teachings may be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. This description is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The features, structures, methods, and other characteristics of embodiments described herein may be combined in various ways to obtain additional and/or alternative embodiments.
As the present features may be embodied in several forms without departing from 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.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle shape or nacelle-shaped or nacelle duct, capable of increasing cooling efficiency by sucking external air into a machine room by virtue of an improved cooling structure of the machine room, increasing compression and condensation efficiencies responsive to the increase in the cooling efficiency, and preventing noise generation by installing a cooling fan in a lower portion of the nacelle duct without being exposed.
Embodiments disclosed herein further provide an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle shape or nacelle-shaped or nacelle duct, capable of achieving a cooling effect using a smaller cooling fan, which is installed in a lower portion of a separate nacelle duct without being exposed to suck external air and cool the machine room using the sucked external air.
Embodiments disclosed herein further provide an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator, capable of enhancing spatial efficiency within the machine room by installing a condenser in a central opening formed at a blowing unit or device of a nacelle-shaped or nacelle duct.
Embodiments disclosed herein provide an apparatus for cooling a machine room of a refrigerator using a nacelle shape or nacelle-shaped or nacelle duct. The apparatus may include a compressor installed in the machine room, a condenser installed in the machine room and connected to the compressor via a connection pipe, and a nacelle duct installed in the machine room to cool the compressor and the condenser by blowing air, and having a central opening.
The nacelle duct may include a blowing unit or device having the central opening, the blowing unit having an air flowing path as an internal path for air flow and a blowing nozzle that discharges air, a fan mounting unit or device connected to the blowing unit at a lower portion of the nacelle duct and configured to mount a blowing fan therein, a blowing fan installed in the fan mounting unit to suck external air and blow the sucked external air toward the blowing unit, and a cover configured to cover an upper portion of the fan mounting unit and prevent air from being discharged to the exterior. The fan mounting unit may include an external air inlet formed at a lower portion thereof for introduction of the external air, which may be used to cool the machine room.
The blowing unit may have a streamlined section, and include the blowing nozzle located at the front, an outer barrier, an inner barrier, and a rear curved portion, so as to blow introduced air toward the front blowing nozzle. The fan mounting unit may include an outer casing as an external barrier that surrounds an outer circumference of the blowing fan, a recessed portion configured to allow the blowing fan to be inserted therein with a space gap therebetween, and blowing openings configured to allow air generated by the blowing fan to be discharged toward the blowing unit. The blowing openings may be formed at positions facing each other on the outer casing so as to blow air toward the blowing unit.
The fan mounting unit may include duct fixing holes to fix the nacelle duct onto a bottom of the machine room. The blowing fan may include a plurality of blades that blows sucked air, a blade fixing portion to which one end of each of the plurality of blades is fixed, and a driving shaft connected to a driving motor that rotates the plurality of blades. The blowing fan may further include a blade frame that circularly fixes the other end of each of the plurality of blades.
The cover may include a mounting recess fixed onto an upper portion of the fan mounting unit, and a driving shaft inserting portion in which the driving shaft of the blowing fan is inserted. The condenser may be located in the central opening of the blowing unit to enhance spatial efficiency of the machine room.
With embodiments disclosed herein, cooling may be performed by using introduced external air for enhancement of cooling efficiency and a smaller blowing fan may be installed in a lower portion of a nacelle duct without being exposed. This may maximize the introduction of external air even using the smaller fan, and noise generated by the blowing fan may be reduced without an excessive increase in number of turns of the blowing fan.
Embodiments disclosed herein may reduce problems associated with the lowering of cooling efficiency due to reuse of air at high temperature generated by a compressor within a machine room and the lowering of cooling efficiency with respect to the compressor by the condenser, which may result in an increase in compression efficiency of the compressor and a reduction in power consumption of the refrigerator. The condenser may be disposed in a central opening formed at or in the blowing unit or device of the nacelle duct, maximizing an overall space usage of the machine room.
Components of embodiments disclosed herein may be added to the internal structure of related art machine rooms without a great change. This may reduce fabricating costs of the refrigerator and also may allow for fabrication of a refrigerator having an improved function using the related art refrigerator. Without exposing the blowing fan in the machine room, noise generated due to rotation of the blowing fan within a sealed space may be reduced, and interference with other components within the machine room may be avoided, preventing mis-operation.
The cooling fan may be installed in a sealed space by a fan mounting unit and a cover, so as to be free from contaminants, such as dust, in the machine room, which may result in an increase in cooling efficiency. Also, cleaning management may be rarely required by virtue of the configuration, resulting in enhanced durability.
Any reference in this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” etc., means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with any embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the purview of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other ones of the embodiments.
Although embodiments have been described with reference to a number of illustrative embodiments thereof, it should be understood that numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles of this disclosure. More particularly, various variations and modifications are possible in the component parts and/or arrangements of the subject combination arrangement within the scope of the disclosure, the drawings and the appended claims. In addition to variations and modifications in the component parts and/or arrangements, alternative uses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2011-0093097 | Sep 2011 | KR | national |
