The present invention relates to a heat exchanger for a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger applied to a refrigerator for producing cold air to be supplied to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber.
In addition to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber separated from each other, the refrigerator is provided with a so called machine room in a lower part thereof, and air passages in a rear part of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber connected thereto. The heat exchanger (evaporator) is fitted on the air passages, together with a fan, for supplying cold air to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber in association with a compressor and condensers in the machine room. That is, high temperature and high pressure refrigerant supplied through the compressor and the condensers is evaporated in the heat exchanger, to cool down environmental air by a latent heat of the vaporization. The fan circulates air throughout the Refrigerator for supplying the air cooled down through the heat exchanger to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, continuously.
A related art heat exchanger for the refrigerator is illustrated in
As shown, the heat exchanger is provided with refrigerating tube 1 for flow of the refrigerant, and a plurality of fins 1 fitted at fixed intervals parallel to one another along the refrigerating tube.
In more detail, the refrigerating tube 1 is coupled with the fins 2 while one line of the refrigerating tube 1 forms one column in the heat exchanger.
As shown in
Moreover, during operation, much moisture in the air in the refrigerator is frosted on surfaces of the heat exchanger owing to a subzero environmental temperature, to impede circulation of the air. Therefore, in general, there is defroster 3 provided to the heat exchanger for defrosting, for which separate defrosting process is conducted.
The heat exchanger stands upright in the air flow passage, and the air in the refrigerator is introduced into the heat exchanger from below and exits from a top of the heat exchanger as shown in arrows.
Currently, despite the foregoing heat exchangers are applied to most of the refrigerators, the heat exchangers have the following structural problems, actually.
For an example, the fins 2 are fitted to the refrigerating tube 1 one by one because the fins 2 are discrete and have individual shape characteristics. The fins 2 are fitted along the refrigerating tube at intervals different from each other between an upper part and a lower part thereof. That is, as a flow resistance caused by the growth of the frost deteriorates a heat exchanger performance, the fins 2 are fitted in the lower part, an air inlet side, that has more frosting at intervals greater than the upper part.
Water from the defrosting stays at lower edges 2b of the fins 2 in a form of a relatively big water drop by surface tension, and acts as nuclei of frost growth in a subsequent operation of the refrigerator (cooling process), again. Therefore, in order to suppress the growth of the frost, as shown, it is required that the defroster 3 is arranged so as to be in contact with every lower edge 2a.
At the end, the use of the discrete type of fins makes a structure of the related art heat exchanger complicate actually, that makes assembly difficult. Moreover, it is preferable that the heat exchanger is small sized and has a high efficiency because the heat exchanger is placed in the comparatively small air flow passage. However, the foregoing structural problem impedes design change of the related art heat exchanger, for optimization of the heat exchanger.
The object of the present invention, devised for solving the foregoing problems, lies on providing a heat exchanger for a refrigerator, which has a simple structure, and is easy to fabricate.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger for a refrigerator having an improved heat exchange performance.
The present invention can be achieved by providing a heat exchanger for a refrigerator including one, or more than one perpendicular columns of refrigerating tubes each including a plurality of straight parts, and a plurality of curved parts connecting the straight parts, a plurality of straight plate type fins each having a plurality of through holes formed therein on one or more than one column along a length direction for coupling with the straight parts of the refrigerating tubes, and one pair of reinforcing plates coupled with the straight parts of the refrigerating tube at opposite sides of the fins, wherein ST=D/N, where ‘D’ denotes a width of the reinforcing plate, ST denotes a distance between centers of the refrigerant tube on the same column, and N denotes a number of columns of the refrigerating tube.
It is preferable that a=ST/2, where ‘a’ denotes a distance from a center of the refrigerant tube on an outermost column to a side edge of the reinforcing plate.
It is preferable that ST/SL=1, where SL denotes a distance between centers of straight parts of the refrigerant tube on the same column.
Thus, the present invention simplifies a structure and assembly process of the heat exchanger, and improves a heat exchange performance. Accordingly, the heat exchanger of the present invention is optimized to the refrigerator.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention:
In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In explanation of embodiments the present invention, identical parts will be given the same name and symbols, and iterative explanation of which will be omitted.
In overall, the heat exchanger includes one, or more than one refrigerating tube 10 for forming a flow passage of refrigerant from a condenser, and a plurality of fins 20 fitted to the refrigerant tube 10. The heat exchanger has one pair of parallel reinforcing plates 30 on both sides of the fins 20 fitted to the heat exchanger.
A line of the refrigerating tube 10 includes a plurality of straight parts 11 at fixed intervals, and a plurality of curved parts 12 connecting the straight parts 11. The refrigerating tube 10, more specifically, the straight parts 11, are substantially arranged vertical to an air flow direction, and as shown in
The fin 20 is a flat straight plate with a fixed length, and has a plurality of through holes 21 on one or more columns in a length direction of the fin 20 for coupling with the refrigerant tube 10. In more detail, as shown in
Such a tendency can be verified by an actual test.
Moreover, such a reduction of remained defrosted water is related to a pressure loss of a heat exchanger directly, which is apparent from
Moreover, since the straight fin 20 of the present invention has an effect the discrete fins are arranged in succession, the heat exchanger of the present invention can be formed at a size smaller compared to the heat exchanger of the discrete fins having the same heat transfer area applied thereto. By applying the straight fins 20, the heat exchanger of the present invention has simpler structure, and simpler fabrication process as the straight fin 20 can be coupled with the straight parts of the refrigerant tube on the same column at a time easily in assembly.
In conclusion, by applying the straight fins 20, the heat exchanger of the present invention is favorable compared to the related art heat exchanger having the discrete fins 20 in view of structure and performance.
In the meantime, in the heat exchanger of the present invention, the reinforcing plates 30, having a relatively greater thickness, protect the fins 20, and, having a length greater than the fin 20, induce air flow into an inner part of the heat exchanger. The air induced by the reinforcing plates is involved in more resistance in flowing between the refrigerant tubes 10 perpendicular to the reinforcing plates 30 and thicker than the fins 20, more particularly, between the straight parts 11, than in flowing between the fins 20 parallel to the reinforcing plates 20. Thus, an arrangement of the refrigerant is an important factor of a heat exchange performance, for explaining which
In the refrigerant tube arrangement, it is required that the distance ST is set to have appropriate resistance and pressure loss, with reference to the width ‘D’ of the reinforcing plates 30 that, in fact, corresponds to a width of a flow area perpendicular to respective columns of the refrigerant tubes. Accordingly, it is preferable that the distance ST is set to meet a relation expressed by the following equation, when ‘N’ denotes a column number of the refrigerant tube.
ST=D/N
Such an optimal distance ST is verified effective in an actual test, and
Moreover, it is required that an adequate flow space is secured between a side edge of each of the reinforcing plates 30 and an outermost refrigerating tube column for preventing the air flow breaks away to outside of the heat exchanger from the refrigerating tube 10 on each of the outermost columns. For this, it is preferable that the distance ‘a’ is ST/2.
Lastly, the distance SL can be obtained from test results shown in
Thus, as explained, the set respective distances ST, SL, and ‘a’ optimize arrangement of the refrigerating tube 10 in the heat exchanger of the present invention.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in a heat exchanger for refrigerator of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
In the present invention, the employment of continuous straight fins basically improves the defrosted water discharge performance actually, and suppresses formation of the frost basically. And, distances between refrigerating tube lines and distances between straight parts of the refrigerating tube on the same column are optimized. Accordingly, in the present invention, the pressure loss is reduced (discharge flow rate increases), the heat exchange efficiency increases, and the heat exchanger performance is improved, accordingly.
The simple structured fin of the present invention in comparison to the discrete fin of the related art permits an easy assembly of the heat exchanger. Along with this, the employment of the straight fin simplifies a defroster structure, too. That is, the heat exchanger of the present invention has fewer number of components compared to the related art structure, a low cost, and an improved productivity since no separate machining and assembly steps are required.
The employment of the straight fin permits to implement the same heat exchange performance at a small size. Along with those features, the aforementioned heat exchange performance improvement and the simple structure optimize the heat exchanger of the present invention to be suitable to the refrigerator.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCTKR02/00353 | 2/28/2002 | WO | 00 | 10/24/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO0307302 | 9/4/2003 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4202182 | Kawashima et al. | May 1980 | A |
4715437 | Tanaka et al. | Dec 1987 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
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6249543 | Sep 1994 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040118152 A1 | Jun 2004 | US |