Patent Grant
12025363
The present invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, and in particular to a refrigerator preventing an air supply duct from falling down.
In an existing refrigerator, an evaporator is generally positioned at the rear portion of a lowermost storage space, which causes that the volume of the storage space in a front-rear direction is reduced, the depth of the storage space is limited, and it is inconvenient to accommodate the articles which are large in size and not easy to separate in the storage space.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, an objective of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator that overcomes the above-mentioned problems or at least partially solves the above-mentioned problems.
A further objective of the present invention is to improve the stability of assembling of an air supply duct.
The present invention provides a refrigerator, which includes:
The top cover includes a top cover body and a supporting portion protruding upward from a rear end of the top cover body, a bearing portion protruding forward is formed on a front wall surface of the air supply duct, and the top cover and the air supply duct are arranged such that the supporting portion supports the bearing portion to prevent the air supply duct from falling down.
Optionally, the bearing portion extends obliquely downward from back to front.
An upper end surface of the supporting portion includes a first inclined section extending obliquely downward from back to front, so as to facilitate formed condensed water flowing forward and downward to the top cover body along the first inclined section.
Optionally, a front end surface of the supporting portion includes a vertical section extending vertically, and the vertical section is connected with the first inclined section through a first transition curved section to guide the condensed water to the top cover body.
Optionally, an upper surface of the top cover body includes a second inclined section extending obliquely downward from back to front, and the second inclined section is connected with the vertical section through a second transition curved section to guide the condensed water.
Optionally, the upper surface of the top cover body further includes a horizontal section extending forward from a front end of the second inclined section, and at least one water collecting trough is formed in the horizontal section to collect the condensed water flowing from the second inclined section.
Optionally, the air supply duct includes an air duct front cover plate and an air duct rear cover plate located at a rear side of the air duct front cover plate, a channel communicating with the cooling space is defined by the air duct front cover plate and the air duct rear cover plate, and the bearing portion is formed on the air duct front cover plate.
Furthermore, the air duct front cover plate and the air duct rear cover plate are fixed through a screw penetrating through a center of the air supply duct.
Optionally, the refrigerator further includes:
an air blower, located behind the evaporator, an air outlet end of the blower being connected with an air inlet end of the air supply duct, and the blower being configured to promote the cooled airflow to enter the air supply duct.
Optionally, the refrigerator further includes:
at least one return air hood, arranged at a front end of the top cover and defining the cooling space together with the top cover and a bottom wall of the storage liner.
The return air hood includes:
Optionally, the return air frame body includes a first guiding inclined section extending backward and upward from an upper end of a front wall surface of the return air frame body, and a second guiding inclined section extending backward and downward from a position, near a lower end, of the front wall surface of the return air frame body.
The return air rear cover includes a third guiding inclined section extending forward and downward from back to front, a fourth guiding inclined section extending forward and downward from a lower end of the third guiding inclined section, a fifth guiding inclined section extending backward and downward from a front end of the fourth guiding inclined section and a sixth guiding inclined section extending backward and downward from a lower end of the fifth guiding inclined section.
In addition, the first guiding inclined section, the third guiding inclined section, and the fourth guiding inclined section define a first return air duct located behind the first front return air inlet, and a second opening is formed in the third guiding inclined section.
The second guiding inclined section and the sixth guiding inclined section define a second return air duct located behind the second front return air inlet.
Optionally, a junction of the fourth guiding inclined section and the fifth guiding inclined section is located directly below the first guiding inclined section, so as to facilitate the condensed water condensed on the return air frame body dripping to the junction of the fourth guiding inclined section and the fifth guiding inclined section along the first guiding inclined section, dripping to the second guiding inclined section along the fifth guiding inclined section, and then flowing to a position below the evaporator.
Optionally, the storage liner is a freezing liner, and the storage space is a freezing space.
The refrigerator further includes:
In the refrigerator of the present invention, a lowermost space of the refrigerator is the cooling space, which raises a height of the storage space above the cooling space, reduces a bend-down degree of a user during an operation of taking and placing articles in the storage space, and improves use experience of the user; in addition, the top cover and the air supply duct have a special design structure, which prevents the air supply duct from falling down when being subjected to external forces, and makes installation of the air supply duct more stable, thereby ensuring a refrigerating effect in the operation process of the refrigerator.
Further, in the refrigerator of the present invention, the specially designed structure of the supporting portion and the bearing portion and the specially designed structure of the top cover body have a function of guiding and drainage, which facilitates collection of the condensed water on the top cover and facilitates in-time cleaning by the user.
Furthermore, in the refrigerator of the present invention, the two return air inlets distributed vertically are formed at the front side of the return air hood, which not only has a beautiful visual appearance, but also effectively prevents children's fingers or foreign objects from entering the cooling space; in addition, two return air regions distributed vertically can make the return air flow through the evaporator more evenly after entering the cooling space, which can avoid the problem of easy frosting on a front end surface of the evaporator to a certain extent. Not only can heat exchange efficiency be improved, but also a defrosting cycle can be prolonged, energy is saved and the efficiency is high.
Furthermore, the design structure of each inclined section of the return air frame body and the design structure of each inclined section of the return air rear cover can guide the condensed water formed on the return air hood, which facilitates drainage and can avoid producing the sound of water droplets perceivable by human ears, and the use experience of the user is enhanced.
The above, as well as other objectives, advantages, and characteristics of the present invention, will be better understood by those skilled in the art according to the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In the following part, some specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail in an exemplary rather than limited manner with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals in the accompanying drawings indicate the same or similar components or parts. Those skilled in the art should understand that these accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the accompanying drawings:
The present embodiment provides a refrigerator 100. The refrigerator 100 of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to
As shown in
A lowermost storage liner 130 may be a freezing liner, and correspondingly, a storage space 132 is a freezing space. As shown in
As is well known by those skilled in the art, a temperature in the refrigerating space 121 is generally between 2° C. and 10° C., preferably between 4° C. and 7° C. A temperature range in the freezing space is generally −22° C. to −14° C. The variable-temperature space can be adjusted to −18° C. to 8° C. at will. Optimal storage temperatures for different types of articles are different, and the suitable storage locations therefor are also different. For example, fruit and vegetable foods are suitable for being stored in the refrigerating space 121, and meat foods are suitable for being stored in the freezing space.
As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment may further include an evaporator 101, an air blower 104, a compressor (not shown), a condenser (not shown), a throttling element (not shown) and the like. The evaporator 101 is connected with the compressor, the condenser and the throttling element through a refrigerant pipeline to form a refrigeration cycle loop. The evaporator cools down when the compressor is started, so that air passing through the evaporator is cooled.
In particular, in the present embodiment, the refrigerator 100 further includes a top cover 103 which is configured to divide the lowermost storage liner 130 into the storage space 132 located above and a cooling space located below, and the evaporator 101 is arranged in the cooling space.
In a traditional refrigerator 100, a lowermost space of the refrigerator 100 is generally a storage space. The storage space is located at a low position, a user needs to substantially bend over or squat down to take and place articles in the lowermost storage space, and it is inconvenient for the user to use, especially for the elderly to use; and, because the evaporator occupies a rear region of the lowermost storage space, a depth of the lowermost storage space is reduced. Moreover, because a compressor chamber is generally located behind the lowermost storage space, and the lowermost storage space inevitably gives way to the compressor chamber, resulting in an irregular shape of the lowermost storage space, which is inconvenient to store the articles which are large in size and not easy to separate.
In the refrigerator 100 of the present embodiment, the lowermost space of the refrigerator 100 is the cooling space, which raises a height of the storage space 132 located above the cooling space, reduces a bend-down degree of the user during the operation of taking and placing articles in the storage space 132, and improves the use experience of the user. In addition, a depth dimension of the storage space 132 is ensured, and the compressor chamber can be located below and behind the storage space 132. The storage space 132 does not need to give way to the compressor chamber, and presents a large and well-shaped rectangular space, which facilitates placing articles which are large in size and not easy to separate and solves the problem that large articles cannot be placed in the storage space 132.
The evaporator 101 cools airflow entering the cooling space to form cooled airflow. At least part of the cooled airflow is delivered to the storage space 132 through the air supply duct 141. The air supply duct 141 can be arranged at an inner side of a rear wall of the storage liner 130 and communicates with the cooling space. As shown in
The refrigerator 100 further includes a variable-temperature air duct (not shown) for delivering the cooled airflow to the variable-temperature space. The variable-temperature air duct can be in communication with the air supply duct 141 in a controlled mode through a variable-temperature damper, so as to guide part of the cooled airflow in the air supply duct 141 into the variable-temperature air duct.
The refrigerator 100 may further include a refrigerating air duct (not shown) that delivers the cooled airflow to the refrigerating space. The refrigerating air duct can be in communication with the air supply duct 141 in a controlled mode through a refrigerating damper, so as to guide part of the cooled airflow of the air supply duct 141 into the refrigerating air duct. In some alternative embodiments, another evaporator may be arranged in the refrigerating liner 120 to cool the refrigerating space 121 in a mode of air cooling or direct cooling, so as to form the refrigerator 100 with dual refrigeration systems to prevent tainting by other odor between the storage space 132 and the refrigerating space 121.
More specifically, as shown in
A top end of the air supply duct 141 usually penetrates through a top wall of the storage liner 130 to communicate with air ducts that supply air to other storage spaces (for example, the variable-temperature air duct (not shown) that supplies air to the variable-temperature space above the lowermost storage liner 130). Specifically, as shown in
A damper can be arranged at the first top opening 141g of the air supply duct 141 to open and close the first top opening 141g in a controlled mode. As shown in
The refrigerator 100 will inevitably be collided during the transportation process, which will easily cause the air supply duct 141 to fall down. Once the air supply duct 141 falls down, there will be a gap between the first top opening in the top end of the air supply duct 141 and the corresponding second top opening in the top wall of the storage liner 130. During the operation of the refrigerator 100, there will be air mixing between the variable-temperature space and the storage space 132 therebelow, which affects the temperatures of the storage space 132 and the variable-temperature space, and is likely to cause frosting near the top end of the air supply duct 141, thus delivering of the cooled airflow is affected, and a refrigerating effect is lowered.
In the present embodiment, by specially designing the top cover 103 and the air supply duct 141 as described above, the air supply duct 141 can be prevented from falling down when being subjected to external forces, so that installation of the air supply duct 141 is more stable, thereby ensuring the refrigerating effect during the operation of the refrigerator 100.
As shown in
The air duct front cover plate 1411 and the air duct rear cover plate 1412 are fixed through a screw (not shown) penetrating through a center of the air supply duct 141. As shown in
More specifically, the bearing portion 141b extends obliquely downward from back to front, and an upper end surface of the supporting portion 103b includes a first inclined section 103b1 extending obliquely downward from back to front, and condensed water can flow forward and downward to the top cover body 103a along an inclined surface of the bearing portion 141b and an inclined surface of the first inclined section 103b1.
A front end surface of the supporting portion 103b may include a vertical section 103b2 extending vertically, the vertical section 103b2 is connected with the first inclined section 103b1 through a first transition curved section, and the vertical section 103b2 guides the condensed water that slides off along the first inclined section 103b1 to the top cover body 103a.
An upper surface of the top cover body 103a may include a second inclined section 103a1 extending obliquely downward from back to front, and the second inclined section 103a1 is connected with the vertical section 103b2 through a second transition curved section to further guide the condensed water.
The upper surface of the top cover body 103a may further include a horizontal section 103a2 extending forward from a front end of the second inclined section 103a1, and at least one water collecting trough 103a3 is formed in the horizontal section 103a2 to collect the condensed water flowing from the second inclined section 103a1, which facilitates concentrated cleaning of the condensed water by the user. By this, the function of guiding and drainage is achieved by the special structure of the top cover 103. As shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
The air blower 104 can be a centrifugal fan, an axial fan or a cross-flow fan. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Each return air hood 102 includes a return air frame body 1021 located at a front side and a return air rear cover 1022. A first opening 102c is formed in a front wall surface of the return air frame body 1021, and a rear end of the return air frame body is open. The return air rear cover 1022 is inserted into the return air frame body 1021 from the open rear end of the return air frame body 1021, and is arranged to divide the first opening 102c into a first front return air inlet 102b located above and a second front return air inlet 102a located below, so as to facilitate return air of the storage space 132 flowing back into the cooling space through the first front return air inlet 102b and the second front return air inlet 102a, to be cooled by the evaporator 101; thus, airflow circulation is formed between the storage space 132 and the cooling space.
In the present embodiment, the two return air inlets distributed vertically (the first front return air inlet 102b and the second front return air inlet 102a) are formed in the front side of the return air hood 102, which not only has a beautiful visual appearance, but also effectively prevents children's fingers or foreign objects from entering the cooling space; in addition, two return air regions distributed vertically can make the return air flow through the evaporator 101 more evenly after entering the cooling space, which can avoid the problem of easy frosting on a front end surface of the evaporator 101 to a certain extent. Not only can heat exchange efficiency be improved, but also a defrosting cycle can be prolonged, energy is saved and the efficiency is high.
As shown in
The front side of the storage liner 130 may be provided with two side-by-side door bodies (not shown), and the two door bodies are used for opening and closing the two regions separated by the vertical beam 150 respectively.
More specifically, as shown in
Referring to
As shown in
As shown in
A plurality of third openings (not shown) sequentially distributed in the transverse direction may be formed in the sixth guiding inclined section 1022d, and return air passing through a second return air channel is diverted by the respective third openings and then enters the cooling space, so that the return air enters the lower section of the evaporator 101 more evenly.
Mounting portions (not labeled) may be formed on the sixth guiding inclined section 1022d. As shown in
As shown in
The return air rear cover 1022 further includes a shielding portion (denoted as a first shielding portion 1022e) extending backward and upward from the third guiding inclined section 1022a to the front end of the top cover 103, the first shielding portion 1022e is arranged to shield the section, that is not shielded by the top cover 103, of the upper surface of the evaporator 101, and the first shielding portion 1022e is spaced from the upper surface of the evaporator 101 to form an airflow bypass channel that communicates with the second openings 102d, and at least part of return air entering through the second openings 102d can enter the evaporator 101 from an upper portion of the evaporator 101 via the airflow bypass channel.
A directly opposite space between the top cover 103 and the upper surface of the evaporator 101 is filled with windshield foam, that is, a rear part of the airflow bypass channel is filled with windshield foam, so that all of the return air passing through the airflow bypass channel flows into the evaporator 101. By this, it ensures that even when the front end surface of the evaporator 101 is frosted, there is still return air entering the evaporator 101 to exchange heat with the evaporator, thereby ensuring the refrigerating effect of the evaporator 101, and solving the problem of the existing refrigerator 100 that due to the frosting on the front end surface of the evaporator 101, the refrigerating effect is lowered, and the refrigerating performance of the refrigerator 100 is improved.
As shown in
More specifically, referring to
A water receiving section below the evaporator 101 may be formed in a bottom wall of the storage liner 130, and a projection of the water receiving section on a vertical plane parallel to a side wall of the storage liner 130 includes a front guiding inclined section 133 located at a front side and extending backward and downward, a horizontal straight section 134 extending horizontally backward from the front guiding inclined section 133, and a rear guiding inclined section 135 extending backward and upward from a rear end of the horizontal straight section 134, and a drain port (not shown) is formed in the horizontal straight section 134. The condensed water formed on the return air hood 102 is guided by the respective inclined sections of the return air frame body 1021 and the return air rear cover 1022, flows to the horizontal straight section 134 along the front guiding inclined section 133, and is finally discharged by the drain port. The condensed water on the evaporator 101 flows to the horizontal straight section 134 along the front guiding inclined section 133 and the rear guiding inclined section 135 respectively, and is discharged from the drain port.
The drain port is connected with a drain pipe (not shown), and the condensed water is guided to an evaporating dish of the refrigerator 100 through the drain pipe. The evaporating dish can generally be located in the compressor chamber to utilize heat of the condenser and/or the compressor arranged in the compressor chamber to evaporate water in the evaporating dish.
Hereto, those skilled in the art should realize that although multiple exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, many other variations or modifications that conform to the principles of the present invention can still be directly determined or deduced from contents disclosed in the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be understood and recognized as covering all these other variations or modifications.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201910142771.7 | Feb 2019 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2020/075885 | 2/19/2020 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2020/173358 | 9/3/2020 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220146182 A1 | May 2022 | US |
