Patent Application
20170292723
This application is based on and claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0044318, filed on Apr. 11, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for all purposes.
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to refrigerators, and more particularly, to ice making and dispensing mechanisms in refrigerators.
A refrigerator is an appliance used for storing food or other times at low temperature, e.g., in a frozen state or refrigerated.
The interior of the refrigerator is cooled by cold air circulating therein. Cold air can be continuously generated as a refrigerant recycling through compression, condensation, expansion and evaporation. Cold air supplied in the refrigerator is uniformly distributed by convection.
The refrigerator includes a main body having a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a front opening. A refrigeration compartment and a freezer compartment may be disposed in the main body. A refrigeration compartment door and a freezer compartment door may cover the front of the main body. Drawers, racks, storage boxes and the like for sorting different kinds of items may be disposed in the internal storage space of the refrigerator.
In general, a top-mount-type refrigerator has a freezer compartment located on top of a refrigeration compartment. In contrast, a bottom-freezer-type refrigerator has a freezer compartment located under the refrigeration compartment. This enables a user to conveniently access the refrigeration compartment. On the other hand, this may be inconvenient for a user to access the freezer compartment, if the user has to bend or lower his or her body to reach, e.g., to take out ice pieces.
Some bottom-freezer-type refrigerators have an ice dispenser disposed in a refrigeration compartment door located at the upper side of the refrigerator. In this case, an ice-making device for supplying ice may be disposed in the refrigeration compartment door or the interior of the refrigeration compartment.
If an ice-making device is installed in a refrigeration compartment door, air cooled by an evaporator becomes cold air and is supplied to both the freezer compartment and the refrigeration compartment. Cold air entering the freezer compartment flows toward the ice-making device along a cold air supply duct embedded in a sidewall of the refrigerator main body. Water freezes into ice pieces as cold air flows through the interior of the ice-making device. Thereafter, cold air in the ice-making device is discharged to the refrigeration compartment via a cold air return duct embedded in the sidewall of the refrigerator main body.
However, in a conventional refrigerator, the cold air supply duct, the cold air return duct and a structure for insulating the ducts need to be installed on the left or right wall of the refrigeration compartment, which undesirably reduces usable storage space therein. In addition, this configuration makes the overall internal pipe arrangement undesirably complex.
Furthermore, since ice pieces are produced by indirect cooling which relies on cold air flowing through the cold air supply duct, the cooling efficiency and so the ice producing efficiency are fairly low and usually unsatisfactory.
Patent Document: Korean Patent No. 10-0565621 (registered on Mar. 22, 2006)
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a refrigerator capable of making ice pieces within an ice-making compartment of a door by a direct cooling method using a refrigerant.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes: a refrigerator main body; a door coupled to the refrigerator main body; an ice-making unit installed in the door; a cold air generation system configured to circulate a refrigerant to generate cold air supplied to the interior of the refrigerator; an ice-making pipe installed within the ice-making unit so that the ice-making unit exchanges heat with the refrigerant; a refrigerant pipe installed in the refrigerator main body to receive the refrigerant from the cold air generation system; a flexible pipe configured to interconnect the ice-making pipe and the refrigerant pipe in an extendable manner; and a control valve configured to selectively cut off a flow of the refrigerant flowing between the ice-making pipe and the refrigerant pipe.
The flexible pipe may be disposed in hinged end portions of the refrigerator main body and the door.
The flexible pipe may be disposed around a hinge shaft of the refrigerator main body and the door.
The control valve may include an opening/closing valve installed in at least one of an end portion of the refrigerant pipe or an end portion of the ice-making pipe.
The cold air generation system may include an evaporator enabling heat transfer between the refrigerant and air so that cold air is generated and supplied to the internal space of the refrigerator main body; a compressor configured to phase-change the refrigerant supplied from the evaporator to gaseous phase refrigerant having high temperature and high pressure; a condenser configured to phase-change the gaseous refrigerant to liquid refrigerant having high pressure; and an expansion valve configured to depressurize the liquid refrigerant and to supply the liquid refrigerant to the evaporator.
The ice-making unit may include an ice-making compartment configured to provide an ice-making space; an ice-making tray contacting the ice-making pipe so that ice pieces are produced through heat exchange with the refrigerant; and an ice bucket positioned under the ice-making tray to store ice pieces.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator, including: a refrigerator main body; a door; an ice-making unit mounted in the door; a cold air generation system configured to circulate a refrigerant; and a direct cooling unit configured to selectively supply the refrigerant from the cold air generation system to the ice-making unit through a control valve. The ice-making unit includes: an ice-making compartment configured to provide an ice-making space; an ice-making tray configured to provide a frame which contacts the ice-making pipe so that ice pieces are produced through heat exchange with the refrigerant; and an ice bucket positioned under the ice-making tray to store the ice pieces.
The direct cooling unit may include an ice-making pipe installed within the ice-making unit with the refrigerant flowing therein; a refrigerant pipe installed in the refrigerator main body to supply the refrigerant from the cold air generation system to the ice-making pipe; a control valve configured to selectively cut off a flow of the refrigerant flowing between the ice-making pipe and the refrigerant pipe; and a flexible pipe configured to interconnect the ice-making pipe and the refrigerant pipe in a stretchable or twistable manner.
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, refrigerant in the refrigerator-main-body-side refrigerant pipe is supplied to the refrigerator-door-side ice-making pipe. Thus, ice pieces can be produced through direct cooling by the refrigerant, without relying on a supply of cold air to the ice-maker and thereby ice production is accomplished with high cooling efficiency. Also, the ice-making speed can be significantly improved.
Embodiments of the present invention will be better understood from a reading of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which like reference characters designate like elements and in which:
Hereinafter, configurations and operations of embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description is one of various patentable aspects of the disclosure and may form a part of the detailed description of the disclosure.
However, in describing the disclosure, detailed descriptions of known configurations or functions that make the disclosure obscure may be omitted.
The disclosure may be variously modified and may include various embodiments. Specific embodiments will be exemplarily illustrated in the drawings and described in the detailed description of the embodiments. However, it should be understood that they are not intended to limit the disclosure to specific embodiments but rather to cover all modifications, similarities, and alternatives which are included in the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
The terms used herein, including ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” may be used to describe, and not to limit, various components. The terms simply distinguish the components from one another. When it is said that a component is “connected” “coupled” or “linked” to another component, it should be understood that the former component may be directly connected or linked to the latter component or a third component may be interposed between the two components. Specific terms used in the present application are used simply to describe specific embodiments without limiting the disclosure. An expression used in the singular encompasses the expression of the plural, unless it has a clearly different meaning in the context.
Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in
More specifically, the refrigerator main body 10 is a housing configured to define an outer body of the refrigerator and may be partitioned into a freezer compartment F and a refrigeration compartment R by a barrier 12. For example, the freezer compartment F may be located in a lower portion of the refrigerator main body 10 and the refrigeration compartment R may be located in an upper portion of the refrigerator main body 10. The freezer compartment F and the refrigeration compartment R are covered by the door 20.
The door 20 may include a refrigeration compartment door configured to seal the refrigeration compartment R at the opposite edges of the front surface of the refrigerator main body 10 and a freezer compartment door configured to seal the front opening of the freezer compartment F.
In the present embodiment, the refrigeration compartment door having the ice-making unit 30 is configured to cover the refrigeration compartment R. The ice-making unit 30 may also be disposed in the freezer compartment door on the freezer compartment F. In addition, the refrigerator according to the present embodiment is a bottom-freezer-type refrigerator in which the freezer compartment F is positioned at the lower side. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The present disclosure may be applied to different types of refrigerators.
The ice-making unit 30 may include: an ice-making compartment 32 providing an ice-making space for producing ice pieces; an ice-making tray 33 configured to exchange heat with the refrigerant to produce ice pieces; an ice bucket 34 positioned under the ice-making tray 33; a rotary motor 36 configured to rotate the ice-making tray 33 to release the ice pieces from the ice-making tray 33 into the ice bucket 34; and a heater 35 disposed in a peripheral edge portion of the ice-making tray 33.
The ice-making tray 33 receives water from a water supply pipe (not shown). A plurality of cells capable of accommodating water may be formed in the ice-making tray 33. The cells may have different shapes or numbers in different embodiments.
The ice-making tray 33 may be made of metal having high thermal conductivity. The lower surface of the ice-making tray 33 may directly contact an ice-making pipe 110. The ice-making pipe 110 contacting the ice-making tray 33 may have a U-shaped contact portion 110a. For example, the contact portion 110a of the ice-making pipe 110 may extend from one end of the ice-making tray 33 and may be bent 180 degrees in the vicinity of the other end of the ice-making tray 33. Then, the contact portion 110a may extend toward the one end of the ice-making tray 33.
The present disclosure is not limited to this specific implementation. The contact portion 110a of the ice-making pipe 110 may be bent multiple turns and may be formed to serpentine (e.g., routed back and forth) at multiple times on the lower surface of the ice-making tray 33. To enhance heat transfer efficiency, the ice-making tray 33 and the ice-making pipe 110 may be bonded together using an adhesive agent or fastener.
Thus, refrigerant supplied from the refrigerant pipe 120 to the ice-making pipe 110 can directly exchange heat with water contained in the ice-making tray 33 without requiring a cold air supply to the tray. Particularly, the heat exchange occurs through the contact portion 110a of the ice-making pipe 110. As a result, the water freezes and transforms to ice pieces. In this manner, the operation and effect of the contact portion 110a of the ice-making pipe 110 resemble a small-scale evaporator in the cold air generation system.
As described above, in the present embodiment, ice pieces may be produced by direct cooling through heat exchange between the ice-making pipe 110 and the ice-making tray 33, without relying on any supply of cold air to the tray. In contrast, in a conventional system, cold air supplied from a refrigerator main body is supplied to and cools an ice-making tray through gas-to-solid heat exchange. In this manner, refrigerant cannot cool the tray directly but through the intermediate medium, e.g., cold air. Thus, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, time required for producing a batch of ice pieces can be significantly shortened.
Ice pieces thus produced may be transferred by the rotary motor 36 onto the ice bucket 34 that is disposed under the ice-making tray 33. At this point, the heater 35 may heat the ice-making tray 33 for a short period of time, thereby slightly melting the surfaces of the ice pieces contacting the ice-making tray 33 so that the ice pieces are easily separated from the ice-making tray 33.
If the upper surface of the ice-making tray 33 is rotated toward the ice bucket 34, the ice-making tray 33 can be twisted, e.g., at a predetermined angle or more, to release the ice pieces to the ice bucket 34. Ice pieces in the ice bucket 34 are then placed between blades of an auger 37. When the auger 37 is rotated, the ice pieces may be supplied to a user through a dispenser (not shown) on the door 20.
The direct cooling unit 100 may include an ice-making pipe 110 installed in the ice-making unit 30, a refrigerant pipe 120 installed in the refrigerator main body 10, a flexible pipe 130 configured to interconnect the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120, a control valve configured to control a flow path of the refrigerant flowing between the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120, and a pipe case 140 configured to surround an end portion of the refrigerant pipe 120.
The ice-making pipe 110 may be installed in the ice-making compartment 32 so that at least a portion (e.g., the contact portion 110a) of the ice-making pipe 110 directly contacts the ice-making tray 33 of the ice-making unit 30. Thus, refrigerant supplied to the ice-making pipe 110 may rapidly cool the water in the ice tray through direct heat exchange with the ice-making tray 33, especially through the contact portion 110a of the ice-making pipe 110.
The refrigerant pipe 120 is a pipe branched from a refrigerant line 45 of the cold air generation system 40. The refrigerant pipe 120 may be branched from the cold air generation system 40 so that the end portion of the refrigerant pipe 120 is horizontally positioned in a side wall of the refrigerator main body 10. The refrigerant pipe 120 may include an inflow refrigerant pipe configured to supply refrigerant from the cold air generation system 40 to the ice-making pipe 110 and an outflow refrigerant pipe configured to return refrigerant from the ice-making pipe 110 to the cold air generation system 40.
The refrigerant pipe 120 is coupled to the ice-making pipe 110 via the flexible pipe 130. Hence the refrigerant pipe 120 can supply refrigerant from the cold air generation system 40 to the ice-making pipe 110 and return refrigerant from the ice-making pipe 110 to the cold air generation system 40. Thus, the refrigerant supplied from the refrigerant line 45 to the refrigerant pipe 120 may flow toward the ice-making pipe 110 via the flexible pipe 130 and thereby cool the ice-making unit 30. Thereafter, refrigerant may flow toward the refrigerant line 45 via the flexible pipe 130 and the refrigerant pipe 120.
The flexible pipe 130 may be a refrigerant hose configured to interconnect the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120 in the opening/closing direction of the door 20 in a region around hinged end portions of the refrigerator main body 10 and the door 20. For example, the flexible pipe 130 may be a refrigerant hose made of any suitable twistable flexible material and may be fastened to the end portions of the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120, e.g., by bolts.
In particular, the flexible pipe 130 can be manufactured in a four-layer structure, for example, including an outer rubber layer, a reinforcing layer, an inner rubber layer and a resin layer (nylon layer). Thus, the flexible pipe 130 may reduce cold air loss and effectively deliver refrigerant from the refrigerant pipe 120 installed in the refrigerator main body 10 to the ice-making pipe 110 installed in the door 20, while withstanding frequent opening/closing movement of the door 20.
The control valve may be an ON/OFF valve 150 configured to selectively open and close a flow path of the refrigerant in an end portion of the refrigerant pipe to selectively cut off a flow of the refrigerant flowing between the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120. As illustrated in
Thus, when the door 20 needs to be removed for repair or replacement, the opening/closing valve 150 can be shut off to stop the flow of the refrigerant prior to removal of the door 20 and thereby to prevent leakage of the refrigerant from the refrigerant pipe 120 of the direct cooling unit 100.
The pipe case 140 is a case configured to protect the end portion of the refrigerant pipe 120. A heat insulation material such as urethane foam or the like may be filled in the pipe case 140. The pipe case 140 can shield a coupling portion between the refrigerant pipe 120 and the flexible pipe 130. Thereby the internal arrangement can be hidden from view. A case cover (not shown) for opening and closing an internal space may be installed in the pipe case 140.
The cold air generation system 40 may supply cold air to the refrigeration compartment and the freezer compartment. Cold air is generated through heat exchange between the refrigerant and air flowing in a cooling duct (not shown).
The cold air generation system 40 may include an evaporator 41, a compressor 42 configured to transform the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator 41 to a gas state with high temperature and high pressure, a condenser 43 configured to transform the gaseous refrigerant to a liquid state having high pressure, an expansion valve 44 configured to adiabatically expand the liquid refrigerant and to supply the adiabatically expanded liquid refrigerant to the evaporator 41.
A heat exchange process includes compression, condensation, expansion and evaporation of refrigerant. A freezing cycle includes the compressor 42, the condenser 43, the expansion valve 44 and the evaporator 41. Thus, air existing in the cooling duct may be cooled and become cold air through heat exchange with refrigerant in the evaporator 41. The compressor 42, the condenser 43 and the expansion valve 44 may supply refrigerant to the direct cooling unit 100.
More specifically, some refrigerant may be used to generate cold air supplied to the freezer compartment and the refrigeration compartment while circulating through the evaporator 41, the compressor 42, the condenser 43 and the expansion valve 44 along the refrigerant line 45. Some refrigerant may be diverted to the ice-making pipe 110 through the refrigerant pipe 120 to cool the ice-making unit 30 and then circulated again through the evaporator 41, the compressor 42, the condenser 43 and the expansion valve 44.
Thus, when the door 20 needs to be removed for repair or replacement, the opening/closing valve 150 can be shut off to stop the flow of the refrigerant prior to removal of the door 20 and thereby to prevent leakage of the refrigerant from the refrigerant pipe 120 of the direct cooling unit 100.
As illustrated in
Hereinafter, descriptions will be made on the operation of the refrigerator according to the present embodiment configured as described above.
First, if part of the refrigerant is diverted from the refrigerant line 45 to the refrigerant pipe 120, the refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe 120 may flow toward the ice-making pipe 110 through the flexible pipe 130. The flexible pipe 130 can be extended and contracted in the opening/closing direction of the door 20. The flexile pipe 130 enables the refrigerant to flow between the refrigerant pipe 120 and the ice-making pipe 110 without obstruction or restriction, regardless of frequent movement of the door 20.
The refrigerant in the ice-making pipe 110 may directly cool the ice-making tray 33 through the contact portion 110a. Thus water supplied to the ice-making tray 33 is directly cooled by the contact portion 110a and consequently can transform to ice rapidly. Ice pieces produced in the ice-making tray 33 may fall to the ice bucket 34 disposed under the ice-making tray 33 and, then, may be supplied to a user through the dispenser of the door 20.
The refrigerant in the ice-making pipe 110, which has exchanged heat with the ice-making tray 33, may be moved to the refrigerant pipe 120 through the flexible pipe 130. The refrigerant moved to the refrigerant pipe 120 may enter the freezing cycle of the refrigerator through the refrigerant line 45.
Thus, when the door 20 needs to be removed for repair or replacement, the opening/closing valve 150 can be shut off to stop the flow of the refrigerant prior to removal of the door 20 and thereby prevent leakage of the refrigerant from the refrigerant pipe 120 of the direct cooling unit 100.
As illustrated in
The configurations of various components other than the direct cooling unit 100, including, the configurations of the refrigerator main body 10, the door 20, the ice-making unit 30 and the cold air generation system 40 have been described with reference to the first embodiment.
The direct cooling unit 100 may supply the refrigerant of the cold air generation system 40 to the ice-making unit 130 via the twistable flexible pipe 130 and may control a flow of the refrigerant with the opening/closing valve 150.
The flexible pipe 130 may be a refrigerant hose made of a suitable twistable flexible material so that the flexible pipe 130 interconnects the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120 along the up-down direction of the door 20 and around a hinge shaft of the refrigerator main body 10 and the door 20. The flexible pipe 130 may be fastened to the end portions of the ice-making pipe 110 and the refrigerant pipe 120 by bolts.
As described above, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, ice pieces are produced using cold air directly cooled in the cooling duct. It is therefore possible to enhance the efficiency of cooling the ice pieces and the efficiency of supplying cold air. Cold air is circulated through a short-cut route between the cooling duct and the ice-making space of the refrigerator door. It is therefore possible to effectively reduce cold air loss. As a consequence, it is possible to reduce power consumption during the operation of the refrigerator.
Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand that the present disclosure may be implemented in various ways without changing the necessary features or the spirit of the present disclosure.
Therefore, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described above are not limiting, but only exemplary in all respects. The scope of the present disclosure is expressed by claims below, not the detailed description, and it should be construed that all changes and modifications achieved from the meanings and scope of claims and equivalent concepts are included in the scope of the present disclosure.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The exemplary embodiments disclosed in the specification of the present disclosure do not limit the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure will be interpreted by the claims below, and it will be construed that all techniques within the scope equivalent thereto belong to the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-0044318 | Apr 2016 | KR | national |
