Refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator with a storage chamber and a door to open and close the storage chamber, the refrigerator having: an ice making chamber, which is provided in the storage chamber; an ice making device, which is provided in the ice making chamber to make ice; an ice storage part, which stores the ice transferred from the ice making device; and a dispenser unit, which is provided in the storage chamber to dispense the ice stored in the ice storage part.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an outer appearance of a refrigerator in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention when a cooling chamber door is opened;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an inner constitution of the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an operating state of a dispenser unit of the refrigerator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing essential components of a refrigerator in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a dispenser unit in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an operating state of the dispenser unit of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an inner constitution of a refrigerator in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a refrigerator in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an inner constitution of the refrigerator in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator has: a main body 10, which has a storage chamber that is partitioned into an upper cooling chamber 11 and a lower freezing chamber 12 by a horizontal partition wall 13; an ice making chamber 30, which is provided in a portion of the cooling chamber 11; an ice making device 50, which is provided in the ice making chamber 30 to make ice; an ice storage part 60, which is provided below the ice making device 50 to store ice cubes transferred from the ice making device 50; an ice feeding device 70, which is provided in the ice storage part 60 to feed the ice cubes outside; and a dispenser unit 90, which is provided in the cooling chamber 11 to dispense the ice cubes from the ice storage part 60. By stating that the ice making chamber 30 and the dispenser unit 90 are provided in the cooling chamber 11, it is meant that they are disposed entirely within the cooling chamber 11.

The refrigerator also has a cooling system, which includes a compressor 14, a condenser (not shown), an expansion device (not shown) and evaporators 22 and 26.

A machine room 15, in which the compressor 14 is disposed, is provided at a lower rear portion of the main body 10. The freezing chamber 12 is formed over the machine room 15 by being partitioned from the machine room 15. The cooling chamber 11 is formed over the freezing chamber 12 by being partitioned from the freezing chamber 12 by the horizontal partition wall 13. A foam insulation 16 is filled between an inner cabinet 10a and an outer cabinet 10b of the main body 10.

The cooling chamber 11 and the freezing chamber 12 have opened front sides. The upper cooling chamber 11 is opened and closed by a first cooling chamber door 17 and a second cooling chamber door 18, and the lower freezing chamber 12 is opened and closed by a freezing chamber door 19. The first cooling chamber door 17 and the second cooling chamber door 18 are hingedly coupled, respectively, to a left side and a right side of the main body 10, so as to be rotated in left and right directions, respectively. A plurality of storage guards 21 are installed at rear surfaces of the first and second cooling chamber doors 17 and 18 to store foodstuffs at rear sides of the doors 17 and 18. And since the ice making chamber 30 and dispenser unit 90 are disposed entirely within the cooling chamber 30, no part of the ice making chamber 30 or the dispenser unit 90 are disposed on or within either of the first or second cooling chamber doors 17 or 18.

Also, the first cooling chamber door 17, which is disposed in front of the dispenser unit 90, is provided with an auxiliary door 20. When the auxiliary door 20 is opened, a user can get the ice cubes through the dispenser unit 90 without opening the first cooling chamber door 17.

The freezing chamber door 19, as shown in FIG. 2, is coupled to front surfaces of the drawer type storage containers 19a provided inside the freezing chamber 12 so as to move forward and backward. Alternatively, although it is not illustrated in the drawings, the freezing chamber door 19 may be hingedly coupled to the main body 10.

Freezing chamber evaporator 22, to cool down the freezing chamber 12, and a freezing chamber circulation fan 23, to circulate cool air through the freezing chamber 12, are mounted to an inner rear portion of the freezing chamber 12. An inner panel 24 is mounted in front of the freezing chamber evaporator 22 and the freezing chamber circulation fan 23, to partition the freezing chamber 12 and a space containing the evaporator 22 and the circulation fan 23. The inner panel 24 is formed with a cool air circulation passage 25 for cool air circulation through the freezing chamber 12. The cool air circulation passage 25 guides the cool air blown from the freezing chamber circulation fan 23 to be dispersively supplied into the freezing chamber 12.

Cooling chamber evaporator 26, to cool down the cooling chamber 11, and a cooling chamber circulation fan 27, to circulate cool air through the cooling chamber 11, are mounted to an inner rear portion of the cooling chamber 11. An inner panel 28 is mounted in front of the cooling chamber evaporator 26 and the cooling chamber circulation fan 27, to partition the cooling chamber 11 and a space containing the evaporator 26 and the circulation fan 27. The inner panel 28 is formed with a cool air circulation passage 29 for cool air circulation through the cooling chamber 11. As described above, the freezing chamber 12 and the cooling chamber 11 are respectively cooled down by the separate evaporators 22 and 26.

The ice making chamber 30 is positioned at an inner upper corner of the cooling chamber 11 by being partitioned from an inner space of the cooling chamber 11 by an insulation wall 31.

So that the ice making chamber 30 can be kept at a freezing temperature, the cool air in the freezing chamber 12 provided at the lower portion of the main body 10 is also supplied into the ice making chamber 30. To this end, a cool air supply passage 32 supplying the cool air cooled by the freezing chamber evaporator 22 into the ice making chamber 30 and a cool air return passage 33 returning the cool air passing through the ice making chamber 30 to the freezing chamber evaporator 22 are positioned at a rear portion of the main body 10. A blower fan 34 is mounted to a lower portion of the cool air supply passage 32 to forcedly blow the cool air around an upper portion of the freezing chamber evaporator 22 into the cool air supply passage 32.

The ice making chamber 30 is provided with: the ice making device 50 to make the ice; the ice storage part 60, which is provided below the ice making device 50 to store the ice cubes transferred from the ice making device 50; and the ice feeding device 70, which is provided in the ice storage part 60 to feed the ice cubes outside. The ice making chamber 30 is further provided with an ice crushing device 80, which is disposed at one side of the ice feeding device 70, to selectively crush the ice cubes according to the user's demand.

The ice making device 50, as shown in FIG. 2, is fixed to an inner upper surface of the ice making chamber 30.

The ice making device 50 includes an ice making tray 51 to make the ice with water supplied from the outside, a scraper 52 to discharge the ice from the ice making tray 51, and a driving motor 53 to drive the scraper 52.

The ice storage part 60 is mounted below the ice making device 50. The ice storage part 60 has an opened upper portion to receive the ice cubes dropped from the ice making device 50. The ice storage part 60 extends lengthwise in front and rear directions, and is formed with an ice discharge hole 61 to discharge the ice cubes at a front lower portion. The ice storage part 60 is mounted to the ice making chamber 30 in a drawer-type fashion, to be drawn out of the ice making chamber 30. A cover 62 is mounted to a front portion of the ice storage part 60 to shield a front portion of the ice making chamber 30.

A bottom surface of the ice storage part 60 is slanted upward to the ice discharge hole 61, so that the ice cubes are prevented from being arbitrarily discharged through the ice discharge hole 61.

The ice feeding device 70 includes: a spiral feeding member 71, which is rotatably mounted in the ice storage part 60 to feed the ice cubes in the ice storage part 60 to the ice discharge hole 61; and a feed motor 72, which is fixed to an inner rear portion of the ice storage part 60 to rotate the spiral feeding member 71. When the ice storage part 60 is separated from the ice making chamber 30, the spiral feeding member 71 is disengaged from a shaft of the feed motor 72, and when the ice storage part 60 is mounted to the ice making chamber 30, the spiral feeding member 71 is engaged with the shaft of the feed motor 72.

The ice crushing device 80 is mounted over the ice discharge hole 61 of the ice storage part 60. The ice crushing device 80 is connected to the ice feeding device 70, and is driven by the feed motor 72.

The ice crushing device 80 includes: a fixing blade 81, which is fixed near the ice discharge hole 61; and a plurality of rotating blades 82, which are mounted to be rotated relatively to the fixing blade 81. The rotating blades 82 are coupled to a shaft 73, which extends from the spiral feeding member 71 of the ice feeding device 70. Accordingly, when the spiral feeding member 71 is rotated by the operation of the feed motor 72, the rotating blades 82 of the ice crushing device 80 are also rotated.

An outlet (not shown) of the ice crushing device 80 is selectively opened or closed to discharge the ice cubes or the crushed ice through the ice discharge hole 61 according to the user's demand.

The dispenser unit 90 to draw the ice cubes out of the ice storage part 60 is provided below the ice discharge hole 61. The dispenser unit 90 includes: a pushing part 91, which is provided below the ice discharge hole 61 and pushed backward by a force exerted by the user; and a shutter 92, which interlocks with the pushing part 91 to open and close an ice discharge passage 63, which is provided at the ice discharge hole 61 and communicates therewith. In other words, ice discharge hole 61 is an entrance to ice discharge passage 63.

When the user pushes the pushing part 91 by using an ice container like a cup, the pushing part 91 can be moved backward. For convenience of users, the pushing part 91 is formed in a concave curved shape corresponding to a curved shape of a cup to increase a contact area with a cup.

A top of the pushing part 91 is configured to come into contact with a bottom of the cover 62 of the ice storage part 60, so that the cool air in the cooling chamber 11 is prevented from flowing into the ice making chamber 30 when the ice discharge hole 61 is closed.

The shutter 92 interlocked with the pushing part 91 is normally kept in a state of closing the ice discharge passage 63. When the user pushes the pushing part 91 by using an ice container like a cup, as shown in FIG. 3, the shutter 92 is moved backward in cooperation with the pushing part 91, i.e., inserted into an insertion space 35 formed at the insulation wall 31 which is a bottom of the ice making chamber 30, thereby opening the ice discharge passage 63. At the same time, the ice feeding device 70 is operated to discharge the ice cubes stored in the ice storage part 60 through the ice discharge hole 61 and the ice discharge passage 63.

According to one embodiment, the refrigerator also has a control unit 95 that controls the ice feeding device 70 to operate when the shutter 92 opens the ice discharge passage 63 provided at the ice discharge hole 61.

An elastic member 93 is provided at the insertion space 35 of the insulation wall 31. When the pushing force is released, the elastic member 93 applies its elastic restoring force to an end of the shutter 92, so that the shutter 92 returns to its original position and resultantly closes the ice discharge passage 63. In other words, the shutter 92 is biased to close the ice discharge passage 63.

To get the ice, if the user opens the first cooling chamber door 17 of the cooling chamber 11 and pushes the pushing part 91 of the dispenser unit 90 by using an ice container like a cup or a part of the user's body, the shutter 92 slides backward, the elastic member 93 is contracted, and the ice discharge passage 63 is opened. At this time, the ice feeding device 70 of the ice storage part 60 is operated, and the ice cubes in the ice storage part 60 are discharged through the ice discharge hole 61 and the ice discharge passage 63.

By selectively opening or closing the outlet (not shown) of the ice crushing device 80, the user can get the desired type of ice, i.e., the ice cubes or the crushed ice through the ice discharge hole 61.

On the other hand, when the user releases the ice container, like a cup, from the pushing part 91 to stop the ice dispensing, the elastic member 93 expands due to its elastic restoring force, and the shutter 92 slides forward to close the ice discharge passage 63. When the ice discharge passage 63 is closed, the operation of the ice feeding device 70 is also stopped, and the ice dispensing is terminated.

As described above, since the dispenser unit 90 is not provided at the cooling chamber doors 17 and 18, a manufacturing process of the cooling chamber doors 17 and 18 can be simplified, and overall area of the rear sides of the cooling chamber doors 17 and 18 can be utilized as a storage space.

Also, since the auxiliary door 20 is provided at the cooling chamber door in front of the dispenser unit 90, the user can easily get the ice from the dispenser unit 90 by opening only the auxiliary door 20 without opening the cooling chamber doors 17 and 18.

Also, since a device for dispensing the ice is not mounted to the front surface of the door, aesthetics of external appearance of the refrigerator can be increased.

Hereinafter, a dispenser unit of a refrigerator in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The same components as the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a dispenser unit 100 of a refrigerator according to another embodiment of the present invention has: a pushing part 101, which is disposed below the ice discharge passage 63; a shutter 102, which is connected to the pushing part 101 and opens and closes the ice discharge passage 63; and a gear assembly 103, which transmits a rotational force of the pushing part 101 to the shutter 102 to rotate the same.

The pushing part 101 is formed in a lever shape, and is rotatably mounted to the insulation wall 31 of the ice making chamber 30 by a pivot shaft 101a.

The shutter 102 is connected to the pushing part 101 through the gear assembly 103. The gear assembly 103 has three gears, so as to rotate the shutter 102 in the same direction as the rotational direction of the pushing part 101.

The gear assembly 103 includes: a first gear 103a, which is coupled to the pivot shaft 101a of the pushing part 101; a second gear 103b, which is coupled to a pivot shaft 102a of the shutter 102; and a third gear 103c, which is disposed between the first gear 103a and the second gear 103b. The gear assembly 103 is configured such that a radius of the first gear 101a is larger than a radius of the second gear 103b, and so that the first gear 103a has more teeth than the second gear 103b. Accordingly, when the user pushes the pushing part 101 by using an ice container, a rotational angle of the shutter 102 is larger than a rotational angle of the pushing part 101.

An elastic member 104 is mounted to the insulation wall 31 and the first gear 103a, which is coupled to the pivot shaft 101a of the pushing part 101 to apply an elastic force to the pushing part 101 and bias the shutter 102 to a position to close the ice discharge passage 63.

As shown in FIG. 6, if the user opens the first cooling chamber door 17 of the cooling chamber 11 and pushes the pushing part 101, the pushing part 101 is rotated about the pivot shaft 101a, and the gear assembly 103 is rotated in cooperation with the pushing part 101. Accordingly, the shutter 102 coupled to the second gear 103b is also rotated to open the ice discharge passage 63. At this time, the ice feeding device 70 of the ice storage part 60 is operated, and the ice cubes in the ice storage part 60 are discharged through the ice discharge hole 61 and the ice discharge passage 63.

On the other hand, when the user releases the pushing force from the pushing part 101, the pushing part 101 is rotated counterclockwise by an elastic restoring force of the elastic member 104, and the shutter 102 coupled to the gear assembly 103 is also rotated to close the ice discharge passage 63. When the ice discharge passage 63 is closed, the operation of the ice feeding device 70 is also stopped, and the ice dispensing is terminated.

As shown in FIG. 7, a refrigerator in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention is structured such that in a main body 110, an ice making chamber 300 is provided at an inner lower corner of a cooling chamber 111, and cool air in a freezing chamber 120, from evaporator 22, can directly flow into the ice making chamber 300. The same components as the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the above description, it has been explained that the embodiments of the present invention are applied to the refrigerator having a structure that the cooling chamber and the freezing chamber are respectively provided with the separate evaporators. But embodiments of the present invention can also be applied to the refrigerators having a structure that one evaporator is mounted to the cooling chamber or the freezing chamber. Also, in addition to the bottom freezer type refrigerator, in which the cooling chamber is positioned at the upper portion and the freezing chamber is positioned at the lower portion, embodiments of the present invention can be applied to the top freezer type refrigerator, in which the freezing chamber is positioned at the upper portion and the cooling chamber is positioned at the lower portion, and the side-by-side type refrigerator, in which the cooling chamber is positioned at either the left side or the right side and the freezing chamber is positioned at the other side.

As is apparent from the above description, according to an embodiment of the present invention, since the dispenser unit is provided inside the cooling chamber, the overall area of the rear sides of the cooling chamber doors can be utilized as the storage space.

Also, since a device for dispensing the ice is not mounted to the door, the manufacturing process can be simplified, the manufacturing costs can be curtailed, and aesthetics of the external appearance of the refrigerator can be increased.

Also, by providing the auxiliary door at the cooling chamber door, the user can conveniently get the ice without opening the cooling chamber door.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A refrigerator, including a storage chamber and a door to open and close the storage chamber, the refrigerator comprising: an ice making chamber, which is provided in the storage chamber;an ice making device, which is provided in the ice making chamber to make ice;an ice storage part, which stores the ice transferred from the ice making device; anda dispenser unit, which is provided in the storage chamber to dispense the ice stored in the ice storage part.

2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein: the ice storage part has: an ice discharge hole as an entrance to an ice discharge passage to discharge the ice, andan ice feeding device to feed the ice to the ice discharge hole; andthe ice feeding device is slantedly disposed upward to the ice discharge hole.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein: the dispenser unit is disposed below the ice discharge passage, and has a pushing part, which receives a force exerted by a user, anda shutter, which interlocks with the pushing part to open and close the ice discharge passage.

4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the dispenser unit further includes an elastic member providing a restoring force to the dispenser unit to bias the shutter to close the ice discharge passage.

5. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the dispenser unit further includes a gear assembly disposed between the pushing part and the shutter such that when the pushing part receives the force exerted by the user, a rotational angle of the shutter induced by interaction among the pushing part, the gear assembly, and the shutter is larger than a rotational angle of the pushing part.

6. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein when the shutter opens the ice discharge hole, the ice feeding device is operated.

7. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising: an ice crushing device, which is disposed at one side of the ice feeding device to crush the ice.

8. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the storage chamber is partitioned into a cooling chamber and a freezing chamber, and the ice making chamber is provided in the cooling chamber.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the cooling chamber is provided over the freezing chamber.

10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of guards are installed to a rear surface of the door with predetermined gaps therebetween to form a corresponding plurality of storage spaces at the rear surface of the door.

11. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the door is provided with an auxiliary door in front of the dispenser unit, through which a user selectively accesses the dispenser unit.

12. A refrigerator, including a main body having a cooling chamber, a freezing chamber, and doors respectively opening and closing the cooling chamber and the freezing chamber, the refrigerator comprising: an ice making chamber, which is provided in the cooling chamber and partitioned from a remaining portion thereof by an insulation wall;an ice storage part, which is provided in the ice making chamber; anda dispenser unit, which is provided in the cooling chamber to dispense ice stored in the ice storage part out of the ice making chamber.

13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein: the ice making chamber comprises an ice making device that makes the ice;the ice storage part has an ice discharge hole as an entrance to an ice discharge passage to discharge the ice; andthe ice making chamber further comprises an ice feeding device that feeds the ice to the ice discharge hole.

14. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the dispenser unit is provided at the insulation wall.

15. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the dispenser unit comprises: a pushing part, which receives a force exerted by a user; anda shutter, which interlocks with the pushing part to open and close the ice discharge passage.

16. The refrigerator according to claim 15, further comprising: a control unit, which controls the ice feeding device to operate when the shutter opens the ice discharge hole.

17. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the ice making chamber further comprises an ice crushing device, which is disposed at one side of the ice feeding device to crush the ice.

18. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the ice storage part includes a cover, which shields a front portion of the ice making chamber.

19. A refrigerator, including a cooling chamber, a freezing chamber, doors respectively opening and closing the cooling chamber and the freezing chamber, the refrigerator comprising: an ice making chamber provided within the cooling chamber;an ice making device provided within the ice making chamber to make ice;an ice storage part provided within the ice making chamber and storing ice transferred from the ice making device; anda dispenser unit provided within the storage chamber and having an ice discharge passage through which to dispense the ice stored in the ice storage part.

20. The refrigerator according to claim 19, wherein the door opening and closing the cooling chamber comprises an auxiliary door disposed in correspondence with the dispenser unit, such that a user selectively accesses the dispenser unit through the auxiliary door.

21. The refrigerator according to claim 19, wherein the dispenser unit comprises: a pushing part receiving a force exerted by a user;a shutter connected with the pushing part to open and close the ice discharge passage; andan elastic member biasing the shutter to close the ice discharge passage.

22. The refrigerator according to claim 21, wherein: the dispenser unit further comprises a first pivot shaft, to which the pushing part is connected and about which the pushing part rotates,a second pivot shaft, to which the shutter is connected and about which the shutter rotates,a gear assembly comprising a first gear connected to the first pivot shaft,a second gear connected to the second pivot shaft, anda third gear transmitting rotation between the first and second gears;the elastic member is connected at a first end thereof to an insulation wall of the ice making chamber, is connected at a second end thereof to the first gear, and via the gear assembly, biases the shutter to close the ice discharge passage; anda relationship of a size and number of teeth of the first and second gears is such that when the pushing part receives the force exerted by the user, a rotational angle of the shutter induced by interaction among the pushing part, the gear assembly, and the shutter is larger than a rotational angle of the pushing part.

23. The refrigerator according to claim 19, further comprising: an evaporator corresponding to the freezing chamber;a circulation fan blowing cool air from the evaporator into the freezing chamber;a cool air supply passage; anda blower fan blowing cool air from the evaporator into the ice making chamber via the cool air supply passage.

24. The refrigerator according to claim 19, further comprising: an evaporator corresponding to the freezing chamber;a circulation fan blowing cool air from the evaporator into both the freezing chamber and the ice making chamber.