Patent ID: 6286326
Filing Date: 2001-09-11
Classification: F25B,F25D,Y02B

Abstract:
A refrigerator with a freezer compartment cooling mode and a fresh-food compartment cooling mode, comprising:a) a compressor for pumping refrigerant vapor;b) a condenser that receives compressed vapor from said compressor and cools it to produce refrigerant liquid;c) a first evaporator that evaporates said refrigerant liquid to produce refrigerant vapor and provides said refrigerant vapor to said compressor;d) a flow path between said condenser and said first evaporator that provides an approximately constant flow area during both the fresh-food and freezer cooling modes and that receives refrigerant liquid from said condenser and reduces the pressure of the refrigerant flowing into said first evaporator;e) means for controllably directing cooling produced by the evaporating refrigerant to said fresh-food compartment and said freezer compartment; andf) control means for reducing the volumetric capacity of said compressor during cooling of said fresh-food compartment relative to its volumetric capacity during cooling of said freezer compartment so as to match the refrigerant flow capacity of said flow path.