Refrigerator

A refrigerator includes a main body provided with a storage chamber, a door to open and close the storage chamber, and an ice maker to make ice cubes, wherein the door includes a receiving chamber provided at a front surface of the door to receive the ice maker and an auxiliary door to open and close the receiving chamber. Accordingly, since the receiving chamber may be opened through the auxiliary door without opening of the door, the ice maker may be conveniently cleaned or repaired.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0102394 filed on Oct. 20, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a refrigerator having a structure in which an ice maker to make ice cubes is installed at a door.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a refrigerator includes components of a refrigeration cycle therein. The refrigerator is an apparatus to preserve food stored therein in a frozen or refrigerated state by cold air generated through an evaporator of the refrigeration cycle.

Such a refrigerator includes a main body provided with a storage chamber for food, and a door to open and close the storage chamber. The main body is equipped therein with the components of the refrigeration cycle such as a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, and an expansion valve. Thus, food stored within the storage chamber may be preserved at low temperature by supply of the cold air generated through the evaporator of the refrigeration cycle to the storage chamber.

Also, the door in the refrigerator is installed with an ice maker to make ice cubes using the cold air transferred from the storage chamber, and a dispenser to extract ice cubes made in the ice maker to the outside.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide a refrigerator in which repair or cleaning of an ice maker is more convenient.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a main body provided with a storage chamber, a door to open and close the storage chamber, and an ice maker to make ice cubes, wherein the door includes a receiving chamber provided at a front surface of the door to be recessed so as to receive the ice maker, and an auxiliary door to open and close the receiving chamber.

The auxiliary door may be rotatably mounted, at one side thereof, at the door to open and close the receiving chamber through rotation of the auxiliary door.

The refrigerator may further include a dispenser arranged at a lower side of the ice maker in the receiving chamber to discharge ice cubes made by the ice maker to the outside, and the auxiliary door may be provided with an ice cube discharge hole to receive ice cubes discharged through the dispenser at the outside of the door.

The refrigerator may further include an ice cube storage container arranged in parallel with the dispenser to store ice cubes, and an ice cube feed device arranged between the ice maker and the dispenser to feed ice cubes made by the ice maker into one of the dispenser and the ice cube storage container.

The ice maker may include an ice making tray to make ice cubes, and a first Peltier element to absorb heat of the ice making tray through one side of the first Peltier element and emit the heat through the other side thereof.

The ice maker may further include a first radiating fin arranged to come into contact with the other side of the first Peltier element and a radiating fan to allow outside air to exchange heat with the first radiating fin, and the door may be provided with a heat emission hole to allow the outside air to flow through the first radiating fin.

The heat emission hole may be provided at an upper end of the door, and the heat emission hole may be arranged with the radiating fan and is arranged, at a lower side thereof, with the first radiating fin.

The ice maker may further include an insulating member arranged between the first radiating fin and the ice making tray, and a first heat transfer member to transfer heat to the first Peltier element through the insulating member.

The ice maker may further include a second radiating fin arranged in parallel with the ice making tray, a second Peltier element to absorb heat from the second radiating fin through one side of the second Peltier element and transfer the heat to the first radiating fin, a circulation fan to allow air within the receiving chamber to exchange heat with the second radiating fin, and a second heat transfer member to transfer heat to the second Peltier element through the insulating member.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes a main body provided with a storage chamber, an ice maker to make ice cubes, and a door provided with a receiving chamber to receive the ice maker while opening and closing the storage chamber, wherein the ice maker includes an ice making tray to make ice cubes and a first Peltier element to absorb heat of the ice making tray through one side of the first Peltier element and emit the heat through the other side thereof, and the door has a heat emission hole to allow the heat emitted through the other side of the first Peltier element to exchange heat with outside air.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown inFIG. 1, a refrigerator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes a main body10provided dividedly with a plurality of storage chambers11and12to store food therein while defining an external appearance of the refrigerator. In the present exemplary embodiment, the storage chamber is vertically divided into a refrigerating chamber11to keep food refrigerated at an upper side thereof and a freezing chamber12to keep food frozen at a lower side thereof.

The main body10is provided, at opposite sides of an upper portion thereof, with a pair of doors20. One side end of each door20is rotatably mounted at the main body10so that opposite sides of the refrigerating chamber11are respectively opened by the doors20. The freezing chamber12is movably installed with a storage drawer30to store food therein.

Although not shown in the drawings, the main body10is equipped therein with components of a refrigeration cycle, such as a compressor to compress refrigerant, a condenser to allow the refrigerant to be cooled through heat exchange with outside air of the main body, an expansion valve to decompress and expand the refrigerant, and an evaporator to generate cold air through absorption of heat from air within the refrigerating and freezing chambers. In accordance with such a configuration, the cold air generated in the evaporator is supplied to the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12to cool the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12, so that food within the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12may be preserved at low temperature.

In the present exemplary embodiment, one of the doors20is equipped with an ice maker40to make ice cubes and a dispenser50to allow a user to receive the ice cubes made by the ice maker40at the outside of the corresponding door20, as shown inFIG. 2.

The door20is provided, at a front surface thereof, with a receiving chamber20ato receive the ice maker40and the dispenser50, and is installed with an auxiliary door21to open and close the receiving chamber20a. The receiving chamber20ahas a recessed shape. The auxiliary door21is rotatably mounted, at one side thereof, at the door20to open and close the receiving chamber20awhile rotating about one side of the auxiliary door21in left and right directions. The auxiliary door21is provided, at a lower portion thereof, with a through hole21ato allow a user to receive ice cubes discharged through the dispenser50at the outside of the auxiliary door20.

Accordingly, when the ice maker40needs to be cleaned or repaired, a user may open the receiving chamber20athrough the auxiliary door21in a state in which the refrigerating chamber11is closed by the door20, thereby facilitating repair or cleaning of the ice maker40in the receiving chamber20a. Also, since the refrigerating chamber11is maintained in the closed state, regardless of whether or not the receiving chamber20ais opened, food in the refrigerating chamber11may be preserved in a refrigerated state.

As shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the ice maker40includes an ice making tray41to make ice cubes, and a first Peltier element42A to absorb heat from the ice making tray41through one side thereof and emit the heat through the other side thereof. In this case, the ice making tray41may be made of a metal material such as aluminum having a superior heat transfer rate.

Thus, ice making by the ice maker40is executed by the first Peltier element42A independently of cooling in the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12. Accordingly, when the ice making by the ice maker40is executed independently of the cooling in the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12, smell of food stored in the refrigerating and freezing chambers11and12is not diffused to the ice maker40side. As a result, it may be possible to prevent smell of the food from permeating ice cubes.

As described above, the heat emitted from the first Peltier element42A is emitted to the outside of the refrigerator. To this end, the ice maker40includes a first radiating fin43A to radiate the heat transferred from the first Peltier element42A to outside air while exchanging heat with the outside air of the refrigerator, and radiating fans44to allow the outside air to exchange heat with the first radiating fin43A. The door20is provided with a heat emission hole20bto allow the outside air to exchange heat with the first radiating fin43A. In the present exemplary embodiment, the heat emission hole20bis formed at an upper end of the door20, and the radiating fans44are arranged at the heat emission hole20b. Also, the first radiating fin43A is arranged at an inner side of the heat emission hole20b, namely, a lower side of each radiating fan44.

In order to prevent the cold air of the receiving chamber20afrom being leaked to the outside through the heat emission hole20b, an insulating member45is arranged between the ice making tray41and the first radiating fin43A, and a first heat transfer member46A is mounted at the insulating member45while passing through the insulating member45. One side of the first heat transfer member46A comes into contact with the ice making tray41and the other side thereof comes into contact with the first radiating fin43A, thereby transferring heat of the ice making tray41to the first radiating fin43A. The first heat transfer member46A is generally made of a metal material having a high heat transfer rate. Accordingly, heat of water received in the ice making tray41is absorbed through one side of the first Peltier element42A via the first heat transfer member46A, so that the water in the ice making tray41becomes ice cubes. The absorbed heat is emitted through the other side of the first Peltier element42A. Since the other side of the first Peltier element42A comes into contact with the first radiating fin43A, the heat emitted from the first Peltier element42A is emitted to the outside air passing through the first radiating fin43A by the radiating fans44.

Also, the receiving chamber20ais provided with an ice cube storage container48arranged in parallel with the dispenser50at the side of the dispenser50. The ice cube storage container48is mainly used when a number of ice cubes are necessary while being used to store a number of ice cubes for a long time. The ice cube storage container48is detachably installed at the receiving chamber20aso that a user may separate the ice cube storage container48from the receiving chamber20a, and then use ice cubes stored in the ice cube storage container48in a state in which the receiving chamber20ais opened by the auxiliary door21.

An ice cube feed device49is provided between the ice making tray41and the dispenser50so as to feed ice cubes into one of the dispenser50and the ice cube storage container48. The ice cube feed device49includes an auger49arotated in normal and counter directions to guide ice cubes to one of the dispenser50and the ice cube storage container48according to the rotational direction of the auger49a, a feed motor49bconnected to a shaft of the auger49ato rotate the auger49ain the normal and counter directions, and a temporary ice cube storage container49cdisposed at an inner side of the auger49ato temporally store ice cubes. That is, when the auger49ais rotated through the feed motor49bin one direction, ice cubes in the temporary ice cube storage container49care moved toward an upper side of the dispenser50to be discharged through the dispenser50, as shown inFIG. 5. On the other hand, when the auger49ais rotated through the feed motor49bin the counter direction, ice cubes in the temporary ice cube storage container49care moved toward an upper side of the ice cube storage container48to be discharged to the ice cube storage container48, as shown inFIG. 6.

The interior of the receiving chamber20ais maintained at or below a certain temperature in order to prevent ice cubes received in the ice cube storage container48and the temporary ice cube storage container49cfrom thawing. To this end, the ice maker40includes a second radiating fin43B arranged in parallel with the ice making tray41at the side of the ice making tray41to exchange heat with air within the receiving chamber20a, and a second Peltier element42B to absorb heat from the second radiating fin43B through one side thereof and emit the heat through the first radiating fin43A arranged to come into contact with the other side thereof. Further, a second heat transfer member46B, which is mounted at the insulating member45while passing through the insulating member45, is arranged between the second radiating fin43B and the second Peltier element42B so as to transfer heat from the second radiating fin43B to the first Peltier element42A through the insulating member45. The second heat transfer member46B is made of a metal material. A circulation fan47is arranged at a portion adjacent to the second radiating fin43B to allow air within the receiving chamber20ato exchange heat with the second radiating fin43B by circulation of the air.

Accordingly, since air within the receiving chamber20aexchanges heat with the second radiating fin43B while being circulated by the circulation fan47, heat of the air is absorbed into the second radiating fin43B and the air is cooled during the process of heat exchange. The cooled air cools the interior of the receiving chamber20awhile circulating the interior of the receiving chamber20aby the circulation fan47again. Here, heat absorbed through the second radiating fin43B is absorbed into one side of the second Peltier element42B through the second heat transfer member46B, and is then emitted to the outside air through the first radiating fin43A arranged at the other side of the second Peltier element42B.

The present exemplary embodiment discloses a receiving chamber20aprovided at a door20to open and close a refrigerating chamber11, but is not limited thereto. Thus, a receiving chamber may also be formed at a door to open and close a freezing chamber or a storage drawer.

As is apparent from the above description, a user may open the receiving chamber provided at the front surface of the door through the auxiliary door in the state in which the refrigerating chamber is closed by the door, thereby cleaning or repairing the ice maker within the receiving chamber. Consequently, the ice maker may be conveniently cleaned or repaired, and further loss of cold air in the refrigerating chamber may be prevented.