Abstract:
Disclosed is a refrigerator incorporating a condenser functioning as a backcover. The condenser is provided in one portion of the outer periphery of a machine room in a lower portion of the refrigerator while the machine is closed in other portions of the outer periphery so that air flow to/from the machine room is enabled only through the condenser to enhance cooling efficient and thus condensing efficient.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular, which incorporates a condenser functioning as a backcover of a machine room so as to enhance condensing effect. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As well known to those skilled in the art, various types of refrigerators are used to freeze or refrigerate foods. 
     FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a general refrigerator. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the refrigerator comprises a housing  10  defined by an internal receiving space divided into a freezing chamber  101  and a refrigerator chamber  102 , freezing and refrigerating chamber doors  12  mounted to one side of the housing  10  for opening/closing the freezing chamber  101  and refrigerating chamber  102  and a number of devices including a compressor  20 , a condenser  30 , an expander (not shown) and an evaporator  40  for generating cold air in a cooling cycle. 
     Describing the operation of the refrigerator as set forth above, gaseous refrigerant in a low temperature and pressure is compressed into a high temperature and pressure by the compressor  20 . The compressed gaseous refrigerant in a high temperature and pressure is converted into a high pressure liquid as cooled and condensed while passing through the condenser  30 . The high pressure liquid refrigerant loses its temperature and pressure while passing through the expander (not shown). In succession, the refrigerant is transformed into a low temperature and pressure gas absorbing heat from surroundings to cool the same. 
     Then, air cooled by the evaporator  40  is circulated into the freezing chamber  101  and the refrigerating chamber  102  owing to operation of a blowing fan  50  installed in an evaporator room  103  to lower the temperature of the freezing chamber  101  and the refrigerating chamber  102 . 
     In the meantime, the condenser  30  is generally used as a fin tube-type condenser comprising a refrigerant pipe  32  and a number of heat-radiating fins  34 . The refrigerant pipe  32  is made of metal and continuously bent into a kind of multi-layered structure. The heat-radiating fins  34  are arranged in parallel with a certain interval, attached to the refrigerant pipe  32  via welding, and mounted in the shape of a thin panel apparently crossing said bent refrigerant pipe  32 . 
     Further, the refrigerator is generally provided in the vicinity of the condenser  30  with a cooling fan for assisting efficient heat exchange due to forced convection. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the machine room in a lower portion of the refrigerator. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, those devices generating heat or operation noise of the devices executing the cooling cycle are installed in the machine room  104 , and they include the condenser  30 , the compressor  20  and the cooling fan  60  for the condenser  30 . 
     In the meantime, the machine room  104  is provided in a rear lower portion of the refrigerator separated from a refrigerator body so that the heat from the compressor  20  and the condenser does not transfer to the freezing and refrigerating chambers  101  and  102  or the noise may not spread. 
     A general small or medium-sized refrigerator generates a large amount of heat owing to the operation features of the compressor  20  and the condenser  30  so that the rear part of the machine room  104  has an opened structure to allow an effective heat-radiating operation. 
     In a large-sized refrigerator, however, the cooling fan  60  and the compressor  20  are adapted to have a large capacity thereby increasing the operation noise so that a backcover  70  is installed to block an opened side of the machine room  104  so as to enhance sound-proofing effect. 
     The backcover  70  is a kind of panel member provided with a number of ventilation louvers  701 , and detachably mounted to the rear lower end of the housing  10  via screwing and so on. 
     According to the related art as set forth above, the backcover  70  can promote the marketability of the refrigerator since it blocks and reduces the operation noise from the compressor  20  and the cooling fan  60  in use for the condenser. 
     In the refrigerator adopting the backcover  70 , however, the heat exchange efficiency of the condenser  30  is disadvantageously lower than in a refrigerator without the backcover  70  since air does not efficiently flow inside/outside the machine room  104  due to the backcover  70 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made to effectively solve the foregoing problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator comprising a housing having a freezing chamber and/or a refrigerating chamber, a door for opening/closing the freezing chamber and/or the refrigerating chamber, a compressor provided in a machine room in a lower portion of the housing, a cooling fan placed in the opposite of the compressor in the machine room, and a condenser with both ends respectively connected to the compressor and an evaporator for cooling refrigerant and having a refrigerant pipe portion and a heat-radiating fin portion configured as a panel for covering a portion of the outer periphery of the machine room to function as a backcover. 
     According to an aspect of the invention to obtain the above object, it is provided a refrigerator comprising: a housing having a freezing chamber and/or a refrigerating chamber; a door for opening/closing the freezing chamber and/or the refrigerating chamber; a compressor placed at one side of a machine room in a lower portion of the housing; a cooling fan provided in a central portion of the machine room for discharging air to a direction opposite to the position where the compressor is placed; and a condenser with both ends coupled to the compressor and an evaporator for cooling refrigerant and having a refrigerant pipe portion and a heat-radiating fin portion configured as a panel for covering a portion of the outer periphery of the machine room to function as a backcover. 
     In the refrigerator of the invention, the machine room is closed in the outer periphery except for the portion where the condenser is placed. 
     The condenser functioning as a backcover is made of plastic as set forth above to enhance condensing efficiency as an effect. 
     Further, a receiving space is enlarged in the refrigerator to increase the quantity of foods receivable in the refrigerator thereby enhancing the marketability of the refrigerator. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a general refrigerator; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a machine room in a lower portion of a general refrigerator; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a condenser functioning as a backcover according to the invention; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a machine room of a refrigerator according to the invention; and 
     FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The following detailed description will disclose a preferred embodiment of the present invention in reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components as in the conventional art. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a condenser functioning as a backcover according to the invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the condenser  80  functioning as a backcover according to an aspect of the invention comprises a refrigerant pipe portion  82  with a plurality of refrigerant pipes through which refrigerant flows and a heat-radiating fin portion  84  connecting the refrigerant pipe portion  82 . 
     The heat-radiating fin portion  84  of the condenser  80  is provided with a plurality of louvers  841  capable of ensuring efficient ventilation operation while muffling noise. The louvers  841  not only contribute to the efficient ventilation of a machine room  104  but also function as fins by themselves to enhance the cooling efficiency of the condenser  80 . Other parts except for the condenser  80  are so closed to discharge air only through the condenser  80  thereby further enhancing the efficiency of the condenser  80 . 
     Further, the condenser  80  is mounted to cover an opened side of the machine room  104  thereby also performing the role of a backcover  70  (refer to FIG. 4) which restricts discharge of noise. 
     The refrigerant pipe portion  82  and the heat-radiating portion  84  can be made of any material regardless of plastic or metal. Further, both of the refrigerant pipe portion  82  and the heat-radiating portion  82  can be integrally formed into a single piece. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a machine room of a refrigerator according to the invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, the machine room  104  is provided with a cooling fan  60  used for the condenser  80 , in which the cooling fan  60  is disposed to blow air toward the condenser  80 , that is, toward the outside of the refrigerator. The compressor  20  is installed at a certain interval from the cooling fan  60 . An air dam  62  is provided to partially block an internal space of the machine room  104  between the compressor  20  and the blowing fan  60 . The condenser  80  is generally provided in the rear of the machine room  104 . 
     The following discussion will more specifically describe the direction of air flown by the air dam  62  and the cooling fan  60 . 
     The internal space of the machine room  104  is halved into the cooling fan  60  side and the compressor  20  side substantially about the air dam  62 . In operation of the blowing fan  60 , the external air is introduced into the compressor  20  side, flows through the air dam  62  into the cooling fan  60  side, and then is discharged out of the cooling fan  60  side. The machine room  104  is closed as a whole and allows air flow only through the condenser  80  so that all of the air introduced into the compressor  20  side and discharged from the cooling fan  60  necessarily passes through the condenser  80 . 
     Based upon the air dam  62 , one part of the condenser  80  (the compressor side) is cooled by the air introduced into the machine room  104 , the other part of the condenser  80  (the cooling fan side) is cooled by the air discharged from the machine room  104 . 
     That is to say, since the air discharged from the machine room  104  is already heated while primarily passing through the one part of the condenser  80  (the compressor side), it can be understood that the condensing operation has low efficiency in the other part of the condenser  80  contacting with the space of the machine room  104  in the side of the cooling fan  60 . 
     However, according to this embodiment as set forth above, the condenser  80  has a panel-shaped configuration which is wide in heat-radiating area and exposed out of the machine room  104  resultantly maintaining high heat exchange efficiency compared to the conventional tube-type condenser  30  (refer to FIG.  1 ). 
     The air dam  62  is not an essential component for implementing the invention, and the invention can provide another embodiment with a configuration where the air dam  62  is excluded. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 5, the another embodiment of the invention comprises main components such as a compressor  20  biased to one side in a machine room  104 , a cooling fan  60  placed in a substantially central position of the machine room  104  at a certain distance from the compressor  20  for blowing cool air away from the compressor  20  and a condenser  80  covering the rear portion of the machine room  104 . 
     In the meantime, the compressor  80  has the same configuration and structure as the condenser described in reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. However, according to features of this embodiment, the cooling fan  60  is installed substantially in the center of the machine room  104  and also blows the air in a direction opposite to the installed position of the compressor  20 . 
     Similar to the first embodiment of the invention, the machine room  104  is closed in all sides except for the condenser  80  so that the air flow between the inner and outer space of the machine room can be carried out only through the condenser  80 . 
     Describing the internal operation within the machine room  104  having the above configuration, the compressor  20  sucks in the air toward the condenser  80  and ejects the air toward the cooling fan  60  while the cooling fan  60  sucks in the air from the compressor  20  side and ejects the air to the opposite direction. The air ejected from the cooling fan  60  is blocked by the side wall of the machine room and then discharged through the condenser  80 . That is to say, the inlet side and the discharge side of air are determined in the condenser  80 . 
     According to the embodiments of the invention, the condenser  80  is mounted in such a structure for covering the opened rear side of the machine room  104  thereby maintaining the noise muffling operation which is carried by the conventional backcover  70  (refer to FIG.  2 ). 
     Further, any additional space is not required for mounting the condenser  80  within the machine room  104  so that other components can be placed in an inner space of the machine room  104  as much as any space that would be otherwise occupied by the condenser  80 . 
     Preferably, a receiving space is enlarged in the refrigerator as much as the machine room is reduced in volume resultantly increasing the quantity of foods receivable in the refrigerator. 
     Further, the condenser  80  has the panel-shaped configuration exposed out of the refrigerator to enlarge the cooling surface that can contact with the air thereby advantageously enhancing the efficiency of the condenser.