Patent Publication Number: US-2005126197-A1

Title: Refrigeration apparatus and refrigerator with the refrigeration apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0090470, filed Dec. 12, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a refrigeration apparatus and a refrigerator with the refrigeration apparatus, and in particular, to a refrigeration apparatus and a refrigerator with the refrigeration apparatus having a heat exchange fin with improved structure provided on an evaporator of the refrigeration apparatus.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Generally, a refrigeration apparatus includes a compressor compressing coolant in a vapor state with high pressure and high temperature, a condenser condensing the coolant in the vapor state compressed by the compressor into a liquid state, a capillary tube converting the liquefied coolant into a state of low pressure and low temperature, and an evaporator cooling surrounding air by absorbing latent heat to evaporate the liquefied coolant converted into a state of low pressure and low temperature by the capillary tube.  
      The refrigeration apparatus may be used not only in the refrigerator, but also in various heat exchangers such as an air conditioning apparatus.  
      Generally a refrigerator includes a main body partitioned into a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment, a door covering a front opening of the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment, and a refrigeration apparatus cooling the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment. Herein, the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment can be cooled by circulating the cooled air surrounding the evaporator provided in the refrigeration apparatus into the freezer compartment and the refrigerator compartment.  
       FIG. 1  is a cross sectional view of an evaporator provided in a conventional refrigeration apparatus. As shown therein, the evaporator  120  in the conventional refrigeration apparatus has a coolant tube  123  provided to circulate the coolant and a heat exchange fin  130  improving a heat exchange efficiency by coupling with the coolant tube  123 . Also, frost is formed on a surface of the coolant tube  123  and heat exchange fin  130  as moisture in the air circulated from an inside of a storage compartment of a refrigerator adheres to the surface of the coolant tube  123  because of a temperature difference of the surface of the coolant tube  123  and the air circulated from the inside of the storage compartment of the refrigerator. The frost decreases the efficiency of the evaporator because it decreases the heat exchange rate. The refrigeration apparatus includes a defrosting apparatus such as a heater to remove the frost that grows on the evaporator  120 .  
      Several heat exchange fins  130  are provided on the evaporator  120 , and are formed with a coolant tube accommodating part  131  coupling with and accommodating the coolant tube  123  on a surface of the heat exchange fins  30 . Also, the coolant tube  123  is supported in the refrigerator by a coolant tube supporter  125 . Accordingly, the conventional refrigerator only increases heat efficiency by increasing the area of the coolant tube  123  and the heat exchange fins  130 .  
      However, because the conventional evaporator  120  has a longitudinal direction which is perpendicular to a vertical direction, water drops formed during a defrosting operation implemented by a defrosting apparatus accumulate on a corner part  135  of a lower area of the heat exchange fin  130 . Meanwhile, another problem that lowers performance of the evaporator  120  arises because the water drops accumulated on the corner part  135  of the heat exchange fin  130  are frozen again when the coolant circulates after completion of the defrosting operation.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigeration apparatus and a refrigerator with the refrigeration apparatus improving performance of an evaporator.  
      The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a refrigeration apparatus generating cooling air, including an evaporator having a coolant tube with several bending parts, and heat exchange fins formed with at least one coolant tube accommodating part coupling with the coolant tube. The refrigeration apparatus also includes a defrosting unit adjacent to the evaporator to remove frost formed on the evaporator, each heat exchange fin is inclined at an inclination angle so that a longitudinal direction of the heat exchange fin forms an acute angle relative to a vertical direction to enable the water drops defrosted by the defrosting unit to flow downward to a bottom end of the heat exchange fin, and opposite sides of each heat exchange fin are provided with rounded corner parts.  
      According to an aspect of the invention, at least one of the corner parts of each heat exchange fin is rounded to have a radius ranging approximately from 5 mm and 20 mm.  
      According to another aspect of the invention, the inclination angle of the heat exchange fin ranges approximately from 50 degree to 75 degree.  
      Also, the heat exchange fin has at least one protrusion protruding orthogonally from a surface of the heat exchange.  
      In a further aspect of the invention, the heat exchange fins are inclined toward one side relative to a vertical direction, and the bottom end of each heat exchange fin is adjacent to a wall on which the evaporator is installed.  
      According to another aspect of the invention, a coolant tube supporter is provided on opposite sides of the evaporator to support the coolant tube.  
      In addition, the heat exchange fins have a shape of a rectangular plate, and the coolant tube accommodating parts are formed on a surface of the heat exchange fin in pairs.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, the above and/or other aspects may be also achieved by providing a refrigerator including a refrigeration apparatus described above; a main body formed with at least one storage compartment supplied with cooling air generated by the refrigeration apparatus; and at least one door covering an opening of the storage compartment.  
      Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the aspects, taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings of which:  
       FIG. 1  is a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional evaporator;  
       FIG. 2  is a front view of a refrigerator including a refrigeration apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the refrigerator in  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the evaporator of the refrigeration apparatus in  FIG. 3 ;  
       FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the evaporator of the refrigeration apparatus in  FIG. 3 , taken across line V-V; and  
       FIG. 6  is a front view of a heat exchange fin of the evaporator in the refrigeration apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Reference will now be made in detail to the aspects of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The aspects are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a refrigerator  1  according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body  10  having storage compartments such as a freezer compartment  13  and a refrigerator compartment  14 , a door  5  covering a front opening of the freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14 , a refrigeration apparatus provided on a rear area of the main body  10  and equipped with an evaporator  20  to generate cooling air for cooling the freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14 , and a defrosting apparatus  40  to remove frost formed on a surface of the evaporator  20 .  
      The freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14  of the main body  10  have shelves  15  and compartments  16  to accommodate items such as food. Also, a rear area of the main body  10  is provided with an evaporator accommodating part  18  to accommodate the evaporator  20 , and an accommodating part cover  19  provided in front of the evaporator accommodating part  18  and covering the evaporator accommodating part  18 .  
      The evaporator accommodating part  18  is provided on a rear of the freezer compartment  13 . However, the evaporator accommodating part  18  may also be provided on a rear of the refrigerator compartment  14 , or on both of the rear areas of the freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14 . Also, the evaporator accommodating part  18  includes bosses  18   a  coupling the evaporator accommodating part  18  to the evaporator  20  and the accommodating part cover  19  by screws.  
      As shown in  FIG. 4 , the refrigeration apparatus has a compressor compressing coolant in a vapor state with high pressure and high temperature, a condenser condensing the coolant compressed by the compressor into liquid, a capillary tube converting the liquefied coolant into a state of low pressure and low temperature, the evaporator  20  cooling surrounding air by absorbing latent heat to evaporate the liquefied coolant converted into a state of low pressure and low temperature by the capillary tube, and a connecting pipe  27  connecting the compressor, the capillary tube, and the evaporator  20  to enable the coolant to circulate. Accordingly, the freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14  can be cooled by circulating the cooled air around the evaporator  20  into the freezer compartment  13  and the refrigerator compartment  14 .  
      The evaporator has a coolant tube  23  to pass the coolant, and heat exchange fins  30  formed with at least one coolant tube accommodating part  31  to couple with the coolant tube  23 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . Also, the evaporator  20  is provided with a coolant tube supporter  25  on opposite sides of the evaporator  20  to support the coolant tube  23 .  
      The coolant tube  23  is coupled with the connecting pipe  27  to couple with the compressor and the capillary tube. Also, the coolant tube  23  has bending parts along a vertical direction and inserted into the coolant tube accommodating part  31  of the heat exchange fin  30 . Also, the coolant tube  23  has a dual structure in which the coolant tube  23  is bent to form a pair of tube sections in the front and the rear of the heat exchange fins. However, the coolant tube  23  may be provided in different configurations such as a single structure, or a triple structure.  
      The coolant tube supporters  25  are provided on opposite sides of the coolant tube  23 , respectively, to support a shape of the coolant tube  23 . Also, the coolant tube supporter  25  is coupled to the evaporator accommodating part  18  and a screw so that the evaporator  20  can be coupled to the evaporator accommodating part  18 .  
       FIG. 6  shows the heat exchange fin  30  is provided in a predetermined angle ‘a’ so that a longitudinal direction of the heat exchange fin  30  forms an acute angle relative to a vertical direction to make defrosted water drops flow to a bottom end  33  of the heat exchange fin. In other words, a longitudinal direction line ‘A’ of the heat exchange fin  30  and a vertical direction line ‘B’ along which the water drops falls should form an acute angle ‘a’. Further, the acute angle should be between 50 degrees and 75 degrees. However, the angle ‘a’ formed by the longitudinal direction line ‘A’ of the heat exchange fin  30  and the vertical direction line ‘B’ may be between 40 degrees and 50 degrees so that the water drops formed on the heat exchange fin  30  can flow to the bottom end  33  easily. Also, the angle ‘a’ formed by the longitudinal direction line ‘A’ of the heat exchange fin  30  and the vertical direction line ‘B’ may be determined according to a length of the heat exchange fin  30  and a distance between the coolant tubes  23  set along a vertical direction. Further, each heat exchange fin  30  is inclined to one side relative to a vertical direction, and the bottom end  33  of each heat exchange fin  30  is adjacent to a wall where the evaporator  20  is installed. In other words, the bottom end  33  of the heat exchange fin  30  is inclined so that the bottom end  33  is adjacent to an inner wall of the evaporator accommodating part  18 . Accordingly, the water drops that flowed along to the bottom end  33  of the heat exchange fin  30  can flow downward along the wall of the evaporator accommodating part  18 . Also, a lower area of the evaporator accommodating part  18  may include a discharging hole to discharge the water from the heat exchange fin  30 . However, the lower area of the evaporator accommodating part  18  may alternatively be provided with an additional water accommodating part to gather the water drops.  
      Also, round corner parts  35  are provided on opposite sides of the heat exchange fin  30 . Although the heat exchange fin  30  may have a shape of a thin rectangular plate, it may also have different polygonal shape. Also, a surface of the heat exchange fin  30  may have at least one protrusion  37  protruding orthogonally from the surface of the heat exchange fin  30 .  
      The bottom end  33  of the heat exchange fin  30  may be in contact with the wall of the evaporator accommodating part  18 . Also, an end of the bottom end  33  is formed to be sharp so that the water drops formed on the heat exchange fin  30  flow along toward the wall of the evaporator accommodating part  18  easily.  
      The corner parts  35  include left and right areas between a top end  32  and the bottom end  33  of the heat exchange fin  30 , and may be rounded so that the water drops formed on a top area of the heat exchange fin  30  flow toward the bottom end  33  easily. Also, the corner part  35  is preferably rounded to form a half circle with a radius between 5 mm and 20 mm. However, the radius may be between 3 mm and 5 mm, or between 20 mm and 50 mm, or over 50 mm according to a size of the heat exchange fin  30 , so that the water drops formed on the top area of the heat exchange fin  30  flow toward the bottom end  33  easily.  
      The coolant tube accommodating part  31  is formed through a surface of the heat exchange fin  30  to accommodate the coolant tube  23 , and may be provided in pairs. However, the coolant tube accommodating part  31  may be provided as a single, or as a triple according to a shape of the coolant tube  23 .  
      The protrusion  37  functions to prevent the heat exchange fin  30  from being bent easily as it protrudes from the surface of the heat exchange fin  30 . Also, the protrusion  37  can improve heat exchange efficiency by causing turbulence in an air flow around the heat exchange fin  30 . Although the protrusion  37  may be provided in triplicate on the surface of the heat exchange fin  30 , it may also be provided singly, in a pair, or in quadruplet.  
      The defrosting apparatus includes a defrosting heater  41  and a heater supporter  43  supporting the defrosting heater  41 . Also, the heater supporter  43  is installed on a bottom area of the evaporator accommodating part  18  so that the defrosting heater  41  is positioned on a lower side of the evaporator  20 . However, the defrosting apparatus  40  may be provided on a front and a rear of the evaporator  20 , and it may include different heating means other than the defrosting heater  41 .  
      A defrosting process with such a configuration of the evaporator provided in the refrigeration apparatus of a refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below.  
      First, the compressor provided in the refrigeration apparatus stops operating, and the defrosting heater  41  of the defrosting apparatus  40  is powered on. The water drops are formed as the frost stuck on the coolant tube  23  and the heat exchange fin  30  in the evaporator  20  melts. Also, as the water drops get bigger, the water drops flow toward the bottom end  33  easily along the surface and a rounded edge of the heat exchange fin  30  by the weight of the water drops. Also, the water drops that reach the bottom end  33  keep flowing downward along the wall of the evaporator accommodating part  18  to be discharged easily. In other words, the water drops formed on the heat exchange fin  30  can flow to the bottom end  33  easily without accumulating on the corner part  35  because the heat exchange fin  30  is provided with an inclination and the corner part  35  is rounded.  
      Accordingly, the refrigeration apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can improve performance of the evaporator by preventing the water drops from being accumulated and frozen on the heat exchange fin and on the coolant tube. Also, the refrigerator installed with such refrigeration apparatus can reduce power consumption as the performance of the refrigerator is improved.  
      Although this embodiment of the present invention describes a refrigeration apparatus applied to a refrigerator, such refrigeration apparatus may be applied not only to the refrigerator, but also to various heat exchangers such as an air conditioning apparatus.  
      As describe above, the embodiment of the present invention can improve the performance of the evaporator provided in the refrigeration apparatus. Also the refrigerator provided with such refrigeration apparatus can reduce power consumption.  
      Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these aspects without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.