Patent Publication Number: US-7216502-B2

Title: Refrigerator

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-005426 filed on Jan. 28, 2004, 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 refrigerator and, more particularly, to a refrigerator in which a filter assembly can be exchanged with ease and an available space in the refrigerator is increased. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   As shown in  FIG. 5 , a conventional refrigerator is divided into a freezing compartment  110  and a cooling compartment  120  by a partition in a right-and-left direction. On each of the openings of the freezing compartment  110  and the cooling compartment  120  are provided a freezing compartment door  111  and a cooling compartment door  121  each having respective door guides  112  and  122  to accommodate bottles and the like in an up-and-down direction inside of the freezing compartment door  111  and the cooling compartment door  121 . 
   The freezing compartment  110  formed in the left side of a main body has an ice making compartment  115  to make ice at an upper part thereof and is provided with a plurality of freezing compartment shelves  113  and freezing compartment drawers  114  in an up-and-down direction under the ice making compartment  115 . On a front surface of the freezing compartment door  111  is a dispensing part to which ice made in the ice making compartment  115  and drinking water from the outside are supplied. The dispensing part comprises a water dispenser to supply drinking water and an ice dispenser to supply ice. 
   The cooling compartment  120  formed in the right side of the main body is provided with a plurality of cooling compartment shelves  123  to divide the inside of the cooling compartment  120  at an upper part of the cooling compartment  120  in an up-and-down direction and a plurality of cooling compartment drawers  124  at a lower part thereof. On the cooling compartment shelf  123  positioned at the most upper part is provided a filter assembly  140  to filtrate water supplied from a separate water supply part and supply the filtrated water to a water tank (not shown) connected to the water dispenser. 
   However, in the conventional refrigerator, because the filter assembly is mounted on the cooling compartment shelf positioned at the most upper part, a user must remove foods that have been placed on the cooling compartment shelves of the cooling compartment in order to exchange the spent filter cartridge with a new filter cartridge, which provides an inconvenience to exchange the filter cartridge. 
   Further, the filter assembly is mounted on the cooling compartment shelf, which harms an outer appearance and reduces the available space in the refrigerator. Further, a distance between the filter assembly at the upper part of the cooling compartment and the water tank at the lower part of the cooling compartment is long, which requires a long hose and increases a cost to connect the long hose. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigerator in which a filter assembly is exchanged with ease and an available space is increased. 
   The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are achieved by providing a refrigerator comprising: a main body having at least one refrigerating compartment; a door to open and close an opening of the refrigerating compartment; a water dispenser provided on the door to supply drinking water; a drawer provided inside the refrigerating compartment; and a filter assembly disposed behind the drawer to filtrate water supplied to the water dispenser. 
   According to an aspect of the invention, the filter assembly is mounted on a rear surface of the refrigerating compartment to be provided between a rear surface of the drawer and the rear surface of the refrigerating compartment when the drawer is accommodated in the refrigerating compartment. 
   According to an aspect of the invention, the refrigerator further comprises a water tank provided behind the drawer together with the filter assembly to contain the water filtrated by the filter assembly. 
   According to an aspect of the invention, the rear surface of the drawer comprises a transparent area that is made of transparent material and through which the filter assembly can be seen and a non-transparent area that is made of non-transparent material and through which the water tank cannot be seen. 
   Additional and/or other 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 invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  shows that doors of the refrigerator of  FIG. 1  are opened; 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded view showing an area in which a filter assembly of the refrigerator of  FIG. 2  is mounted; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing an area in which the filter assembly of the refrigerator of  FIG. 2  is mounted; and 
       FIG. 5  shows that doors of a conventional refrigerator are opened. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1 through 4 , a partition divides a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention into a freezing compartment  10  and a cooling compartment  20  in a right-and-left direction. Each of the freezing compartment  10  and the cooling compartment  20  has a freezing compartment door  11  and a cooling compartment door  21  to open/close each of a front opening of the freezing compartment  10  and the cooling compartment  20 . Inside the freezing compartment door  11  and the cooling compartment door  21  are provided door guides  12  and  22  to accommodate bottles and the like in an up-and-down direction. On a rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  are formed first and second hose through holes  29  and  30  for a filter assembly  40  and a water tank  50  (to be described later). 
   The freezing compartment  10  formed in the left side of a main body is provided with a plurality of freezing compartment shelves  13  and freezing compartment drawers  14  in an up-and-down direction. On a front surface of the freezing compartment door  11  is provided a dispensing part  15  to which ice made in the ice making compartment and drinking water from the outside are supplied. The dispensing part  15  comprises a water dispenser to supply drinking water and an ice dispenser to supply ice. 
   The cooling compartment  20  formed in the right side of the main body is provided with a plurality of cooling compartment shelves  23  to divide the inside of the cooling compartment  20  in an up-and-down direction at an upper part of the cooling compartment  20  and a plurality of cooling compartment drawers  24  at a lower part thereof, behind which the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  are provided. 
   The filter assembly  40  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  to be positioned between a rear surface  25  of one of the cooling compartment drawers  24  and the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . That is, in the state that the cooling compartment drawers  24  are accommodated in the cooling compartment  20 , the filter assembly  40  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  facing the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24 , so that a front of the filter assembly  40  faces the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24  and a rear of the filter assembly  40  faces the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . 
   The filter assembly  40  filtrates water supplied from a water supplying part (not shown) to supply it to the water tank  50 . The filter assembly  40  comprises a head  41  securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  and a filter cartridge  46  detachably connected to the head  41 . 
   The filter cartridge  46  is connected to the water supply part with a hose  60  to filtrate impurities included in the water supplied from the water supply part and detachably connected to the head  41  to be exchanged by a user after a use of a predetermined period of time. 
   The head  41  comprises a head main body  42  of a cylinder shape, a fixing part  43  extending from the head main body  42  in a radial direction and bent downwardly. The fixing part  43  is formed with a bolt through hole  44  in which a bolt  45  inserted in a bolt-inserting hole  31  formed on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  is inserted. 
   The water filtrated by the filter assembly  40  is contained in the water tank  50 , which is supplied to the water dispenser. 
   The water tank  50  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  together with the filter assembly  40  to be positioned between the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24  and the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . That is, in the state that the cooling compartment drawers  24  are accommodated in the cooling compartment  20 , the water tank  50  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  facing the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24 , so that a front of the water tank  50  faces the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment  20  and a rear of the water tank  50  faces the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment drawer  24 . Here, a screw  53  passes through a screw through-hole  52  of a connecting part  51  provided at a side of the water tank  50  and is inserted in a screw hole  32  formed on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 , so that the water tank  50  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . 
   The rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24  positioned in the front of the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  comprises a transparent area  26  that is made of transparent material and positioned corresponding to the filter assembly  40  and through which the filter assembly  40  can be seen and a non-transparent area  27  that is made of non-transparent material and positioned with the exception of the transparent area and through which the water tank  50  cannot be seen. 
   With a configuration described above, a description of a method to securely mount the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  and to exchange the filter assembly  40  to a new filter follows. 
   First, the filter assembly  40  is positioned on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  facing the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24  and the bolt  45  is inserted in the bolt through-hole  44  formed in the fixing part  43  of the filter assembly  40  to be inserted in the bolt-inserting hole  31  formed on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 , so that the filter assembly  40  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . Then, the water tank  50  is positioned in the vicinity of the filter assembly  40  and the screw  53  is inserted in the screw through-hole  52  formed on the connecting part  51  of the water tank  50  to be inserted in the screw hole  32  formed on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 , so that the water tank  50  is securely mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20 . The cooling compartment drawer  24  is slid into the cooling compartment  20 , so that the rear surface  25  of the cooling compartment drawer  24  approaches the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50 . Then, the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  are provided behind cooling compartment drawer  24 . Thus, water supplied from the water supply part to the filter assembly  40  is filtrated by the filter cartridge  46  of the filter assembly  40  and supplied to the water tank  50 , so that water contained in the water tank  50  is supplied to the water dispenser. Then, a user can drink cool water supplied from the water dispenser. 
   Moreover, if the filter cartridge  46  of the filter assembly  40  needs to be exchanged after a use of a predetermined period of time, the user draws the whole cooling compartment drawer  24  out of the cooling compartment  20  with ease. Then, the water tank  50  and the filter assembly  40  mounted on the rear surface  28  of the cooling compartment  20  are exposed to the outside, so that the user can detach the filter cartridge  46  from the head  41  and connect a new filter cartridge  46  to the head  41 . Thereafter, if the user pushes the cooling compartment drawer  24  into the cooling compartment  20 , the exchange of the filter cartridge  46  is completed. 
   In the conventional refrigerator, foods put on the cooling compartment shelves must be pulled out of the cooling compartment shelves to exchange the filter cartridge of the filter assembly. However, in the refrigerator according to the present invention, to exchange the filter cartridge  46  of the filter assembly  40 , it is only required that the user draws the cooling compartment drawer  24  out of the cooling compartment  20  and pushes the cooling compartment drawer  24  into the cooling compartment  20 , which makes the exchange of the filter cartridge  46  much easier. 
   Further, the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  are positioned behind cooling compartment drawer  24 , which increases an available space in the refrigerator. 
   Moreover, in the present invention, different from the conventional refrigerator in which the filter assembly is exposed to the outside, the filter assembly  40  of the present invention is covered by the rear surface  25  of cooling compartment drawer  24 , which provides a better appearance inside the cooling compartment  20 . The filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  are provided in the vicinity, which reduces the length of a hose to connect the filter assembly  40  and the water tank  50  and a cost to connect the hose. 
   As described above, the present invention provides the refrigerator that has the more available space and in which the filter assembly can be exchanged by the user with ease. 
   Further, the present invention provides a refrigerator that has the better appearance inside the cooling compartment and in which cost for the filter assembly is reduced. 
   Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.