Patent Abstract:
Refrigerator barrier structure in a refrigerator body structure having a barrier for separating a refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, and a freezing chamber door and a refrigerating chamber door for open/closing of the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber respectively, including an area enlarging device on a front portion of the barrier for securing an area for close contact of gaskets on the freeze chamber door and the refrigerating chamber door, whereby enlarging effective spaces of the freeze chamber and the refrigerating chamber.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a refrigerator body structure, and more particularly, to a refrigerator barrier structure which can enlarge effective spaces of a freeze chamber and a refrigerating chamber. 
     2. Background of the Related Art 
     In general, the refrigerator is provided with a body which forms an outer appearance of the refrigerator, and components for conducting a refrigerating cycle, such as compressor, evaporator, condenser, expansion valve, and etc. The refrigerator body not only forms the outer appearance of the refrigerator, but also insulates the freeze chamber and the refrigerating chamber from outside. 
     A prior art refrigerator body structure will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The prior art refrigerator body is provided with an outer case  10  for forming an outer surface of the refrigerator, inner cases  20   a  and  20   b  for forming inner surfaces of the refrigerator, and a barrier  30  between the inner cases  20   a  and  20   b  for separating the freeze chamber  100  and the refrigerating chamber  200 . There are doors  110  and  210  on a front surface of the refrigerating chamber  100  and the freeze chamber  200 , there are gaskets  115  and  215  in inside surfaces of the doors  110  and  210  for sealing and insulating, and there is a metal plate  32  on a front surface of the barrier  30 . An insulating material is stuffed in a space formed by the outer case  10  and the inner case  20   a  and  20   b  and an inside surface of the barrier  30 . In detail, polyurethane foam is stuffed in the space formed by the outer case  10  and the inner cases  20   a  and  20   b . However, the inside surface of the barrier is stuffed, not with polyurethane foam, but with Styrofoam  40  formed to a required size and shaped in advance, because the barrier  30  should have a cold air supply passage(not shown) for supplying a cold air heat exchanged in the evaporator mounted in a rear side of the freeze chamber  100  and a cold air feed back passage(not shown) for feeding back the air relatively heated in a heat exchange in the refrigerating chamber  200 . If the styrofoam insulating material having none of the cold air supply passage and the cold air feed back passage formed therein in advance is not used, separate ducts for use as the cold air supply passage and the cold air feed back passage should be provided inside of the barrier  30 , before an inside of the barrier  30  is stuffed with polyurethane. 
     However, the stuffing of styrofoam  40  of a size and form inside of the barrier  30  in the related art refrigerator barrier structure has the following problems. 
     First, the styrofoam has a poor insulating property compared to polyurethane. Therefore, the styrofoam insulating material  40  should be thick for securing an adequate insulating performance, that results in a thick barrier  30 . That is, the thicker barrier  30  results in a reduced freeze chamber  100  and a refrigerating chamber  200 , that drops a spatial efficiency of the refrigerator. 
     Second, because the styrofoam insulating material  40  is more expensive than the polyurethane the use of styrofoam pushes up a production cost of the refrigerator. Accordingly, in order to solve the problem, a method is suggested, in which a polyurethane insulating film is formed in the barrier  30 . In this instance, separate cold air feed back duct and the like are provided in advance before polyurethane is stuffed between the outer case  10  and the inner cases  20   a  and  20   b.    
     However, such a method has the following problems. 
     Even the stuffing of the barrier space with polyurethane can not reduce a thickness of the barrier below a limit, because a space for close contact of gaskets for the refrigerating chamber and the freeze chamber should be secure on a front surface of the barrier. That is, in the related art method, even if polyurethane which has a good insulating property is used, enlarging effective spaces of the refrigerating chamber and the freeze chamber has been difficult since a thickness of the barrier should be kept greater than a certain limit for close contact of the gaskets. Moreover, the cold air ducts are deformed by a foam pressure during foaming. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a refrigerator barrier structure that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator barrier structure which has an adequate insulating performance while a refrigerator space can be maximized. 
     Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. 
     To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the refrigerator barrier structure in a refrigerator body structure having a barrier for separating a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and a freezing chamber door and a refrigerating chamber door for open/closing of the freezing chamber, and the refrigerating chamber respectively, includes area enlarging means on a front portion of the barrier for securing an area for close contact of gaskets on the freeze chamber door and the refrigerating chamber door. 
     The area enlarging means including a horizontal portion in close contact with the barrier, and a vertical portion in close contact with a front portion of the barrier. 
     The area enlarging means further includes a front plate fitted to the horizontal portion of the area enlarging means. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention: 
     In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a section of a prior art refrigerator body structure; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a partial enlarged sectional view of “A” part in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a section showing a refrigerator barrier structure in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a partial enlarged sectional view of “B” part in FIG. 3; and, 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective disassembled view of FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 3 illustrates a section showing a refrigerator barrier structures in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 illustrates a partial enlarged sectional view of “B” part in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective disassembled view of FIG.  3 . Components of the present invention identical to the prior art will be given identical reference symbols, and explanations on the identical components will be omitted. The present invention suggests to provide an area enlarging means  50  on a front surface of the barrier  30  to enlarge the front surface of the barrier  30  without providing a thick barrier 30 for permitting close contact of gaskets of the refrigerating chamber door and the freezing chamber door. 
     The area enlarging means  50  will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 
     The area enlarging means  50  includes a horizontal portion  50   b  attached to a bottom portion  30   b  of the barrier  30  and a vertical portion  50   a  attached to a front portion  30   a  of the barrier  30 . Of course, a height Hb of the vertical portion  50   a  is thicker than a thickness Ha of the front portion  30   a  of the barrier  30 , and has a size required to bring the gaskets into close contact. The horizontal portion  50   b  of the area enlarging means is recessed, to provide a space  56  for stuffing an insulating material, for example, polyurethane, preferably with a feeding hole  35  in a bottom portion  30   b  of the barrier  30  opposite to the space  56 . Because an insulating performance can be improved further owing to an insulating layer formed as polyurethane liquid flows into inside of the area enlarging means  50  through a flow hole  35  in the barrier  30  if the polyurethane liquid is injected under a state the area enlarging means  50  is fastened to the barrier  30 . Of course, insulating material may be stuffed in the area enlarging means  50  before the area enlarging means are attached to the front surface of the barrier  30 . Though, this embodiment of the present invention explains that polyurethane is injected into the barrier  30  and the area enlarging means  50  for forming an insulating layer therein, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the insulating layer may be formed of other insulating material which has a better insulating property. And, though this embodiment of the present invention shows and explains that the area enlarging means  50  is extended to a region under the barrier  30 , the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the area enlarging means  50  may be extended upward toward the freeze chamber  100 , or in both directions. And, of course, it is possible that the area enlarging means  50  may be formed, not separate from the barrier  30 , but as a unit with the barrier  30 . It is preferable that a separate front plate  50   a  is provided on a front surface of the area enlarging means  50  to bring the doors  110  and  210  into close contact with the front plate  50   a  by means of magnets in the gaskets  115  and  215 . A length of the vertical position  50   a  of the area enlarging means  50  may be shortened when the front plate is applied. Of coarse, the front plate  50   a  may not be applied or formed as a unit with the area enlarging means  50 . The fitting of the area enlarging means  50  to the front surface if the barrier  30  can be done by using a general fitting methods, such as fitting using adhesives or screws, of which further explanations will be omitted. As explained, if the area enlarging means  50  is applied to the front surface of the barrier  30 , the barrier  30  may be formed thinner by using polyurethane which has an excellent insulating property instead of the styrofoam in the related art or a material which has an insulating property better than this. Because the front portion of the barrier can be provided with an adequate area for the close contact of the gaskets on the doors by the area enlarging means  50 . 
     In the meantime, in a case when the area enlarging means  50  is applied to the front portion of the barrier  30  and the insulating  90  is formed by injecting and foaming polyurethane in the barrier  30 , it is preferable that the ducts provided in the barrier  30  are minimized, because deformation of the ducts by a foaming pressure can be minimized and spaces for stuffing the polyurethane inside the barrier  30  can be increased, than can improve an insulating performance. In detail, as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the cold air feed back duct  230  is formed, not passed through the barrier  30 , but within a rear wall of the body, and the cold air supply duct  220  is formed in a straight line form in a rear portion of the barrier  30  as far as possible. 
     The refrigerator barrier structure of the present invention has the following advantages. 
     First, the application of the area enlarging means permits to reduce a thickness of the barrier by using an insulating material which has an excellent insulating property. Because, through the thickness of the barrier can not be reduced below a certain limit for securing an area for contacting with the gaskets even if an excellent insulating material is used in the related art, the use of the area enlarging means solves this problem. The thinner barrier made available by the present invention provides a larger refrigerating chamber and freezing chamber for putting more food therein. That is, the enlarged spaces of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber for the same external size improves a spatial efficiency. 
     Second, as an inside of the barrier can be stuffed with an insulating material with an excellent insulating performance and a relatively low cost, such as polyurethane, instead of the expensive styrofoam insulating material of the related art, a production cost can be reduced. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the refrigerator barrier structure of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5