Patent Description:
Generally, an air supply damper for a refrigerating compartment of a single-system side-by-side refrigerator in a prior art is mounted in the refrigerating compartment. In order to guarantee a sealing effect of the damper and an air supply effect of the refrigerating compartment, a refrigerating air supply duct is provided in an upper portion of the refrigerating compartment, and provided therein with the damper to control an amount of air supplied from an evaporator into the refrigerating compartment, thereby controlling a temperature of the refrigerating compartment.

<FIG> shows a sectional view of an air duct of a side-by-side refrigerator in the prior art. As shown, the side-by-side refrigerator has a freezing compartment a and a refrigerating compartment b arranged side by side, and further includes a freezing liner <NUM>, a fan cover plate <NUM>, a freezing fan <NUM>, a fan bracket <NUM>, an evaporator <NUM>, mullion foam <NUM>, a refrigerating damper <NUM>, refrigerating air duct foam <NUM>, a refrigerating air duct cover plate <NUM> and a foamed cabinet <NUM>, wherein the refrigerating damper <NUM> is provided in the refrigerating compartment b.

<FIG> shows a sectional view of the side-by-side refrigerator in the prior art in <FIG>. As shown, when the refrigerator works, the evaporator <NUM> performs refrigeration, and the freezing fan <NUM> operates to supply refrigerated air into the freezing compartment a and the refrigerating compartment b respectively through the fan cover plate <NUM> and the mullion foam <NUM>. A refrigerating air supply duct is provided at an air inlet of the refrigerating compartment b, and the refrigerating air supply duct includes the refrigerating damper <NUM>, the refrigerating air duct foam <NUM> and the refrigerating air duct cover plate <NUM>. When the refrigerating compartment is required to be refrigerated, the refrigerating damper <NUM> is opened, and the cold air enters the refrigerating compartment through the refrigerating air duct foam <NUM> and the refrigerating air duct cover plate <NUM>, so as to refrigerate the refrigerating compartment; when the refrigerating compartment is not required to be refrigerated, the refrigerating damper <NUM> is closed, and the cold air is unable to enter the refrigerating compartment.

In such an air duct of the refrigerator in the prior art, since the air entering the refrigerating compartment from the evaporator has a relatively low temperature (lower than <NUM> Celsius degrees), in order to avoid condensation of the air duct of the refrigerating compartment, polystyrene foam may be applied in the refrigerating air supply duct for insulation, which leads to a large size of the refrigerating air supply duct, reduces an effective volume in the refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator by more than <NUM>, and is unable to meet a requirement of a user for a capacity of the refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator.

<FIG> shows a schematic diagram of air circulation in a refrigerating process in the prior art in <FIG>. As shown, in the refrigerating process, the cold air passing through the evaporator goes through the freezing fan, part of the air is blown into the freezing compartment a directly, and another part of the air is supplied into the refrigerating compartment b through the refrigerating damper, the mullion foam and the refrigerating air duct. The air entering the freezing compartment a and the refrigerating compartment b arrives at a bottom of the evaporator by means of refrigerating air return and freezing air return after refrigerating foods for successive circulation.

In the prior art, in the case where the refrigerating compartment b is not required to be refrigerated and the refrigerating damper is closed, once the refrigerating air duct foam has a poor butt joint or a sealing gasket is deformed, the cold air may be leaked into the refrigerating compartment b through an air duct B, resulting in a temperature which is too low in the refrigerating compartment and causing the foods in the refrigerating compartment b to be frozen off.

In summary, how to increase the effective capacity of the refrigerating compartment as much as possible and avoid the leakage of the cold air effectively have become urgent problems for those skilled in the art of a structural design of the refrigerator.

Document <CIT> discloses a refrigerator which includes: a refrigerating cycle device having a compressor; a radiator connected to a discharge side of the compressor; a first expansion valve connected to an exit side of the radiator; a gas-liquid separator for separating a refrigerant, which is in a mixed gas-liquid state by being decompressed by the first expansion valve, into a gas refrigerant and a liquid refrigerant, a heat absorber into which the liquid refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator flows; and a refrigerant pipe for delivering the gas refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator into the middle pressure portion of the compressor; an outer case; an inner case; and a heat insulating material. The gas-liquid separator is arranged in the heat insulating material.

Document <CIT> discloses an appliance which includes a temperature selection input device for each compartment, at least one compressor, at least one evaporator, at least one fan for creating an air flow over the evaporator, a temperature sensor located in each compartment, and a control circuit to receive an input from said temperature selection input device for each compartment and a temperature signal for each temperature sensor and to produce an error condition signal with a magnitude dependent on a difference between the selected temperature and the sensed temperature for each compartment. The control circuit also controls a speed of the fan in response to a greater of the error condition signals.

Document <CIT> discloses a damper device for a changeover room in which a special fan, a baffle for the refrigeration room and a baffle for the changeover room are installed. When cold air is to flow into the changeover room, the baffle for the changeover room is opened and the special fan is forced to rotate.

Document <CIT> discloses that in the process of forming a heat-insulated box, a heat-insulated dividing wall is mounted beforehand, and both edges of the heat-insulated dividing wall and the inner wall of the inner box are firmly fixed by the foaming pressure of a foam insulation material. The cooler and the cold air distribution system are assembled in the assembly space formed at the rear of the thermal insulation dividing wall. In this case, a fan device is attached to the fan mounting part of an air cover in advance, and a damper unit is constructed by fitting a damper device and a thermal insulator with a rear thermal insulator into a damper cover. The damper unit is assembled by fitting them together from the upper side of the insulated partition wall. The freezer side front cover is assembled on the back of the freezer.

<CIT> discloses a cold air supply apparatus of a side-by-side refrigerator according to the preamble of claim <NUM>, wherein a cold air path for discharging cold air from the rear and side surfaces of a chilling chamber is formed to distribute cold air. The apparatus includes a cold air discharge duct installed at the upper portion of a chilling chamber, a side cold air path connected with a certain side of the cold air discharge duct, formed at the side wall of the chilling chamber and guiding cold air to the side of the chilling chamber, and a damper installed on a side of the cold air discharge duct in order to open/close the cold air supply hole, the side cold air path and both the side cold air path and the cold air discharge duct selectively.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a refrigerator with a refrigerating air supply assembly, which is able to increase the effective capacity of the refrigerating compartment and avoid cooling leakage effectively.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a refrigerator with a refrigerating air supply assembly according to claim <NUM>.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the fan bracket, the freezing fan, the freezing air duct and the refrigerating air supply damper are integrated into the refrigerating air supply assembly.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the refrigerating air supply assembly is further covered with the dumper insulator.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the insulator is made of polystyrene foam.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the insulator has a thickness ranging from <NUM> to <NUM>.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the insulator has a thickness of <NUM>.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the insulator is made of other types of plastics.

As a further improvement of one embodiment of the present invention, the plastic insulator is provided with a heating wire or a vacuum insulation panel.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention is able to increase the effective capacity of the refrigerating compartment and avoid cooling leakage effectively.

The present invention will be described below in detail in combination with specific embodiments illustrated in drawings. However, these embodiments have no limitations on the present invention, and any transformations of structure, method, or function made by persons skilled in the art according to these embodiments fall within the protection scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

It should be understood that the terms expressive of spatial relative positions, such as "upper", "above", "lower", "below", or the like herein are used to describe the relationship of a unit or feature relative to another unit or feature in the drawings, for the purpose of illustration and description. Terms expressive of the spatial relative positions are intended to include different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientations shown in the drawings.

<FIG> is a sectional view of an air duct of a side-by-side refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the side-by-side refrigerator has a freezing compartment a' and a refrigerating compartment b' arranged side by side, and further includes a freezing liner <NUM>', a fan bracket <NUM>', a freezing fan <NUM>', an evaporator <NUM>', a refrigerating air supply damper <NUM>', a damper insulator <NUM>', a refrigerating liner <NUM>', a mullion air supply insulator <NUM>', a refrigerating air duct <NUM>' and a foamed cabinet <NUM>'.

In order to avoid the refrigerating air duct occupying an effective volume of the refrigerating compartment, a refrigerating damper provided in the refrigerating compartment in the prior art is omitted in the present invention. Instead, the refrigerating air supply damper is provided in the freezing compartment and integrated into an upper portion of the evaporator, thus effectively increasing a volume ratio of the refrigerating compartment. At the same time, in order to seal the refrigerating air supply damper conveniently, the damper insulator is further provided at the refrigerating air supply damper which is fixed at the fan bracket by the damper insulator and a bracket claw. When the refrigerator is assembled, first, the fan bracket <NUM>', the freezing fan <NUM>', the refrigerating air supply damper <NUM>' and the damper insulator <NUM>' are integrated in advance to form a refrigerating air supply assembly which is then mounted into the freezing compartment directly.

Further, since the refrigerating air supply damper is provided in the freezing compartment, in order to prevent ice formation at the refrigerating air supply damper, usually, a cover plate is additionally provided at the refrigerating air supply damper, and a heating wire is mounted at the cover plate.

Further, in order to prevent ice formation in an air supply passage in the freezing compartment, the damper insulator is required to have a certain insulation thickness. In one embodiment, the damper insulator is made of polystyrene foam and has a thickness ranging from <NUM> to <NUM>. Optimally, the polystyrene foam has a thickness of about <NUM>.

Further, other materials than the polystyrene foam may be used, for example, other types of plastics. When other materials are used, the thickness of the insulator will be changed correspondingly.

Further, in order to prevent ice formation at the refrigerating damper, usually, a plastic insulator is provided with a heating wire or a vacuum insulation panel.

Further, the refrigerating air duct may only extend to an upper section of a mullion horizontally, and be led to the refrigerating compartment through a small number of air outlets. More preferably, the refrigerating air duct includes a first section extending to the upper section of the mullion horizontally and a second section extending along the mullion downwards, and is led to the refrigerating compartment through more air outlets, thereby improving a refrigerating efficiency of the refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of air circulation in a refrigerating process according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the present invention, the refrigerating air supply damper is provided in the freezing compartment a', and the problem of air leakage of the refrigerating air duct in the prior art may also be solved effectively. As shown, when the refrigerating compartment b' is required to be refrigerated, the freezing fan works, and the refrigerating damper is opened. At this point, cold air successively passes through the refrigerating air supply damper <NUM>', the damper insulator <NUM>', the mullion air duct insulator <NUM>' and the refrigerating air duct <NUM>' into the refrigerating compartment; when the refrigerating compartment b' is not required to be refrigerated, the refrigerating damper is closed, which may completely separates the freezing compartment a' from the refrigerating air supply damper <NUM>' to avoid air leakage of the refrigerating compartment b'.

Further, as shown in <FIG>, the first section of the refrigerating air duct extending to the upper section of the mullion horizontally is covered with the damper insulator, and the second section extending along the mullion downwards is covered with the mullion air duct insulator, thereby alleviating condensation at an inner wall of the refrigerating compartment close to the freezing compartment.

Compared with the prior art, the side-by-side refrigerator according to the present invention has the refrigerating compartment with a greater effective capacity, and avoids cold air leakage effectively.

It should be understood that although the present specification is described based on embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. Such a narration way of the present specification is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should take the present specification as an entirety. The technical solutions in the respective embodiments may be combined properly to form other embodiments which may be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claim 1:
A refrigerator with a refrigerating air supply assembly, the refrigerator comprising a freezing compartment, a refrigerating compartment, a freezing fan (<NUM>'), a fan bracket (<NUM>'), an evaporator (<NUM>'), a freezing air duct, a refrigerating air duct (<NUM>'), a refrigerating liner (<NUM>') and a foamed cabinet (<NUM>'), wherein the freezing compartment is communicated with the refrigerating compartment by the freezing air duct provided therein with a refrigerating air supply damper (<NUM>'), wherein the refrigerator is configured as a side-by-side refrigerator, characterized in that the refrigerating air
supply damper (<NUM>') is provided in the freezing compartment and integrated into an upper portion of the evaporator (<NUM>'), the refrigerating air duct (<NUM>') includes a first section extending to the upper section of a mullion horizontally and a second section extending along the mullion downwards, and is led to the refrigerating compartment through air outlets, a damper insulator (<NUM>') is further provided at the refrigerating air supply damper (<NUM>') which is fixed at the fan bracket (<NUM>') by the damper insulator (<NUM>') and a bracket claw.