Patent Description:
A refrigerator is an appliance that may store food in a frozen mode or a refrigerated mode by including a storage compartment for storing food and components constituting a refrigeration cycle to supply cold air generated from an evaporator of the refrigeration cycle to the storage compartment.

Because various foods are stored in the storage compartment of the refrigerator, an odor is generated from the foods in the storage compartment. Thus, the refrigerator includes a deodorizer for removing the odor generated in the storage compartment.

The deodorizer includes a housing forming a flow path through which air passes, a deodorizing filter disposed on the flow path and through which air passes, and a fan for blowing air in the storage compartment to the deodorizing filter.

Recently, a deodorizer including a light deodorizing filter for removing odors in response to light and a light source for irradiating light to the light deodorizing filter is used.

<CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT> disclose a refrigerator including a deodorizer for removing odors.

It is an aspect of the disclosure to provide a deodorizer through which air may be easily passed and a refrigerator including the same.

According to the present invention, a refrigerator is provided as defined in claim <NUM>.

At least some of four of the light source supports include a locking protrusion provided at an upper end thereof to prevent an end of the substrate seated in the seating groove from being separated from the seating groove.

The locking protrusion is formed only on two of the light source supports disposed diagonally from each other among four of the light source supports.

The deodorizer further includes a fan assembly disposed on the flow path to flow air along the flow path.

The assembly is configured to discharge air in a direction inclined toward the front lower side.

The upper housing includes a guide portion formed to be bent upward and an upper flow path portion protruding from a lower surface of the upper housing and provided at opposite sides and the front about the guide portion, and the lower housing includes a lower flow path portion protruding from an upper surface of the lower housing and provided in front, rear, left and right about the discharge port.

The upper flow path portion is formed such that an up-down width thereof increases from the rear toward the front, and the lower flow path portion is formed such that an up-down width thereof increases from the rear toward the front.

As is apparent from the above, a deodorizer according to an embodiment of the disclosure and a refrigerator including the same can prevent an increase in flow path resistance caused by a light source for a deodorizing filter because the light source for the deodorizing filter is not only disposed to face the deodorizing filter, but also positioned above air passing through the flow path.

Configurations shown in the embodiments and the drawings described in the present specification are only the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

Like reference numbers or signs in the various figures of the application represent parts and components that perform substantially the same functions.

The terms used in the present specification are used to describe the embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims.

It will be understood that when the terms "includes," "comprises," "including," and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, figures, steps, components, or combination thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, figures, steps, components, members, or combinations thereof.

Hereinafter, a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in <FIG>, a refrigerator includes a main body <NUM> having an open front surface to form a storage compartment 10a, and a door <NUM> whose one end is rotatably coupled to the front surface of the main body <NUM> to open and close the storage compartment 10a.

The refrigerator also includes components of the refrigeration cycle such as a compressor <NUM>, a condenser (not shown), an evaporator <NUM>, and an expansion valve (not shown), and supplies cold air generated in the evaporator <NUM> to the storage compartment 10a through a blower <NUM> so that the storage compartment 10a is kept at a low temperature.

The refrigerator also includes a plurality of shelves <NUM> arranged to be spaced up and down in the storage compartment 10a and partitioning the storage compartment 10a up and down, and a storage drawer <NUM> installed at a lower portion of the storage compartment 10a to be movable back and forth to store vegetables and the like.

The refrigerator also includes a deodorizer <NUM> configured to remove odors generated from foods stored in the storage compartment 10a. The deodorizer <NUM> is installed at a rear side of an upper surface of the storage compartment 10a.

As shown in <FIG>, the deodorizer <NUM> includes a housing <NUM> forming a flow path 30a through which air passes, and a photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> disposed on the flow path 30a inside the housing <NUM> and configured to react photochemically by light to remove odors, a filter light source <NUM> configured to generate light to irradiate the light to the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM>, and a fan assembly <NUM> configured to pass air in the storage compartment 10a through the flow path 30a inside the housing <NUM> and the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> disposed on the flow path 30a.

The housing <NUM> includes an upper housing <NUM> and a lower housing <NUM> coupled to each other up and down to form the flow path 30a.

The upper housing <NUM> is installed on the upper surface of the storage compartment 10a. The upper housing <NUM> includes a guide portion 311a formed to be bent upward to guide air, and an upper flow path portion 311b protruding from a lower surface of the upper housing <NUM>.

The guide portion 311a serves to guide air such that a flow direction of the air may be gradually changed toward a front lower side.

The upper flow path portion 311b is provided in a rib shape at opposite sides and the front about the guide portion 311a. The upper flow path portion 311b forms the flow path 30a together with a lower flow path portion 312e of the lower housing <NUM> which will be described later. The upper flow path portion 311b is formed such that an up-down width thereof decreases from the rear toward the front.

The lower housing <NUM> includes a suction port 312a to allow air to be introduced to the flow path 30a inside the housing <NUM>, a discharge port 312b to allow air passed through the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> to be discharged back into the storage compartment 10a, and the lower flow path portion 312e protruding from an upper surface of the lower housing <NUM>.

The suction port 312a is formed in a rectangular shape extending from side to side, and a suction grill 312c of a grid shape is formed on the suction port 312a. The discharge port 312b is formed in a circular shape, and a discharge grill 312d of a bar shape is formed on the discharge port 312b. The flow path 30a guides the air sucked through the suction port 312a positioned at a rear lower side to a front lower side where the discharge port 312b is provided.

The lower housing <NUM> includes the lower flow path portion 312e protruding downward from the upper surface thereof to form the flow path 30a. The lower flow path portion 312e is provided in a rib form in front, rear, left, and right about the discharge port 312b.

The fan assembly <NUM> is installed in the lower flow path portion 312e and formed such that an up-down width thereof increases from the rear toward the front.

Accordingly, when the upper housing <NUM> and the lower housing <NUM> are coupled to each other in a state where the fan assembly <NUM> is installed in the lower flow path portion 312e, a lower end of the upper flow path portion 311b and an upper end of the lower flow path portion 312e are engaged with each other to form the flow path 30a, and the fan assembly <NUM> is disposed inside the flow path 30a.

The photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> removes odors in air through a photochemical reaction when light is irradiated. The photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> is disposed inside the suction port 312a, that is, above the suction port 312a in the drawing. The photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape to correspond to the suction port 312a.

As shown in <FIG>, a lower surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> is disposed to be spaced apart from the suction grill 312c by a predetermined gap G so that air may also flow through a gap between the suction grill 312c and the lower surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM>. This is to allow air to pass also through a region of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> corresponding to the suction grill 312c.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the filter light source <NUM> is disposed to face an upper surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> in a state of being spaced apart from each other. Accordingly, the air passed through the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> may flow forward through a space between the filter light source <NUM> and the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM>.

The filter light source <NUM> includes a substrate <NUM> formed in a rectangular shape extending from side to side, and a plurality of light emitting diodes <NUM> disposed to be spaced apart from side to side on a lower surface of the substrate <NUM>.

The substrate <NUM> of the filter light source <NUM> has a left-right width corresponding to the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> and is disposed to correspond to a central portion in the front-rear direction of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM>. Therefore, the light generated from the light emitting diodes <NUM> is distributedly irradiated symmetrically in the front-back direction on the upper surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM>.

As described above, the filter light source <NUM> is disposed above the photocatalytic deodorizing filter <NUM> in a state of being spaced apart from each other and the flow path 30a guides air sucked from the rear lower side to the front lower side, the filter light source <NUM> is configured to be positioned above air flowing along the flow path 30a. Therefore, the filter light source <NUM> hardly affects the air flowing along the flow path 30a, so that the increase in flow path resistance by the filter light source <NUM> is prevented.

A larger amount of air may pass through the deodorizer <NUM> by preventing the increase in flow path resistance through the arrangement of the filter light source <NUM> described above, thereby improving the performance of the deodorizer <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the lower housing <NUM> includes light source supports 312f supporting the filter light source <NUM>. The light source supports 312f are formed to protrude upward from an inner lower surface of the housing <NUM>, that is, the upper surface of the lower housing <NUM>. A total of four of the light source supports 312f are formed to correspond to front and rear ends of opposite sides of the substrate <NUM> of the filter light source <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the light source supports 312f include a seating groove <NUM> in which each of the front and rear ends of the opposite sides of the substrate <NUM> of the filter light source <NUM> is seated, and a locking protrusion <NUM> provided at an upper end of the light source support 312f to prevent an end of the substrate <NUM> seated in the seating groove <NUM> from being separated from the seating groove <NUM>.

The seating groove <NUM> is provided on each of the light source supports 312f, and the locking protrusion <NUM> is formed only on two of the light source supports 312f disposed diagonally from each other among four of the light source supports 312f. This is to allow the substrate <NUM> to be seated in the seating grooves <NUM> by easily passing a portion where the locking protrusion <NUM> is formed.

The fan assembly <NUM> is configured by modularizing a rotating fan <NUM>, a motor (not shown) for rotating the fan <NUM>, and a frame <NUM> for supporting the fan <NUM> and the motor.

The fan assembly <NUM> is configured to discharge air in a direction inclined toward the front lower side. This is to consider that the cold air supplied through the refrigeration cycle is mainly supplied to a rear side of the storage compartment 10a. That is, because the deodorizer <NUM> is disposed on the rear side of the upper surface of the storage compartment 10a, the deodorizer <NUM> sucks low-temperature air from a rear space of the storage compartment 30a and discharges the sucked air in the direction inclined toward the front lower side. Therefore, the front space of the storage compartment 10a may also be efficiently cooled by the air discharged from the deodorizer <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the deodorizer <NUM> further includes an illumination light source <NUM>, and the housing <NUM> includes a through hole 312i provided at a front end thereof to allow light emitted from the illumination light source <NUM> to pass therethrough, and a transparent window <NUM> installed to cover the through hole 312i.

The illumination light source <NUM> includes a substrate <NUM> and a plurality of light emitting diodes <NUM> mounted on the substrate <NUM>. Accordingly, light generated from the light emitting diode <NUM> is irradiated to a front side of the deodorizer <NUM> through the transparent window <NUM>.

As described above, the deodorizer <NUM> is installed on the upper surface of the storage compartment 10a.

Claim 1:
A refrigerator comprising:
a main body(<NUM>) including a storage compartment(10a), and
a deodorizer(<NUM>) disposed inside the storage compartment(10a),
wherein the deodorizer(<NUM>) comprises a housing(<NUM>) including an upper housing (<NUM>) and a lower housing (<NUM>) coupled to each other to form a flow path, a suction port(312a) provided on a lower surface of the housing(<NUM>) to draw air into the housing(<NUM>), a discharge port(312b) provided to discharge air, a photocatalytic deodorizing filter(<NUM>) disposed above the suction port(312a) such that the photocatalytic deodorizing filter (<NUM>) faces the suction port (312a), and a filter light source(<NUM>) configured to irradiate light to the photocatalytic deodorizing filter(<NUM>),
wherein the flow path is configured to guide air from the suction port(312a) to the discharge port(312b), and
wherein the filter light source(<NUM>) is disposed to face the photocatalytic deodorizing filter(<NUM>), and positioned so that air passes through the flow path between the filter light source(<NUM>) and the photocatalytic deodorizing filter(<NUM>), and
wherein the housing (<NUM>) further comprises a suction grill (312c) formed on the suction port(312a), and
a lower surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter(<NUM>) is spaced apart from an upper end of the suction grill(312c) by a predetermined gap so that air flows through the predetermined gap between the suction grill (312c) and the lower surface of the photocatalytic deodorizing filter (<NUM>), and
wherein the filter light source (<NUM>) comprises a substrate (<NUM>, <NUM>) formed in a rectangular plate shape and a plurality of light emitting diodes (<NUM>, <NUM>) spaced apart on a lower surface of the substrate (<NUM>, <NUM>), and
wherein the deodorizer (<NUM>) further comprises four light source supports (312f) protruding from an upper surface of the lower housing (<NUM>) to support front and rear ends of opposite sides of the substrate (<NUM>, <NUM>), and
each of the four light source supports (312f) comprises a seating groove (<NUM>) in which the lower surface of the substrate (<NUM>, <NUM>) is seated.