EP3194869B1 - Refrigeration device having a plurality of storage chambers - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a household refrigerator, with a housing in which a plurality of storage chambers, in particular storage chambers for different operating temperatures, such as a freezer compartment and a normal refrigerator compartment, are accommodated.

Such household refrigeration devices are often designed as full-no-frost devices. In devices of this type, the individual storage chambers are cooled by a common lamella evaporator, which is housed in an evaporator chamber, which is usually separated from the coldest storage chamber. Such refrigeration devices are, for example EP 0 181 781 A2 and GB 1 482 926 A. known. When heated air circulates through the lamella evaporator in the storage chambers, the moisture entrained in the air condenses on the fins of the evaporator and forms a layer of frost on it, which on the one hand impedes the heat exchange between the fins and the circulating air and on the other hand the passages between the fins of the evaporator are narrowed, making air circulation difficult. The frost layer must therefore be thawed regularly. An uneven distribution of the frost in the evaporator means that thinly frosted areas of the evaporator become ice-free more quickly than thickly frosted ones and warm up to a temperature well above freezing in the time it takes for the thickly frosted areas to defrost. This leads to high energy consumption, on the one hand because of the long duration of the defrosting process and on the other hand because the unnecessarily heated parts of the evaporator have to be cooled down again before the evaporator can cool the storage chambers again.

An object of the invention is to provide a refrigeration device of the NoFrost type in which the evaporator can be defrosted quickly and in an energy-efficient manner.

The object is achieved by a refrigerator with the features of claim 1.

The guide rib ensures that air from both chambers can be distributed over the entire width of the evaporator, so that different regions do not exist across the width of the evaporator, which, since they are generally more Moisture-carrying air from the warmer storage chamber is more exposed and more ripe than other regions. In addition, since the guide rib prevents turbulent mixing of the air flows from the first and the second storage chamber in the inlet volume, it ensures a low pressure loss in the circulation of air between the evaporator chamber and the storage chambers, so that a fan with less power, which is used to drive the air circulation, is required gets along.

The guide rib allows the inlet volume to perform the function of a jet pump, in which the stronger of the two air currents pulls the weaker one instead of blocking it by swirling. This also contributes to the fact that both air streams enter the evaporator over the entire width of the inflow side.

On the other hand, the restricted turbulence in the inlet volume means that the air flows from the first and the second storage chamber largely unmixed, one above and the other below the guide rib, enter the evaporator. This lack of or incomplete mixing can lead to the formation of more rapid frost in the area on the inflow side that is exposed to the humid air, but in the area exposed to the drier air flow, but the resulting uneven distribution of the frost has only a minor influence on the defrosting time because the distance between the areas is small.

As a result of the limited mixing, snow formation, which can occur when the relatively warm, humid air from one storage chamber cools in contact with the colder air from the other storage chamber, remains on a small area of the inlet volume, between the edge of the guide rib and the Upstream side, limited. Therefore, any snow that may be formed does not fall to the ground in the inlet volume, but is flushed into the evaporator, where it sticks and can then be easily defrosted.

In addition, fins of the evaporator can be oriented transversely to the guide rib and, by doing so, each fins both in the more frosted and in the weaker frosted area of the evaporator engages to ensure efficient heat transfer between the two areas during defrosting.

The longitudinal direction of the upstream side is generally a horizontal direction; it typically corresponds to the width direction of the refrigerator.

The shell can form at least part of a wall of the inlet volume opposite the inflow side, in which case the second openings communicating with the second storage chamber can be provided in the shell itself or between the shell and the insulation layer.

The first openings are preferably connected to the first bearing chamber via pipelines which extend through the thermal insulation layer.

Appropriately, and in order to avoid blocking by objects arranged on the bottom of the first storage chamber, in particular by a pull-out box, these pipelines can each run at least over part of their length in a side wall of the first storage chamber.

In order to simplify the assembly of the refrigeration device, the guide rib can be formed in one piece with the shell.

According to an alternative embodiment, the guide rib is formed in one piece with the thermal barrier coating.

A fan can be provided to drive an air exchange with both storage chambers at the same time. The length and passage cross sections of lines that connect the evaporator chamber to the first and the second storage chamber can be designed in accordance with the average cooling requirement of the two storage chambers so that the cooling capacity of the evaporator is distributed to both storage chambers as required. Costly flaps for controlling the air exchange with the two storage chambers can then be omitted.

Since the second storage chamber generally has a lower operating temperature than the first storage chamber and accordingly takes up a larger share of the cooling capacity of the evaporator, the air throughput through the second openings should be greater than through the first.

Fig. 1

einen schematischen Schnitt in Tiefenrichtung durch ein erfindungsgemäßes Haushaltskältegerät;

Fig. 2

einen Detailquerschnitt entlang der Linie II-II aus Fig. 1;

Fig. 3

ein vergrößertes Detail des Kältegeräts gemäß einer zweiten Ausgestaltung im Schnitt in Tiefenrichtung; und

Fig. 4

einen zu Fig. 3 analogen Schnitt gemäß einer dritten Ausgestaltung.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached figures. Show it:

Fig. 1

a schematic section in the depth direction through an inventive household refrigerator;

Fig. 2

a detailed cross section along the line II-II Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3

an enlarged detail of the refrigerator according to a second embodiment in section in the depth direction; and

Fig. 4

one too Fig. 3 analog section according to a third embodiment.

Fig. 1 shows a NoFrost combination refrigerator in a schematic section in the depth direction. In a body 1 of the refrigerator, two storage chambers 2, 3, here a normal refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment, are separated from one another by a horizontal partition wall 4. The body 1 comprises, in a manner customary in the art, an inner container 5 which is deep-drawn in one piece from plastic, an outer skin 6 composed of a plurality of plate-shaped elements and a thermal insulation layer 7 made of plastic foamed between the inner container 5 and the outer skin 6. In the inner container 5, the two storage chambers 2, 3 can be formed as mutually separate depressions, so that the intermediate wall 4 is also an integral part of the inner container 5.

In the case considered here, the inner container 5 has only a single depression, into which the intermediate wall 4 is inserted as a separate component. The intermediate wall 4 here comprises a plate-shaped thermal insulation layer 8, preferably made of expanded polystyrene, which is covered at least on its upper side 9, a front side 12 facing doors 10, 11 closing the storage chambers 2, 3 and a front region 13 on its lower side by a plate which is made of the same plastic as the inner container 5. At a lower rear edge of this plate, a plastic injection molded shell 14 is attached, which separates an evaporator chamber 15 from the lower, second storage chamber 3. In the area of the intermediate wall 4 covered by the shell 14, the plate may be missing, so that the thermal insulation layer 8 directly delimits the evaporator chamber 15. Since the lower storage chamber 3 is provided as a freezer compartment, no strong insulation is required between it and the evaporator chamber 15. The shell 14 is therefore made of a non-foamed plastic with a low insulation effect compared to the thermal insulation layer 8.

A flat cuboid vane evaporator 16 largely fills the vaporizer chamber 15 and divides it into an inlet volume 17 in front of an upstream side 18 of the vane vaporizer 16 and an outlet volume 19 behind the opposite side of the vane vaporizer 16.

A defrost heater 38 is attached below the finned evaporator 16, here in the form of an aluminum plate, the base of which is essentially the same as that of the finned evaporator 16, and a hot gas line, which is fastened on the one hand to the aluminum plate and, on the other hand, is clamped in notches on the lower edges of the fins of the evaporator 16 ,

A fan 20 is accommodated in the outlet volume 19 in order to drive air circulation through the lamella evaporator 16. The air expelled by the fan 20 is distributed over the two storage chambers 2, 3 via a channel 21 extending in the rear wall of the body 1 and along the channel 21 on the inner container 5.

Air heated in the storage chamber 2 flows via passages 24 located opposite one another in side walls 23 of the body 1, via pipes 25 extending in the side walls, via pipes 26 of the intermediate wall 4, which are plug-connected to the latter, and openings 27 on an upper side of the inlet volume 17 back into the evaporator chamber 15. The passages 24 are placed on the side walls at a height at which they cannot be blocked by a pull-out box 28 arranged in a conventional manner at the bottom of the storage chamber 2.

Air heated in the second storage chamber 3 returns to the evaporator chamber 15 via openings 29 which are provided in an end wall 30 of the shell 14 facing the door 11 and / or between an upper edge of the end wall 30 and the intermediate wall 4. The openings 29 are distributed over the entire width of the shell 14 and the evaporator 16 accommodated therein, so that the air flow from the second storage chamber 2 is also distributed uniformly over the entire width of the inflow side 18.

As from the cut of the Fig. 2 it becomes clear that the openings 27 communicating with the first storage chamber 2 are located at the lateral ends of the inlet volume 17. If the air flows through the openings 27 and 29 in the inlet volume 17 would meet one another in an uncontrolled manner, then it would be expected that the Relatively moist air flowing through the openings 27 flows through the evaporator 16 essentially only in its lateral areas immediately behind the openings 27 and therefore tire them significantly faster than a central area of the evaporator 16, which essentially only contains air from the storage chamber 3 is flowed through. In order to prevent this, the inlet volume 17 is divided over its entire width by a guide rib 31 which extends in the width direction of the body 1, as in FIG Fig. 2 to be seen, extends horizontally from one side wall 23 of the body 1 to the other and which extends in the depth direction from a front wall 32 of the inlet volume 17 to just before the inflow side 18. The front wall 32 is formed here in a lower region by the end wall 30 of the shell 14, above the guide rib 31 it is formed by a flank of the thermal insulation layer 8. The guide rib 31 divides the inlet volume 17 into an upper partial space 33, in which the air flowing in from the storage chamber 2 can be distributed over the entire width of the inlet volume 17 unhindered by the air flow coming from the second storage chamber 3, and a lower partial space 35 between the guide rib 31 and a base plate 34 of the shell 14, in which the air flow from the second storage chamber 3 is guided essentially laminar horizontally and generates a dynamic negative pressure between the upstream side 18 and the opposite rear edge of the guide rib 31, through the air from the upper Partial space 33 is suctioned off and pulled through the evaporator 16.

As further in Fig. 2 can be seen, the fins 36 of the finned evaporator 16 are each oriented transversely to the guide rib 31. Each individual lamella 36 is therefore predominantly exposed to air from the storage chamber 2 in its upper region and to air from the bearing chamber 3 in its lower region. Although this can result in the frost layer growing somewhat faster in operation on an upper part of the fins 36 than on a lower part, such uneven tires at most lead to a slight displacement of the air flows in the evaporator chamber 15 downwards and therefore have none noticeable influence on the distribution of the cooling capacity on the two storage chambers 2, 3. Since also during the defrost heat from the Defrost heater 38 is transported quickly and efficiently within the individual fins 36, it occurs when the evaporator 16 is defrosted even if the fins 36 need longer to defrost in their upper regions than in the lower, possibly too low, temperature gradients. This ensures fast and energy-efficient defrosting.

In the design of the Fig. 1 the guide rib 31 is shown as an independent component which is attached to the underside of the intermediate wall 4. One in Fig. 3 According to the preferred development shown, the guide rib 31 is a one-piece component of the shell 14, which projects from an upper edge of the end wall 30 into the inlet volume 17 and is anchored to the plate covering the thermal insulation layer 8, here designated 37.

One in Fig. 4 As a result of the alternative development shown, the guide rib 31 is an integral part of the thermal insulation layer 8. <B> REFERENCE NUMBERS </ b> 1 corpus 21 channel 2 storage chamber 22 outlet 3 storage chamber 23 Side wall 4 partition 24 passage 5 inner container 25 pipeline 6 shell 26 pipeline 7 thermal barrier 27 opening 8th thermal barrier 28 pull-out box 9 top 29 opening 10 door 30 bulkhead 11 door 31 guide rib 12 front 32 front wall 13 Front area 33 upper part 14 Bowl 34 baseplate 15 evaporator chamber 35 lower part 16 fin evaporator 36 lamella 17 intake volume 37 plate 18 inflow 38 defrost heater 19 discharge volume 20 fan

Claims (8)

1. Refrigeration device, in particular household refrigeration device, having a first storage chamber (2) and a second storage chamber (3), an evaporation chamber (15) which is accommodated in a dividing wall (4) between the storage chambers (2, 3) and is separated from the first storage chamber (2) by a thermal barrier layer (8) and from the second storage chamber (3) by a shell (14), an evaporator (16) arranged in the evaporator chamber (15), wherein the storage chambers (2, 3) are cooled by exchanging air with the evaporator chamber (15), wherein in the evaporator chamber (15) upstream of an inflow side (18) of the evaporator (16) an inlet volume (17) is kept free which communicates with the first storage chamber (2) via first intake openings (27) and with the second storage chamber (3) via second intake openings (29), wherein a guide rib (31) extends in the inlet volume (17) in the longitudinal direction of the inflow side (18) and from a wall (32) opposite the inflow side (18) to the inflow side (18) and the inlet volume (17) divides into two partial spaces (33, 35) elongated along the inflow side (18), wherein the first and second intake openings (27, 29) are arranged on different sides of the guide rib (31) and in the second partial space (35) the second intake openings (29) are opposite the inflow side (18), wherein the first intake openings (27) are arranged at longitudinal ends of the first partial space (22), characterised in that the thermal barrier effect of the shell (14) is weaker than that of the thermal barrier layer (8), and in that the guide rib (31) prevents a turbulent mixing of the air flows from the first and the second storage chamber (2, 3) in the inlet volume (17).
2. Refrigeration device according to claim 1, characterised in that fins (36) of the evaporator (16) are oriented transversely to the guide rib (31).
3. Refrigeration device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the shell (14) forms at least a part of the wall (32) of the inlet volume (17) lying opposite an inflow side (18) and the second openings (30) are provided in the shell (14) or between the shell (14) and the barrier layer (8).
4. Refrigeration device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the first intake openings (27) are connected to the first storage chamber (2) via conduits (26) extending through the thermal barrier layer (8).
5. Refrigeration device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the guide rib (31) is formed integrally with the shell (14).
6. Refrigeration device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the guide rib (31) is formed integrally with the thermal barrier layer (8).
7. Refrigeration device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a fan (20) is arranged to simultaneously drive an exchange of air with both storage chambers (2, 3).
8. Refrigeration device according to claim 7, characterised in that the air throughput through the second intake openings (29) is stronger than through the first intake openings (27).

Images