HK1056009B - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

Refrigerator with a door

Technical Field

The invention relates to a refrigerator which is divided into more than 3 storage chambers in the vertical direction.

Background

Recent refrigerators are provided with a plurality of storage compartments that are managed according to the temperature of stored food. At present, a freezer compartment disposed at the upper part, a refrigerator compartment disposed at the center, and a vegetable and fruit compartment disposed at the lower part are mainstream. Recently, a refrigerator in which a refrigerating chamber is disposed at the upper part and a freezing chamber or a vegetable chamber is disposed at the center and the lower part, with importance placed on convenience of use, has been proposed and is the mainstream. In recent years, health is being emphasized, and a refrigerator having a fruit and vegetable compartment disposed at the center is the mainstream, so that the fruit and vegetable can be taken and placed at the most convenient position.

Japanese patent application laid-open No. 8-338681 discloses a refrigerator having a vegetable/fruit compartment at the center.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of a conventional refrigerator. The refrigerator body 1 is partitioned vertically by a heat-insulating partition 2, and has a refrigerating chamber 3 and a vegetable and fruit chamber 4 for storing vegetables, fruits and the like in an upper part and freezing chambers 5 and 6 in a lower part. The hinge opening/closing door 7 is attached to a front opening of the refrigerating chamber 3. The pullout door 8 is attached to the front opening of the vegetable/fruit compartment 4. The pull-out doors 9 and 10 are attached to front opening portions of the freezing chambers 5 and 6. The storage container 11 is integrally pulled out with a pull-out door of the vegetable and fruit room, and the upper storage container 12 is provided at the rear of the upper part of the storage container 11. The storage containers 13 and 14 are pulled out integrally with the drawer door of the freezing chamber. When the door 8 is closed, the lid 16 having the wet member 15 is positioned in the vegetable/fruit compartment 4, covers the upper opening portions of the storage containers 11 and 12 to be substantially sealed, and forms a convection passage 17 for cool air on the outer peripheries of the storage containers 11 and 12 and the lid 16. A bottle holder 19 for storing pet bottles, milk boxes, and the like is provided at the lowermost layer of a door storage portion 18 provided at the indoor side of the hinge-opening door 7 of the refrigerating chamber. The low temperature chamber 20 is provided at a lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 3, and is set to a temperature lower than that of the refrigerating chamber to accommodate meat, fish, shellfish, and the like. A blower 22 for forced ventilation is provided above the cooler 21 of the freezing cycle and behind the vegetable and fruit chamber 4. The air duct control panel 23 provided behind the vegetable/fruit compartment 4 and the low-temperature compartment 20 has a damper device 24 for adjusting the amount of cold air supplied to the refrigerating compartment 3, the vegetable/fruit compartment 4, and the low-temperature compartment 20. The cooler 21 and the blower 22 are arranged vertically above the compressor 25 housed at the rear of the lower portion of the outer side of the refrigerator main body 1. The height h from the ground where the refrigerator body 1 is arranged to the upper end face of the pull-out door 8 of the vegetable and fruit chamber is not less than 850mm and not more than 1000 mm.

In this refrigerator, the cold air cooled by cooler 21 is directly introduced into freezing chambers 5 and 6 by blower 22, and is also directly introduced into vegetable and fruit chamber 4 and low temperature chamber 20 by the cold air amount adjusting action of damper device 24. Thus, the cold air cooled by the cooling chamber 21 in each chamber is directly cooled by forced convection in the chamber, and each is maintained at a constant temperature zone. The cold air also performs forced convection in the vegetable and fruit compartment 4, and circulates in the convection passage 17 to indirectly cool the stored items in the storage containers 11 and 12 and the outer periphery of the lid 16.

On the other hand, by setting the height to 850 mm. ltoreq. h.ltoreq.1000 mm, the height of the top surface (850mm) of the kitchen sink, which is mostly adjacent to the refrigerator body 1, is within a range of 970mm, which is the standard elbow height of the user, and thus, the food and the like can be smoothly moved without raising the elbow.

In the conventional refrigerator described above, the cold air cooled by the cooler 21 is cooled by forced convection in each storage chamber by the ventilation of the blower 22, and therefore, it is not suitable for storing fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish and shellfish, which are not suitable for accelerated drying or oxidation by direct exposure to cold air.

Further, although the cooling air is not directly introduced into the storage containers 11 and 12, but the storage in the vegetable and fruit chamber 4 is indirectly cooled, the convection passage 17 formed in the outer peripheries of the storage containers 11 and 12 and the lid 16 needs a volume capable of securing a certain cooling capacity, and thus, the substantial storage volume of the refrigerator is reduced. Further, the total extension distance of the air passage of the air blower 22 is increased, and a large-sized air blower is required. Therefore, the power consumption and noise increase, and the cooling capacity of the vegetable and fruit compartment 4 of the final cooling unit is insufficient due to the increase in the passage resistance and the heat absorption of the passage.

Since the cooler 21 above the compressor 25 is arranged in parallel with the blower 22, the depth of the vegetable and fruit chamber 4 is shortened to limit the depth of the storage containers 11 and 12. Therefore, in recent years, the amount of vegetables and fruits consumed by the consumer is increasing.

Then, the position of the bottles fixedly stored in the bottle holder 16 is about 150mm higher than the lower end surface of the hinge-opening/closing type door 7, and the lower end surface of the door 7 is about 15mm higher than the upper end surface of the pull-out type door 8 of the vegetable and fruit room. Since the height h from the ground to the upper end surface of the door 8 is S50 mm-h 1000mm, the height of the user for holding the bottle is h +165mm, i.e. the range of 1015 mm-h +165 mm-1165 mm. Therefore, a heavy pet bottle, a milk box, or the like is taken out and put in at a position higher than the elbow height of 970mm, which causes a burden on the user.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a refrigerator which inhibits the drying or oxidation of food, improves the storage environment and improves the volumetric efficiency and the cooling efficiency. Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of securing a storage amount of a vegetable chamber without being limited by a depth. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator that can improve a door receiving portion of a refrigerating chamber, and particularly, can improve the convenience of use of a bottle holder.

The refrigerator of the present invention has 3 or more storage chambers separated from each other in the vertical direction. At least 1 of the storage chambers is an indirect cooling chamber for cooling the periphery without introducing cold air into the storage chamber, and the other storage chambers are direct cooling chambers for introducing cold air into the storage chamber. The refrigerator of the present invention controls the installation space by a multi-chamber structure in the vertical direction, and can store food which is not suitable for drying or oxidation in an indirect cooling chamber, and store other food which needs to be cooled rapidly in a direct cooling chamber, thereby performing proper partitioned storage management.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an internal front view of the refrigerator of embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the refrigerator of embodiment 1.

FIG. 4 is an interior front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 2 of the present invention

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the refrigerator according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 6 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of embodiment 3.

Fig. 8 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the refrigerator of embodiment 4.

Fig. 10 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 5 of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the refrigerator of embodiment 5.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of a conventional refrigerator.

Detailed Description

(embodiment 1)

Fig. 1 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. Fig. 2 is an interior front view of the refrigerator. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the refrigerator. The heat insulating partition 28 partitions the interior of the refrigerator body 27 into upper and lower portions, the upper portion forming a refrigerating compartment 29 and a vegetable and fruit compartment 30 therebelow, and the lower portion forming a freezing compartment 31. The left and right half doors 32 are attached to the left and right of the opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 29, and a door housing 33 is provided on the indoor side. The bottle holder 34 provided at the lowermost portion of the storage portion 33 is for storing large and heavy articles such as pet bottles and milk boxes. The low temperature chamber 35 provided in the lower part of the refrigerating chamber 29 has a storage container 36 for storing fresh foods such as meat, fish, shellfish and the like (e.g., cooling at about 0 ℃ or partial freezing at-3 ℃) mainly at a temperature lower than that of the refrigerating chamber. The drawer door 37 attached to the opening surface of the vegetable/fruit chamber 30 integrally pulls out the storage container 38 located inside the chamber. The upper container 39 is detachably provided above the container 38. The drawer door 40 attached to the opening surface of the freezing chamber 31 integrally pulls out the storage container 41 located on the indoor side. The upper container 42 is provided above the container 41 so as to be movable forward and backward. The ice-making device 43 is provided at the top inside the freezing chamber 31. A compressor 44 of the freezing cycle is provided at the rear of the lower portion of the refrigerator main body 27. The 1 st cooler 45 and the compressor 44 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction across the heat insulating wall of the refrigerator main body 27 and are accommodated in the rear of the freezing chamber 31. The 1 st blower 46 for forced draft is provided near the upper side of the 1 st cooler 45. The 1 st cooler 45 and the 1 st blower 46 are both housed behind the freezing chamber 31 and do not protrude to the rear area of the vegetable and fruit chamber 30. The 2 nd cooler 47 is disposed at the upper rear part in the refrigerating compartment 27. The 2 nd blower 48 is disposed near the upper side of the 2 nd cooler 47. The partition plate 49 partitions the refrigerating chamber 29 and the vegetable and fruit chamber 30 to form a bottom surface of the refrigerating chamber 29. The cooling plate 50 is spaced below the partition plate 49 to close the upper opening of the vegetable compartment 30, thereby forming a part of the housing of the vegetable compartment 30. The cooling plate 50 is made of metal such as aluminum or a material having good thermal conductivity. The partition plate 49 and the cooling plate 50 form an air passage 51 therebetween. The suction duct 52 is provided on the rear surface of the refrigerating compartment 29 to suck the air cooled in the refrigerating compartment 29 into the 2 nd cooler 47. The discharge duct 53 is provided on the top surface of the refrigerating compartment 29, and discharges the cold air cooled by the 2 nd cooler 47 into the refrigerating compartment 29 by the 2 nd blower 48. Ventilation duct 51, suction duct 52, and discharge duct 53 are arranged to be continuously connected so as to surround three surfaces except for the door surface in refrigerating compartment 29. A suction port 54 is provided in front of the air duct 51. Suction ducts 52 are provided with suction ports 55 and 56 for sucking air cooled in refrigerating room 29 and low-temperature room 35. A discharge port 57 for discharging the cold air into the refrigerating chamber is provided in front of the discharge duct 53.

In the above configuration, the 1 st cooler 45 and the 1 st blower 46 directly introduce the cold air into the freezer compartment 31, and the 2 nd cooler 47 and the 2 nd blower 48 directly introduce the cold air into the refrigerator compartment 29. That is, the refrigerating chamber 29 and the freezing chamber 31 have a function of directly cooling the chambers. The vegetable/fruit compartment 30 has a function of an indirect cooling compartment via the cooling plate 50 without introducing cold air into the compartment.

The height H from the ground where the refrigerator body 27 is arranged to the upper end surface of the pull-out door 37 of the vegetable and fruit chamber is more than or equal to 600mm and less than 850 mm.

Next, the operation of the refrigerator will be described.

Refrigerating room 29, freezing room 31, and low-temperature room 35 have a function of a direct cooling room for directly introducing cold air into the room and cooling the stored materials by forced convection. The cold air cooled in the 1 st cooling chamber 45 is directly introduced into the freezing chamber 31 by the 1 st blower 46 to directly cool the storage contents in the storage container 41 and the upper storage container 42 by forced convection and store the cooled storage contents in the freezing temperature range. The cold air cooled by the 2 nd cooler 47 is forcibly ventilated by the 2 nd blower 48, and is directly discharged from the discharge port 57 into the refrigerating chamber 29 through the discharge duct 53. At the same time, cold air is also directly discharged into the low-temperature chamber 35 through a discharge port not shown. Cold air that cools the contents in refrigerating room 29 by direct forced convection is collected from suction port 55 into suction duct 52, and returned to 2 nd cooler 47. At this time, a part of the cold air discharged into refrigerating room 29 is introduced into air duct 51 through suction port 54 opened at the bottom, cools cooling plate 50, and returns to 2 nd cooler 47 through suction air duct 52. The cold air directly introduced into low-temperature compartment 35 cools the stored articles, and then returns from suction port 56 to cooling compartment 2 47 via suction duct 52. Therefore, since the stored objects stored in these chambers are placed in a cooling environment having a large heat transfer coefficient, they can be cooled quickly. In this manner, refrigerating room 29, freezing room 31, and low-temperature room 35 can be suitably used for cooling and storing general foods such as subsidiary foods, processed foods, frozen foods, and food and drink products which are cooled to a predetermined storage temperature in a short time at the time of initial storage or when the temperature is raised by opening and closing the door.

Since the cooling plate 50 cooled by the forced convection of cold air through the air duct 51 is made of a material having high heat conductivity, such as an aluminum plate, the temperature can be lowered to the cooling temperature quickly and uniformly over the entire surface. Thus, the cooling plate 50 functions as an indirect cooling plate for the vegetable compartment 30 at its top surface. That is, the cooling plate 50 cools the contents stored in the storage container 38 and the upper storage container 39 of the vegetable and fruit room 30 by radiation cooling using a temperature difference and falling cooling by natural convection, so that the vegetable and fruit room 30 has a function of an indirect cooling room.

Therefore, the vegetable and fruit compartment 30 is suitable as a cooling storage compartment for fresh food such as vegetables and fruits, which can suppress drying, particularly, evaporation of moisture, from affecting storage quality, because the storage contents are placed in a cooling environment having a small heat conductivity coefficient.

The top surface of the vegetable and fruit chamber 30 is sealed by the cooling plate 50 and is not communicated with other direct cooling chambers, so that the moisture slowly evaporated from the stored vegetables and fruits can be used for increasing the indoor humidity to maintain the high humidity in the vegetable and fruit chamber 30. Therefore, the reduction of moisture can be further suppressed in cooperation with the drying suppression effect by the indirect cooling, and the refrigerator can realize the storage management maintaining the quality for a long time.

As described above, by dividing the refrigerator into 3 or more storage compartments, i.e., the direct cooling compartment in the freezing and refrigerating temperature range and the indirect cooling compartment in the refrigerating temperature range, it is possible to suppress the degradation of the quality of the food under the storage control suitable for the storability of the stored food, and to obtain high preservation performance.

The vegetable and fruit chamber 30 is disposed in the center of the refrigerator body and indirectly cooled by a partial cooling circulation duct of the refrigerating chamber 29 adjacent to the upper portion thereof, so that the structure is simple. Because the total extension distance of the circulating air duct is not particularly extended, the cooling efficiency is improved under the condition of not increasing the air supply resistance, and an indirect cooling chamber is economically and reasonably formed.

Since the cooling temperature of vegetable/fruit compartment 30 is generally equal to or higher than about 5 ℃ than that of refrigerating compartment 29, 2 nd cooler 47 for the refrigerating compartment having a relatively high temperature can be used as a cooling source, and thus efficient cooling can be achieved without waste. The indirect cooling surface of the cooling plate 50 is not excessively cooled, and the moisture evaporated from the indoor storage is not condensed or frozen.

If it is necessary to further lower the cooling temperature of the vegetable/fruit compartment 30 to further improve the storage quality, the cooling plate 50 may be formed to have a large surface area or to extend over a surface other than the top surface. Further, by directly connecting air duct 51 of cooling plate 50 to a part of branch path of discharge air duct 53 without being connected to suction air duct 52 of the refrigerating room, the cool air can be led from the rear side of the bottom surface of the refrigerating room to the front side. Thereby, the cooling plate 50 may be cooled by the discharged cold air having a high cooling capacity at a low temperature.

In the vegetable/fruit compartment 30, a cool air convection passage for cooling need not be provided over the entire outer periphery of the storage container 38 as in the conventional case. Therefore, the storage amount of the storage container 38 can be increased within a range where opening and closing of the pullout door 37 are not hindered.

Further, by vertically arranging the refrigerating chamber 29, the vegetable and fruit chamber 30, and the freezing chamber 31 in order of high frequency of use from the upper portion of the refrigerator main body 27, it is possible to perform multi-compartment management that is convenient to use with a small installation space. Particularly, the vegetable and fruit compartment 30 at the center part is used as an indirect cooling compartment, so that the storage capacity is increased, and the user can take in and out the stored objects while seeing the whole from the upper ring through the pull-out door 37 without bending down.

The freezer compartment 31, which is located at the lower position and is less convenient to use, also has a pull-out door 40, which can make up for the inconvenience of taking in and out the stored items. Further, since the door of refrigerating room 29, which is frequently used and has the largest storage amount, is of a hinge open/close type, the user can take in and out the stored items while looking around the front at the height of the eyes. In particular, since the right and left side-by-side doors 32 are divided into right and left sides, a space for opening and closing is small, and the refrigerator can be used in combination with the pull-out doors 37 and 40 of the vegetable and fruit chamber 30 and the freezing chamber 31, and can be used with optimum convenience.

When the user takes out the pet bottle, the milk box, or the like from the refrigerating chamber 29, the door 32 of the refrigerating chamber is opened and the user reaches the bottle holder 34 located at the lowermost portion of the door storage 33. At this time, the height of the portion of the bottle rack 34 where the bottles are fixedly stored is about H +150mm with respect to the height H from the floor surface to the upper end surface of the vegetable and fruit chamber door 37. If H +150mm is less than 1000mm, the user can take out the heavy bottles stored in the bottle rack 34 without raising the elbows almost within the range of height of 970mm of standard elbow height plus height of shoes.

That is, in the range of H < 850mm, the user can easily take in and out the bottles whose daily use frequency is high without putting much burden on his wrist. Moreover, the bottles can be conveniently and safely taken out and put in for children who use the bottles more frequently and have lower height.

And the height of the lower part which can be easily taken by a user with the height of 155cm standing 400mm away from the refrigerator is 630 mm. Therefore, if H.gtoreq.600 mm, the height of the lowest storage surface in refrigerating room 29 is H +50 mm.gtoreq.650 mm, and the food in refrigerating room 29 can be easily taken out and put in while standing even if the height of the shoes is taken into consideration.

Therefore, if the height H of the vegetable and fruit chamber pull-out door 37 is 600mm & ltH & lt 850mm, and each storage chamber is arranged, the refrigerator with high use frequency and good use convenience of the refrigerating chamber 29 can be provided.

Since the 1 st cooler 45 is disposed in parallel with the compressor 44 in the left-right direction, the arrangement height is reduced. Accordingly, the 1 st cooler 45 or the 1 st blower 46 disposed above it is housed behind the freezer compartment 31 so as not to intrude into the rear region of the vegetable and fruit compartment 30. In the vegetable and fruit compartment having a larger storage capacity as the indirect cooling compartment, the storage container 38 can be extended to a depth near the rear surface insulating material, and therefore the storage capacity is further increased.

(embodiment 2)

Fig. 4 is an internal front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the refrigerator. The heat insulating partition wall 60 partitions the interior of the refrigerator body 59 into upper and lower portions, an upper portion forming a refrigerating compartment 61 and a lower portion forming a vegetable and fruit compartment 62, and a lower portion forming a freezing compartment 63. Cooler 64 is located behind freezing chamber 63 and is arranged in parallel with compressor 44 in the left and right directions. A forced-draft blower 65 is provided near the upper side of the cooler 64. The damper device 66 for adjusting the amount of cold air is disposed in parallel with the blower 65 in the left and right directions. The cooler 64, the blower 65, and the damper device 66 are all housed behind the freezer compartment 63 so as not to intrude into the rear area of the vegetable compartment 62. The partition plate 67 partitions the refrigerating chamber 61 and the fruit and vegetable chamber 62. The cooling plate 68 is spaced below the partition plate 67 to seal the upper opening of the vegetable/fruit compartment 62. The cooling plate 68 is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, and constitutes a part of the outer casing of the vegetable/fruit compartment 62. The air passage 69 is formed between the partition plate 67 and the cooling plate 68. The blower 65 delivers the cold air cooled by the cooler 64 via the air duct 70 and the damper device 66. The discharge duct 71 is provided to extend from the back surface to the top surface of the refrigerator compartment 61, and discharges the cold air directly into the refrigerator compartment 61. The ejection port 72 opens to the front of the top surface of the ejection duct 71. The ventilation opening 73 opens to the front of the air duct 69. The air duct 70 is connected to the discharge duct 71 at the rear of the lower portion of the refrigerating compartment 61 and also connected to the air duct 69.

Next, the operation of the refrigerator configured as above will be described.

The cold air cooled by the cooler 64 is directly introduced into the freezing chamber 63 by the blower 65, and the stored material is cooled by direct forced convection and stored in the freezing temperature zone. Next, the cold air forcibly ventilated by the blower 65 is adjusted to a desired amount of cold air by the baffle device 66, and is directly discharged from the discharge port 72 into the refrigerating chamber 61 through the air duct 70 and the discharge duct 71. That is, refrigerating room 61 and freezing room 63 have a function of a direct cooling room for directly introducing cold air into the room and cooling the stored material by forced convection. Therefore, the storage object is placed in a cooling environment with a large heat conduction coefficient, and the cooling speed is high. The refrigerating chamber 61 is suitable as a cooling storage chamber for general foods such as subsidiary foods, processed foods, frozen foods, and foods such as drinks and foods, which are preferably cooled to a predetermined storage temperature in a short time at the time of initial storage or when the temperature is raised by opening and closing the door.

On the other hand, the cold air passing through the air duct 70 may be circulated through the air duct 69 to substantially uniformly cool the cooling plate 68 having good thermal conductivity, thereby lowering the temperature thereof. Thus, the cooling plate 68 has the function of an indirect cooling plate on the top surface with respect to the vegetable compartment 62. That is, the cooling plate 68 cools the storage items stored in the vegetable and fruit compartment 62 by radiation cooling due to a temperature difference and cooling by natural convection.

Therefore, since the storage contents of the vegetable/fruit compartment 62 are placed in a cooling environment having a small heat conductivity coefficient, it is suitable as a cooling storage compartment for fresh foods such as vegetables and fruits in which drying, particularly evaporation of moisture, affects storage quality.

As described above, the refrigerator is partitioned into 3 or more storage chambers, i.e., a direct cooling chamber having freezing and refrigerating temperature zones and an indirect cooling chamber having refrigerating temperature zones. The storage compartments are cooled by the pair of coolers 64 and the blower 65, so that the storage management suitable for the economical efficiency of the refrigerator and the storage property of the stored food can be performed, and the storage property can be improved.

As in embodiment 1, it is not necessary to provide a convection passage for cooling air over the entire outer periphery of the storage container 38 in the vegetable/fruit compartment 62 as in the conventional case. Therefore, the storage container 38 can be increased to a range where opening and closing of the pullout door 37 are not hindered, and the storage amount can be increased.

Further, as in embodiment 1, since the cooler 64 and the compressor 44 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the arrangement height is reduced. Accordingly, cooler 64, blower 65 disposed thereon, and damper device 66 are all housed behind freezer compartment 63, and do not enter the rear area of vegetable and fruit compartment 62. The depth of the storage container 38 of the vegetable/fruit compartment is extended to the vicinity of the rear surface insulating material, and the storage capacity can be further increased.

(embodiment 3)

Fig. 6 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 3 of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the refrigerator. The heat insulating partition walls 75, 76 partition the inside of the refrigerator main body 74 up and down. The upper side of the heat insulating partition wall 75 forms a refrigerating compartment 77 and a vegetable and fruit compartment 78 therebelow, while the lower side of the heat insulating partition wall 76 forms a freezing compartment 79. A multi-purpose chamber 80 is formed between the adiabatic partition walls 75, 76. The pullout door 81 is attached to an opening surface of the vegetable/fruit chamber 78 and is pulled out integrally with the storage container 82 inside the chamber. The drawer door 83 is attached to an opening surface of the freezing chamber 79 and is drawn out integrally with the storage container 84. The pullout door 85 is attached to an opening surface of the multi-purpose chamber 80 and is pulled out integrally with the storage container 86. The left and right split doors 87 are attached to an opening surface of the refrigerating compartment 77. The 1 st cooler 88 is disposed behind the freezing chamber 79 in a left-right arrangement with the compressor 44. The 1 st blower 89 for forced draft is provided close to the cooler 88. Damper devices 90 for adjusting the amount of cold air are arranged side by side on the left and right of the blower 89. The 1 st cooler 88, the 1 st blower 89 and the damper device 90 are all housed behind the freezer compartment 79 so as not to intrude into the rear area of the vegetable compartment 78. The 2 nd cooler 91 is disposed in the upper rear part of the refrigerating compartment 77. The 2 nd blower 92 for forced draft is provided near the upper side of the 2 nd cooler 91. The partition plate 93 partitions the refrigerating chamber 77 and the vegetable and fruit chamber 78. The cooling plate 94 is spaced below the partition plate 93 by a predetermined distance to seal the upper opening of the vegetable/fruit compartment 78. The cooling plate 94 is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, and constitutes a part of the housing of the vegetable and fruit chamber 78. The air duct 95 is formed between the partition plate 93 and the cooling plate 94. Suction duct 96 is provided on the rear surface of refrigerating compartment 77 to suck air cooled in refrigerating compartment 77 into cooler 91. Discharge duct 97 is provided on the top surface in refrigerating room 77, and discharges cooled air cooled by cooler 91 by second blower 92 into refrigerating room 77.

Ventilation duct 95 and suction duct 96 are disposed in communication with discharge duct 97, and surround three surfaces except for the door surface in refrigerating compartment 77. The suction port 98 is open to the front of the air duct 95. Discharge port 99 opens to the front of discharge duct 97 to discharge the cold air into refrigerating room 77. The cold air cooled by the cooler 88 is delivered into the multi-purpose room 80 by the blower 89 via the air duct 100 and the damper device 90.

Therefore, the freezing chamber 79 has a function of a direct cooling chamber for directly introducing cold air via the 1 st cooler 88 and the 1 st blower 89, the refrigerating chamber 77 via the 2 nd cooler 91 and the 2 nd blower 92, and the multi-purpose chamber 80 via the 1 st cooler 88 and the 1 st blower 89, and the baffle device 90, respectively. The vegetable/fruit compartment 78 has a function of an indirect cooling compartment via a cooling plate 94 without introducing cold air into the compartment.

Next, the operation of the refrigerator configured as above will be described.

The cold air cooled by the 1 st cooler 88 is directly introduced into the freezing chamber 79 by the 1 st blower 89, and the stored objects are cooled by direct forced convection and stored in a freezing temperature zone. After a part of the cold air damper devices 90 is adjusted to an appropriate amount, the adjusted air is directly introduced into the multipurpose chamber 80 through the air duct 100, and the stored objects are cooled by direct forced convection. The user stores the stored articles in a desired temperature range from cold storage to freezing in accordance with the temperature adjustment.

The cold air cooled by the 2 nd cooler 91 is forcibly ventilated by the 2 nd blower 92, and then is directly discharged into the refrigerating chamber 77 from the discharge port 99 through the discharge duct 97. Cold air, a part of which directly cools the contents in refrigerating room 77 by forced convection, is introduced into air duct 95 through suction port 98 opened at the bottom, cools cooling plate 94, and then returns to 2 nd cooler 91 through suction air duct 96. That is, refrigerating room 77, freezing room 79 and multi-purpose room 80 have a function of a direct cooling room for directly introducing cold air into the room and cooling the contents thereof by forced convection. Therefore, the storage object is placed in a cooling environment with a large heat conduction coefficient, so that the cooling speed is high. Refrigerating room 77 is suitable as a cooling storage room for general foods such as subsidiary foods, processed foods, frozen foods, and food and drink products that are cooled to a predetermined storage temperature in a short time when initially stored or when the temperature is raised by opening and closing the door.

On the other hand, the cold air passing through the air duct 95 cools the entire surface of the cooling plate 68 substantially uniformly, and lowers the temperature thereof. Thus, the cooling plate 94 functions as an indirect cooling plate on the top surface for the vegetable compartment 78. That is, the cooling plate 94 indirectly cools the stored items in the vegetable and fruit room 82 by radiation cooling using a temperature difference and cooling by a drop due to natural convection.

Therefore, since the storage contents of the vegetable/fruit compartment 78 are placed in a cooling environment having a small heat conductivity coefficient, it is suitable as a cooling storage compartment for fresh foods such as vegetables and fruits in which drying, particularly evaporation of moisture, affects storage quality.

As described above, the refrigerator is partitioned into 3 or more storage compartments including the direct cooling compartment having the function of arbitrarily switching the freezing and refrigerating temperature zones and the indirect cooling compartment having the function of refrigerating the temperature zones. The stored food is cooled in a region suitable for the storage property thereof, and a refrigerator with high preservation performance can be obtained by suppressing the degradation of the quality of the food.

In the vegetable/fruit compartment 78, it is not necessary to provide a convection passage for cooling cold air over the entire outer periphery of the storage container 82 as in the conventional case. Therefore, the storage container 82 can be increased to a range where opening and closing of the pullout door 81 are not hindered, and the storage amount can be increased.

Further, by arranging refrigerating room 77 having right and left side-by-side doors 87, vegetable and fruit room 78 having pull-out doors 81, 83, and 85, multi-purpose room 80, and freezing room 79 from the upper portion of refrigerator main body 74, a refrigerator that can be conveniently used in a small installation space and can be managed in a multi-compartment manner with a high degree of freedom can be obtained. In particular, the vegetable and fruit compartment 78 at the center increases the actual storage capacity as an indirect cooling compartment. The user can take out and take in the received objects from the vegetable and fruit room 78 through the pull-out door 81 while viewing the whole object from the upper ring without bending down.

Further, since the 1 st cooler 88 and the compressor 44 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the arrangement height is reduced. Accordingly, the 1 st cooler 88, the 1 st fan 89 disposed thereon, and the damper device 90 are all housed behind the freezer compartment 79 without intruding into the rear area of the vegetable compartment 78. Therefore, the depth of the storage container 82 of the vegetable chamber can be extended to the vicinity of the rear surface insulating material, and the storage capacity can be further increased.

(embodiment 4)

Fig. 8 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 4 of the present invention. Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the refrigerator. The heat insulating partition 75 partitions the refrigerator main body 101 into upper and lower portions, and forms a refrigerating chamber 77 and a vegetable and fruit chamber 78 therebelow. The heat-insulating partition wall 76 forms a freezing chamber 79 in a lower portion thereof. A longitudinal insulating partition wall 102 is provided between the insulating partition walls 75 and 76, and a multi-purpose compartment 103 and an ice making compartment 104 are formed on the left and right sides thereof.

The pullout door 105 is attached to an opening surface of the multi-purpose room 103. The pullout door 106 is attached to an open surface of the ice making compartment 104. The ice making device 107 is disposed at the top of the ice making compartment 104, and the left and right opening and closing type door 108 is installed at an open surface of the refrigerating compartment 79.

The 1 st blower 89 blows the cold air cooled by the 1 st cooler 88 into the multi-purpose room 103 via the air duct 109 and the damper device 90. The blower 89 guides the cold air cooled by the cooler 88 directly into the ice making compartment 104 via an air duct not shown in the figure.

Accordingly, the freezing compartment 79 and the ice-making compartment 104 have a function of a direct cooling compartment for directly introducing cold air into the compartment through the cooler 88 and the blower 89, the refrigerating compartment 77 through the cooler 91 and the blower 92, and the multi-purpose compartment 103 through the cooler 88 and the blower 89 and the damper device 90, respectively. The vegetable/fruit compartment 78 has a function of an indirect cooling compartment via a cooling plate 94 without introducing cold air directly into the compartment.

Next, the operation of the refrigerator will be described.

The cold air cooled by the 1 st cooler 88 is directly introduced into the freezing compartment 79 and the ice making compartment 104 by the 1 st blower 89, and the stored items are cooled by direct forced convection, and stored in the freezing temperature zone. In the ice making compartment 104, the cold air is made into ice by the ice making device 107. After a part of the cold air is adjusted to an appropriate amount by the damper device 90, the part of the cold air is directly introduced into the multi-purpose room 103 through the air duct 109, and the stored contents in the room are cooled by direct forced convection. The user stores the stored object in a desired temperature range from the cold storage to the freezing range by temperature adjustment.

The cold air cooled by the 2 nd cooler 91 is forcibly ventilated by the 2 nd blower 92, and is directly discharged from the discharge port 99 into the refrigerating chamber 77 through the discharge duct 97. Cold air, a part of which directly cools the contents in refrigerating room 77 by forced convection, is introduced into air duct 95 through suction port 98 having an opening at the bottom, cools cooling plate 94, and returns to 2 nd cooler 91 through suction air duct 96. That is, the refrigerating chamber 77, the freezing chamber 79, the multi-purpose chamber 103, and the ice making chamber 104 function as a direct cooling chamber for directly introducing cold air into the chambers to cool their contents or make ice by forced convection. Therefore, the objects stored in the chamber are placed in a cooling environment with a large heat conduction coefficient, so that the cooling speed is high. In this way, the cooling chamber is suitable as a cooling storage chamber for general foods such as subsidiary foods, processed foods, frozen foods, and food and drink products which are cooled to a predetermined storage temperature in a short time when the temperature is raised at the time of initial storage or when the door is opened and closed, or as a dedicated ice making chamber for forming a large amount of ice in a short time.

The cooling plate 94 cooled by the forced convection cold air passing through the air duct 95 is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, so that the whole surface can be cooled substantially uniformly to lower the temperature. Thus, the cooling plate 94 functions as an indirect cooling plate on the top surface for the vegetable compartment 78. That is, the cooling plate 94 cools the stored items in the vegetable and fruit compartment 82 by radiation cooling by a temperature difference and cooling by a drop caused by natural convection, so that the vegetable and fruit compartment 78 functions as an indirect cooling compartment.

Therefore, since the storage contents of the vegetable/fruit compartment 78 are placed in a cooling environment having a small heat conductivity coefficient, it is suitable as a cooling storage compartment for fresh foods such as vegetables and fruits in which drying, particularly evaporation of moisture, affects storage quality.

As described above, the refrigerator is partitioned to include a direct cooling chamber having freezing and refrigerating temperature zones; a direct cooling chamber having a function of arbitrarily switching a temperature zone; a direct cooling chamber having an independent ice making function; and more than 3 storage chambers of indirect cooling chamber with refrigeration temperature zone function. Thus, a refrigerator with high storage performance can be obtained by suppressing the degradation of the quality of food under the condition of storage management suitable for the storage property of the stored food. And thus provides a more convenient refrigerator by the ice making compartment 104 being independent.

Since the storage volume in the vegetable/fruit chamber 78 is increased as in embodiment 3, the description thereof will be omitted.

(embodiment 5)

Fig. 10 is an external front view of a refrigerator according to embodiment 5 of the present invention. Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the refrigerator. The heat insulating partition 111 partitions the refrigerator body up and down, and has an upper portion forming a refrigerating chamber 77, a vegetable and fruit chamber 112, and a fresh food chamber 113 from the top down, and a lower portion forming a freezing chamber 79. The drawer type doors 114 and 115 are respectively installed at front opening portions of the vegetable and fruit chamber 112 and the fresh food chamber 113. The doors 114 and 115 are integrally pulled out from the storage containers 116 and 117.

The refrigerating chamber 77 is separated from the vegetable and fruit chamber 112 by a partition plate 118, and the vegetable and fruit chamber 112 is separated from the fresh food chamber 113 by a partition plate 119. A cooling plate 120 having good thermal conductivity for sealing the opening of the upper surface of the vegetable/fruit chamber 112 is provided at a predetermined interval below the partition plate 118. The air duct 121 is formed between the partition plate 118 and the cooling plate 120. A cooling plate 122 having good thermal conductivity for sealing the upper opening of the fresh food compartment 113 is provided below the partition plate 119 with a predetermined space. The air passage 123 is formed between the partition plate 119 and the cooling plate 122.

The cold air cooled by the 2 nd cooler 91 provided in the refrigerating compartment 77 is forcibly supplied to the air ducts 121 and 123 by the 2 nd blower 92, and cools the cooling plates 120 and 122. Thus, the vegetable and fruit compartment 112 and the fresh food compartment 113 are indirectly cooled by radiation cooling from the top surface and cooling by downward flow due to natural convection without directly introducing cool air thereto.

Thus, not only the vegetable and fruit compartment 112 but also the fresh food compartment 113 have the function of an independent indirect cooling compartment, so as to separate and store the fresh food which is not suitable for drying from the vegetables, fruits, fish, shellfish and meat. Can inhibit the deterioration of quality caused by oxidation due to drying especially in fish, shellfish and meat, and can provide a high-quality refrigerator for storing all fresh foods.

In recent years, when the consumption of fresh food is increased and the use ratio is improved, an indirect cooling chamber having pull-out doors 116 and 117 is provided in the center of the refrigerator main body 110, so that a refrigerator which can be conveniently used while securing a sufficient storage amount can be provided.

Industrial applicability

The invention relates to a refrigerator which is divided into more than 3 storage chambers in the vertical direction. The refrigerator of the present invention has at least 3 storage chambers separated vertically inside the refrigerator. At least 1 of them is an indirect cooling chamber which is cooled without introducing cool air into the chamber. The other is a direct cooling chamber for introducing cold air into the chamber to cool the chamber. Thus, the installation space of the refrigerator can be suppressed. The refrigerator realizes multi-partition storage management with excellent storage quality by storing food which is not suitable for drying or oxidation in an indirect cooling chamber and storing other food which needs rapid cooling in a direct cooling chamber.

Claims (19)

1. A refrigerator comprising at least two direct cooling compartments for cooling by introducing cold air, and at least one indirect cooling compartment for cooling without introducing the cold air, wherein the indirect cooling compartment is cooled by the cold air passing through the periphery of the indirect cooling compartment, and the indirect cooling compartment and the direct cooling compartment are arranged in the vertical direction.

2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a cooler for generating a freezing cycle of the cool air, and a blower for delivering the cool air.

3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising a cooling plate having good thermal conductivity which forms at least a part of the periphery of the indirect cooling chamber.

4. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cooler is provided in one of the direct cooling compartments.

5. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the indirect cooling chamber is disposed between the direct cooling chambers.

6. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the indirect cooling compartment is a vegetable compartment.

7. A refrigerator is characterized in that the refrigerator is provided with a 1 st, a 2 nd and a 3 rd storage chambers which are arranged in the vertical direction;

a 1 st cooler for cooling the 1 st storage room;

a 2 nd cooler for cooling the 2 nd and 3 rd storage rooms; and

1 st and 2 nd blowers for blowing the cold air cooled by the 1 st and 2 nd coolers respectively,

the 1 st and 2 nd storage rooms are direct cooling rooms cooled by forced convection of the 1 st and 2 nd blowers,

the 3 rd storage compartment is an indirect cooling compartment that is cooled by at least a part of the periphery thereof by forced convection of one of the 1 st and 2 nd blowers.

8. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the 1 st and 2 nd coolers are provided in the 1 st and 2 nd storage compartments, respectively.

9. The refrigerator according to claim 7, further comprising a cooling plate having good thermal conductivity forming at least a part of the periphery of the 3 rd storage room.

10. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the 3 rd storage compartment is disposed near a substantial center of the refrigerator.

11. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the 3 rd storage compartment is disposed between the 1 st and 2 nd storage compartments.

12. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, wherein the 3 rd storage compartment is a vegetable and fruit compartment.

13. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 12, wherein the 1 st storage compartment is a freezing compartment and the 2 nd storage compartment is a refrigerating compartment.

14. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 13, wherein the refrigerating chamber is disposed above the freezing chamber.

15. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a pull-out door of the vegetable compartment.

16. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a pull-out door for the freezing compartment and a hinge-openable door for the refrigerating compartment.

17. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 16, wherein the hinge-openable door of the refrigerating compartment is a side-by-side door.

18. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 15, wherein a height H from the installed floor to an upper end surface of the door of the vegetable compartment is 600mm ≦ H < 850 mm.

19. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 13 to 18, further comprising a compressor of a refrigeration cycle, wherein the compressor and the 1 st cooler are disposed in parallel in the right and left direction in the rear of the freezing chamber.