WO2010043622A2 - Refrigerator, in particular household refrigerator, and refrigerator module arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigerator, in particular a household refrigerator, comprising at least one cooling chamber (102), which can be thermally coupled with cool outside air through an outside air circuit (I) in order to cool the cooling chamber air. The outside air circuit (I) is connected to a cooling chamber air circuit (II) through an intermediately connected heat exchanger (210), by means of which outside air coldness can be transferred to the cooling chamber air. According to the invention, the cooling chamber air circulating in the cooling chamber circuit (II) is conducted through the heat exchanger (210).

Description

 Refrigerating appliance, in particular household refrigerating appliance, as well as refrigerator unit module arrangement

The invention relates to a refrigeration device with an outside air cooling system according to the preamble of claim 1 and a refrigerator module assembly according to claim 14.

From DE 43 28 803 C2 a generic household refrigerator is known, which has at least one cold room. The cooling space is thermally coupled with an outside air circuit for cooling the cooling room air. When the outside air is sufficiently cold, it is introduced into the cold room in a closed flow circuit and from there back into the exterior of the refrigerator housing. As a heat exchanger here is a refrigerator boundary wall of the household refrigerator or an intermediate tube bottom used in the refrigerator. In this way, a heat transfer surface is provided, for example, by means of the cooling space delimiting wall, at which the cooling chamber air can move in natural convection and thereby gradually cool down.

From DE 43 34 443 A1 an outdoor air refrigerator is known, which in addition to a conventional closed and operated by a compressor cooling circuit has an additional cooling unit, which is cooled by two pipe leads with the cool outside air. A controller only allows outside air circulation at outside temperatures between 0 and 6 ° C so that the temperature in the cooling unit does not drop below -1 ° C.

DE 10 2006 024 801 A1 discloses a further similar embodiment of a refrigerator cooled with outside air, in which the housing of the condenser of the regular cooling system is also arranged outside a building by means of a corresponding wall feed-through. In addition to the above disadvantages, this results in additional costs for the installation of the cooling system, which is thus out of the question, for example, for rented rooms. From US Pat. No. 5,743,109 a cooling system using the cool outside air similar to that described above is known. The document DE 41 14915 A1 discloses an external cooling system which draws the cool air from a basement room to achieve an additional cooling capacity. DE 43 00 750 A1 discloses a refrigerator with an outside air cooling system in which the outside air is introduced alternatively or additionally into the cavities provided in the walls of the refrigerator housing. These known solutions also adhere to the abovementioned disadvantages.

The object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator with an outside air cooling system with improved operation.

The object of the invention is solved by the features of claim 1 or claim 14. Advantageous developments of the invention are disclosed in the subclaims.

According to the characterizing part of claim 1, the circulating in the cooling chamber cooling chamber air is passed through the heat exchanger. In this way, a more intense compared to the prior art heat exchange between the outside air circuit and the refrigerator air circulation is possible. In contrast to the invention, in the generic state of the art only one cooling space boundary wall is cooled by means of an outside air flow, but the cooling room air is not guided through a heat exchanger. An air duct of the cooling room air and the outside air through the heat exchanger can be done by way of example according to the DC or countercurrent principle.

By way of example, the heat exchanger may be an air / air heat exchanger having an outside air chamber associated with the outside air circuit and a cold room air chamber associated with the room air circuit. The fresh air and cold room air circuits can be separated from each other in terms of flow, which excludes the possibility that outside air can enter the cold room.

The fresh air and the cold room air circuit are on the one hand to thermally couple with each other for a favorable cold transfer. On the other hand, the two circuits are to be separated as far as possible from each other in terms of flow, to an immediate one Exposure to the cold room with outside air should be largely avoided. Against this background, the heat exchanger can each provide separate inlets and outlets for the cooling room air. In addition, the heat exchanger can additionally provide inlets and outlets for the outside air circulation.

To increase the transfer of cold air from the outside air circuit to the refrigerator air circuit, the circuits may be provided with delivery fans, which increase the flow rates in the outside air circuit and the refrigerator air circuit.

According to the invention, the cooling space is not directly exposed to cool outside air, which may have high humidity. Rather, the outdoor air is transferred via the heat exchanger to the cold room air circulation, with the help of the cooling chamber is cooled. Condensation in the cold room due to direct exposure to outside air can therefore be reduced.

Preferably, the outside air and / or the refrigerator room air circuit may be provided with an additional cold storage. The cold storage can be provided within the switched between fresh air and cold room air circulation heat exchanger. With the help of cold storage, for example, higher daytime temperatures can be bridged. In this case, the outside air circuit can be deactivated while the cold room air circulation is activated while flowing around the still cold cold storage. The cold storage is preferably arranged directly in the flow path of the outside air and / or the cold room air.

In a structurally simple embodiment of the heat exchanger may have a common flow chamber, which is fluidically connected both with the outside air circuit and with the refrigerator air circuit. In the event that additional cold storage are provided in the heat exchanger, they are surrounded by both the outside air and the cold room air directly. To largely avoid exposure of the cooling space to outside air, the two outside air and cooling space air circuits can be activated at least partially offset in time from one another. In other words, when the outside air circuit is activated, the cold room air circuit is deactivated so that initially only the cold storage in the heat exchanger is cooled by means of outside air. Subsequently, with the external air circulation circuit deactivated, the cooling-chamber air circulation be activated and the cold is transferred from the cold storage in the refrigerator. As a storage medium for the cold storage, a material is preferably used whose phase change temperature is in the range of the operating temperature of the refrigerator or in the range of outside air temperatures. For example, water can be used as the storage medium.

The outside air cooling system can only be used in cool outdoor temperatures, ie in winter, while it remains out of operation at higher outside temperatures. Against this background, it is advantageous to connect the heat exchanger as a separate module decoupled with the refrigeration device. In summer, the heat exchanger can therefore be solved by the refrigerator a separate module. When the heat exchanger module is decoupled, an additional closing element can close the refrigerator air inlet and outlet. In this case, the refrigeration device is operated exclusively by means of the refrigerant circuit known per se.

A particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention is obtained if the heat exchanger module of the fresh air cooling system is arranged detachably on a belonging to the first cooling system wall of the refrigerator, wherein provided at the Kühlraumluftübertritt side of this wall of the refrigerator and the heat exchanger housing each other airtight intervening nozzle and counter-nozzle can be.

In this way, the outside air cooling system can be separated from the per se conventional refrigerator, so that instead of the heat exchanger housing of the outside air cooling system on the belonging to the first cooling system wall of the refrigerator according to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, a cover can be arranged, the one to the at least one channel opening having corresponding closure means.

The above-mentioned refrigerant circuit may be provided in addition to the outside air cooling system. The outside air cooling system can be connected to the outside air through at least one house wall duct, whereby the outside air can be conveyed into and out of the refrigeration appliance by means of the conveyor blower. The temperature in the cold storage is preferably detectable by means of at least one cold storage temperature sensor.

The cold storage is arranged according to a further preferred embodiment for the accumulation of iced water condensate on its outer surfaces.

It is advantageous if the inside air can be conveyed into and / or out of the inside air chamber of the heat exchanger and at the same time into and / or out of the cooling space of the refrigeration appliance by means of at least one second conveyor blower.

The refrigeration appliance can furthermore be developed advantageously in that in each case a controllable throttle valve is provided in at least one of the channel openings and / or house wall penetrations, with which the associated flow passage can be varied and / or closed. The throttle or flap may be used to close the channel openings when the outdoor air cooling system is not in use during warm periods of the year and / or to control the outside airflow through a variable throttle opening.

A separate control device of the outside air cooling system is preferably provided, which detects and evaluates the temperature of the outside air with the aid of an outside temperature sensor and the temperature of the cold store with the aid of a cold storage temperature sensor.

The cooling chamber air temperature can be regulated by means of a further control device. For this purpose, a cold room sensor is arranged in the cold room. If the detected refrigerator compartment temperature exceeds a setpoint, the compressor of the refrigerant circuit is put into operation until the detected refrigerator compartment temperature falls below the setpoint. By connecting the fresh air cooling system, additional cold can be introduced into the cold room, whereby the service life of the compressor can be increased while saving energy.

The outdoor air cooling system can be activated by means of a control device that detects the outside air temperature. If, for example, the temperature in the winter drops to -5 ° C at night, the outside air circulation is activated, which causes the cold outside air to flow through Heat exchanger flows. As a result, the heat exchanger temperature drops below 0 ° C and is activated by means of the control device of the refrigerator air circuit. In this way, the cold room air is cooled. Likewise, the storage medium, such as water, is cooled until it gradually freezes. When the outside temperature rises to 5 ° C during the daytime, for example, the controller deactivates the outside air circuit. In contrast, the refrigerator air circuit remains activated until the frozen storage medium has melted.

In the following, two embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the attached figures.

Show it:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigerator according to a first embodiment.

2 shows a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigeration device according to a second embodiment; and

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigerator according to the second embodiment in an exploded view.

1 shows a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigeration device 1 according to a first exemplary embodiment.

The refrigeration device 1 has a cooling space 102 for refrigerated goods and a control device 107, 205. Furthermore, it is equipped with a first and a second cooling system 10 and 20, the first cooling system 10 being a closed coolant circuit 108 and the second cooling system 20 being an outside air cooling system 20 operating by a temperature-controlled supply of cool outside air, which is penetrated by at least one house wall duct 215 and / or or 216 is connected to the outside air 219. The outside air 219 can be conveyed into and out of the refrigerator 1 by means of a delivery blower 211. The refrigerant circuit has a compressor 109, an evaporator 105, a condenser 106 and an expansion valve 104, and a control device 107, which regulates the compressor 106 in response to the refrigerator space temperature Tn detected by a refrigerator temperature sensor 101 to a predetermined setpoint temperature Ts. With a desired temperature sensor, not shown, a user can select the setpoint temperature Ts in a temperature range in the order of about 5 ° C.

The outside air cooling system 20 has a cold storage 208 in which a cooling medium of a predetermined mass and volume is cooled by the cooler outside air to a temperature which is lower than the temperature in the cooling space. As a result, the cold stored in the cold storage 208 so cold even then used for cooling the inside air in the refrigerator, when the outside air temperature has become temporarily higher. The cold can be stored during a cooler night and then used during the day in warm temperatures to bridge the warm phase. As a result, the cooling readiness of the outside air cooling system according to the invention also expands to warm time of day, so that additional energy can be saved by keeping the operation of the conventional first cooling system 10 idle for longer. By specifying the mass or the volume of the cold accumulator 208, it is possible to form this bridging ability of the outside air cooling system 20 to a desired extent.

The cold storage 208 preferably has a cavity which is filled with a cooling medium. The cooling medium is for example water. This allows cooling to 0 ° C and further cooling of the frozen ice to an underlying temperature. Furthermore, in further embodiments, the coolant may be formed from a gel customary in refrigeration or by a solid metal element.

The outside air cooling system 20 is associated with an outside air circuit I, in which by means of the conveyor blower 21 1 cool outside air B flows into the outside air chamber 207 of the heat exchanger housing 210 and is discharged via the pipe 212 again. In addition to the outside air circuit I, a cooling space air circuit II is provided, which conducts cooling space air C into a cooling space air chamber 206 of the heat exchanger housing 210 by means of a delivery blower 218 and returns the cooling room air into the cooling space via an outlet 201. In the heat exchanger housing 210 of the outside air cooling system 20, a heat exchanger with the cold storage 208 described above is set up.

According to FIG. 1, the partition wall 209 of the heat exchanger hermetically separates the cooling chamber air chamber 206 and the outside air chamber 207 so that the outside air can not enter the cooling chamber 102 directly.

The outside air chamber 207 is connected in the outside air circuit I and can be flowed through by the cool outside air. For this purpose, detects an additional, provided for the outdoor air cooling system 20 control means 205 using an outside temperature sensor 214, the outside air temperature Ta. When the outside air temperature Ta has dropped below a predetermined limit temperature Tg, for example, 6 ° C, the controller 205 turns on the conveyor fan 211 and opens a in a the controllable throttle valve 217 arranged in the pipe feed lines 212, so that the cool outside air B and the exhausted air A are fed into and out of the outside air chamber 207. For this purpose, the outside air cooling system 20 with the pipes 212 through house wall duct 215, 216 is performed. At least in the suction house wall duct, an unillustrated filter may be installed to prevent clogging of the outside air chamber 207 by dust and insects.

The cooling chamber air chamber 206 of the heat exchanger 210 is also flowed through by its own cooling air circuit, that is, the cooling space air circuit II, with the cool interior air. For this purpose, the control device 205 of the outside air cooling system 20 detects the cold storage temperature Tk with the aid of a cold storage temperature sensor 204. The cold storage temperature sensor 204 is arranged here merely by way of example directly on the illustrated cold storage 208 and can be arranged in the cooling space air chamber 206 in further embodiments on the partition wall 209.

When the detected cold storage temperature Tk drops below the refrigerator room temperature Tn, the controller 205 starts the inner air cooling circuit Il. For this purpose, the control device 205 of the outside air cooling system 20 according to FIG. 1 is connected by way of example to the control device 107 of the first cooling system 10 via a signal line 30. Via this signal line 30, the control device 205 receives the measurement signal of the refrigerator temperature sensor 101, whereby an additional temperature sensor can be omitted. Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigerator 1 according to a second embodiment.

In the following, repeated parts of the description are omitted in the sense of a simplifying and manageable presentation, so that the difference to the previous embodiment can be treated superficially.

In contrast to the embodiment described in Figure 1, this has a heat exchanger 210, wherein the outer air chamber 207 and the inner air chamber 206 together form a common flow chamber, whereby the heat exchanger is structurally simple to produce. The cold storage 208 is in this case composed of a plurality of individual cold storage cells 208n, which are flowed around by both the outside air and the inside air.

The control device 205 also regulates this refrigeration device 1 as described under FIG. For the rest, everything regarding the embodiment under FIG. 1 applies to the present embodiment.

Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of a basic arrangement of a refrigerator 1 according to the second embodiment of Figure 2 in an exploded view.

In FIG. 3, the outside air cooling system 20 can be mounted as a separate module on a conventional cooling system 10. In this way, it can be retrofitted into existing refrigerators and offered as a selectable option for new appliances.

The heat exchanger 210 is preferably, as shown in FIG. 3, mountable above the conventional refrigerator 103. For this purpose, the heat exchanger housing 210 has at its lower side via two nozzles 220 and 221, which form the channel openings 201 and 202. These two stubs 220 and 221 can be attached airtight on the inside corresponding to the upper side of the refrigerator 103 arranged counter-nozzles 225 and 226, so that at the same time an alignment and an air seal takes place. The airtightness can be realized for example by means of seals. When the heat exchanger 210 is dismantled as shown, a cover 222 serves to close the then open openings of the counterparts 225 and 226. For this purpose, the cover 222 has on its underside two blind openings 223 and 224 which correspond to the counter stubs 225 and 226. The cover 222 also has a smooth upper side, allowing it to be used as a practical overlay.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 refrigeration device

10 first cooling system

101 refrigerator temperature sensor

102 refrigerator

103 refrigerator

104 expansion valve

105 evaporator

106 capacitor

107 control device

108 closed refrigerant circuit

109 compressor

20 second cooling system, outside air cooling system

201, 202 channel opening

203 control line

204 cold storage temperature sensor

205 control device

206 refrigerator air chamber

207 outside air chamber

208 cold storage

209 separating wall

210 heat exchanger housing, heat exchanger

211 blowers

212 pipeline

213 outer wall

214 outside temperature sensor

215, 216 Hauswanddurchführung

217 throttle

218 blowers

219 outside air

220, 221 nozzles 222 cover

223, 224 blind bore, closure means

225, 226 counter stubs

30 signal line

A used air

B cool outside air

C indoor air to be cooled

D cooled indoor air

Ta outside air temperature

Tg limit temperature

Tk temperature of the cold storage

Tn fridge temperature

Ts set temperature

I refrigerator air circulation

Il outdoor air circulation

Claims

1. Refrigeration appliance, in particular household refrigeration appliance, with at least one cooling chamber (102) which is thermally coupled to cool the cooling air via an outside air circuit (I) with cool outside air, which outside air circuit (I) with the interposition of a heat exchanger (210) with a cold room air circuit (II ) is connected, by means of which the outside air is cold transferable to the cold room air, characterized in that in the cold room air circuit (II) circulating cold room air is passed through the heat exchanger (210). 2. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the heat exchanger (210) with a cooling air inlet and outlet (201, 202) with the cooling space (102) is connectable, and with an outside air inlet and outlet (212) connectable to the environment is. 3. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the outside air circuit (I) and / or the refrigerator room air circuit (II) is associated with an air delivery fan (21 1, 218). 4. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that in the outside air and / or in the cold room air circuit (I, II), in particular within the heat exchanger (210), at least one cold storage (208) is provided. 5. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the heat exchanger (210) has an outside air circulation (I) associated with the outside air chamber (207) and a cooling space air circuit (II) associated cooling chamber air chamber (206). 6. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the outside air circuit (I) and the cooling space circuit (II) are separated from each other in terms of flow. 7. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the heat exchanger (210) has a common flow chamber which is fluidically connected both with the outside air circuit (I) and with the refrigerator air circuit (II). 8. Refrigerating appliance according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the cold storage (208) comprises a material whose phase change temperature is in the range of refrigeration device operating temperatures and the outside air temperatures. 9. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the heat exchanger (210) is connected as a separate module decoupled with the refrigerating appliance. 10. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 9, characterized in that the refrigeration device is associated with a closure element (222), with the decoupled heat exchanger module Kühlraumluftein- and -auslasse (225, 226) of the cooling space (210) are closable. 1 1. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a control device (205) is provided which at an outside air temperature (Ta) smaller than a predetermined limit temperature (Tg) activates the outside air circuit and / or the cooling air circuit, in particular the Conveying fan (21 1, 218) turns on. 12. Refrigerating appliance according to claim 1 1, characterized in that the control device (205) the outside air circuit (I) is activated when the outside air temperature (Ta) is less than a phase change temperature of the cold storage (208), and / or the refrigerator room air circuit (II) activated when the cold storage temperature is less than the refrigerator room temperature (Tn). 13. Refrigerating appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cooling space (102) an evaporator (105) of a refrigerant circuit associated with run (108), with which the cooling space (102) to a predetermined Desired cooling chamber temperature (Ts) is coolable. 14. Refrigeration unit module assembly with a refrigerator according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the heat exchanger (210) is detachably coupled as a separate module with the refrigerator. 15. Refrigeration device module arrangement according to claim 14, characterized in that a closure element (222) is provided, with the decoupled heat exchanger module Luftein- and -auslasse (201, 202) between the cooling space (102) and the heat exchanger (210) are closable.