Patents by Inventor Kihwang KIM
Kihwang KIM has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20240035729Abstract: A refrigerator includes a first storage space, a second storage space, a passage duct assembly disposed behind the second storage space and including a cold air passage, a grille fan assembly disposed behind the first storage space and provided with a fan configured to blow cold air, a supply duct assembly configured to supply cold air blown from the grille fan assembly to the passage duct assembly, and a passage opening/closing module configured to selectively block the cold air supplied to the supply duct assembly. The passage opening/closing module includes a damper having a damper through-hole and a damper door configured to open and close the damper through-hole, and a damper cover configured to surround at least a portion of the damper. The damper cover includes an anti-freezing passage through which a portion of the cold air blown from the grille fan assembly is discharged to the supply duct assembly.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 7, 2023Publication date: February 1, 2024Applicant: LG ELECTRONICS INC.Inventors: Yongbum CHO, Donghwi KIM, Kihwang KIM, Wonho PARK
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Publication number: 20230332819Abstract: Proposed is a refrigerator which includes a cabinet, an evaporator, a freezer compartment grille assembly, a refrigerating compartment grille assembly, a refrigerating compartment door, and a cold air duct for door cooling. Particularly, the cold air duct for door cooling is located to be as apart as possible from a hot line or an outer casing so as to reduce heat loss and power consumption due to the heat loss.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 26, 2021Publication date: October 19, 2023Inventors: Dohyun PARK, Haewon SEO, Sunghee KANG, Yongbum CHO, Kihwang KIM
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Publication number: 20230304722Abstract: A refrigerator includes a freezer compartment, a refrigerator compartment, a flow path duct assembly being disposed at a rear of the refrigerator compartment and comprising a cold air flow path, a grille fan assembly disposed at a rear of the freezer compartment, and a supply duct assembly that fluidly communicates with the flow path duct assembly and the grille fan assembly and supplies cold air that is blown from the grille fan assembly to the flow path duct assembly. The flow path duct assembly includes a flow path duct cold air inlet depressed to fluidly communicate with the supply duct assembly, and the cold air flow path exposed by the flow path duct cold air inlet is open in an upward direction of the flow path duct assembly and closed in a downward direction of the flow path duct assembly.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 16, 2023Publication date: September 28, 2023Inventors: Dong Hwi KIM, Kihwang KIM, Yongbum CHO
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Publication number: 20230272962Abstract: There is disclosed a refrigerator including an evaporator configured to generate cold air; and a grill fan assembly configured to blown the cold air generated by the evaporator to a freezer compartment and an ice-making chamber, wherein the grill fan assembly includes a freezing fan module; an ice-making fan module disposed in a predetermined area of the freezing fan module; a first cold air flow path guide disposed between the freezing fan module and the ice-making fan module; and a second cold air flow path guide disposed between the freezing fan module and the first cold air flow path guide, and the first cold air flow path guide and the second cold air flow path guide are spaced apart from an upper wall of the grill fan assembly.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2023Publication date: August 31, 2023Inventors: Kyungwook PARK, Kihwang KIM, Jongkwon PARK
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Publication number: 20230243572Abstract: A refrigerator includes an inner case including (i) a refrigerating case that defines a refrigerator compartment and (ii) a freezing case that defines a freezer compartment, an outer case disposed outside the inner case, a connection duct disposed between the inner case and the outer case, and a refrigerator compartment cold air supply duct that is detachably coupled to a rear inner surface of the refrigerating case and in fluid communication with the connection duct. The connection duct and the refrigerator compartment cold air supply duct are in communication on a rear surface of the refrigerating case with the refrigerating case interposed therebetween, thereby reducing the area occupied by the refrigerator compartment cold air supply duct disposed in the rear inner surface of the refrigerator compartment.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2023Publication date: August 3, 2023Inventors: Kyungwook PARK, Kihwang KIM, Jongkwon PARK
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Publication number: 20230243562Abstract: A refrigerator comprises a freezing compartment having an outlet, through which cold air is discharged, on a rear surface thereof, a first ice maker being mounted on an upper surface of the freezing compartment, and a second ice maker being mounted on the upper surface of the freezing compartment in a way that the second ice maker is spaced from the first ice maker, and further comprises an air guide comprising a first air guide outlet that is disposed to overlap the outlet at least partially and guides a portion of cold air discharged from the outlet to the first ice maker, a second air guide outlet that guides a portion of cold air discharged from the outlet to the second ice maker, and a third air guide outlet that guides a portion of cold air discharged from the outlet between the first ice maker and the second ice maker.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2023Publication date: August 3, 2023Inventors: Youji Choi, Hyuncheol Lee, Kihwang Kim
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Publication number: 20230243573Abstract: There is disclosed a refrigerator including an evaporator configured to generate cold air; and a grill fan assembly configured to blow the cold air generated by the evaporator to a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment, wherein the grill fan assembly may include a freezing fan module configured to blow cold air to the refrigerator compartment comprising a first storage chamber and a second storage chamber and the freezer compartment; a first flow path opening/closing damper configured to selectively block the cold air blown to the first storage chamber; and a second flow path opening/closing damper configured to selectively block the cold air blown to the second storage chamber, and the first flow path opening/closing damper and the second flow path opening/closing damper may overlap in at least predetermined area in a front-rear direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2023Publication date: August 3, 2023Inventors: Kyungwook PARK, Kihwang KIM, Jongkwon PARK
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Publication number: 20230122785Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and the refrigerator includes a cabinet, a first storage chamber and a second storage chamber configured to store food, and a grill pan assembly configured to partition the inner portion of the first storage chamber into a space in which an evaporator is provided, in which the grill pan assembly includes a grill pan forming a front surface of the grill pan assembly, a shroud on which a first fan and a second fan are mounted, a heat insulating member configured to be provided between the grill pan and the shroud and on which a first flow path part configured to supply the cold air forcibly flowing by the first fan to the first storage chamber and a second flow path part configured to supply the cold air forcibly flowing by the second fan to the second storage chamber are formed on the same surface, and a duct connector configured to be provided at a position corresponding to the second fan in a space between the shroud and the heat insulating member and connectType: ApplicationFiled: November 11, 2021Publication date: April 20, 2023Inventors: Haewon SEO, Dohyun PARK, Sunghee KANG, Kihwang KIM
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Publication number: 20230058849Abstract: A refrigerator is proposed. The refrigerator includes a refrigerating compartment, a freezing compartment, and an ice-making compartment. The refrigerating compartment is configured to receive cool air from a refrigerating compartment side grill fan assembly, and the ice-making compartment is configured to be located in any one refrigerating compartment door and to receive cool air from a freezing compartment side grill fan assembly with the freezing compartment. The refrigerating compartment side grill fan assembly is configured to supply a greater amount of cool air to a space at a refrigerating compartment door without the ice-making compartment than the amount of cool air supplied to other spaces, and the freezing compartment side grill fan assembly is configured to supply a greater amount of cool air to a space communicating with a recovery duct for the ice-making compartment than the amount of cool air supplied to other spaces.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 25, 2021Publication date: February 23, 2023Inventors: Kihwang KIM, Sunghee KANG, Sangho JUNG, Hojin CHOI, Dong Hwi KIM
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Publication number: 20230011875Abstract: Proposed is a refrigerator, wherein a cool air flow path for an ice making compartment and a cool air flow path for a freezing compartment are integrally formed on opposed surfaces between a shroud and a grill fan, and a freezing fan and an ice making fan are collectively installed at the shroud. Therefore, the cool air flow path for the ice making compartment and the cool air flow path for the freezing compartment are defined between the grill fan and the shroud by the operation of intimately coupling the shroud to the grill fan.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 17, 2020Publication date: January 12, 2023Inventors: Jong Gyu PARK, Kihwang KIM, JungHyuk CHO, Sunghee KANG
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Publication number: 20220282901Abstract: A refrigerator is proposed. Due to a first heater provided in a damper assembly, a damper assembly or the connection portion of the damper assembly with a supply duct is prevented from freezing, and due to a second heater provided in the supply duct, the connection portion of the supply duct with the damper assembly or the inside of the supply duct is prevented from freezing.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2022Publication date: September 8, 2022Inventors: Kihwang KIM, Yong Bum CHO, Dong Hwi KIM, Hyeon Seong LEE, Won HO PARK
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Publication number: 20210239383Abstract: A refrigerator includes: an evaporator provided in a storage space and configured to supply cold air to the storage space, a duct assembly provided above the evaporator and configured to guide the cold air supplied to the storage space, a door supply duct coupled to the duct assembly and configured to guide a part of the cold air flowing through the duct assembly to a door, and a fan motor assembly coupled to a lower end of the duct assembly and configured to suction air cooled by the evaporator and blow the suctioned air into the duct assembly. The duct assembly defines a first passage and a second passage that are spaced apart from each other, where the second passage includes a main passage configured to supply the cold air to the storage space and a sub-passage branched from the main passage and coupled to the door supply duct.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 27, 2021Publication date: August 5, 2021Inventors: Kihwang KIM, Sunghee KANG, Sangho JUNG, Yonghyeon CHO
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Patent number: 11022363Abstract: Disclosed is a refrigerator including a main body forming a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber each including a temperature sensor, a cooling unit having a compressor and an evaporator accommodated inside the main body and driven to circulate a refrigerant in the compressor and the evaporator to generate cold air around the evaporator, a fan positioned inside the main body to supply the cold air to the freezing chamber, a damper positioned between the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber and opened and closed to allow the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber to selectively communicate with each other, and a controller controlling the damper for a predetermined damper opening time when a temperature of the freezing chamber reaches a freezing satisfaction temperature according to driving of the cooling unit. A temperature change of the refrigerating chamber over time may be reduced and power consumption may be improved.Type: GrantFiled: December 6, 2017Date of Patent: June 1, 2021Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.Inventors: Donghyoung Lee, Kihwang Kim, Daesig Shin, Sunghee Kang, Yonghyeon Cho
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Patent number: 10690390Abstract: A refrigerator may include: a refrigerator compartment, a convertible compartment, an evaporator disposed in the convertible compartment; and a grill pan assembly forming a space where the evaporator is disposed by dividing the inside of the convertible compartment. The grill pan assembly may include an insulating member, a convertible compartment fan, a refrigerator compartment fan, and an opening device formed at the insulating member from the convertible compartment channel to the refrigerator compartment channel.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 2019Date of Patent: June 23, 2020Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.Inventors: Kihwang Kim, Sunghee Kang, Donghyoung Lee
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Publication number: 20200103158Abstract: A refrigerator may include: a refrigerator compartment, a convertible compartment, an evaporator disposed in the convertible compartment; and a grill pan assembly forming a space where the evaporator is disposed by dividing the inside of the convertible compartment. The grill pan assembly may include an insulating member, a convertible compartment fan, a refrigerator compartment fan, and an opening device formed at the insulating member from the convertible compartment channel to the refrigerator compartment channel.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 2, 2019Publication date: April 2, 2020Inventors: Kihwang KIM, Sunghee KANG, Donghyoung LEE
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Patent number: 10551109Abstract: A duct structure of a refrigerator equipped with a door provided with a container space separated from an internal space of the refrigerator comprises: a multi-duct which is provided in a rear space in the internal space of the refrigerator and which discharges cool air into the internal space of the refrigerator while allowing air to flow upward; a connecting outlet which is provided in an upper end of the multi-duct; a connecting duct which communicates with the connecting outlet and which is extended in a front-rear direction; a front duct which is connected to a front end of the connecting duct and which is extended in a left-right direction; and a nozzle unit which is provided in a lower portion of the front duct and which discharges cool air into the container space of door.Type: GrantFiled: October 23, 2017Date of Patent: February 4, 2020Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.Inventors: Yong Hyeon Cho, Sunghee Kang, Daesig Shin, Kihwang Kim, Dong Hyoung Lee
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Patent number: 10527338Abstract: A refrigerator may include: a refrigerator compartment, a convertible compartment, an evaporator disposed in the convertible compartment; and a grill pan assembly forming a space where the evaporator is disposed by dividing the inside of the convertible compartment. The grill pan assembly may include an insulating member, a convertible compartment fan, a refrigerator compartment fan, and an opening device formed at the insulating member from the convertible compartment channel to the refrigerator compartment channel.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 2017Date of Patent: January 7, 2020Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.Inventors: Kihwang Kim, Sunghee Kang, Donghyoung Lee
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Patent number: 10473388Abstract: A method, which is for controlling a temperature of a refrigerating compartment, includes cooling the refrigerating compartment, cooling the freezing compartment, determining a temperature of the refrigerating compartment, and based on the temperature of the refrigerating compartment, controlling the refrigerating compartment to a constant temperature range by controlling opening and closing of first and second passages of a three-way valve of the refrigerator to alternate cooling the refrigerating compartment and cooling the freezing compartment.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2017Date of Patent: November 12, 2019Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.Inventors: Yong Hyeon Cho, Sunghee Kang, Kihwang Kim
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Publication number: 20190331393Abstract: Disclosed is a refrigerator including a main body forming a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber each including a temperature sensor, a cooling unit having a compressor and an evaporator accommodated inside the main body and driven to circulate a refrigerant in the compressor and the evaporator to generate cold air around the evaporator, a fan positioned inside the main body to supply the cold air to the freezing chamber, a damper positioned between the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber and opened and closed to allow the freezing chamber and the refrigerating chamber to selectively communicate with each other, and a controller controlling the damper for a predetermined damper opening time when a temperature of the freezing chamber reaches a freezing satisfaction temperature according to driving of the cooling unit. A temperature change of the refrigerating chamber over time may be reduced and power consumption may be improved.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 6, 2017Publication date: October 31, 2019Inventors: Donghyoung LEE, Kihwang KIM, Daesig SHIN, Sunghee KANG, Yonghyeon CHO
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Publication number: 20180112905Abstract: A duct structure of a refrigerator equipped with a door provided with a container space separated from an internal space of the refrigerator comprises: a multi-duct which is provided in a rear space in the internal space of the refrigerator and which discharges cool air into the internal space of the refrigerator while allowing air to flow upward; a connecting outlet which is provided in an upper end of the multi-duct; a connecting duct which communicates with the connecting outlet and which is extended in a front-rear direction; a front duct which is connected to a front end of the connecting duct and which is extended in a left-right direction; and a nozzle unit which is provided in a lower portion of the front duct and which discharges cool air into the container space of door.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 23, 2017Publication date: April 26, 2018Inventors: Yong Hyeon CHO, Sunghee KANG, Daesig SHIN, Kihwang KIM, Dong Hyoung LEE