Air Blowing Arrangement For a Combined Refrigerator
An air blowing arrangement for a combined refrigerator of the forced ventilation type and that comprises: a cabinet formed by an outer case and by two inner cases spaced from each other by a thermal insulating filler and defining a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment; and an air diffusing element defining at least one air distributing duct, having an air inlet in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartment and a plurality of air outlets opened to the interior of the refrigerating compartment. The air diffusing element is disposed in the interior of the thermal insulating filler and seated against the rear wall of the inner case of the refrigerating compartment, said rear wall being provided with a plurality of windows aligned with respective air inlet openings of the air distributing duct.
The present invention refers to an air blowing arrangement to be applied to a combined refrigerator of the forced ventilation type and presenting a single cabinet that internally defines a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment, usually separated by a horizontal dividing wall.
PRIOR ARTThe combined refrigerators are generally constituted by a cabinet formed of an outer case, usually in metallic sheet, and by two inner cases molded in plastic material, EPS for example, which are spaced from each other and also from the outer case by a thermal insulating filler generally in polyurethane foam injected between said outer case and inner cases. The inner cases respectively define the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, and the freezing compartment can be disposed above or below the refrigerating compartment and separated therefrom by the dividing wall.
These combined refrigerators with forced ventilation are provided with ducts for conducting cool air coming from the evaporator, to the freezing and refrigerating compartments.
Considering that the cool air is produced in an air refrigerating compartment lodging an evaporator and a fan and which is disposed inside the freezing compartment, it is necessary to provide ducts that allow the cool air, which is produced upon passing through the evaporator, to be conducted not only to the freezing compartment inside which the air refrigerating compartment is situated, but also to the refrigerating compartment disposed below or above the freezing compartment, depending on the construction applied to the combined refrigerator.
Usually, the conduction of cool air from the air cooling compartment to the refrigerating compartment is made through air passages provided in the horizontal dividing wall which separates the freezing compartment from the refrigerating compartment. After passing through said dividing wall, the cool airflow, to be released to the interior of the refrigerating compartment, is conducted through a diffusing duct mounted in the interior of the refrigerating compartment and seated and affixed against a rear wall of the latter, this diffusing duct being generally defined by an EPS body provided with at least one longitudinal slot opened to its rear face, against which is seated and affixed an adhesive blanket that operates as a sealing joint between the diffusing duct and the rear wall of the respective inner case. The diffusing duct body is provided with a plurality of air outlet openings turned to its front face and which are maintained in communication with the rear slot, in order to permit that the forced airflow admitted into the slot, by an adequately positioned inlet, be released through said openings in different levels of the refrigerating compartment.
In this type of prior art construction, the diffusing duct is disposed inside the refrigerating compartment, therefore being exposed to the user upon the opening of the respective front door of the cabinet. With this assembly, it is necessary to provide a finishing cover to be affixed onto the diffusing duct, giving to the latter a esthetic aspect determined in the project of the refrigeration appliance. Besides being developed to esthetically minimize the presence of the diffusing duct inside the refrigerating compartment, the finishing cover is designed to present openings or windows coinciding with the air outlet openings of the diffusing duct and also, optionally, an end portion with an increased depth, in order to define a chamber in which will be mounted an airflow control means for the diffusing duct, which can be defined by an obturator or a fan, depending on the design of the refrigerating appliance.
This known construction requires the provision of a finishing cover to cover the whole extension of the diffusing duct, with the consequent costs in material and investments in moulds with considerably dimensions.
In addition to the inconvenience above, this prior art construction requires special cares for assembling the diffusing duct and its finishing cover, turning the assembling operations difficult and expensive and requiring a design for both the diffusing duct and the finishing cover for each model of combined refrigerator.
Finally, the fact of the diffusing duct-finishing cover assembly being exposed inside the refrigerating compartment restricts or impairs the introduction of new esthetic characteristics in the combined refrigerator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBy reason of the inconveniences presented by the solutions known so far, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an air blowing arrangement for a combined refrigerator of the type considered above, presenting a construction which is simple to assemble and of relatively reduced cost, and which can be applied to different models of refrigerator.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an air blowing arrangement, which requires a finishing element of reduced dimensions and which interferes very little with the esthetic design of the interior of the refrigerating compartment of the combined appliance.
As already mentioned above, the present air blowing arrangement can be applied to a combined refrigerator of the forced ventilation type and which comprises a cabinet formed by an outer case and two inner cases, each provided with a rear wall and separated from each other and from the outer case by a thermal insulating filler, said inner cases respectively defining a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment; and an air diffusing body mounted to the cabinet and defining at least one air distributing duct, having an air inlet in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartment and a plurality of air outlets opened to the interior of the refrigerating compartment.
According to the invention, the air diffusing body is disposed in the interior of the thermal insulating filler between the outer case and the rear wall of the inner case of the refrigerating compartment, against which is seated and retained, said rear wall being provided with a plurality of windows, with which are aligned respective air outlet openings of the air distributing duct defined inside the air diffusing body.
The basic construction defined above permits the air diffusing body to be disposed behind the rear wall of the inner case of the refrigerating compartment and, therefore, not visible to the user. In this condition, the assembly of the diffusing body is effected concomitantly with the assembly of the outer case and inner cases, during the injection phase of the thermal insulating filler, dispensing esthetic finishings and leaving the interior of the refrigerating compartment free of covering pieces and liable to variations of its ornamental aspect.
While only one air distributing duct in the air diffusing body has been provided, it should be understood, as described ahead, that the air diffusing body can present two or more air distributing ducts and further at least one air inlet duct having an air inlet in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartment, and an air outlet in selective communication with the air inlet of the air distributing duct(s), said selective communication being controlled by the manual or automatic drive of an obturator or by the automatic drive of a fan, the automatic drive being achieved, both to the obturator and to the fan, through a driving means whose operation is controlled by a temperature sensor means mounted in the interior of the inner case of the refrigerating compartment. The provision of an air inlet duct along the air diffusing body is recommended to keep the obturator away from the air cooling compartment defined in the interior of the freezing compartment, when the latter is disposed under the refrigerating compartment.
The invention will be described below, with reference to the enclosed drawings, given by way of example of possible embodiments of the invention and in which:
As already mentioned, the present air blowing arrangement can be applied to the combined refrigerators of the no frost type and with forced ventilation, presenting the freezing compartment FC disposed above or under the refrigerating compartment RC.
The combined refrigerator further comprises an air cooling compartment 6, provided in a rear region of the freezing compartment FC and lodging an evaporator 7 and a ventilator 8. The air cooling compartment 6 presents a circulated air inlet (not illustrated) and a cool air outlet 6b, disposed downstream of the fan 8.
It should be understood that the circulated air inlet and the cool air outlet 6b can be multiple and arranged in different manners, according to each refrigerator design, not forming part of the present invention.
As it can be noted, in the different ways of carrying out the invention, the inner cases 2 and 3 present a respective rear wall 2a, 3a which is kept spaced from the outer case 1 by a respective extension of the thermal insulating filler 4.
In the arrangement illustrated in
The forced cool airflow is supplied to the refrigerating compartment RC, through the plenum P in the cases in which the blowing arrangement has the construction illustrated in
The air blowing arrangement of the invention comprises an air diffusing element 10, generally in the form of a parallelepipedic body of low height, constructed in EPS or other adequate material of low thermal conductivity and of easy moldability, to be lodged in the interior of the thermal insulating filler 4 between the rear wall 3a of the inner case 3 of the refrigerating compartment RC and the outer case 1, before the structure of the refrigerator cabinet is filled with the thermal insulating material in polyurethane foam.
In the construction illustrated in
In all the constructive forms illustrated herein, the air diffusing element 10 presents a front face lob which is seated and affixed, generally by adhesive tape (not illustrated), against the rear wall 3a of the inner case 3 of the refrigerating compartment RC before injecting the thermal insulating filler 4.
In the construction of
The refrigerating compartment RC is internally provided with a case 30 which is affixed against the rear wall 3a of the respective inner case 3, so as to maintain its interior in fluid communication with the 25 air outlet 11b of the air inlet duct 11, through the opening 3b provided in said rear wall 3a.
Each of the two air distributing ducts 12 presents an air inlet 12a turned and opened to the front face 10b of the air diffusing element 10 and aligned with a respective opening 3c (see
In the construction of
As it can be observed in
In the embodiment of
The second fan 70 is deenergized, blocking the passage of cool air to the air distributing ducts 12, when the temperature of the refrigerating compartment RC lowers to a certain value.
In this construction, the case 30 does not present the air outlet openings 37.
In the construction exemplified in
It should be understood that in the illustrated embodiments in
While only some embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that alterations can be made in the form and physical arrangement of the elements, provided that they fall within the inventive concept defined in the claims accompanying the present specification.
Claims
1. An air blowing arrangement for a combined refrigerator of the type with forced ventilation and which comprises: a cabinet formed by an outer case and two inner cases, each provided with a rear wall and spaced from each other and from the outer case by a thermal insulating filler, said inner cases respectively defining a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment; and an air diffusing element mounted to the cabinet and defining at least one air distributing duct, which has an air inlet in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartment, in order to receive a cool airflow, and a plurality of air outlets opened to the interior of the refrigerating compartments, characterized in that the air diffusing element is disposed in the interior of the thermal insulating filler, between the outer case and the rear wall of the inner case of the refrigerating compartments, against which it is seated and retained, said rear wall being provided with a plurality of windows with which are aligned respective air inlet openings of the air distributing duct defined in the interior of the air diffusing body.
2. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the air diffusing element comprises a parallelepipedic body of low height and made of a material of low thermal conductivity and presenting a rear face and a front face to be hermetically seated and externally affixed against the rear wall of the respective inner case, said air distributing duct being defined by a respective channel provided along part of the longitudinal extension of the air diffusing element and opened to the rear face of the latter, the formation of said air distributing duct being completed by closing the channel with a closing plate hermetically seated and retained against the rear face of the air diffusing element
3. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the air distributing duct presents an air inlet turned and opened to the front face of the air diffusing element, the rear wall of the inner case of the refrigerating compartment being provided with an opening aligned with said air inlet, and the refrigerating compartment being internally provided with a case affixed against the rear wall of the respective inner case, in order to have its interior maintained in fluid communication with the air inlet of the air distributing duct through the respective opening provided in said rear wall and the case being maintained in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartment to receive the cool airflow.
4. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 3, wherein it comprises: a flow control means mounted in the case and to be selectively driven from a flow releasing condition to a flow blocking condition of the case to the air distributing duct.
5. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 4, characterized in that wherein it further comprises a driving means operatively associated with the flow control means to modify the operational condition of the latter; and a temperature sensor mounted in the refrigerating compartment, so as to activate the driving means to conduct the flow control means to one of its operational conditions due to the temperature reigning in the refrigerating compartments.
6. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 5, wherein the driving means is defined by a thermostat.
7. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the flow control means is defined by an obturator mounted in the interior of the case.
8. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 5, wherein the flow control means is defined by a fan mounted in the interior of the case, the driving means being defined by an electric motors.
9. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 1 wherein the air diffusing element comprises an air inlet duct also in the form of a channel and having an air inlet opened to one of the ends of the air diffusing element and in communication with the interior of the inner case of the freezing compartments, and an air outlet turned and opened to the front face of the air diffusing element, the rear wall of the inner cases of the refrigerating compartments being provided with an opening aligned with said air outlet and in communication with the interior of the case.
10. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the air inlet of the air inlet duct is disposed in a lower end of the air diffusing element, the air outlet being disposed in an upper region of both the air diffusing element and the refrigerating compartment.
11. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the air diffusing element comprises an air inlet duct that is centrally disposed, and two air distributing ducts each disposed on each side of the air inlet duct.
12. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 5, wherein the flow control means is defined by an obturator mounted in the interior of the case.
13. The arrangement, as set forth in claim 6, wherein the flow control means is defined by an obturator mounted in the interior of the case.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 11, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 21, 2008
Inventors: Luiz Afranio Alves Ferreira (Joinville-SC), Moacyr Marangone Mezavila (Joinville-SC), Adriano Cargnin (Joinville-Sc), Lauro Fernando Souza Ignacio Jr (Joinville-SC)
Application Number: 11/914,835
International Classification: F25D 17/06 (20060101); F25D 11/02 (20060101); F25D 17/00 (20060101); F25B 49/00 (20060101);