Refrigerating Plate for a Refrigerator or Freezer

Abstract

The invention relates to a vertical evaporating plate for refrigerating a refrigerator or freezer comprising a roll bond circuit which consists of refrigerant flow channels and comprises descending and ascending sections, wherein at least a part of the channels of the descending section comprise a liquid refrigerant accumulating area of a maximum height (hi), the totality of the heights (hi) is adjustable in such a way that the total volume of the accumulating areas is equal to or greater than half the volume of the liquid refrigerant and each height (hi) is less than 70% of the entire height of a channel (Hi). The inventive plate makes it possible to improve the thermal efficiency and reduce the sound level of a refrigerator or freezer.

Description

DOMAIN OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a “roll-bond” type refrigerating panel for a refrigerator or freezer improving the thermal efficiency of the cooling circuit and reducing the sound level during operation.

STATE OF THE ART

The cooling circuit of a refrigerator or a freezer comprises a compressor designed to propel the cooling liquid, for example a fluorinated or chlorofluorinated hydrocarbon or an alkane, and an evaporator that can be in the form of a vertical panel, and also a panel with horizontal planes, for example in the plane separating the two compartments, for refrigerators with a freezer compartment.

One of the methods of manufacturing the evaporating panel consists of making the cooling circuit using the so-called “roll bond” technique, in other words using two aluminum or aluminum alloy strips, one of which is coated, on the zones that will form the circuit, with an ink designed to prevent the two strips from being welded together. The two strips are then welded by co-rolling. The unwelded areas are then inflated hydraulically or pneumatically to form the circuit, which may be of the two side type with two deformed sides, or of the OSF (One Side Flat) type, with one flat side and one deformed side.

The circuit can comprise a sequence of channels with a part descending towards the bottom of the panel and a part ascending towards the top of the panel, possibly with a widened area near the end of the circuit used as an evaporator, wherein evaporation is terminated regardless of the external conditions. When the compressor stops, the refrigerant migrates from the condenser to the evaporator because the high pressure in the condenser forces it towards the low pressure area consisting of the evaporator, the lack of a solenoid valve making it impossible to isolate the high pressure zone from the low pressure zone. The refrigerant migrates in a two-phase liquid/gas form via gravity, and the liquid part descends towards the lowest point of the circuit and collects there.

Particularly when there is no solenoid valve between the compressor and the evaporator, the compressor forces the gas into a large mass of liquid when it starts, thus causing audible gurgling.

Furthermore, household appliance manufacturers are continuously attempting to reduce electrical consumption to claim this feature as a benefit for consumers or to comply with the regulations.

An object of this invention is to provide a vertical roll-bond type evaporator panel for a refrigerator or freezer capable of reducing energy consumption and reducing the sound level in the evaporator.

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a vertical evaporating panel for cooling a refrigerator or a freezer. The panel comprises a roll bond type circuit consisting of refrigerant flow channels and comprising a descending part and an ascending part, wherein at least some of the channels of the descending part comprise a refrigerant accumulating area with a maximum height h_i. The totality of the heights h_i can be adjusted such that the total volume of the accumulating areas is greater than or equal to half the total volume of the cooling liquid and each height h_i is less than 70% the total height of the channel, H_i.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1a shows a vertical section through an element of a channel in a panel according to the invention comprising a siphon delimiting the cooling liquid accumulating area.

FIG. 1b shows another embodiment of the accumulating area of a channel according to the invention comprising projections.

FIG. 1c shows an element of the channel combining the two embodiments in FIGS. 1a and 1b.

FIG. 1d shows an evaporator type channel according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary complete panel according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention consists generally of providing channels in the descending part of an evaporating circuit comprising refrigerant accumulating areas so as to inhibit this liquid from completely filling in the channels at the bottom of the circuit. These accumulating areas are present on either only part or on all of the channels, and enable a relatively uniform distribution of liquid in the panel when the compressor stops, provided that the total volume of the accumulating areas is greater than or equal to half the total volume of the cooling liquid, such that the sound level is minimized when the compressor starts again.

However, it is important to prevent the accumulation of the cooling liquid from excessively reducing the passage of gas produced by evaporation of the cooling liquid, which could be detrimental to the thermal efficiency of the appliance. Consequently, the height h_i of liquid in the accumulating area must be sufficient but must not exceed 70% of the total height H_i of the channel.

There are several possible embodiments for the accumulating area. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1a consists of making a siphon, the channel being curved upwards to trap a certain volume of cooling liquid, but leaving a sufficient passage for the gas.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1b consists of providing vertical projections facing downwards on the channels for accumulation of cooling liquid, which have the advantage of not reducing the cross-sectional passage for gas in the channels. When the compressor is running, these projections enable evaporation of the cooling liquid directly in areas remote from the channels, which contributes to cooling these areas and therefore improving the thermal efficiency of the circuit. The example shown in FIG. 1c combines the two previous embodiments.

The example shown in FIG. 1d shows the use of boiler type channels, in other words wide channels with disk-shaped welded parts. The use of these disk-shaped parts enables an increase in the width of the channels while reducing their deformation under the action of internal pressure of the refrigerant under some operating conditions or during tests to detect any leaks in the evaporators before the refrigerator or the freezer is assembled. The disk-shaped parts must not excessively reduce the surface area of the passage of the gas that evaporates from the accumulating area, which despite the presence of the accumulating areas according to the invention, would increase the sound level. Thus, the sum of the widths li of the disk-shaped parts in a boiler area must not exceed 90% of the total length L of this boiler area.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a complete panel in which most ends of the horizontal channels of the descending part of the circuit are siphon-shaped, with the lower channel comprising projections.

The refrigerating panels according to the invention reduce electrical consumption and the sound level of the refrigerator or freezer.

Claims

1. A roll-bond type vertical evaporating panel for cooling a refrigerator or a freezer comprising:

a circuit comprising a descending part and an ascending part;

the descending part of the circuit comprising a plurality of channels, each of the plurality of channels having a height, each of the plurality of channels also having a refrigerant accumulating area, the refrigerant accumulating area also having a height and a volume, and

wherein the height of the refrigerant accumulating area of each of channel of the plurality of channels is less than approximately 70% of the height of the respective channel.

2. The evaporating panel of claim 1 further including a liquid refrigerant having a total volume, wherein the sum of the volumes of the plurality of refrigerant accumulating areas is equal to or greater than approximately 50% of the total volume of the liquid refrigerant.

3. The panel set forth in claim 1, wherein one end of at least one of the plurality of channels is curved upwards so as to form a siphon and create the accumulating area.

4. The panel set forth in claim 2, wherein at least one of the plurality of channels is provided with a plurality of downward projections, the projections forming accumulating areas.

5. The panel set forth in claim 2, further comprising a boiler area with a plurality of disk-shaped parts.

6. The panel set forth in claim 5, wherein the sum each of the disk shape parts has a width and the boiler area has a length and wherein the sum of the widths of the disk-shaped parts is equal to or less than approximately 90% of the length of the boiler area.

7. A roll-bond type evaporating panel comprising:

a circuit comprising:

a plurality of flow channels; at least some of the plurality of flow channels each having an accumulating area; wherein the height of the accumulating area of each particular channel in the plurality of flow channels is no more than approximately 70% of the height of the particular channel, and wherein the evaporating panel contains an overall total volume of liquid, and wherein a portion of the total volume of liquid in the evaporating panel is located in the accumulating areas of the plurality of flow channels, and wherein the total volume of liquid that is in the accumulating areas of the plurality of flow channels is greater than or equal to approximately 50% of the total volume of liquid in the evaporating panel.

8. The panel of claim 7 further comprising a compressor.

9. The panel set forth in claim 7 wherein at least one end of at least one of the plurality of flow channels is curved upward.

10. The panel of claim 9 wherein at least one end of several of the plurality of flow channels is curved upward.

11. The panel of claim 7 wherein at least several of the plurality of flow channels are horizontal.

12. The panel of claim 11 wherein at least one of the plurality of flow channels includes a vertical projection facing downward on the channel for accumulating cooling liquid.

13. The panel set forth in claim 12, further comprising a boiler-type channel.

14. The panel set forth in claim 13, wherein the boiler-type channel includes a plurality of disk-shaped welded parts and wherein the sum of the widths of all of the plurality disk-shaped parts does not exceed 90% of the width of the boiler-type channel.

15. A panel comprising:

a circuit comprising a descending part and an ascending part,

wherein liquid is present in the circuit, and

wherein the descending part of the circuit comprises a plurality of flow channels each of which has an accumulating area; and

wherein the volume of liquid present in the accumulating areas in all of the plurality of flow channels is no less than 50% of volume of liquid present in the circuit.

16. The panel set forth in claim 15, wherein each of the accumulating areas has a height and wherein each of the plurality of flow channels has a height, and wherein the height of each accumulating area is no more than 70% of the height of the flow channel in which the accumulating area is located.

17. The panel set forth in claim 16 further comprising a horizontal plane that separates the circuit into two compartments.

18. The panel set forth in claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of channels is provided with projections facing downwards forming accumulating areas.

19. The panel set forth in claim 16, further comprising a boiler type channel including disk-shaped welded central areas.

20. The panel set forth in claim 18 further comprising a compressor.