Heat Dissipation Device of Built-In Refrigerator

This application is a continuation application is a continuation application, under 35 U.S.C. § 111 (a), of international application No. PCT/KR2023/020872, filed Dec. 18, 2023, which claims priority under 35 U. S. C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0000695, filed Jan. 3, 2023, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a heat dissipation device of a built-in refrigerator capable of lowering a temperature of a machine room of the built-in refrigerator.

Generally, a refrigerator may include a storage room and a refrigeration cycle device that can maintain the storage room at a low temperature to enable food to be stored at a low temperature.

The refrigeration cycle device may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator.

The refrigerator may include a machine room in which the compressor and the condenser are disposed.

The refrigerant compressed by the compressor exchanges heat with external air as it passes through the condenser, so that the temperature of the machine room rises. A fan may be disposed in the machine room to suck in the external air and exhaust the sucked external air to the outside after passing through the condenser.

The evaporator may be disposed adjacent to the storage room to cool the air in the storage room. For example, a fan may be configured to allow the air in the storage room to pass through the evaporator and then be exhausted back into the storage room. Then, the temperature in the storage room may be kept low.

An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a heat dissipation device for a refrigerator capable of lowering temperature of a machine room of a built-in refrigerator.

An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a heat dissipation device for a refrigerator that can support a built-in refrigerator and have a height corresponding to a baseboard of surrounding furniture.

A heat dissipation device of the refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure may include a pedestal, to be installed at a bottom of the refrigerator, including a suction port on an upper surface of the pedestal; a heat dissipation duct to be installed inside the pedestal and while the heat dissipation duct is installed inside the pedestal that is installed at the bottom of the refrigerator, the heat dissipation duct connecting the suction port of the pedestal and a front surface of the pedestal; and a heat dissipation fan to be installed in the heat dissipation duct below the suction port.

The heat dissipation duct may be detachable from the pedestal.

The heat dissipation duct may be configured in a channel shape with one end closed and another end open, and the heat dissipation fan may be installed adjacent to the one end closed of the heat dissipation duct.

The suction port of the pedestal may be provided at a position corresponding to a plurality of holes provided on a lower surface of a machine room of the refrigerator.

The heat dissipation fan may be configured to suck in air of the machine room and discharge the air toward the front surface of the pedestal.

The heat dissipation device may further include: a front plate coupleable to and decoupleable from the front surface of the pedestal.

The front plate may include a plurality of air holes.

The front plate may be configured as a louver.

The front plate may include a pair of coupling protrusions on both ends of the front plate, and the pedestal may include a pair of coupling grooves on the front surface of the pedestal, wherein the pair of coupling protrusions of the front plate may be insertable into the pair of coupling grooves.

The heat dissipation device may further include: a temperature sensor installed in the heat dissipation duct and configured to measure a temperature of air discharged from a machine room of the refrigerator; and a processor configured to turn the heat dissipation fan on/off based on the temperature of the air measured by the temperature sensor.

The pedestal may include: a top plate; a plurality of support parts extending from a lower surface of the top plate; and a duct seat provided between the plurality of support parts and in which the heat dissipation duct is installed. The suction port may be formed on the top plate to communicate with the duct seat.

A heat dissipation device of a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure may include: a pedestal, to be installed at a bottom of the refrigerator, including a suction port on an upper surface of the pedestal; a heat dissipation duct coupleable to and decoupleable from an inside the pedestal and while the heat dissipation duct is coupled to the inside the pedestal that is installed at the bottom of the refrigerator, the heat dissipation duct connecting the suction port of the pedestal and a discharge port on a front surface of the pedestal; a heat dissipation fan installed in the heat dissipation duct below the suction port; and a front plate coupleable to and decoupleable from the front surface of the pedestal.

The heat dissipation duct may be configured in a channel shape with one end closed and another end open, and the heat dissipation fan may be installed adjacent to the one end closed of the heat dissipation duct.

Since the embodiments of the disclosure can apply various transformations and have various embodiments, specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the scope to the specific embodiments, and should be understood to include various modifications, equivalents, and/or alternatives of the embodiment of the disclosure. In connection with the description of the drawings, like reference numerals may be used for like elements.

In describing the disclosure, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the disclosure, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the following embodiments may be modified in many different forms, and the scope of the technical idea of the disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the spirit of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

Terms used in this disclosure are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the scope of rights. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

In this disclosure, expressions such as “has,” “can have”, “includes,” or “can include” indicate the existence of a corresponding feature (e.g., numerical value, function, operation, or component such as a part) and do not preclude the existence of additional features.

In this disclosure, expressions such as “A or B,” “at least one of A or/and B,” or “one or more of A or/and B” may include all possible combinations of the items listed together. For example, “A or B,” “at least one of A or/and B,” or “one or more of A or/and B” may refer to all cases (1) including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3) including both at least one A and at least one B.

Expressions such as “first,” “second,” “primary,” or “secondary,” as used in this disclosure may modify various components regardless of order and/or importance, are used only to distinguish one component from other components, and do not limit the corresponding components.

Further, terms such as ‘leading end’, ‘rear end’, ‘upper side’, ‘lower side’, ‘top end’, ‘bottom end’, etc. used in the disclosure are defined with reference to the drawings. However, the shape and position of each component are not limited by these terms.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a heat dissipation deviceof a refrigerator according to the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

is a perspective view illustrating a built-in refrigeratorhaving a heat dissipation deviceaccording to one embodiment of the disclosure.is a partial perspective view illustrating a machine roomand a cover of the built-in refrigeratorof.is a partial perspective view illustrating a lower surface of the built-in refrigeratorof.

Referring to, a heat dissipation deviceof a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure may be disposed at the bottom of a built-in refrigerator.

The built-in refrigeratormay be configured so that it is accommodated in a built-in furniture cabinet.

The refrigeratormay be at a certain height from the floor by the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator. The heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator may have a height of a baseboard of a piece of furniture disposed next to the built-in furniture cabinet, for example, a baseboard of a sink.

A plurality of protrusionsmay be provided on the lower surface of the refrigerator. Accordingly, when the refrigeratoris installed on the upper surface of the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator, a space S may be formed between the lower surface of the refrigeratorand the upper surface of the heat dissipation device. For example, the plurality of protrusionsmay include two adjusting screws installed adjacent to the front side of the refrigeratorand two wheels installed adjacent to the rear side of the refrigerator.

The refrigeratormay include a machine room. The machine roommay be provided at the lower portion of the rear side of a main bodyof the refrigerator. The machine roommay be provided as a concave space inwardly from the rear side of the main bodyof the refrigerator.

An openingmay be provided at the front side of the machine room, and the openingmay be covered with a machine room cover. The machine room covermay include a plurality of slits. External air may be introduced into or discharged from the machine roomthrough the plurality of slits.

Referring to, a compressor, a condenser, and a fanmay be disposed in the machine room.

The compressormay compress a refrigerant to make the refrigerant a high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous state. The refrigerant compressed by the compressormay exchange heat with the external air while passing through the condenserso as to become a liquid. The fanmay be configured to suck the external air into the machine roomand make the external air pass through the condenser. In other words, the external air may be sucked into the machine room, pass through the condenser, and then be discharged outside the machine roomby the fan.

Referring to, a plurality of holesmay be provided on the lower surface of the refrigerator, that is, the lower surface of the machine room. Through the plurality of holes, external air may be introduced into the machine room, and air passing through the condensermay be discharged outside the machine room.

In this embodiment, the plurality of holesformed on the lower surface of the machine roommay include a plurality of left holesand a plurality of right holes. The plurality of left holesand the plurality of right holesmay be spaced apart from each other by a certain distance. The distance between the plurality of left holesand the plurality of right holesmay be greater than the length of a portion where the plurality of left holesare formed or the length of a portion where the plurality of right holesare formed.

The plurality of left holesmay be provided adjacent to the condenser. The plurality of right holesmay be provided adjacent to the compressor. The fanmay be disposed between the condenserand the compressor. When the fanoperates, external air may be drawn in the machine roomthrough the plurality of left holes, pass through the condenser, and then be discharged toward the compressorby the fan.

The heat dissipation devicemay be configured to support the refrigerator, position the refrigeratorat a certain height from the floor, and forcibly discharge air from the machine roomto the outside.

Hereinafter, the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to.

is a perspective view illustrating a heat dissipation deviceof a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure.is an exploded perspective view illustrating the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator of.is a bottom perspective view illustrating the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator of.is a cross-sectional view illustrating the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator oftaken along line A-A.is a bottom perspective view illustrating a pedestalof a heat dissipation deviceof a refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to, the heat dissipation deviceof the refrigerator according to one embodiment of the disclosure may include a pedestal, a heat dissipation duct, and a heat dissipation fan.

The pedestalmay be disposed at the bottom of the refrigerator. The pedestalmay be formed in a substantially rectangular flat plate shape. The pedestalmay be configured to have a shape and area that correspond to a footprint of the refrigeratorto be supported.

The pedestalmay be formed to have a certain height. The pedestalmay be formed to have a height that corresponds to the height of the baseboard of another built-in furniture disposed on one side of the built-in refrigerator, for example, the baseboard of a sink.

A suction portmay be provided on the upper surface of the pedestal. The suction portmay be formed to communicate with the heat dissipation ductprovided at the lower portion of the pedestal. The suction portmay be formed to penetrate the pedestalupward and downward.