Air Duct System of Refrigeration Device and Refrigeration Device

The present disclosure is a national phase application of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/102112, filed on Jun. 29, 2022, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Applications No. 202210658372.8 filed on Jun. 10, 2022, and No. 202221461952.X filed on Jun. 10, 2022, the entireties of which are herein incorporated by reference.

The present application relates to the field of refrigeration device, and in particular to an air duct system for refrigeration device and a refrigeration device.

Many traditional refrigeration devices, such as a refrigerator, are equipped with ice makers, and the ice maker is provided inside an ice-making compartment. In order to provide cooling capacity for the ice maker, an ice-making evaporator and an ice-making fan are also required. The ice-making compartment, the ice-making evaporator and the ice-making fan occupy a large volume in a refrigerator compartment due to their large sizes, which limits an outline dimension design of the ice-making evaporator. Not only the uniformity of a temperature distribution inside the refrigerator compartment is affected, but also an effective heat exchange area of the ice-making evaporator is reduced, resulting in poor defrosting capacity of the ice-making evaporator. Both frequent heating and defrosting are required, which not only increases the energy consumption of the refrigerator, but also affects an ice-making speed and the quality of ice cubes.

The present application is intended to solve at least one of problems in the related art. The present application provides an air duct system for a refrigeration device, which may improve the uniformity of the temperature distribution inside the refrigerator compartment, improve the defrosting capacity of the ice-making evaporator, decrease energy consumption, and improve the ice-making speed and the quality of surfaces of ice cubes.

The present application further provides a refrigeration device.

The air duct system for the refrigeration device according to an embodiment of the present application includes:

In the air duct system for the refrigeration device according to the embodiment of the present application, by connecting the refrigerator air duct cover plate with a part of the side wall to form the refrigerator air duct and connecting the ice-making air duct front cover plate with another part of the side wall to form the ice-making air duct, the ice-making air duct and the refrigerator air duct share one side wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the volume occupied by the air duct in the refrigerator compartment is reduced. By providing the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct at both sides of the ice-making air duct, the ice-making air duct is located in a middle of the side wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct are located at both sides of the ice-making air duct. The cooling capacity inside the refrigerator compartment is distributed more uniformly, and the area of the ice-making air duct corresponding to the side wall may be increased, which is conducive to increasing the effective area of the ice-making evaporator located inside the ice-making air duct, the heat load of the ice maker and the area of the ice-making evaporator are more rationally matched, which is conducive to increasing an ice-making speed of the ice maker, improving the defrosting capacity of the ice-making evaporator, lowering a heating defrosting frequency of the ice-making evaporator, reducing the energy consumption, and improving the surface quality of the ice cubes.

According to an embodiment of the present application, a top wall or a bottom wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner is provided with a refrigerator air duct air inlet, first ends of the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct communicate with the refrigerator air duct air inlet, and second ends of the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct extend to the top wall or the bottom wall.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the refrigerator air duct further includes: a branch air duct, the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct communicate respectively with the refrigerator air duct air inlet through the branch air duct.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the refrigerator air duct assembly further includes: a refrigerator air duct rear cover plate, the refrigerator air duct rear cover plate is provided with a branch air groove, the refrigerator air duct cover plate is provided with a refrigerator air groove, the refrigerator air duct rear cover plate is buckled with the refrigerator air duct cover plate to form the branch air duct between the branch air groove and the refrigerator air groove.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the branch air duct is provided with a first air guide surface and a second air guide surface opposite to each other, the first air guide surface extends obliquely from the refrigerator air duct air inlet to the first refrigerator air duct, and the second air guide surface extends obliquely from the refrigerator air duct air inlet to the second refrigerator air duct.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the refrigerator air duct cover plate includes: a cover plate body and a refrigerator air duct thermal insulation plate, the refrigerator air duct thermal insulation plate is provided at a side of the cover plate body facing the refrigerator air duct, and the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct are formed between the refrigerator air duct thermal insulation plate and the side wall.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the ice-making air duct front cover plate is embedded in the refrigerator air duct cover plate.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the ice-making air duct assembly further includes: a thermal insulation layer, the thermal insulation layer is provided at a side of the ice-making air duct front cover plate facing the ice-making air duct.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the ice-making air duct assembly further includes: an ice-making air duct rear cover plate, the ice-making air duct rear cover plate is connected to the ice-making air duct front cover plate, the thermal insulation layer is provided between the ice-making air duct front cover plate and the ice-making air duct rear cover plate, and the ice-making air duct is formed between the ice-making air duct rear cover plate and the side wall.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the ice-making air duct assembly further includes: a fan hood, an accommodation cavity is formed between the fan hood and the ice-making air duct rear cover plate; and

According to an embodiment of the present application, the air duct system further includes:

According to an embodiment of the present application, the air inflow tube includes: a first cover plate and a second cover plate buckled with each other, the first cover plate extends along an outer wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner and is connected to the outer wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the second cover plate is located at a side of the first cover plate away from the refrigerator cabinet liner;

According to an embodiment of the present application, positions of the refrigerator air duct cover plate corresponding to the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct are provided with refrigerator air outlets, and the refrigerator air duct cover plate is further provided with a refrigerator air return port, both the refrigerator air outlet and the refrigerator air return port communicate with the refrigerator compartment of the refrigeration device, and the refrigerator air return port communicates respectively with the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct to form a refrigerator air circulation structure.

According to an embodiment of the present application, a bottom wall or a top wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner is provided with a refrigerator air duct air inlet and two refrigerator air duct air return ports respectively provided at both sides of the refrigerator air duct air inlet,

A refrigeration device according to an embodiment of the present application includes:

According to the refrigeration device of the embodiment of the present application, by providing the above-mentioned air duct system, the occupied volume of the refrigerator compartment by the air duct is reduced, the cooling capacity inside the refrigerator compartment is distributed more uniformly, and the area of the ice-making air duct corresponding to the side wall is further increased, which is conducive to increasing the effective area of the ice-making evaporator located inside the ice-making air duct, the heat load of the ice maker and the area of the ice-making evaporator are more rationally matched, which is conducive to increasing the ice-making speed of the ice maker, improving the defrosting capacity of the ice-making evaporator, lowering the heating defrosting frequency of the ice-making evaporator, reducing the energy consumption, and improving the surface quality of the ice cubes.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the ice-making compartment is located in the refrigerator compartment and at an upper part of the refrigerator compartment, an air inflow tube of the air duct system is connected to an upper part of the ice-making air duct and a top of the ice-making compartment, and an air return tube of the air duct system is connected to a lower part of the ice-making air duct and a bottom of the ice-making compartment.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the refrigeration device further includes:

One or more embodiments of the present application mentioned above have at least one of the following effects.

Furthermore, first ends of the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct communicate with the air inlet of the refrigerator air duct, and second ends of the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct extend to the top wall or the bottom wall of the refrigeration liner, which may increase an air duct length between the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct, and is conductive to making the temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartment in the height direction more uniform.

Furthermore, by providing a branch air duct for branching air entering the refrigerator compartment from the refrigerator air duct air inlet to the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct, the cooling capacity inside the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct may be distributed more uniformly. The air from the refrigerator air duct air inlet is branched to the first refrigerator air duct and the second refrigerator air duct at both sides through the branch air duct, air flow in the refrigerator air supply duct is smoother and the refrigeration efficiency is improved.

Still further, by providing the air inflow tube and the air return tube outside the refrigerator cabinet liner and connecting them to the refrigerator cabinet liner, the occupied space of the refrigerator compartment by the air inflow tube and the air return tube may be avoided, and the volume of the refrigerator compartment may be increased.

Additional embodiments of the present application will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present application.

Embodiments of the present application are further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. The following embodiments are intended to illustrate the application, but are not intended to limit the scope of the application.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, it is to be noted that the orientation or positional relationships indicated by terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “top”, “bottom”, “inside”, “outside”, etc. are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are merely for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or component stated must have a particular orientation, is constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus is not to be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, the terms “first”, “second” and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

In the description of the present application, it should be noted that unless explicitly specified and defined otherwise, the terms “connected to” and “connected” shall be understood broadly, for example, it may be either fixedly connected or detachably connected, or can be integrated; and it may be either directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. The specific meanings of the terms above in embodiments of the present application can be understood in accordance with specific conditions.

In the embodiments of this application, unless otherwise clearly stated and defined, a first feature being located “on” or “under” a second feature means that the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature or the first feature is in contact with the second feature by an intervening media. In addition, the first feature is “on”, “above” and “over” the second feature can refer to that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply refer to that the level height of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature. The first feature is “under”, “below” and “beneath” the second feature can refer to that the first feature is directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or simply refer to that the level height of the first feature is lower than that of the second feature.

The present application provides an air duct system for a refrigeration device, as shown into, the air duct system includes a refrigeration air duct assemblyand an ice-making air duct assembly. Both the refrigerator air duct assemblyand the ice-making air duct assemblyare provided inside a refrigerator cabinet linerof the refrigeration device. The ice-making air duct assemblyincludes an ice-making air duct front cover plate, and an ice-making air ductis formed between the ice-making air duct front cover plateand a part of a side wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner. The ice-making air ductcommunicates with an ice-making compartmentinside the refrigerator cabinet linerto form an ice-making air circulation structure. The refrigerator air duct assemblyincludes a refrigerator air duct cover plateand a refrigerator air ductis formed between the refrigerator air duct cover plateand another part of the side wall. The refrigerator air ductincludes a first refrigerator air ductand a second refrigerator air duct. The ice-making air ductis located between the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air duct.

Both the refrigerator air ductand the ice-making air ductare located inside a refrigerator compartment. The side wallmay be any side wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner. In an embodiment, the side wallis a side wall opposite to a door body of the refrigeration device, that is, a rear side wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner.

The ice-making air ductin the air duct system provided inside the present application is use for providing an ice-making evaporatorand an ice-making fan. An ice maker is provided inside the ice-making compartment. Under the action of the ice-making fan, air flows through the ice-making evaporator, and the air exchanging heat with the ice-making evaporatorflows into the ice maker. After exchanging heat in the ice maker, the air flows back to the ice-making air ductand exchanges heat with the ice-making evaporatoragain, and such reciprocal circulation provides cooling capacity for the ice-making compartment. A separate ice-making evaporatorand a separate ice-making fanare provided inside the ice-making air ductto provide cooling capacity for the ice-making compartmentalone. A start-up rate of the ice-making evaporatormay be high since the ice-making compartmentneeds to maintain a low temperature for a long time.

Air inside the refrigerator air ductexchanges heat with air inside the refrigerator compartmentto refrigerate the refrigerator compartment. In one embodiment, the air inside the refrigerator air ductis refrigerated by heat conduction with the air inside the refrigerator compartmentthrough the refrigerator air duct cover plate, that is, refrigeration is performed by direct cooling. In an embodiment, the refrigerator air duct cover plateis provided with a refrigerator air outletand a refrigerator air return portcommunicating with the refrigerator compartmentto form a refrigerator air circulation structure, that is, refrigeration is performed by air cooling.

In the air duct system for the refrigeration device provided by the present application, by connecting the refrigerator air duct cover platewith a part of the side wallto form the refrigerator air ductand connecting the ice-making air duct front cover platewith another part of the side wallto form the ice-making air duct, the ice-making air ductand the refrigerator air ductshare one side wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the volume occupied by the air duct in the refrigerator compartmentis reduced. By providing the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductat both sides of the ice-making air duct, the ice-making air ductis located in a middle of the side wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductare located at both sides of the ice-making air duct. The cooling capacity inside the refrigerator compartmentis distributed more uniformly, and the area of the ice-making air ductcorresponding to the side wallmay be increased, which is conducive to increasing the effective area of the ice-making evaporatorlocated inside the ice-making air duct, the heat load of the ice maker and the area of the ice-making evaporatorare more rationally matched, which is conducive to increasing an ice-making speed of the ice maker, improving the defrosting capacity of the ice-making evaporator, lowering a heating defrosting frequency of the ice-making evaporator, reducing the energy consumption, and improving the surface quality of the ice cubes.

Furthermore, an ice-making air grooveis provided at a side of the ice-making air duct rear cover platefacing the side wall, and the ice-making air ductis formed between the ice-making air grooveand the side wall, that is, the ice-making evaporatorand the ice-making fanare provided inside the ice-making air groove. In an embodiment, the ice-making fanis connected to the ice-making air duct rear cover plate, and the ice-making evaporatoris connected to the refrigerator cabinet liner, which may facilitate the mounting of the ice-making evaporatorand the ice-making fan. Both the ice-making evaporatorand the ice-making fanmay also be provided at the refrigerator cabinet liner, or both provided on the ice-making air duct rear cover plate.

As shown in, the ice-making air duct front cover plateis embedded in the refrigerator air duct cover plate, that is, the refrigerator air duct cover plateis adjacent to the ice-making air duct front cover plate, the refrigerator air ductand the ice-making air ductmay make full use of the area of the side wall, and increase the area of the ice-making air ductcorresponding to the side wall.

In an embodiment, the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductare provided inside a vertical direction, that is, both the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductare located on the left and right sides of the side wallrespectively. Since the ice-making air ductis located between the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air duct, it is beneficial to lengthen the dimensions of the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductin the height direction of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and improve the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartmentin the height direction of the refrigerator cabinet liner.

In conjunction with,and, a refrigerator air duct air inletis provided at a bottom wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner, first ends of the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductcommunicate with the refrigerator air duct air inlet, and second ends of the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductextend to a top wall. In an embodiment, the refrigerator air duct air inletmay also be provided at the top wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner, first ends of the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductcommunicate with the refrigerator air duct air inlet, and second ends of the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductextend to the bottom wall. The top wallis connected to an upper end of the side wall, the bottom wallis connected to a lower end of the side wall, and the top walland the bottom wallare provided opposite to each other.

In the present embodiment, by providing a refrigerator air duct air inleton the top wallor the bottom wall, an air duct length between the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductmay be increased, which is conducive to making the temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartmentin the height direction more uniform.

The refrigerator air duct air inletcommunicates with a heat exchange air duct outside the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the cooling capacity is transported to the refrigerator air duct through the heat exchange air duct provided outside. In one embodiment, a main heat exchange air duct is provided outside the refrigerator cabinet liner, and a main evaporator and a main fan of the refrigeration device are provided inside the main heat exchange air duct. Under the action of the main fan, the air flows through the main evaporator, and the air flowing through the main evaporator enters the refrigerator air duct. After performing heat exchange in the refrigerator air duct, the air flows back to the main heat exchange air duct to exchange heat with the main evaporator again; or the air continues to enter the refrigerator compartment, and, flows back to the main heat exchange air duct to exchange heat with the main evaporator again after heat exchange. This reciprocal circulation provides cooling capacity for the refrigerator compartment.

Further, as shown in, the refrigerator air ductfurther includes a branch air duct, and the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductcommunicate respectively with the refrigerator air duct air inletthrough the branch air duct. Furthermore, by providing a branch air ductto branch air entering the refrigerator compartment from the refrigerator air duct air inletto the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air duct, the cooling capacity inside the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductmay be distributed more uniformly.

The branch air duct, the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductjointly form a refrigerator air supply duct. The refrigerator air supply duct extends from the bottom wall to the top wall of the refrigerator cabinet liner, which may increase the area of the refrigerator air supply duct, improve the refrigeration efficiency of the refrigerator compartmentand the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the refrigerator compartmentin the height direction of the refrigerator cabinet liner.

In case that the refrigerator air duct air inletis provided at the bottom wall, an air inlet of the branch air ductis connected to the bottom wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductextend from the air outlet of the branch air ductto the top wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner.

In case that the refrigerator air duct air inletis provided at the top wall, an air inlet of the branch air ductis connected to the top wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the first refrigerator air ductand the second refrigerator air ductextend from the air outlet of the branch air ductto the top wallof the refrigerator cabinet liner.

In an embodiment, the refrigerator air duct cover plateis provided with refrigerator air outletsin the height direction of the refrigerator cabinet liner, and the air outflow of the refrigerator air ductin the height direction of the refrigerator cabinet lineris more uniform. As shown in, a position of the refrigerator air duct cover platecorresponding to the first refrigerator air ductis provided with two refrigerator air outlets, and a position of the refrigerator air duct cover platecorresponding to the second refrigerator air ductis provided with two refrigerator air outlets. A position of the refrigerator air duct cover platecorresponding to the branch air ductis also provided with a refrigerator air outlet.