Drawer structure and refrigerator

Abstract

This application relates to a drawer structure and a refrigerator. The drawer structure includes a bottom wall and a front wall, a rear wall, and two side walls respectively connected to the bottom wall. The front and rear walls are distributed along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and the two side walls are distributed along the width direction of the refrigerator. The front wall, rear wall, and two side walls, together with the bottom wall, form a storage space. The rear wall has a first cavity, and the bottom wall has a second cavity. The first cavity and the second cavity are respectively filled with a refrigerant solution. The refrigerator compartment has an air outlet facing the rear wall and used to blow cold air towards the rear wall and the bottom wall. The drawer structure and refrigerator provided by this application can avoid excessive temperature fluctuations and prolonged low-temperature periods inside the drawer.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of refrigerator technology, and in particular to a drawer structure and a refrigerator. Background Technology

[0002] In refrigerators, the crisper drawers, especially those with a temperature control system around 0-2℃, typically have air vents at the back to maintain a low temperature of around 1℃. These vents are usually positioned towards the bottom of the drawer or slightly below it, ensuring that the cool air blown from the vents directly cools the drawer when the refrigerator compartment is cooling.

[0003] Because the air vents in the refrigerator compartment blow air directly onto the bottom of the drawers, the temperature inside the refrigerator compartment can rise significantly after defrosting or after prolonged opening and closing of the door. Since the refrigerator compartment cools for an extended period, the -7°C air blowing from the vents near the drawers continuously cools the drawers, causing the bottom and lower back walls of the drawers near the vents to remain below 0°C for an extended period. For example, if the ambient temperature is around 30°C, opening the refrigerator door for 15 minutes can raise the temperature inside to around 26°C. After closing the door, the refrigerator compartment will continue cooling, and the bottom of the drawers will remain below 0°C for about 25 minutes. Furthermore, although the average temperature at the bottom of the drawers is around 0°C, during continuous cooling, the lowest temperature at the bottom can reach -7 to -4°C, resulting in temperature fluctuations of about 6 to 9°C. This leads to significant temperature fluctuations inside the drawers and prolonged periods of temperatures below the target temperature, which is detrimental to the preservation and storage of fruits and vegetables. Utility Model Content

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a drawer structure and refrigerator that can avoid excessive temperature fluctuations and prolonged low-temperature periods inside the drawer.

[0005] A drawer structure is provided for use in the refrigerator compartment of a refrigerator. The drawer structure includes a bottom wall and a front wall, a rear wall, and two side walls respectively connected to the bottom wall. The front wall and the rear wall are distributed along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and the two side walls are distributed along the width direction of the refrigerator. The front wall, the rear wall, the two side walls, and the bottom wall enclose a storage space. The rear wall has a first cavity, and the bottom wall has a second cavity. The first cavity and the second cavity are respectively filled with a refrigerant solution. The refrigerator compartment has an air outlet, which is set towards the rear wall and is used to blow cold air towards the rear wall and the bottom wall.

[0006] In one embodiment, the first cavity is connected to the second cavity; a liquid inlet channel is provided on the rear wall and the liquid inlet channel is connected to the first cavity; or, a liquid inlet channel is provided on the side wall and the liquid inlet channel is connected to the second cavity.

[0007] In one embodiment, the liquid inlet channel is opened on the rear wall, and the liquid inlet channel and the first cavity are distributed along the height direction of the refrigerator, and the first cavity is set closer to the bottom wall relative to the liquid inlet channel; the liquid inlet channel has a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, the liquid inlet is opened on the top surface of the rear wall, and the liquid outlet is connected to the first cavity.

[0008] In one embodiment, along the height direction of the refrigerator, the height of the top of the first cavity is greater than the height of the air outlet; and / or, the extension length of the liquid inlet channel along the height direction of the refrigerator is... The first cavity extends along the height of the refrigerator by a length of... ,and .

[0009] In one embodiment, .

[0010] In one embodiment, the cross-sectional width of the second cavity is The cross-sectional width of the first cavity is ,and .

[0011] In one embodiment, .

[0012] In one embodiment, the walls of the first cavity and / or the walls of the second cavity are configured as a honeycomb porous structure.

[0013] In one embodiment, the first cavity is provided with a plurality of partition ribs, each partition rib extending along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and each partition rib connecting the upper and lower walls of the second cavity at both ends along the height direction of the refrigerator, and the plurality of partition ribs are spaced apart along the width direction of the refrigerator, so that two adjacent partition ribs together with the upper and lower walls of the second cavity form a flow channel.

[0014] A refrigerator includes a cabinet and drawer structures as described in any of the above embodiments. The cabinet has a refrigerator compartment, and the drawer structures are configured to be multiple, all of which are located in the refrigerator compartment. The freezing point temperature of the refrigerant solution in the multiple drawer structures is different.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the drawer structure and refrigerator provided in this application, by providing a first cavity on the rear wall and a second cavity on the bottom wall, and filling the first cavity and the second cavity with a refrigerant solution, when the refrigerator is continuously cooling and the air outlet is continuously blowing cold air towards the rear wall and the bottom wall, the cold air first transfers the cold energy to the refrigerant solution. The refrigerant solution stores the cold energy when the temperature of the drawer structure is low, thereby preventing the temperature of the drawer structure from being lower than the target temperature for a long time. When the temperature of the drawer structure is too high, the refrigerant solution can release the cold energy, which is beneficial to maintaining the temperature of the drawer structure, especially the storage space, within the target temperature range, thus facilitating the preservation and storage of fruits and vegetables in the storage space. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the conventional technology, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the conventional technology will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0017] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the drawer structure provided in this application;

[0018] Figure 2 Top view of the drawer structure provided in this application;

[0019] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Sectional view at AA;

[0020] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the refrigerator provided in this application.

[0021] Attached reference numerals: 100, drawer structure; 101, large fresh-keeping drawer; 102, zero-degree fresh-keeping drawer; 103, micro-freezing drawer; 10, bottom wall; 11, second cavity; 20, front wall; 30, rear wall; 31, first cavity; 32, liquid inlet channel; 321, liquid inlet; 322, liquid outlet; 40, side wall; 50, storage space; 60, sealing plug; 200, cabinet body; 210, refrigerator compartment. Detailed Implementation

[0022] To make the above-mentioned objectives, features, and advantages of this application more apparent and understandable, the specific embodiments of this application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of this application. However, this application can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar modifications without departing from the spirit of this application. Therefore, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0023] It should be noted that when a component is referred to as being "fixed to" or "set on" another component, it can be directly on the other component or there may be an intermediate component. When a component is considered to be "connected to" another component, it can be directly connected to the other component or there may be an intermediate component present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and similar expressions used in this application's specification are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only possible implementation.

[0024] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In the description of this application, "multiple" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0025] In this application, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, "above" or "below" the second feature can mean that the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, or that the first feature and the second feature are in indirect contact through an intermediate medium. Furthermore, "above," "over," and "on top" the second feature can mean that the first feature is directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is at a higher horizontal level than the second feature. "Below," "below," and "under" the second feature can mean that the first feature is directly below or diagonally below the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is at a lower horizontal level than the second feature.

[0026] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this application have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used in this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. The term "and / or" as used in this application includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0027] Please see Figures 1 to 3 This application provides a drawer structure 100 for use in the refrigerator compartment of a refrigerator. The drawer structure 100 includes a bottom wall 10 and a front wall 20, a rear wall 30, and two side walls 40 respectively connected to the bottom wall 10. The front wall 20 and the rear wall 30 are distributed along the depth direction y of the refrigerator, and the two side walls 40 are distributed along the width direction x of the refrigerator. The front wall 20, the rear wall 30, and the two side walls 40 are arranged with the bottom wall 10 to form a storage space 50. The rear wall 30 is provided with a first cavity 31, and the bottom wall 10 is provided with a second cavity 11. The first cavity 31 and the second cavity 11 are respectively filled with a refrigerant solution. The refrigerator compartment has an air outlet, which is arranged facing the rear wall 30 and is used to blow cold air towards the rear wall 30 and the bottom wall 10.

[0028] It should be noted that the refrigerant solution is an intermediate medium used to transfer cold energy. This application provides a first cavity 31 on the rear wall 30 and a second cavity 11 on the bottom wall 10, both filled with a refrigerant solution. When the refrigerator continuously cools and the air outlet continuously blows cold air towards the rear wall 30 and bottom wall 10, the cold air first transfers the cold energy to the refrigerant solution. The refrigerant solution stores the cold energy when the drawer structure 100 is at a low temperature, thus preventing the temperature of the drawer structure 100 from remaining below the target temperature for extended periods. Furthermore, when the temperature of the drawer structure 100 is too high, the refrigerant solution can release the cold energy, thereby helping to maintain the temperature of the drawer structure 100, especially the storage space 50, within the target temperature range, which is beneficial for the preservation and storage of fruits and vegetables within the storage space 50.

[0029] The refrigerant solution can be a propylene glycol solution or a sodium chloride solution.

[0030] In one embodiment, the second cavity 11 is connected to the first cavity 31, and a liquid inlet channel 32 is provided on the rear wall 30, which is connected to the first cavity 31. That is, in this embodiment, the liquid inlet channel 32 and the second cavity 11 are respectively connected to the first cavity 31. In this way, a coolant solution can be injected into the first cavity 31 and the second cavity 11 through the liquid inlet channel 32.

[0031] In another embodiment, the second cavity 11 may be connected to the first cavity 31, and a liquid inlet channel 32 may be provided on the side wall 40, which is connected to the second cavity 11. The liquid inlet channel 32 may also be provided on the front wall 20, and the liquid inlet channel 32 is connected to the second cavity 11.

[0032] In one embodiment, for example, the liquid inlet channel 32 is formed in the rear wall 30. The liquid inlet channel 32 and the first cavity 31 are distributed along the height direction of the refrigerator, and the first cavity 31 is positioned closer to the bottom wall 10 relative to the liquid inlet channel 32. The liquid inlet channel 32 has a liquid inlet 321 and a liquid outlet 322. The liquid inlet 321 is formed on the top surface of the rear wall 30, and the liquid outlet 322 communicates with the first cavity 31. In this way, refrigerant solution can be injected into the liquid inlet channel 32 from top to bottom through the liquid inlet 321 from the top of the rear wall 30. The refrigerant solution flows into the first cavity 31 and the second cavity 11 under the action of gravity. Furthermore, the fact that the liquid inlet 321 is located on the top surface of the rear wall 30 also helps to prevent the refrigerant solution inside the drawer structure 100 from overflowing.

[0033] Furthermore, the drawer structure also includes a sealing plug 60, which is used to seal the liquid inlet 321. The sealing plug 60 can be a rubber stopper.

[0034] In one embodiment, along the height direction z of the refrigerator, the height of the top of the first cavity 31 is greater than the height of the air outlet. This allows the projection of the air outlet along the depth direction y of the refrigerator to fall on the first cavity 31, that is, to allow the air outlet to blow cold air toward the first cavity 31, thereby facilitating the storage of the cold air's cooling capacity by the refrigerant within the first cavity 31.

[0035] In one embodiment, the liquid inlet channel 32 extends along the height direction z of the refrigerator by a length of [length missing]. The first cavity 31 extends along the height direction z of the refrigerator by a length of... ,and This ensures that the inlet channel 32 has sufficient extension length to prevent the refrigerant solution in the first cavity 31 from easily overflowing through the inlet channel 32. Optionally, in one embodiment, .

[0036] The liquid inlet channel 32 is located in the middle of the rear wall 30 along the width direction x of the refrigerator, and extends along the height direction z of the refrigerator. Optionally, the cross-sectional area of ​​the liquid inlet channel 32 is constant along the direction from the rear wall 30 to the bottom wall 10; or, the cross-sectional area of ​​the liquid inlet channel 32 gradually increases along the direction from the rear wall 30 to the bottom wall 10. This facilitates the refrigerant to enter the first cavity 31 more evenly and also helps to prevent the refrigerant in the first cavity 31 from flowing upwards.

[0037] In one embodiment, the volume of the second cavity 11 is greater than the volume of the first cavity 31. Specifically, the cross-sectional width of the second cavity 11 is... The cross-sectional width of the first cavity 31 is , It is understandable that when the refrigerator is continuously cooling and the air outlet is continuously blowing cold air towards the rear wall 30 and the bottom wall 10, the temperature at the bottom of the drawer structure 100, i.e., at the bottom wall 10, is the lowest. By setting the volume of the second cavity 11 to be larger than the volume of the first cavity 31, the second cavity 11 can store more refrigerant solution, thereby helping to prevent the bottom of the drawer structure 100 from remaining at a low temperature for a long time. Optionally, in one embodiment, .

[0038] The walls of the first cavity 31 are configured with a honeycomb porous structure; or the walls of the second cavity 11 are configured with a honeycomb porous structure; or both the walls of the first cavity 31 and the walls of the second cavity 11 are configured with a honeycomb porous structure. It is understood that since the first cavity 31 and the second cavity 11 store a refrigerant solution, when the user pushes and pulls the drawer back and forth, the refrigerant solution may generate noise due to inertial impact against the walls of the first cavity 31 and the second cavity 11. By configuring both the walls of the first cavity 31 and the walls of the second cavity 11 with a honeycomb porous structure, the honeycomb porous structure can act as a buffer, thereby helping to reduce noise.

[0039] In one embodiment, the first cavity 31 is provided with a plurality of partition ribs (not shown). Each partition rib extends along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and each partition rib connects to the upper and lower walls of the second cavity 11 at its two ends along the height direction z of the refrigerator, respectively. The plurality of partition ribs are spaced apart along the width direction of the refrigerator, so that two adjacent partition ribs, together with the upper and lower walls of the second cavity 11, form a flow channel. In this way, the partition ribs not only strengthen the bottom wall 10, but also, by dividing the second cavity 11 into multiple flow channels, facilitate a more uniform distribution of the refrigerant solution within the second cavity 11.

[0040] Optionally, the position of the drawer structure 100 in the refrigerator can be controlled by a voice module, which is equipped with a controller, a voice receiving module, and a voice parsing module. The voice receiving module receives user commands, and the voice parsing module parses the commands. Based on the parsed commands, the controller controls the drawer structure 100 to perform corresponding operations, thereby realizing intelligent control of the drawer structure 100 and improving the user experience.

[0041] like Figure 4 As shown, this application also provides a refrigerator, which includes a cabinet 200 and drawer structures 100 as described in any of the above embodiments. The cabinet 200 has a refrigerator compartment 210, and the number of drawer structures 100 is configured to be multiple, and the multiple drawer structures 100 are all located within the refrigerator compartment 210, wherein the freezing point temperature of the refrigerant solution in the multiple drawer structures 100 is different. In this way, the multiple drawer structures 100 can be maintained within different target temperature ranges. The different freezing point temperatures can be achieved by using different types of refrigerant solutions in the multiple drawer structures 100, or by using the same type of refrigerant solution in the multiple drawer structures 100 but with different concentrations.

[0042] In one embodiment, the drawer structure 100 includes a large food storage drawer 101, a zero-degree food storage drawer 102, and a micro-freezing drawer 103. The large food storage drawer 101 requires a temperature of approximately 2-3°C, and its refrigerant solution has a freezing point of 2-3°C. Therefore, a low-concentration salt solution or alcohol solution can be selected. For example, a 5%-7% sodium chloride solution can be used, with the addition of corrosion inhibitors to prevent corrosion of the drawer. This solution stores cold energy at low temperatures (2°C and below) and releases the stored cold energy at higher temperatures (4°C and above), thereby reducing temperature fluctuations in the large food storage drawer 101 and preventing the bottom and rear areas exposed to direct cold air from remaining below 0°C for extended periods. The zero-degree food storage drawer 102 operates at temperatures near 0°C. The concentration of the refrigerant solution can be adjusted experimentally, such as by increasing the concentration of the aforementioned low-concentration salt solution to bring its freezing point to around 0-1°C, thus maintaining the temperature inside the zero-degree food storage drawer 102 above 0°C. If the temperature of the micro-freezing drawer 103 is around -3℃, a propylene glycol solution with a concentration of 8% to 12% can be selected, with a freezing point of about -2 to -1℃. Alternatively, the concentration of the aforementioned low-concentration salt solution can be further increased through experimentation to obtain a solution with a freezing point of around -2℃. This will prevent the temperature in the area of ​​the zero-degree preservation drawer 102 that is directly exposed to cold air from falling below -3℃ or even lower.

[0043] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0044] The embodiments described above are merely illustrative of several implementation methods of this application, and while the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the patent application. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of this application, and these all fall within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the patent protection scope of this application should be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A drawer structure for use in the refrigerator compartment, characterized in that, The drawer structure (100) includes a bottom wall (10) and a front wall (20), a rear wall (30) and two side walls (40) respectively connected to the bottom wall (10). The front wall (20) and the rear wall (30) are distributed along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and the two side walls (40) are distributed along the width direction of the refrigerator. The front wall (20), the rear wall (30) and the two side walls (40) are arranged with the bottom wall (10) to form a storage space (50). The rear wall (30) is provided with a first cavity (31), and the bottom wall (10) is provided with a second cavity (11). The first cavity (31) and the second cavity (11) are respectively filled with a refrigerant solution. The refrigerator compartment has an air outlet, which is set towards the rear wall (30) and is used to blow cold air towards the rear wall (30) and the bottom wall (10).

2. The drawer structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first cavity (31) is connected to the second cavity (11); The rear wall (30) is provided with a liquid inlet channel (32), and the liquid inlet channel (32) is connected to the first cavity (31); or, the side wall (40) is provided with a liquid inlet channel (32), and the liquid inlet channel (32) is connected to the second cavity (11).

3. The drawer structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, The liquid inlet channel (32) is opened on the rear wall (30). The liquid inlet channel (32) and the first cavity (31) are distributed along the height direction of the refrigerator, and the first cavity (31) is set close to the bottom wall (10) relative to the liquid inlet channel (32). The liquid inlet channel (32) has a liquid inlet (321) and a liquid outlet (322). The liquid inlet (321) is located on the top surface of the rear wall (30), and the liquid outlet (322) is connected to the first cavity (31).

4. The drawer structure according to claim 3, characterized in that, Along the height direction of the refrigerator, the height of the top of the first cavity (31) is greater than the height of the air outlet; And / or, the liquid inlet channel (32) extends for a length along the height direction of the refrigerator as follows: The first cavity (31) extends along the height direction of the refrigerator by a length of... ,and .

5. The drawer structure according to claim 4, characterized in that, 。 6. The drawer structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cross-sectional width of the second cavity (11) is The cross-sectional width of the first cavity (31) is ,and .

7. The drawer structure according to claim 6, characterized in that, 。 8. The drawer structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The walls of the first cavity (31) and / or the walls of the second cavity (11) are configured as a honeycomb porous structure.

9. The drawer structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first cavity (31) is provided with a plurality of partition ribs. Each partition rib extends along the depth direction of the refrigerator, and each partition rib connects to the upper and lower walls of the second cavity (11) at both ends along the height direction of the refrigerator. The plurality of partition ribs are distributed at intervals along the width direction of the refrigerator so that two adjacent partition ribs and the upper and lower walls of the second cavity (11) form a flow channel.

10. A refrigerator, characterized in that, The refrigerator includes a cabinet and a drawer structure (100) as described in any one of claims 1-9, the cabinet having a refrigerator compartment, the drawer structures (100) being configured in multiples, and all of the multiple drawer structures (100) being located in the refrigerator compartment, wherein the freezing point temperature of the refrigerant solution in the multiple drawer structures (100) is different.

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