Door Chiller and Ice-Maker Layout With Damper Airflow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerators with door-in-door structures face challenges in maintaining a separate chiller room at a temperature different from the refrigerating compartment, ensuring efficient cool air supply, and optimizing space for ice making and storage, while also preventing ice clogging and improving ice making efficiency and dispenser design for slim thickness and convenience.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator design featuring a chiller room and ice making room within the door, with a partition wall and damper for controlled cool air flow, improved cool air guide ducts, and a slim dispenser structure, along with a foamed insulation material injection system to prevent non-filled regions and maintain insulation performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a chiller room is provided in the door-in-door structure, then a separate storage space at a different temperature can be secured, but the door structure becomes more complex and space for ice making room is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The chiller room is nested within the door-in-door structure, with the ice making room also integrated into the same door assembly. This nesting approach allows multiple functional spaces (chiller room, ice making room, storage compartments) to be arranged in a compact hierarchical manner, achieving temperature differentiation and functional separation without proportionally increasing overall door complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The door structure is segmented into multiple functional zones including the chiller room, ice making room, and various storage compartments. The partition wall with communication hole and damper creates distinct thermal zones, allowing independent temperature control while maintaining a unified door assembly that manages complexity through functional segmentation
2Temperature
If a damper is added to control cool air flow between ice making room and chiller room, then temperature control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The damper is designed as a rotatable component that can dynamically adjust the communication hole opening between the ice making room and chiller room. This dynamic adjustment capability allows flexible control of cool air flow to maintain different temperatures in each room, achieving precise temperature control through a relatively simple rotational mechanism rather than complex multi-component systems
3Volume of stationary object
If the vertical width of ice making room is reduced to accommodate chiller room, then chiller room space is secured, but ice making efficiency and ice storage capacity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making room is arranged horizontally adjacent to the chiller room rather than vertically stacking them. This dimensional reorganization allows the ice making room to extend in the horizontal direction with sufficient width for ice making efficiency, while the chiller room occupies the vertical space, thereby securing both spaces without compromising ice making productivity
4Quantity of substance
If ice maker and ice bin are installed in the ice making room, then ice storage capacity is increased, but cool air passage becomes blocked and ice making efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The ice bin is positioned adjacent to the ice making room with its front surface facing the communication hole, creating a separate discharge path for ice. This extraction of the ice storage function from the ice making chamber allows cool air to flow freely through the ice making room without being blocked by stored ice, maintaining ice making efficiency while providing adequate ice storage capacity in the adjacent bin
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design allows for efficient storage of frequently used items at a different temperature without opening the refrigerating compartment, improves ice making efficiency, reduces ice clogging, and ensures proper insulation and convenience in ice dispensing, while minimizing power consumption and production delays.
Implementation Method 1
a damper opening and closing the communication hole so as to control a cool air flow between the ice making room and the chiller room
Implementation Method 2
a cool air supply duct connecting an outlet of the evaporation chamber and the cool air inflow hole of the ice making room such that cool air of the evaporation chamber is supplied to the ice making room
Implementation Method 3
a cool air return duct having a first inlet connected to the cool air discharge hole of the ice making chamber and a second inlet connected to the cool air discharge hole of the chiller room
Implementation Method 4
a partition wall vertically defining the ice making room and the chiller room and having a communication hole communicating the ice making room with the chiller room
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A refrigerator comprises: a cabinet provided with a refrigerating compartment and an evaporation chamber; a first door connected to a front surface of the cabinet to open and close at least a portion of the refrigerating compartment; a housing provided in the first door; an ice making room provided at an inner upper side of the housing and having a cool air inflow hole and a cool air discharge hole formed on one side thereof; a chiller room provided at an inner lower side of the housing and having a cool air discharge hole on one surface thereof; a second door rotatably connected to the first door to open and close the chiller room; a partition wall vertically defining the ice making room and the chiller room and having a communication hole communicating the ice making room with the chiller room; a damper opening and closing the communication hole so as to control a cool air flow between the ice making room and the chiller room; a cool air supply duct connecting an outlet of the evaporation chamber and the cool air inflow hole of the ice making room such that cool air of the evaporation chamber is supplied to the ice making room; and a cool air return duct having a first inlet connected to the cool air discharge hole of the ice making chamber and a second inlet connected to the cool air discharge hole of the chiller room.