Refrigerator Ice Maker Air Duct Layout for Lower Pressure Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
In refrigerators with an ice making room in a door, the air pressure is reduced due to multiple flow direction changes of cool air, leading to decreased air supply to the ice making room, which increases ice making time and reduces efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The cool air guide duct is positioned above the ice making room, and the ice tray surface is designed to minimize flow direction changes, ensuring stable air pressure and efficient cool air supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a cool air guide duct is installed above the ice maker to supply cool air from the side surface of the ice making room, then the ice making room can receive cool air, but the air pressure is significantly reduced due to multiple flow direction changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cool air guide duct from the ice making room and relocates it to the door body. This separation eliminates the need for the duct to navigate around the ice maker, removing the source of multiple flow direction changes and associated pressure losses while still enabling cool air supply to the ice making room.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new intermediary structure - the cool air passage formed in the door body - to transfer cool air from the door to the ice making room. This direct passage acts as an efficient mediator that eliminates the need for complex internal ductwork within the ice making room, thereby maintaining higher air pressure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple flow direction changes are introduced in the cool air passage, then the cool air can be distributed throughout the ice making room, but the air pressure is significantly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the cool air supply system into two distinct parts: (1) a simple cool air passage in the door body that maintains high pressure by minimizing flow direction changes, and (2) the ice making room where the cool air is distributed. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized for its specific function without compromising the other.
3Reliability
If the ice making room is provided in a door with a door-in-door structure, then storage capacity is increased and cool air loss is minimized, but a cool air supply passage must be formed through the door structure which complicates the design
Solution Approach 1:
The door body serves multiple functions: it acts as the outer door of the refrigerator, the inner door of the door-in-door structure, and simultaneously serves as the housing for the cool air supply passage. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate structural elements, simplifying the overall design while maintaining cool air loss prevention.
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
This configuration increases the amount of ice made per unit time by maintaining higher air pressure and improving ice making efficiency while preventing external air from entering the refrigerating compartment during ice dispensing.
Implementation Method 1
the cool air supplied from the cool air supply duct is switched in flow direction and introduced into the cool air guide duct. Then, the cool air flowing in a width direction of the ice making room along the cool air guide duct is changed in flow direction to flow to a rear surface of the ice making room.
Implementation Method 2
As the number of switched cool air flow directions increases, an air pressure may be significantly reduced.
Implementation Method 3
an ice maker making ice and a cool air guide duct guiding the cool air supplied from a cool air supply duct toward the ice maker
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A refrigerator according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a cabinet provided with a refrigerating compartment and an evaporation chamber; a door rotatably connected to the cabinet to open and close the refrigerating compartment; an ice making room provided in the door and having a cool air inflow hole formed at one side thereof: a cool air supply duct connecting 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; an ice maker provided inside the ice making room; a cool air guide duct mounted on a bottom surface of the ice maker to guide cool air supplied from the cool air inflow hole toward the bottom surface of the ice maker; and an ice bin provided below the ice maker to store ice made in the ice maker, wherein the ice maker comprises: an ice tray comprising a plurality of cool air guide ribs protruding from a bottom surface thereof; and an ice separating guide covering a front surface of the ice tray and a portion of a top surface thereof, the cool air guide rib extends from one side of the ice tray in a direction of the other side and spaced apart from a front surface of a tray body toward a rear surface, and bottom parts of the plurality of cool air guide ribs are spaced apart from a bottom part of the cool air guide duct.