Refrigerator having ice making room
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refrigerators with ice-making chambers using sidewall cool air ducts suffer from dew drop formation on the outer surface, increased manufacturing costs due to electric heaters, and cool air flow loss, as well as odor transfer to ice during the making and storage process.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a refrigerator design that eliminates the sidewall cool air duct by using thermal conduction or refrigerant-based cold energy transfer units, such as heat pipes, to transfer cold energy directly to the ice making chamber, preventing direct contact between cool air and water and reducing cool air flow loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a sidewall cool air duct is provided to supply cool air to the ice making chamber, then the ice making function is improved, but dew drops are produced on the outer surface of the refrigerator main body
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the sidewall cool air duct from the refrigerator structure. By eliminating the duct that caused dew drop formation on the outer surface, the harmful effect is removed while the ice making function is maintained through alternative cooling methods using the freezing chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces the freezing chamber as an intermediary cooling source. Instead of directly supplying cool air from the refrigerating chamber through a duct, the system uses the freezing chamber as a mediating thermal reservoir to provide cold energy to the ice making chamber, thereby avoiding dew formation on the exterior.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If an electric heater is provided to prevent dew drops, then dew drop formation is prevented, but manufacturing cost and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the electric heater component entirely from the system. By eliminating the heating element that would be needed to prevent dew drops, both manufacturing cost and device complexity are reduced while maintaining dew drop prevention through the structural redesign that eliminates the cool air duct.
Solution Approach 2:
The refrigerator structure itself provides the solution to dew drop prevention through its redesigned cooling architecture. The system uses the existing freezing chamber and refrigerant circulation to naturally prevent condensation without requiring additional active components like electric heaters.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If an electric heater is provided to prevent dew drops, then dew drop formation is prevented, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the electric heater from the system, eliminating the associated power consumption. The dew drop prevention is achieved passively through the redesigned cooling structure that eliminates the temperature differential causing condensation on the outer surface.
4Productivity
If the sidewall cool air duct is formed to connect the freezing chamber and ice making chamber, then cool air supply is achieved, but the duct length is long causing flow loss
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the long sidewall cool air duct from the system. By eliminating this lengthy passage, the associated flow loss and energy waste are removed. The cool air supply function is replaced by direct thermal coupling between the freezing chamber and ice making chamber.
5Productivity
If cool air is used to make ice, then ice making is achieved, but odor in the air is absorbed by the ice
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses the freezing chamber as an intermediary medium for heat transfer during ice making. Instead of allowing ice to directly contact and absorb odorous air from the refrigerating chamber, the system transfers thermal energy through the freezing chamber, which acts as a barrier that prevents odor transfer while maintaining the ice making process.
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 design eliminates dew drop formation, reduces manufacturing and operational costs, and prevents odor transfer to ice, while minimizing cool air flow loss and power consumption.
Implementation Method 1
using thermal conduction or refrigerant-based cold energy transfer units, such as heat pipes, to transfer cold energy directly to the ice making chamber
Implementation Method 2
an evaporator for allowing the refrigerant to absorb and evaporate surrounding latent heat
Implementation Method 3
an evaporator for allowing the refrigerant to absorb and evaporate surrounding latent heat
Data Source
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AI summary
A refrigerator is provided. The refrigerator includes a refrigerator main body including a cooling chamber, a door for opening or closing the cooling chamber, an ice making chamber located at the door, a sub-chamber located at the door and spaced from the ice making chamber, the sub-chamber being configured to receive cool air from the cooling chamber, and a cold energy transfer unit configured to transfer energy of cool air of the sub-chamber to the ice making chamber.