Refrigerator having an ice-making system with an ice-making chamber disposed inside a refrigerating compartment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10900704-B2
Application number	US-201916724364-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2019
Priority date	Nov 28, 2018
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a refrigerator having a separate ice-making system, comprising: a refrigerating compartment and an ice-making chamber disposed inside the refrigerating compartment, wherein an ice maker is arranged inside the ice-making chamber, the ice-making chamber is supplied with cold air by an ice-making refrigeration system including an ice-making evaporator, an ice-making air supply duct, an ice-making fan and an ice-making air return duct, the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct are arranged in parallel, the ice-making evaporator is disposed inside the refrigerating compartment and outside the ice-making chamber, and the ice-making evaporator is communicated with the ice maker through the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct to form a refrigerating circulation loop.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator having an ice-making system, comprising:
a refrigerating compartment;
an ice-making chamber disposed inside the refrigerating compartment, wherein an ice maker is arranged inside the ice-making chamber, and
an ice-making refrigeration system configured to refrigerate the ice-making chamber, wherein the ice-making refrigeration system includes:
an ice-making air supply duct provided inside the refrigerating compartment;
an ice-making evaporator provided in an upstream portion of the ice-making air supply duct, wherein the ice-making evaporator is disposed inside the refrigerating compartment and outside the ice-making chamber;
an ice-making fan provided in a downstream portion of the ice-making air supply duct, wherein the ice-making fan is provided in a back portion of the ice-making chamber and inside the refrigerating compartment; and
an ice-making air return duct provided inside the refrigerating compartment, wherein the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct are arranged outside of the ice-making chamber and positioned at a left side and a right side on the back of the refrigerator respectively, and the ice-making evaporator is air communicated with the ice maker through the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct to form a refrigerating circulation loop;
wherein the refrigerator further comprising a refrigerating ice-making air duct disposed in the refrigerating compartment, the refrigerating ice-making air duct includes an air duct front cover plate, air duct foam, and an air duct rear cover plate disposed in order of front to rear, wherein, the ice-making air return duct is provided between the air duct foam and the air duct rear cover plate, and the air duct front cover plate is disposed on an outer surface of the rear wall of a refrigerating compartment liner;
wherein the refrigerator further comprising a cover plate assembly disposed on a rear side of the ice maker and configured to seal inside of the ice maker, wherein the cover plate assembly includes an ice maker front cover plate, ice maker back cover foam, and an ice maker rear cover plate disposed in order of front to rear; and
the ice-making evaporator is mounted on an outer side of the rear side wall of the refrigerating compartment liner.

2. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , wherein the ice-making air supply duct is provided between the air duct rear cover plate and a rear wall of the refrigerating compartment liner, and the ice-making evaporator is installed in the ice-making air supply duct.

3. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 2 , further comprising a defrosting heating tube provided near an inlet of the ice-making air supply duct and an outlet of the ice-making air return duct, and further upstream in the ice-making air supply duct than the ice-making evaporator.

4. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , wherein the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct are both located between the ice-making evaporator and the ice maker;
the ice-making fan is disposed between the ice-making air supply duct and the ice-making air return duct and provided on an ice-making fan base;
an ice-making inner air duct is provided in the ice maker, and the ice-making air supply duct, the ice-making inner air duct and the ice-making air return duct are sequentially connected to form the refrigerating circulation loop.

5. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , further comprising a main refrigeration system disposed in the refrigerating compartment, wherein the main refrigeration system includes a refrigerating evaporator, a refrigerating air supply duct, a refrigerating fan, and a refrigerating air return duct, wherein the refrigerating air supply duct is provided between the air duct foam and the air duct rear cover plate, and the refrigerating fan directs cold air into the refrigerating air supply duct; and
the refrigerating air return duct is provided between the air duct rear cover plate and the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment liner.

6. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , wherein the air duct front cover plate and the air duct rear cover plate are mounted on an outer side of the rear wall of the refrigerating compartment liner.

7. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , wherein in the ice-making air supply duct, the air duct foam and the ice maker rear cover plate foam are engaged and sealed in a concave-convex manner by a first fitting surface;
the air duct rear cover plate and the ice maker rear cover plate are lapped and sealed from front to rear by a second fitting surface;
the air duct foam and the refrigerating compartment liner are sealed by a third fitting surface; and
the air duct rear cover plate and the refrigerating compartment liner are sealed by a fourth fitting surface.

8. The refrigerator having an ice-making system of claim 1 , wherein in the ice-making air return duct, the air duct foam and the ice maker rear cover plate foam are engaged and sealed by a fifth fitting surface;
the air duct foam and the ice maker rear cover plate are lapped and sealed by a sixth fitting surface;
the air duct rear cover plate and the ice maker rear cover plate are lapped and sealed by a seventh fitting surface; and
the air duct rear cover plate and the refrigerating compartment liner are sealed by a eighth fitting surface.

Assignees

• Hefei Hualing Co Ltd
• Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co
• Midea Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jia Ying
• Si Zengqiang
• Liu Dongxian
• Zheng Xuezai
• Lu Fei
• Li Yu
• Wei Deming

Classifications

• F25D11/00 Primary

  Self-contained movable devices, e.g. domestic refrigerators · CPC title

• F25D21/06

  Removing frost (defrosting cycles F25B47/02) · CPC title

• F25D11/022

  with two or more evaporators · CPC title

• F25D17/067 Primary

  Evaporator fan units · CPC title

• F25D17/065

  with compartments at different temperatures · CPC title