Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11112160-B2
Application number	US-201716091825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2017
Priority date	Apr 7, 2016
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A refrigerator includes: a cabinet; a door; an ice-making compartment mounted on an interior of the cabinet or on a back surface of the door, the ice-making compartment having an ice-making chamber and a cold air discharge hole; an ice tray located in the ice-making compartment; an ice bin arranged beneath the ice tray; a dispenser located at the door; a discharge duct located inside the door, the discharge duct having an entrance communicating with the ice-making compartment and an exit communicating with the dispenser; a thermoelectric element coupled to a bottom surface of the ice tray; a heat-radiating member forced against the thermoelectric element; and a cold air guide mounted on the bottom surface, the cold air guide defining a space that receives the thermoelectric element and the heat-radiating member, a cold air inlet, and a cold air outlet that communicates with the cold air discharge hole.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A refrigerator comprising:
a cabinet having a storage space and an evaporation compartment therein;
a door coupled to a front side of the cabinet and configured to open and close at least a portion of the storage space;
an ice making compartment mounted in the storage space or on a rear side of the door, the ice making compartment comprising a case that defines an ice making chamber therein;
an ice tray disposed in the ice making compartment;
a bracket that extends upward from an upper end of a rear side of the ice tray, that is spaced apart from a rear surface of the ice making chamber, and that defines a cold air descent channel between the rear surface of the ice making chamber and the bracket;
an ice bin disposed below the ice tray;
a dispenser disposed on the front side of the door to dispense ices;
a discharge duct disposed in the door and having an inlet end communicating with the ice making compartment and an outlet end communicating with the dispenser;
a supply duct disposed inside of a side wall of the case and configured to supply cold air to the ice making chamber;
an exhaust duct disposed in the side wall of the case and configured to discharge cold air in the ice making chamber;
an ice making duct disposed in an upper portion of the ice making chamber above the ice tray, the ice making duct being configured to communicate with the supply duct and to discharge cold air rearward from the upper portion of the ice making chamber;
a thermoelectric module having a first side surface in contact with a bottom of the ice tray;
a heat dissipating member that is in contact with a second side surface of the thermoelectric module; and
a cold air guide disposed at the bottom of the ice tray, the cold air guide having:
a space that accommodates the thermoelectric module and the heat dissipating member,
a cold air inlet configured to communicate with a lower end of the cold air descent channel, and
a cold air outlet configured to communicate with the exhaust duct,

wherein the ice making duct is configured to discharge (i) a first portion of cold air to the cold air descent channel to cool the heat dissipating member and (ii) a second portion of cold air toward the front surface of the bracket.

2. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice making compartment is mounted on the rear side of the door.

3. The refrigerator of claim 2 , wherein the ice making compartment includes:
an ice making compartment door coupled to the case to open or close the ice making chamber.

4. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice making duct comprises:
an outlet end that is open toward the rear side of the ice making chamber and that is configured to discharge the first portion of cold air and the second portion of cold air;
an upper rear end connected to the rear surface of the ice making chamber and configured to guide the first portion of cold air from the outlet end to the cold air descent channel; and
a lower rear end spaced apart from an upper end of the bracket and configured to discharge the second portion of cold air from the outlet end to the front surface of the bracket.

5. The refrigerator of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cold air supply duct disposed inside of a side wall of the cabinet and configured to communicate with the supply duct based on the door being closed; and
a cold air return duct disposed inside of the side wall of the cabinet and configured to communicate with the exhaust duct based on the door being closed.

6. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein further comprising a heat insulating member disposed between the thermoelectric module and the heat dissipating member.

7. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the ice tray comprises a mounting portion recessed from the bottom of the ice tray and configured to receive the thermoelectric module.

8. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the heat dissipating member includes:
a heat dissipating plate attached to the thermoelectric module; and
heat dissipating fins coupled to a bottom of the heat dissipating plate.

9. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the storage space is a refrigerator compartment, and
wherein the cabinet further includes a freezer compartment disposed below the refrigerator compartment.

10. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the bracket partitions an inner space of the case into the ice making chamber and the cold air descent channel that is disposed rearward relative to the ice making chamber, the upper portion of the ice making chamber being in communication with an upper portion of the cold air descent channel, and
wherein an upper end of the bracket faces the upper portions of the ice making chamber and the cold air descent channel, and is spaced apart from the ice making duct to divide cold air guided through the ice making duct into the first portion of cold air and the second portion of cold air.

11. The refrigerator of claim 10 , wherein the cold air descent channel extends in a vertical direction, and the ice making duct extends in a horizontal direction, and
wherein the front surface of the bracket and a bottom surface of the ice making duct face the ice making chamber.

12. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the case is disposed at the rear side of the door.

13. The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the cold air descent channel is configured to guide the first portion of cold air downward to the heat dissipating member to cool the heat dissipating member, and
wherein the front surface of the bracket is configured to guide the second portion of cold air downward to the ice tray to exchange heat with water in the ice tray.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Hong Taehwa
• Kim Hyuksoon

Classifications

• F25D2317/063

  with air guides · CPC title

• F25D2317/061

  through special compartments · CPC title

• F25D2317/062

  along the inside of doors · CPC title

• F25D25/02

  by shelves · CPC title

• F25D11/02

  with cooling compartments at different temperatures · CPC title