Refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12392540-B2
Application number	US-202217843905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2022
Priority date	Dec 23, 2019
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

A refrigerator is provided. The refrigerator includes a first fresh-preservation chamber, one or more adsorption towers, a valve, and an air pump. An air inlet of the air pump is in communication with the first fresh-preservation chamber, an air outlet of the air pump is in communication with an air inlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers through an air inlet channel of the valve, and the air inlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in communication with the first fresh-preservation chamber through an air outlet channel of the valve.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator, comprising:
a first fresh-preservation chamber, one or more adsorption towers, a valve, and an air pump;
wherein an air inlet of the air pump is in communication with the first fresh-preservation chamber, an air outlet of the air pump is in communication with an air inlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers through an air inlet channel of the valve, and the air inlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in communication with the first fresh-preservation chamber through an air outlet channel of the valve;
in response to the air inlet channel of the valve being opened, the air pump is configured to pressurize air in the first fresh-preservation chamber, and transmit the air to each of the one or more adsorption towers, each of the one or more adsorption towers is configured to filter out oxygen in the air, the oxygen is discharged from an air outlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers, and residual gas is adsorbed by each of the one or more adsorption towers; and
in response to the air inlet channel of the valve being closed, the air pump is configured to stop pressurizing the air and transmitting the air to each of the one or more adsorption towers, the residual gas is released by each of the one or more adsorption towers, and discharged to the first fresh-preservation chamber through the air inlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers and the air outlet channel of the valve, wherein the one or more adsorption towers comprise at least two adsorption towers, and the at least two adsorption towers comprise a first adsorption tower and a second adsorption tower;
the valve defines a first air inlet channel and a first air outlet channel corresponding to each first adsorption tower, and defines a second air inlet channel and a second air outlet channel corresponding to each second adsorption tower; and
the valve is alternately switched between a state that the first air inlet channel is opened while the second air inlet channel of the valve is closed and a state that the first air inlet channel is closed while the second air inlet channel is opened.

2. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more adsorption towers comprise two adsorption towers, and the valve is a two-position five-way solenoid valve.

3. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least two adsorption towers are arranged side by side, and all of the air inlets of the adsorption towers are arranged to face a same direction.

4. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more adsorption towers is arranged with a zeolite molecular sieve particle, and a particle size of the zeolite molecular sieve particle is in a range from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm; and
a pressure pressurized by the air pump on the air is in a range from 0.12 I\SPa to 0.2 MPa.

5. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a ratio of a transmission flow of the air pump per second to a volume of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in a range from 1.2 to 2.2.

6. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 5 , wherein a shape of each of the one or more adsorption towers is cylindrical, a diameter of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in a range from 20 mm to 30 mm, and a height of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in a range from 150 mm to 300 mm; and
a transmission flow of the air pump is in a range from 5 L/min to 15 L/min.

7. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: a second fresh-preservation chamber;
wherein the air outlet of each of the one or more adsorption towers is in communication with the second fresh-preservation chamber.

8. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first fresh-preservation chamber is arranged with a first sensor, and the first sensor is configured to detect the oxygen content of the first fresh-preservation chamber and is connected to the air pump.

9. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first fresh-preservation chamber is arranged with a second sensor, and the second sensor is configured to detect whether the first fresh-preservation chamber is opened and is connected to the air pump.

10. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller connected to the air pump and the valve.

11. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the valve comprises a plurality of ports.

12. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the plurality of ports comprise a first port, a second port, and a third port, the air inlet channel is defined between the first port and the second port, and the air outlet channel is defined between the third port and the first port.

13. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the plurality of ports comprise a first port, a second port, a third port, and a fourth port, the air inlet channel is defined between the first port and the second port, and the air outlet channel is defined between the third port and the fourth port.

14. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more adsorption towers is arranged with a phosphate aluminum molecular sieve.

15. The refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more adsorption towers and the valve are disposed at a side of the first fresh-preservation chamber away from the refrigerator, and the air pump is disposed at a bottom of the refrigerator.

Assignees

• Guangdong Midea White Home Appliance Tech Innovation Center Co Ltd
• Midea Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ye Mingkun
• Yang Shenqi
• Ren Xianghua
• Zhou Xin

Classifications

• F25D29/005

  Mounting of control devices · CPC title

• F25D17/062

  in household refrigerators · CPC title

• F25D25/025

  Drawers · CPC title

• F25D2317/0415

  by deodorizing · CPC title

• F25D23/00

  General constructional features (F25D21/00 takes precedence) · CPC title