Air-cooled refrigerator supplying air through centrifugal fan

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12398940-B2
Application number	US-202118042085-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2021
Priority date	Aug 18, 2020
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

An air-cooled refrigerator supplying air through a centrifugal fan, comprising a bottom liner, an air duct back plate, and the centrifugal fan. A cooling chamber and a storage space are defined in the bottom liner; the air duct back plate is provided in front of a back wall of the bottom liner, and defines an air supply duct with the back wall of the bottom liner; the centrifugal fan comprises a volute and an impeller; the volute is arranged obliquely upwards from front to back at the back of the cooling chamber, and a fan cavity and a gradually widened exhaust cavity are defined in the volute; the fan cavity is formed into a continuous spiral; the gradually widened exhaust cavity is gradually widen backwards from the fan cavity; the impeller is provided in the fan cavity; and the inner wall face of the fan cavity is continuous and smooth.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-cooled refrigerator supplying air through a centrifugal fan, comprising:
a bottom liner defining a cooling chamber and a storage space, wherein the cooling chamber is arranged below the storage space;
an air duct back plate which is arranged in front of a rear wall of the bottom liner and defines, with the rear wall of the bottom liner, an air supply duct, wherein the air duct back plate is provided with at least one air supply port used for communicating with the air supply duct and the storage space; and
the centrifugal fan, comprising:
a volute arranged at a rear portion of the cooling chamber in a manner of upwards inclining from front to back and internally defining a fan cavity located in a front portion and a gradually-widened exhaust cavity located at a rear portion of the fan cavity, wherein the fan cavity is in a continuous helix shape, an upper cover of the fan cavity is provided with an air inlet towards a front-upper direction, the gradually-widened exhaust cavity is gradually widened backwards from the fan cavity, and an air outlet connected to a lower end of the air supply duct is formed in a rear end of the exhaust cavity; and
an impeller arranged in the fan cavity, wherein an axis of the impeller is opposite to the air inlet, to promote formation of refrigeration airflow exhausted to the air supply duct from the cooling chamber, and an inner wall surface of the fan cavity is in continuous and smooth transition so as to avoid a turning point, wherein
starting from the air outlet, a side wall of a transverse side of the gradually-widened exhaust cavity is inwards gradually concaved from back to front and is finally connected to a side wall of the fan cavity so as to form a volute tongue with the side wall of the fan cavity, and a side wall of the other transverse side of the gradually-widened exhaust cavity is in a plane shape extending front and back; and
the side wall of the fan cavity is in a continuous logarithmic spiral from the volute tongue, and is finally connected to a front end of the plane-shaped side wall of the gradually-widened exhaust cavity.

2. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein
a distance between a center of the air inlet and the side wall of the fan cavity is gradually increased from the volute tongue to a position connected to the plane-shaped side wall of the gradually-widened exhaust cavity.

3. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein distances between a center of the air inlet and side plates on two sides of the bottom liner are different, wherein the distance between the center of the air inlet and the side plate on the side, close to the volute tongue, of the bottom liner is greater than the distance between the center of the air inlet and the side plate on the side, close to the plane-shaped side wall of the gradually-widened exhaust cavity, of the bottom liner.

4. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 1 , wherein the volute comprises:
a fan bottom shell fixed to a rear portion of a bottom wall of the bottom liner; and
a fan upper cover obliquely downwards extending into the cooling chamber from a lower end of the air duct back plate and covering and buckling the fan bottom shell.

5. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 4 , wherein
the fan upper cover and the air duct back plate are an integrally-formed part.

6. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 5 , wherein
a position, below the air supply port, of the air duct back plate is further provided with at least one transversely extending water stop rib used for stopping condensate water at the air supply port from downwards flowing into the volute.

7. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 4 , further comprising:
an evaporator which is integrally in a flat cuboid shape and is arranged at a front portion of the cooling chamber; and
the bottom wall of the bottom liner comprising:
an evaporator support portion used for supporting the evaporator; and
a fan support portion, from a rear end of the evaporator support portion, upwards obliquely arranged from front to back, wherein the fan bottom shell is fixed to the fan support portion.

8. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 7 , wherein
a bottom of the fan bottom shell is provided with a plurality of damping sticky pads, and the fan bottom shell is bonded with the fan support portion through the plurality of damping sticky pads.

9. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 4 , wherein
the fan bottom shell is further provided with a wiring channel used for accommodating a cable connecting the impeller.

10. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 7 , wherein the bottom wall of the bottom liner further comprises: an inclined portion provided in front of the evaporator and downwards obliquely arranged from front to back from a front end of the bottom wall of the bottom liner;
the evaporator support portion is upwards obliquely arranged from front to back so that the evaporator is obliquely arranged in the cooling chamber; and
a drainage channel is formed between the inclined portion and the evaporator support portion to receive defrosted water from the evaporator.

11. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 9 , wherein the wiring channel is located in an outer surface of the fan bottom shell and is formed by concaving a bottom of the fan bottom shell inwards.

12. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 11 , wherein the fan bottom shell is further provided with an elastic wire pressing plate on the wiring channel, and a wire hole located at an end of the wiring channel extending towards a center of the fan bottom shell.

Assignees

• Qingdao haier refrigerator co ltd
• Haier Smart Home Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chen Jianquan
• Zhu Xiaobing
• Fei Bin
• Wang Changzhi
• Feng Chen

Classifications

• F25D2323/0028

  characterised by the fans · CPC title

• F25D17/08

  using ducts · CPC title

• F04D29/668

  damping or preventing mechanical vibrations · CPC title

• F04D29/4233

  with volutes extending mainly in axial or radially inward direction · CPC title

• F04D17/08

  Centrifugal pumps · CPC title