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US 12,385,683 B2Granted
Refrigerator
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsSangbok Choi, Yonghwan Eom, Kyongbae Park, Juyeong Heo, Cholok Han, Sungwook Kim, Wookyung Baik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a refrigerator comprising: a cabinet having a storage chamber; a door for opening or closing the storage chamber; a case in which an inlet through which air flows from the storage chamber and an outlet through which the air is discharged to the storage chamber are formed; an evaporator provided inside the case for exchanging heat with the air to supply cool air; and a differential pressure sensor provided inside the case.
Claims18
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet that defines a storage compartment;
- a door configured to open and close at least a portion of the storage compartment;
- an inlet configured to receive air from the storage compartment, the inlet being disposed rearward relative to a rear surface of the storage compartment;
- an outlet configured to discharge air to the storage compartment, the outlet being disposed rearward relative to the rear surface of the storage compartment and disposed higher than the inlet;
- a fan configured to generate air flow to cause air to enter the inlet and discharge through the outlet, the fan being configured to generate the air flow in an upward direction from the inlet to the outlet;
- an evaporator that is located at the cabinet, that is configured to exchange heat with air, and that is configured to supply cool air to the storage compartment, the evaporator being arranged below the outlet and above the inlet;
- and
- a differential pressure sensor located at the cabinet and configured to produce a single value representing a differential pressure between two positions that are connected via pipes, the pipes comprising:
- a first pipe that defines a first through-hole between the evaporator and the inlet, and
- a second pipe that defines a second through-hole between the evaporator and the outlet,
- wherein the first pipe or the second pipe comprises a first expansion part that extends from an end of a corresponding pipe of the first pipe or the second pipe,
- wherein a lower part of the first expansion part defines the first through-hole or the second through-hole at a side surface of the corresponding pipe,
- wherein a diameter of the first expansion part increases toward a lower end of the first expansion part, and
- wherein the differential pressure sensor is configured to calculate the differential pressure between the two positions without measuring absolute pressure values at the two positions.
11 more elements
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet that defines a storage compartment;
- a door configured to open and close at least a portion of the storage compartment;
- an inlet configured to receive air from the storage compartment, the inlet being disposed rearward relative to a rear surface of the storage compartment;
- an outlet configured to discharge air to the storage compartment, the outlet being disposed rearward relative to the rear surface of the storage compartment and disposed higher than the inlet;
- a fan configured to generate air flow to cause air to enter the inlet and discharge through the outlet, the fan being configured to generate the air flow in an upward direction from the inlet to the outlet;
- an evaporator that is located at the cabinet, that is configured to exchange heat with air, and that is configured to supply cool air to the storage compartment, the evaporator being arranged below the outlet and above the inlet;
- a differential pressure sensor located at the cabinet and configured to produce a single value representing a differential pressure between two positions that are connected via a pipe;
- a heater located at the cabinet;
- and
- a controller configured to control the refrigerator,
- wherein the controller is configured to control driving of the heater to defrost the evaporator based on the differential pressure sensed by the differential pressure sensor, and
- wherein the differential pressure sensor is configured to calculate the differential pressure between the two positions without measuring absolute pressure values at the two positions, the two positions including (i) a position between the evaporator and the inlet and (ii) a position between the evaporator and the outlet,
- wherein the differential pressure sensor comprises:
- a first pipe that defines a first through-hole between the evaporator and the inlet,
- a second pipe that defines a second through-hole between the evaporator and the outlet, and
- a connection member that is located vertically above the evaporator and connects upper ends of the first pipe and the second pipe to each other, and
- wherein the differential pressure sensor is a single pressure sensor that is provided in the refrigerator to sense the differential pressure between the first through-hole and the second through-hole.
14 more elements
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet that defines a storage compartment;
- a door configured to open and close at least a portion of the storage compartment;
- an inlet configured to receive air from the storage compartment, the inlet being disposed rearward relative to a rear surface of the storage compartment;
- an outlet configured to discharge air to the storage compartment, the outlet being disposed rearward relative to the rear surface of the storage compartment and disposed higher than the inlet;
- a fan configured to generate air flow to cause air to enter the inlet and discharge through the outlet, the fan being configured to generate the air flow in an upward direction from the inlet to the outlet;
- an evaporator that is located at the cabinet, that is configured to exchange heat with air, and that is configured to supply cool air to the storage compartment, the evaporator being arranged below the outlet and above the inlet;
- and
- a differential pressure sensor located at the cabinet and configured to produce a single value representing a differential pressure between two positions that are connected via pipes, the pipes comprising:
- a first pipe that defines a first through-hole between the evaporator and the inlet, the first through-hole being oriented down toward the inlet, and
- a second pipe that defines a second through-hole between the evaporator and the outlet, the second through-hole being located vertically above the first through-hole and oriented down toward the evaporator, and
- wherein the differential pressure sensor is configured to calculate the differential pressure between the two positions without measuring absolute pressure values at the two positions.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.