US 4,644,753 AGranted

Refrigerator

AssigneeMarlow Industries, Inc.

InventorEdward J. Burke

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A noiseless refrigerator is provided for use in single room sleeping quarters. The refrigerator has a housing having a freezing compartment, a cooling compartment, a storage compartment and a vented compartment. The freezing compartment has a bottom having a plurality of recesses formed therein for removably receiving a plurality of ice cube trays and a back side affixed to an "L" shaped plate support member attached to the inside of a refrigerator wall. The "L" shaped plate freezer compartment support member is in thermal contact with a plurality of blocks of high thermal conductivity material passing through the refrigerator walls to the vented compartment. A plurality of thermoelectric heat pumps are mounted in the vented compartment and have their hot plates attached to a heat sink for ventilation. The cold plates of the plurality of heat pumps are affixed to the blocks of high thermal conductivity material to substantially reduce the temperature of the ice cube trays in the freezer compartment to freeze ice cubes.

Claims4

Dependent claims

A refrigerator comprising:

(a) a housing having a vent compartment and an insulated box having a cooler compartment and a freezer compartment;
(b) a thermoelectric heat pump means mounted in the housing, the heat pump means including a finned heat sink of high temperature coefficient material mounted in the vent compartment, a hot plate attached to the heat sink, a thermopile having a hot side connected to the hot plate and a cold side, a block of high temperature coefficient material connected to the cold side and extending into the freezer compartment an L-shaped bracket of high temperature coefficient material having a vertical portion attached to the block and a horizontal portion, a freezer compartment of high temperature coefficient material having a bottom attached to the L-shaped horizontal portion, said bottom portion portion having walls forming an ice cube tray receiving recess whereby the continuous structure of high temperature coefficient material exists between the thermopile and ice cube tray receiving recess to produce a sub freezing temperature in the recess;
and
(c) an ice cube tray having a shape corresponding to that of the ice cube tray receiving recess whereby five sides of the ice cube tray are in freezing engagement with the bottom recess forming walls for freezing ice cubes.

1 more element

A refrigerator comprising:

(a) a housing having a vent compartment and an insulated box having a cooler compartment and a freezer compartment;
(b) a thermoelectric heat pump means mounted in the housing, the heat pump means including a finned heat sink of high temperature coefficient material mounted in the vent compartment, a hot plate attached to the heat sink, a thermopile having a hot side connected to the hot plate and a cold side, a block of high temperature coefficient material connected to the cold side and extending into the freezer compartment a compartment of high temperature coefficient material having a vertical portion attached to the block and a horizontal bottom portion, said bottom portion having walls forming an ice cube tray receiving recess whereby the continuous structure of high temperature coefficient material exists between the thermopile and ice cube tray receiving recess to produce a sub freezing temperature therein;
(c) an ice cube tray having a shape corresponding to that of the ice cube tray receiving recess whereby five sides of the ice cube tray are in freezing engagement with the bottom recess forming walls for freezing ice cubes;
(d) a plurality of triangularly shaped fins depending downwardly and rearwardly of the freezer compartment at a preselected slope for absorbing heat from the cooling compartment during freezing and draining rearwardly ice water during defrost for collection;
and
(e) a trough positioned as to the fins for collecting the ice water whereby when either the insulated box is open or the cooling efficiency of the thermoelectric heat pump decreases the ice accumulated on the freezer compartment begins to melt and slide down the fins for collection in the water trough for removal or evaporation.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 06/783,969Filed 4 Oct 1985
Granted: 24 Feb 1987
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

F25B 21/02
Machines, plants or systems, using electric or magnetic effects: using Peltier effect; using Nernst-Ettinghausen effect
F25C 2400/06
Auxiliary features or devices for producing, working or handling ice: multiple ice moulds or trays therefor
F25C 2400/10
Auxiliary features or devices for producing, working or handling ice: refrigerator units
F25D 11/02
Self-contained movable devices, e.g. domestic refrigerators: with cooling compartments at different temperatures