Apparatus and method for supplying cool air to the interior of a refrigerator
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorSeok Ro Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A concentrated cool air supply device for refrigerators is disclosed. In the device, a branch duct is branched from the cool air passage to guide the cool air to the door. A door duct is formed on the door to receive the cool air from the branch duct. The door duct has a plurality of air outlet openings on a cover plate. The outlet openings of the door duct are selectively opened by a slide panel, thus concentrically discharging the cool air from the door duct into a desired portion of the compartment. In order to move the slide panel, the device also has a motor, a rotatable link and a connecting rod. The link is coupled to the motor, thus being selectively rotated by the motor, while the connecting rod is connected to the link and the slide panel at both ends.
Claims12
In a refrigerator including a storage cavity and a door for selectively closing the storage cavity, the door including at least one storage basket on an interior side thereof, a system for selectively providing cool air to an interior of the refrigerator, comprising:
- a cool air source;
- a branch duct for guiding cool air from said cool air source;
- a door duct formed in the door and connected to said branch duct when the door is closed, said door duct having at least one opening on an interior surface of the door along the at least one storage basket;
- and
- a damper mechanism constructed and arranged to selectively close off said at least one opening.
A method for providing cool air to a portion of a storage basket located on an interior of a refrigerator door, comprising:
- guiding cool air to a plurality of openings distributed along a length of the storage basket;
- and
- selectively closing off at least some of the openings to guide cool air to a particular portion of the storage basket.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.