Condenser assembly for an appliance

An appliance comprising:

• a machine room located at a rear lower side of the appliance and defined by a bottom portion, a top portion, a plurality of side walls, and a back wall of the appliance;
• an air intake located at a front lower side of the appliance and in fluid communication with the machine room and being separated from the machine room by an enclosed air channel that extends between the air intake and the machine room;
• an air mover for providing cooling air to the machine room via the air intake;
• a condenser assembly with a horizontally extending condenser coil disposed at a rear lower side of the appliance in the machine room adjacent to said back wall and in fluid communication with the air mover, and with the air intake via the air channel;
• and
• at least one baffle disposed at an end of the air channel adjacent the machine room and configured to direct the flow of cooling air by extending from the air intake to the machine room and along substantially the entire length of the horizontally extending condenser coil, the condenser assembly positioned between the at least one baffle and said back wall of the appliance to thereby define a substantially continuous fluid path extending from the air intake, through the air channel, in a first direction along the condenser coil but separated from the condenser coil by the at least one baffle, against one sidewall of the machine room to change direction to a second direction generally opposite the first direction, to a first end of the condenser assembly, through substantially the entire length of the condenser coil, and then to a second end of the condenser assembly such that the fluid path extends across substantially the entire length of the horizontally extending condenser coil from the first end of the condenser assembly to the second end of the condenser assembly, and
• wherein the air mover is positioned adjacent to the second end of the condenser assembly and draws the cooling air along the fluid path.

An appliance comprising:

• a machine room located at a rear lower side of the appliance and defined by a bottom portion, a top portion, a plurality of side walls, and a back wall of the appliance;
• an air intake located at a front lower side of the appliance and in fluid communication with the machine room and being separated from the machine room by an enclosed air channel that extends between the air intake and the machine room;
• an air mover for providing cooling air to the machine room via the air intake;
• a condenser assembly at a rear lower side of the appliance in the machine room adjacent to said back wall and in fluid communication with the air mover, and with the air intake via the air channel, comprising a condenser coil extending horizontally between an opposed pair of the plurality of side walls and defining an array of tubing layers and a plurality of connectors vertically attached to at least two of the array of tubing layers and in thermal communication with the condenser coil;
• and
• at least one baffle disposed at an end of the air channel adjacent the machine room and configured to direct the flow of cooling air by extending from the air intake to the machine room and along at least a major horizontal portion of the condenser coil, the condenser assembly positioned between the at least one baffle and said back wall of the appliance to thereby define a substantially continuous fluid path extending from the air intake, through the air channel, in a first direction along the condenser coil but separated from the condenser coil by the at least one baffle, against one wall of the machine room to change direction to a second direction generally opposite the first direction, to a first end of the condenser assembly, through substantially the entire length of the condenser coil, and then to a second end of the condenser assembly such that the fluid path extends across a major horizontal portion of the horizontally extending condenser coil from the first end of the condenser assembly to the second end of the condenser assembly.