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EP-4474737-B1 - AIR-COOLED REFRIGERATOR WITH EVAPORATOR ARRANGED AT BOTTOM OF CABINET

EP4474737B1EP 4474737 B1EP4474737 B1EP 4474737B1EP-4474737-B1

Inventors

  • LIU, HUI
  • DONG, Lingyun
  • WANG, MING
  • MIAO, Jianlin

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20210810

Claims (12)

  1. An air-cooled refrigerator, comprising: a cabinet (10) with a bottom liner (110); a partition cover plate (120) transversely arranged in the bottom liner (110) and used for dividing an internal space of the bottom liner (110) into a cooling chamber (100) and a storage space (200), wherein the cooling chamber (100) is located below the storage space (200); an evaporator (20), disposed at a bottom of the cabinet (10) and located in the cooling chamber (100); a return air cover (170) arranged at a front portion of the cooling chamber (100), wherein, a top of the return air cover (170) is connected to a front end of the partition cover plate (120), the return air cover (170) is provided with at least one front return air inlet (177, 178) that communicates the cooling chamber (100) with the storage space (200), and air needed for heat exchange is provided for the cooling chamber (100) through the front return air inlet (177, 178); wherein a front portion of a top surface of the evaporator (20), the partition cover plate (120) and the return air cover (170) define a frost-accommodating space (400), thereby enabling a part of air inflow from the front return air inlet (177, 178) to enter the evaporator (20) from the frost-accommodating space (400); characterized by an evaporator heat preservation part (130) arranged between the partition cover plate (120) and a top of the evaporator (20), which comprises: a filling portion (131) with which an area region, located behind the frost-accommodating space (400), between the partition cover plate (120) and the top surface of the evaporator (20) is filled; the evaporator heat preservation part (130) further comprises a heating wire limiting portion (132) extending forwards from the filling portion (131); the air-cooled refrigerator further comprises: a top heating wire (140) at least arranged at the front portion of the top surface of the evaporator (20) and configured to provide heat needed by defrosting for the evaporator (20), the top heating wire (140) being limited on the top surface of the evaporator (20) by the heating wire limiting portion (132); wherein the heating wire limiting portion (132) comprises: at least one downwards-protruding convex rib which tightly presses the top heating wire (140) on the top surface of the evaporator (20).
  2. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a bottom wall of the bottom liner (110) is provided with a water receiving trough (111), and a bottom of the water receiving trough (111) is provided with a water outlet (112); and the air-cooled refrigerator further comprises: a water pan (160) arranged between the evaporator (20) and the bottom wall of the bottom liner (110) and configured to receive water on the evaporator (20); and a bottom heating wire (150) coiled between the water pan (160) and the evaporator (20) and configured to provide heat for defrosting of the evaporator (20).
  3. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the bottom heating wire (150) further comprises: a front extension section (151) which extends to a position in front of the evaporator (20) from a bottom of the evaporator (20) and is used for heating and melting away frost falling down from the frost-accommodating space (400) during defrosting.
  4. The air-cooled refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein there are a plurality of convex ribs (1320) which are located above a transverse middle portion and two transverse sides of the top heating wire (140) respectively.
  5. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein power density of the front extension section (151) is set to be less than or equal to 10w/m.
  6. The air-cooled refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the return air cover (170) is provided with: a first front return air inlet (177) transversely formed in an upper portion of the return air cover (170); and a second front return air inlet (178) transversely formed in a lower portion of the return air cover (170), so that air in the storage space (200) flows towards the evaporator (20) from an upper area and a lower area.
  7. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the first front return air inlet (177) is basically flush with the top surface of the evaporator (20) in a vertical direction.
  8. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the second front return air inlet (178) in a vertical direction is basically flush with that of a middle portion of the evaporator (20).
  9. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the return air cover (170) comprises: a first board (171) extending obliquely downwards from back to front from the front end of the partition cover plate (120); and a second board (172) extending obliquely downwards from front to back from a front end of the first board (171) to be concaved in a direction towards the cooling chamber (100), the first front return air inlet (177) being formed in the second board (172).
  10. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein the return air cover (170) further comprises: a third board (173) extending obliquely downwards from back to front from a rear end of the second board (172) to protrude forwards; a fourth board (174) extending obliquely downwards from front to back from a front end of the third board (173) to be concaved in a direction towards the cooling chamber (100); a fifth board (175) downwards obliquely extending backwards from a rear end of the fourth board (174); and a frame, the second front return air inlet (178) being formed between the fifth board (175) and the frame.
  11. The air-cooled refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising: an air duct back plate (180) which is arranged in front of a rear wall (113) of the bottom liner (110), defines, with the rear wall (113) of the bottom liner (110), an air supply duct (300), and is provided with at least one air supply port used for communicating the air supply duct (300) with the storage space (200); and a refrigeration fan (30) arranged behind the evaporator (20), wherein an air outlet (310) of the refrigeration fan (30) is connected to a lower end of the air supply duct (300), and the refrigeration fan (30) is configured to promote formation of a refrigeration airflow which flows into the evaporator (20) from the front return air inlet (177, 178) and then is supplied to the air supply duct (300).
  12. The air-cooled refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the air duct back plate is provided with water retaining ribs (182) arranged on one side of the air duct back plate (180) towards a storage compartment of the air-cooled refrigerator.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an air-cooled refrigerator with an evaporator at a bottom of a cabinet. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION An existing bottom evaporator is horizontally placed, and a cover plate is commonly additionally arranged at an upper portion of the evaporator and an upper portion of a fan so as to partition the evaporator and a freezer compartment. Meanwhile, the cover plate needs to be attached to the evaporator as closely as possible so as to enlarge a usage space of the freezer compartment as large as possible. A thermal insulation layer needs to be arranged below the cover plate so as to guarantee temperature isolation between the evaporator and the freezer compartment. A cover plate assembly of the evaporator is commonly composed of the cover plate and the thermal insulation layer. But the above settings will cause a series of problems. Since the cover plate assembly is completely attached to the evaporator, frost blockage is likely to happen after the evaporator is frosted, thereby causing practical refrigeration efficiency of the evaporator to be reduced, a defrosting period to be short, and complete-refrigerator energy consumption to be high. For a bottom evaporator structure, a return air inlet of the freezer compartment is located between a door body and the evaporator. Once frost blockage occurs to the evaporator, a phenomenon of poor air return will be caused, and consequently, an integral refrigeration effect is influenced. US 3 027 735 A relates to frost-free upright home freezers. D2 CN 208 817 767 U provides an evaporator that is easily adapted to be mounted to the bottom of a refrigerator. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An objective of the present invention is to provide an air-cooled refrigerator with an evaporator at a bottom of a cabinet, which can solve any above problem. A further objective of the present invention is to improve an air return structure and improve a refrigeration effect of the refrigerator. Another further objective of the present invention is to improve a cooling chamber structure and reduce a phenomenon of evaporator frosting. The present invention is defined by the independent claim 1. In the following, in case parts of the description and drawing referring to embodiments, which are not covered by the claims are not presented as embodiments of the invention, but as examples useful for understanding the invention. Particularly, the present invention provides an air-cooled refrigerator with an evaporator at a bottom of a cabinet. The refrigerator includes: the cabinet with a bottom liner; a partition cover plate transversely arranged in the bottom liner and used for dividing an internal space of the bottom liner into a cooling chamber and a storage space, where the cooling chamber is located below the storage space; a return air cover arranged at a front portion of the cooling chamber, where a top of the return air cover is connected to a front end of the partition cover plate, the return air cover is provided with at least one front return air inlet communicating the cooling chamber with the storage space, and air needed for heat exchange is provided for the cooling chamber through the front return air inlet; and the evaporator, where the evaporator is in a flat cuboid shape, and is arranged in the cooling chamber in a manner of inclining upwards from front to back, and a front portion of a top surface of the evaporator, the partition cover plate and the return air cover define a frost-accommodating space, thereby enabling a part of air inflow from the front return air inlet to enter the evaporator from the frost-accommodating space. Further, the refrigerator further includes a top heating wire at least arranged at the front portion of the top surface of the evaporator and configured to provide heat needed by defrosting for the evaporator. Further, the refrigerator further includes an evaporator heat preservation part arranged between the partition cover plate and the top of the evaporator. The evaporator heat preservation part includes: a filling portion, where an area, located behind the frost-accommodating space, between the partition cover plate and the top surface of the evaporator is filled with the filling portion; and a heating wire limiting portion extending forwards from the filling portion and provided with at least one downwards-protruding convex rib which can tightly press the top heating wire on the top surface of the evaporator. Further, a plurality of convex ribs are located above a transverse middle portion and two transverse sides of the top heating wire respectively. Further, the evaporator heat preservation part is formed by sequentially stacking a plurality of heat preservation layers different in material. The heat preservation layers include: a heat preservation foam layer attached to a lower surface of the partition cover plate; a resin film layer attached to a lower surface of the heat preservation