US 12,392,538 B2
Refrigerator including a deep freezing unit
Hyoungkeun Lim, Seoul (KR); Seokjun Yun, Seoul (KR); Seongmin Song, Seoul (KR); Junghun Lee, Seoul (KR); and Hoyoun Lee, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
Appl. No. 17/433,429
Filed by LG ELECTRONICS INC., Seoul (KR)
PCT Filed Feb. 13, 2020, PCT No. PCT/KR2020/002067
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 24, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/175821, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2019-0023894 (KR), filed on Feb. 28, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0146155 A1, May 12, 2022
Int. Cl. F25B 21/02 (2006.01); F25D 11/02 (2006.01); F25D 13/04 (2006.01); F25D 17/06 (2006.01); F25D 17/08 (2006.01); F25D 23/06 (2006.01)
CPC F25D 13/04 (2013.01) [F25B 21/02 (2013.01); F25D 11/02 (2013.01); F25D 17/065 (2013.01); F25D 17/08 (2013.01); F25D 23/069 (2013.01); F25D 2317/0665 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a refrigerating compartment;
a freezing compartment partitioned from the refrigerating compartment;
a freezing unit mounted at one side of an inside of the freezing compartment, the freezing unit comprising a cooling case defining a cooling compartment partitioned from the freezing compartment and a cooling drawer insertable into the cooling compartment;
a freezing evaporation compartment disposed behind the cooling case;
a partition wall to partition the freezing evaporation compartment and the freezing compartment from each other, the partition wall comprising a first discharge grille to discharge cold air into the cooling compartment and a second discharge grille to discharge another cold air into the freezing compartment;
a freezing compartment evaporator accommodated in the freezing evaporation compartment to generate the another cold air for cooling the freezing compartment;
a freezing compartment fan to supply the another cold air in the freezing evaporation compartment to the freezing compartment;
a thermoelectric module comprising:
a thermoelectric element having a heat absorption surface facing the cooling compartment and a heat generation surface that is an opposite surface of the heat absorption surface;
a cold sink in communication with the heat absorption surface and disposed behind the cooling compartment; and
a heat sink in communication with the heat generation surface and functions as a cooling evaporator, the heat sink fluidly connected in series to the freezing compartment evaporator, the thermoelectric module configured to cool the cooling compartment to a temperature lower than that of the freezing compartment;
a cooling compartment fan to cause air within the cooling compartment to forcibly flow; and
a guide duct mounted on a ceiling of the cooling case and communicating with the first grille,
wherein the cooling compartment fan comprises a suction type centrifugal fan to suction the cold air of the cooling compartment in an axial direction of the centrifugal fan toward the thermoelectric module and discharge the suctioned cold air through the first discharge grille that is disposed above the thermoelectric module to the guide duct,
wherein the cooling case comprises
a case cover including a top portion to define the ceiling of the cooling case,
wherein the guide duct comprises a bottom portion having a plurality of cold air discharge holes,
wherein at least a portion of the bottom portion is spaced apart from the top portion at a lower side of the top portion to define a passage for guiding the cold air into the cooling compartment,
wherein the case cover comprises a duct coupling groove to mount the guide duct therein.