CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0096090, filed on Aug. 7, 2019, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, which claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-162565 filed on Aug. 31, 2018, No. 2018-170692 filed on Sep. 12, 2018 and No. 2018-210044 filed on Nov. 7, 2018 in the Japan Patent Office, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

2. Description of Related Art

Some conventional refrigerators are provided with a housing forming an inner space of the refrigerator, and a cooling cycle mechanism including a variety of devices for cooling the inner space of the refrigerator, and the conventional refrigerator has a structure in which the cooling cycle mechanism is collectively arranged in a predetermined position of the housing.

As for the conventional refrigerator described above, each device forming the cooling cycle mechanism may be accessed at one time, and thus it is possible to easily perform the maintenance.

Meanwhile, it is required that an evaporator among the devices forming the cooling cycle mechanism is placed in the inner space of the refrigerator. Therefore, it is required to separate and remove a part of the housing forming the inner space to easily access to the evaporator like as other devices forming the cooling cycle mechanism.

However, when the housing is divided, heat conduction between the inside and outside of the refrigerator may easily occur in a divided portion. Further, the evaporator is configured to re-cool gas that cools the inner space of the refrigerator and thus the temperature is lowered particularly in the vicinity of the evaporator in the inner space of the refrigerator. As a result, when the housing is divided in the vicinity of the evaporator as in the refrigerator disclosed in patent document 1, a large temperature difference is generated between the inside and outside of the refrigerator in the divided portion, and condensation easily occurs on the outer surface of the housing toward the outside of the refrigerator.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an aspect of the disclosure to provide a refrigerator capable of allowing easy access to an evaporator forming a cooling cycle mechanism, and capable of preventing condensation in a divided portion of a housing body.

Additional aspects of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a refrigerator includes a housing body including an inner space of the refrigerator, and a cooling cycle mechanism configured to cool the inner space of the refrigerator, and the housing body includes a plurality of housing body elements separated along a predetermined separate surface, and the plurality of housing body elements is removably coupled to each other to allow an end surface thereof to face each other, and a sealing mechanism configured to form an air surface between opposite end surfaces is provided to prevent air from flowing into or from the inner space through between the opposite end surfaces.

Accordingly, by separating the other housing body element from the housing body element forming a main portion of the inner space of the refrigerator, an evaporator arranged in the inner space of the refrigerator may be easily accessed and thus the maintainability may be improved.

In the inner space of the refrigerator, an end surface of the plurality of housing body elements is connected to each other in the vicinity of the evaporator where low temperature gas gathers, and an air surface is formed between opposite end surfaces by a sealing mechanism. The air surface serves as an insulating layer and thus the heat conduction between the inside and the outside of the refrigerator between the opposite end faces is alleviated. Particularly, heat is hardly transmitted from the inside to the outside of the refrigerator between the opposite end faces, and thus condensation may be prevented from occurring near the opposite end surfaces on the outer surface of the housing.

In addition, in the vicinity of the evaporator in the inner space of the refrigerator, a temperature in the vicinity of an exit surface, from which the gas re-cooled from the evaporator is discharged, is further lowered. Therefore, the evaporator may introduce a gas, which cools the inner space of the refrigerator, from an entrance surface and re-cool the gas and then discharge the re-cooled gas to the exit surface. The exit surface may be arranged in a position according to the end surface of one of the housing body elements, and the sealing mechanism may form the air surface along the exit surface.

Accordingly, because by the sealing mechanism, the air surface is formed between the opposite end surfaces positioned on the exit surface side of the evaporator, in which air having a temperature lower than that of the inner space of the refrigerator is collected, the heat conduction between the inside and the outside of the refrigerator between the opposite end surfaces is alleviated. Further, because it is possible to allow the position of the opposite end surfaces to be close to the evaporator, it is possible to make the housing body element provided with the evaporator smaller.

The both housing body elements each may include an insulating material and an exterior material covering the insulating material, and the exterior material may have a thermal conductivity higher than that of the insulating material.

Based on the both housing body elements having such a structure, the exterior material are superposed on the opposite end surfaces facing each other. Therefore, the heat of the inside and outside of the refrigerator may be easily transferred through the exterior material, but it is possible to suppress the heat transfer by forming the air surface by using the sealing mechanism.

At least one portion of the opposite end surfaces may be formed to be inclined from a rear surface of the housing body toward a bottom surface of the housing body. By such a structure, the heat transferred to the inside and the outside of the refrigerator may be easily blocked by the air surface.

As for the configuration of the sealing mechanism, the sealing mechanism may include a sealing member inserted between the opposite end surfaces so as to form a gap between the opposite end surfaces, and a partition member configured to partition the gap formed between the opposite end surfaces so as to form the air surface with the sealing member. Further, the sealing mechanism may further include a blocking member installed on an outer surface of the plurality of housing body elements to block the gap between the opposite end surfaces.

The partition member may form at least one air surface by partitioning the gap, which is formed between the opposite end surfaces, into the form of frame. With such a structure, the air surface may be formed at an appropriate position in the circumferential direction of opposite end surfaces.

The partition member may be formed in such a way that the exterior material forming at least one of the opposite end surfaces protrudes toward the other end surface

As for the housing body, one housing body element may form a main portion of the inner space of the refrigerator, and the other housing body element may be coupled to the one housing body element to form a part of the inner space of the refrigerator, together with the one housing body element.

The other housing body element may form a machine room in the outside of the refrigerator, and the cooling cycle mechanism may be arranged in the inside of the refrigerator, in the other housing body element. Because the one housing body element is separated from the other housing body element with such a structure, the cooling cycle mechanism may be separated from the one housing body element and thus the maintainability may be further improved.

The one housing body element may further include a partition configured to divide the inner space into a storage room and a re-cooling room configured to re-cool gas cooling the storage room. The second housing body element may be removably coupled to the one housing body element so as to form the re-cooling room, together with the first housing body element and the partition. The evaporator may be placed in the re-cooling room while the evaporator is installed inside of the refrigerator in the other housing body element.

A heat transfer member configured to induce heat toward the outside of the refrigerator with respect the end surface may be installed on one of the plurality of housing body elements

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a refrigerator includes a housing body including an inner space of the refrigerator, and a cooling cycle mechanism configured to cool the inner space of the refrigerator, and the housing body includes a plurality of housing body elements separated along a predetermined separate surface, and the plurality of housing body elements is removably coupled to each other to allow an end surface thereof to face each other, and a heat transfer member configured to induce heat toward the outside of the refrigerator with respect the end surface is installed on one of the plurality of housing body elements.

The plurality of housing body elements may include a first housing body element configured to form a main portion of the inner space of the refrigerator, and a second housing body element coupled to the first housing body element to form a part of the inner space of the refrigerator, together with the first housing body element.

The first housing body element and the second housing body element each may include an outer wall and an inner wall, and the heat transfer member may be installed between the outer wall and the inner wall of at least one of the first housing body element and the second housing body element.

The heat transfer member may be installed over on inner surface of the external wall and a rear surface of the end surface of at least one of the first housing body element and the second housing body element.

A part, in which the heat transfer member is installed among the rear surface of the end surface, may be equal to or less than half of a length from the external wall to the inner wall in the rear surface.

A thermal conductivity of the heat transfer member may be greater than a member forming the housing body or a member forming the cooling cycle mechanism.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term “or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like.

Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

