FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10, rule 13)
“REFRIGERATOR WITH AN AIR CIRCULATION
SYSTEM”
WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LTD., of Product Development Centre, Plot No A4 MIDC Nagar Road, Ranjangaon, Pune -419204, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF INVENTION
[001] The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an air circulation system for a refrigerator.
BACKGROUND
[002] A refrigerator includes a refrigeration system including a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, a cooling fan for developing a flow of cold air, and a damper located in a passageway interconnecting a freezer and refrigerator compartments. In these compartments, refrigerators store various kinds of food. Keeping such food items together in the refrigerator chamber causes the same to smell foul or produce odor. Odors emanating from stored food can be circulated around the compartments, thereby cross-contaminating, altering the taste of, and otherwise negatively impacting the attractiveness of remaining food items. Such foul smell or odor emitted from the food items stored in refrigerators either needs to be deodorized or entire refrigerator chamber has to be sterilized to maintain hygiene nature.
[003] However, there are certain problems associated with the conventional deodorizing system of the refrigerators. For example, in case of pre-installed deodorizing systems, the working tenure of such systems remains a cause of concern. Regardless of these arrangements, unless the full airflow can be treated, odors within the compartment will not be eliminated.
[004] Thus, there is a need to provide a refrigerator with a built-in air circulation system to prolong freshness and hygiene for the food stored therein by filtering air inside the refrigerator compartments by way of discharging odors to outside environment at a given refrigerator operating conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[005] The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to circulating air flow by an air circulation system inside the refrigerator for improving deodorizing performance wherein the system is installed inside the compartments of the refrigerator.
[006] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a refrigerator is disclosed. The refrigerator has a freezing compartment and a refrigeration compartment, an incoming air passage, comprising of a first opening on an outer wall of the refrigerator and a second opening in a heat exchanger of the refrigerator, said incoming air passage comprising: a first portion of the incoming air passage placed in a wall portion of the refrigerator, said first portion of the incoming air passage leading to a second portion of the incoming air passage disposed between the freezing compartment and the refrigeration compartment; a mullion assembly connecting the second portion with the second opening in the heat exchanger; an outgoing air passage having an opening in the refrigeration compartment and another opening on the outer wall of the refrigerator; at least one temperature sensor located in the refrigeration compartment, configured to switch ON and OFF a fan located in the heat exchanger.
[007] In accordance with yet another aspect of the present disclosure, switching ON of the fan causes the air to be sucked from the outside environment into the heat exchanger through the incoming air passage, said sucked air is mixed with cool air inside the heat exchanger, said fan discharging the cool air from the heat exchanger into the freezing compartment and the refrigeration compartment.
[008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, air inside the refrigeration compartment is discharged through the outgoing air passage to the outside environment.
[009] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the incoming air passage and the outgoing air passage are provided with a cover on the outer wall of the refrigerator, said cover provided with a knob for manually closing and opening of the incoming air passage and outgoing air passage.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the first portion of the incoming air passage comprises a dust filter, filtering dust particles from entering the incoming air passage from the outside environment.
[0011] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the incoming air passage and the outgoing air passage are provided with a damper to control the volume of air sucked into the incoming air passage and air discharged from the outside air passage by opening and closing said incoming air passage and outgoing air passage.
[0012] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a damper is configured to automatically open and close said incoming air passage and outgoing air passage based upon the feedback from the temperature sensor.
[0013] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the incoming air passage and the outgoing air passage open to the outside environment through a door of the refrigeration compartment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] Further aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will be readily understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference numerals have been used to refer to identical or functionally similar elements. The figures together with a detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate the embodiments and explain various principles and advantages, in accordance with the present disclosure wherein:
[0015] Figure 1 is a front view of a refrigerator door according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
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[0016] Figure 2A is an exploded view of the duct assembly mounted on a wall of the refrigerator according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
[0017] Figure 2B is a cross-sectional view of the duct assembly mounted on the refrigerator door, according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
[0018] Figure 3 illustrates working of the duct assembly associated with air circulation system of a refrigerator, according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
[0019] Figure 4 illustrates working of the air circulation system with respect to the refrigerator, according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] Referring now to the drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the disclosure refrigerator with a deodorizer mounted on a refrigerator door. It should be understood that the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms; specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It will be appreciated as the description proceeds that the disclosure may be used in other types of electronic appliances and may be realized in different embodiments.
[0021] Before describing in detail embodiments it may be observed that the novelty and inventive step that are in accordance with the present disclosure reside in the construction of the refrigerator, accordingly, the drawings are showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.
[0022] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device that comprises a list of components
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does not include only those components but may include other components not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus. The following paragraphs explain various aspect of the present disclosure with reference to figures.
[0023] Referring to Fig. 1, a refrigerator 100 includes a freezing compartment 105 and refrigeration compartment 110. Both freezing and refrigeration compartment 110 may have respective doors for ease of access. In one embodiment, a duct assembly 115 is provided on a door of the refrigerator 100, which may be at a door attached to the freezing compartment 105 or the refrigeration compartment 110. The duct assembly 115 may be placed at either of the door of the freezing compartment or the door of the refrigeration compartment near to the junction of the freezing compartment 105 and the refrigeration compartment 110.
[0024] Fig. 2A shows an exploded view of the various components of the duct assembly 115 which is mounted on the refrigerator 100. The duct assembly 115 comprises of various components namely a knob 205, a cover 210, a dust filter 215, a damper 220, an inlet duct channel 225, an outlet duct channel 230, a gasket 235, and an intermediate duct 240.
[0025] The inlet duct channel 225 is provided for drawing air from outside environment whereas the outlet duct channel 230 is provided for discharging air from the refrigerator 100to the outside environment. The cover 210 is provided at the outer extreme end of the duct assembly 115. The cover 210 is configured to accommodate the components such as damper 220, dust filter 215 and knob 205. The damper 220 controls inward and outward flow of air facilitated through the duct assembly 115. The dust filter 215 is a mesh type structure. The dust filter 215 restricts entry of unwanted particles or impurities to the duct assembly 115. The knob 205 is placed at an outer wall of the refrigerator 100 and allows the inlet duct channel 225 and the outer duct channel to open and close together. Based on the opening measurements of the knob 205, the cover 210 opens to draw or discharge the inward/outward air flow through the duct assembly 115. The operation of the knob 205 may be either manual or automatic or combination of the both.
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[0026] Once the knob 205 is opened, it allows inward flow of air from the outside environment into the inlet duct channel. The inward flow of air passes through dust filter 215, damper 220 before entering into the inlet duct channel 225. The inlet duct channel 225 is located in the door portion of the refrigerator and connects to an intermediate duct 240 located in the wall separating the refrigeration compartment from the freezing compartment. A gasket 235 is placed at the junction of the inlet duct channel 225 and the intermediate duct 240. Particularly, this gasket 235 is located at the start of the intermediate duct passage and is configured to fill any gaps of the mentioned junction so that it avoids air leakages at the junction. The gasket 235 is made of such material which changes shape on an application of force, such material may be, but not limited to, silicon etc.
[0027] The intermediate duct 240 connects the inlet duct channel 225 to a mullion assembly 305. The mullion assembly 305 is a vertical support disposed between the freezing compartment and the refrigeration compartment and has multiple opening channels to regulate air flow. Air from the outside environment passes through an appropriate mullion channel towards a Heat Exchanger based on operation of the refrigerator.
[0028] As shown in Fig. 2B, the incoming air passes through the inlet duct channel 225 and is released in the heat exchanger (not shown in this figure). The air gets cooled and is circulated in the freezing compartment and refrigeration compartment of the refrigerator 100.
[0029] The air to be discharged to the outside environment is passed through the outlet duct channel 230. This outlet duct channel 230 connects to the refrigeration compartment and passes the air of the refrigeration compartment to the outside environment.
[0030] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the mullion assembly 305 is disposed between the freezing compartment 105 and refrigeration compartment 110. Fig. 3 shows such a mullion assembly 305. The mullion assembly 305 in connection with the duct assembly 315 configured to regulate air flow within the compartments of the refrigerator. The air
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passed through the mullion assembly 305 reaches the heat exchanger due to the effect of a fan (not shown in Fig. 3) to get cooled and is circulated inside the compartments of the refrigerator.
[0031] Fig. 4 shows working of the refrigerator 400 in accordance with a second embodiment. According to the second embodiment, during the operation of the refrigerator a fan 425 forcefully draws air inside an incoming air passage from the outside environment. The incoming air passage has a first opening disposed on an outer wall of the refrigerator and a second opening in a heat exchanger of the refrigerator. A first portion of the incoming air passage is placed in a wall portion of the refrigerator. The first portion of the incoming air passage leads to a second portion of the incoming air passage disposed between the freezing compartment and the refrigeration compartment. The mullion assembly connects the second portion to the second opening in the heat exchanger.
[0032] A fan 425 is switched ON and OFF based on a feedback from atleast one temperature sensor. Such temperature sensor may be placed in a diffuser. In one embodiment the fan is switched ON and OFF simultaneously with switching ON and OFF of the compressor of the refrigerator. The fan 425 is assembled with a plenum assembly 430. The plenum assembly 430 has openings at the freezing compartment 405 and the refrigeration compartment 410. In operation, when the fan is in ON state, fan 425 creates a suction pressure and draws air from outside environment through the incoming air passage. The air thus entered passes through the first portion, the second portion, the mullion assembly 420 and then through the heat exchanger in course of flow inside incoming air passage. This drawn air then gets cooled and then the fan 425 circulates this air within the freezing compartment 405 and the refrigeration compartment 410. As freezing compartment 405 is maintained at a substantially lower temperature relative to the refrigeration compartment 410, so the cooled air is circulated first into the freezing compartment 405 and then the same air is circulated again in the refrigeration compartment 410.
[0033] The cooled air performs cooling operation for various food items stored in compartments of the refrigerator 400. The cooled air which has completed cooling operation is re-circulated to heat exchanger through the mullion assembly 420. Some volume of the cool air escapes to the
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outside environment from the refrigeration chamber through the outgoing air passage. For example, if X% volume of air was discharged by the fan 425 into the freezing compartment 405 and refrigeration compartment 410. X1% of volume of the air coming out from the freezing compartment 405 and the refrigeration compartment 410 goes to the outgoing air passage and X2% volume of the air from the freezing compartment 405 and the refrigeration compartment 410 is recirculated in the refrigerator 400. X2% volume of air is channeled into the heat exchanger through the mullion assembly 420. At the heat exchanger 435, due to the suction force created by the fan 425, the X2% volume of the air is discharged into the freezing compartment 405 and the refrigeration compartment 410 and the process follows again as per the above description.
[0030] While the particular preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the teachings of the disclosure. It is therefore contemplates that the present disclosure cover any and all modifications, variations or equivalents that fall within the scope of the basic underlying principles disclosed above and claimed herein.
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We Claim:
1. A refrigeration system, comprising:
a freezing compartment;
a refrigeration compartment;
an incoming air passage, comprising of a first opening on an outer wall of the refrigerator and a second opening in a heat exchanger of the refrigerator, said incoming air passage comprising:
a first portion of the incoming air passage placed in a wall portion of the
refrigerator, said first portion of the incoming air passage leading to a second portion
of the incoming air passage disposed between the freezing compartment and the
refrigeration compartment;
a mullion assembly connecting the second portion with the second opening in the
heat exchanger;
an outgoing air passage having an opening in the refrigeration compartment and another opening on the outer wall of the refrigerator;
at least one temperature sensor located in the refrigeration compartment, configured to switch ON and OFF a fan located in the heat exchanger;
wherein switching ON of the fan causes the air to be sucked from the outside environment into the heat exchanger through the incoming air passage, said sucked air is mixed with cool air inside the heat exchanger, said fan discharging the cool air from the heat exchanger into the freezing compartment and the refrigeration compartment; and
wherein air inside the refrigeration compartment is discharged through the outgoing air passage to the outside environment.
2. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the incoming air passage and the
outgoing air passage are provided with a cover on the outer wall of the refrigerator, said
cover provided with a knob for manually closing and opening of the incoming air passage
and outgoing air passage.
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3. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first portion of the incoming air passage comprises a dust filter, filtering dust particles from entering the incoming air passage from the outside environment.
4. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the incoming air passage and the outgoing air passage are provided with a damper to control the volume of air sucked into the incoming air passage and air discharged from the outside air passage by opening and closing said incoming air passage and outgoing air passage.
5. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the damper is configured to automatically open and close said incoming air passage and outgoing air passage based upon the feedback from the temperature sensor.
6. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the incoming air passage and the outgoing air passage open to the outside environment through a door of the refrigeration compartment.
7. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the incoming air passage comprises of a gasket between the first portion and the second portion, such gasket avoiding any air leakages from the second portion when the door of the refrigeration compartment is open.
8. The refrigeration system as claimed in claim 1, wherein switching ON and OFF the fan coincides with switching ON and OFF of a compressor of the refrigerator.