Refrigerator

• US 4,751,826 A
• Filed: 09/14/1987
• Issued: 06/21/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Imaizumi, Toshimasa, Kajimaru, Kouhei, Kawahara, Kensaku
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Lloyd L.
• Application Number:
  US07/095,981
• Time in Patent Office: 281 Days
• Field of Search: 62/440, 62/441, 62/382, 312/236
• US Class Current: 62/382
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 11/02 with cooling compartments at different temperatures
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 17/04 for circulating air, e.g. by convection
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2317/061 through special compartments
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 25/021 combined with trays

Abstract

A refrigerator includes a refrigeration chamber and a vegetable compartment communicating the refrigeration chamber through a cooled-air supply hole. A vegetable storage basket is arranged in the compartment such that it can be taken out through a front opening of the compartment. When the front opening is closed by a door, the basket is sealed and a cooled-air path, communicating with the cooled-air supply hole, is defined between the outer surface of the basket and the inner surface of the compartment. The basket has a moisture-permeable section located close to the supply port, for discharging moisture in the basket into the cooled-air flowing through the cooled-air path.

Claims

1. A refrigerator, comprising:

a main body provided with a refrigeration chamber, a vegetable compartment with a front opening, and a cooled-air supply port, through which the refrigeration chamber and vegetable compartment communicate with each other and which guides cooled air from the refrigeration chamber to the vegetable compartment;

a door for opening/closing the front opening of the vegetable compartment;

a vegetable storage basket located in the vegetable compartment such that it can be taken out through the front opening, the vegetable storage basket including an open section through which vegetables can be put in or taken out and defining a cooled-air path, which communicates with the cooled-air supply port, between an outer surface of the vegetable storage basket and the inner surface of the vegetable compartment when the door is closed; and

means for closing the open section of the vegetable storage basket when the door is closed,

the vegetable storage basket having a moisture-permeable section located in the vicinity of the cooled-air supply port, for discharging excess moisture in the vegetable storage basket into the cooled air flowing through the cooled-air path.

2. A refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein said moisture-permeable section includes a large number of moisture-permeable holes through which the interior of the vegetable storage basket communicates with the cooled-air path.

3. A refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein said vegetable storage basket includes a wall located in the vicinity of the cooled-air supply port, the moisture-permeable section includes an air hole formed in the wall and opened into the cooled-air path, and a moisture-permeable plate arranged in the vegetable storage basket to cover the air hole, with a certain distance maintained therefrom, the moisture-permeable hole being formed in the moisture-permeable plate and facing the air hole.

4. A refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein said moisture-permeable plate includes a plurality of depressed sections which face the air hole, and the moisture-permeable holes being formed in bottom of the depressed sections.

5. A refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein said moisture-permeable plate is detachably attached to the vegetable storage basket.

6. A refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein said moisture-permeable plate is formed of a material having a high thermal conductivity.

7. A refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein said main body includes a partitioning plate which separates the refrigeration chamber and the vegetable compartment from each other and faces the open section of the vegetable storage basket, and the closing means includes a sealing member fixed to the partitioning plate and hermetically touching a periphery of the open section of the vegetable storage basket.

8. A refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein said partitioning plate includes an upper plate located in the refrigeration chamber, a lower plate located in the vegetable compartment, and a heat insulator filled between the upper and lower plates.

9. A refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein said cooled-air port is formed in the partitioning plate.