General Electric Company

Julius B Horvay

William M Webb

Luis E Prada

Robert B Gelbard

Robert J Alvarez

A compact evaporator unit for a household refrigerator including a partition dividing the refrigerator into two separate compartments. The partition is formed with an evaporator compartment in which the evaporator is positioned. The evaporator comprises a tubular member having an extended heat exchange surface in the form of a pair of longitudinally extending helically coiled portions. The coiled portions are arranged parallel with the rear coil being elevated relative to the front coil. The rear coil is extended to form end coils which provide a central area between the end coils to accommodate a fan employed for moving air through the evaporator compartment. The rear coil being raised so that the flow of air passing through the evaporator compartment will impact on both coils to thereby increase the frost tolerance of the evaporator.

Household refrigerator with air circulating and cooling arrangement

The present refrigeration apparatus includes a single condenser and compressor, two evaporators, and more particularly an electronically controlled valve system that delivers refrigerant to one evaporator in preference to the other, but will cause the valve system to deliver refrigerant to the other evaporator after a predetermined amount of time.

Apparatus and method of controlling air temperature of a two-evaporator

A refrigerator including a compressor, an evaporator and a condenser with a temperature control to energize and de-energize the compressor. There is an electrical defrost heater for periodically warming the evaporator to defrost temperatures which is energized and de-energized by an electrical motor-driven defrost control timer having a predetermined period of run time between initiation of each successive defrost cycle. The defrost control timer is energized to run only when the compressor is energized and the defrost control timer is delayed in running for a period of time each time the compressor is energized.

Household refrigerator defrost system

A refrigerator, including a freezer compartment and a door for closing the access opening to said compartment. There is an opening through the door and an ice piece receptacle on the inner surface of the freezer door. A closure member is pivotally mounted at the bottom thereof to the door and movable outwardly therefrom and the closure member has side panels secured to the inner surface and extending rearwardly of the closure member. The ice storage receptacle supported on the inner surface of the door has the interior thereof accessible through the opening in the door and the receptacle has a floor movable from a first position when the closure member is closed to a second elevated position when the closure member is opened to permit manual removal of ice pieces from the ice receptacle without opening the door.

Refrigerator including through-the-door ice service

A refrigerator, including an ice cube storage receptacle on the inner surface of the freezer door, a passage through the door communicating with the interior of the receptacle and a closure member pivotally mounted on the exterior surface of the freezer door for closing the passage. The closure member carries a delivery tube extending through the passage and in communication with the ice cube storage receptacle and delivers the ice pieces to the exterior of the freezer door when the closure member is open. There is provided an ice piece stop assembly for preventing the passage of ice pieces into the passage when the closure member is opened and includes at least one gate member movable from a first position obstructing the passage to a second position opening the passage, said gate member being biased to move to the first position when the closure member is opened and moved to the second position by the delivery tube exerting force on the gate member to open the passage when the closure member is closed.

A single sheet of metal is stamped to provide portions which form the top, side and bottom outer walls of the refrigerator cabinet and portions which form the top, side and bottom inner walls of the cabinet. This single sheet of metal is stamped in the same operation to include a plurality of perforations in an elongated section thereof extending lengthwise of the sheet between the portions which form the outer wall and the portions which form the inner wall. This same elongated section is further shaped to provide a groove of arcuate cross-section extending substantially the length thereof. The single sheet of metal is then bent to form in one operation the top, side and bottom outer walls of the refrigerator and the top, side and bottom inner walls of the refrigerator, the elongated perforated section framing the door opening of the refrigerator, the perforations retarding heat transfer from the outer walls. A portion of the tubing forming the condenser of the refrigerating system employed with the refrigerator is assembled in the aforementioned arcuate groove. This condenser tubing both conceals the perforations in the assembled cabinet and provides a readily available economical source of supplementary heat in the area between the inner and outer walls to raise the temperature of the outer wall and hence to further assist in eliminating sweating thereof and of the adjacent door gasket. The assembly is completed by connecting a separate rear inner wall to the previously-formed top, side and bottom inner walls and connecting a separate rear outer wall to the previously-formed top, side and bottom outer walls. Finally, this cabinet assembly is placed in a suitable fixture which holds the walls in position and in the desired shape while foam insulation is injected into the space between the inner and outer walls to provide the necessary thermal insulation and to give final rigidity to the cabinet. In a modified form the single sheet of metal is stamped to provide also portions forming the back outer wall and the back inner wall of the cabinet.

Method of constructing refrigerator cabinet

A single sheet of metal is stamped to provide portions which form the top, side and bottom outer walls of the refrigerator cabinet and portions which form the top, side and bottom inner walls of the cabinet. This single sheet of metal is stamped in the same operation to include a plurality of perforations in an elongated section thereof extending lengthwise of the sheet between the portions which form the outer wall and the portions which form the inner wall. This same elongated section is further shaped to provide a groove of arcuate cross-section extending substantially the length thereof. The single sheet of metal is then bent to form in one operation the top, side and bottom outer walls of the refrigerator and the top, side and bottom inner walls of the refrigerator, the elongated perforated section framing the door opening of the refrigerator, the perforations retarding heat transfer from the outer walls. A portion of the tubing forming the condenser of the refrigerating system employed with the refrigerator is assembled in the aforementioned arcuate groove. mentioned arcuate groove.

Refrigerator cabinet and method of constructing

A household refrigerator has a compartment divided into a freezer portion and a fresh food portion. Instead of a solid partition, a moving invisible layer of air isolates the two portions from each other.

Refrigerator including air wall separating the freezer and fresh food

A heat pipe for controlling the temperature of a refrigeration system of a refrigerator is of a general 'U' configuration. A means is provided within the heat pipe to terminate the passage of gas and/or liquid through the heat pipe when the ambient temperature of the second end of the heat pipe is greater than the temperature of the portion of the refrigerator contacting the first end of the heat pipe.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Julius B Horvay