Wall-mounted refrigerator and peltier effect cooling system

Abstract

A refrigerator is wall-mounted. The refrigerator has a frame with an insulated compartment supporting a plurality of shelves, a front panel covering the frame and having at least one window for displaying refrigerated articles supported by the shelves, at least one door to access the articles supported by the shelves, a cooling unit, an air recirculation system having a warm air collector for collecting warm air and having a warm air channel for directing air through the cooling unit to provide cooled air, at least one fan, and a cold air channel for directing the cooled air back into the compartment and a mounting for anchoring the refrigerator with respect to a wall. The thermal efficiency of the refrigerator may be enhanced as described herein.

1 . A wall-mounted refrigerator comprising:
 a frame having an insulated compartment comprising a plurality of shelves;   a front panel covering said frame and having at least one window for displaying refrigerated articles supported by said shelves;   at least one door to access said articles supported by said shelves;   a cooling unit;   an air recirculation system having a warm air collector for collecting warm air and having a warm air channel for directing air through said cooling unit to provide cooled air, at least one fan, and a cold air channel for directing said cooled air back into said compartment;   a mounting for anchoring said refrigerator with respect to a wall; and   wherein a thermal efficiency of said refrigerator is enhanced by at least one of:
 said shelves comprising staggered shelves having a bottle-support surface for supporting sides of horizontally disposed bottles, said shelves extending partly across said compartment leaving a central portion of said compartment free of any shelves so that in use necks of bottles can be nested within said compartment, said warm air collector being located at a central top portion of said compartment and said cold air channel comprising two channels located at the vertical lateral sides of said compartment, said two channels having openings for directing cold air inwardly towards said shelves for cooling bottles on said shelves; 
 said at least one door being mounted at a side of said compartment to access said shelves from a side, said door incorporating an air channel; 
 said window comprising at least two panes having an outer pane forming said front panel beyond said window; and 
 said cooling unit comprising a thermoelectric cooling unit arranged above said compartment within said frame and having a lower cold air heat exchanger and an upper hot air heat exchanger discharging heated air above said refrigerator, said warm air collector being located at a top of said compartment in direct communication with said lower cold air heat exchanger. 
   
     
     
         2 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said staggered shelves have a conformed bottle-support surface for supporting sides of horizontally disposed bottles. 
     
     
         3 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said channels located at the vertical lateral sides of said compartment are joined to the rear of said frame. 
     
     
         4 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said channel incorporated into said side door is said cold air channel. 
     
     
         5 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 4 , wherein said openings of said cold air channel allow for more cold air to be released into said insulated compartment from said cold air channel closer to the middle of said cold air channel than closer to the extremities of said cold air channel. 
     
     
         6 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said shelves comprise staggered shelves having a conformed bottle-support surface for supporting sides of horizontally disposed bottles, said shelves extending partly across said compartment leaving a central portion of said compartment free of any shelves so that in use necks of bottles can be nested within said compartment, said warm air collector being located at a central top portion of said compartment and said cold air channel comprising two channels located at the vertical lateral sides of said compartment, said two channels having openings for directing cold air inwardly towards said shelves for cooling bottles on said shelves, and said at least one door comprises two side doors mounted at each side of said compartment to access said shelves from each side, said side doors incorporating said two channels. 
     
     
         7 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 6 , wherein said cooling unit comprises a thermoelectric cooling unit arranged above said compartment within said frame and having a lower cold air heat exchanger and an upper hot air heat exchanger discharging heated air above said refrigerator, said warm air collector being located at a top of said compartment in direct communication with said lower cold air heat exchanger, and said two channels having, at their top, a channel coupling to said lower cold air heat exchanger cooled air output. 
     
     
         8 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 7 , wherein said thermoelectric cooling unit comprises:
 a thermoelectric element having a lower cold side and an upper hot side;   a heat sink coupled to said upper hot side, said heat sink including a sealed chamber with a working fluid for dissipating heat generated from said hot side of the thermoelectric element to heat discharge fins disposed above said upper hot side;   an ambient air duct and fan arranged to blow ambient air across said heat discharge fins;   a cooling plate shaped into at least one truncated pyramid coupled at a pyramid top side to said lower cold side of said thermoelectric element; and   cooling fins extending downwardly from said cooling plate at a pyramid base bottom side.   
     
     
         9 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 8 , wherein said thermoelectric cooling unit comprises between  3  and  7  of said thermoelectric elements each associated with a corresponding said heat sink and said truncated pyramid. 
     
     
         10 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said window comprises a dual or triple pane window having an outer pane forming said front panel beyond said window. 
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 10 , wherein said window is a triple pane single window with low emissivity glass, having a space between panes filled with an inert gas. 
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 11 , wherein said gas is composed of one of krypton, argon and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a light source in said compartment for illuminating articles supported by said shelves. 
     
     
         14 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 13 , further comprising a sensor for detecting presence of a person in front of said refrigerator to control a switch to turn on said light source. 
     
     
         15 . The refrigeration as defined in  claim 14 , wherein said sensor for detecting presence of a person is a microwave sensor. 
     
     
         16 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising an insolation sensor for detecting an intensity of light incident into said compartment and a user warning and/or event logging module responsive to said insolation sensor. 
     
     
         17 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising an interior temperature sensor for detecting a temperature in said compartment and a user warning and/or event logging module responsive to said interior sensor for providing information about a temperature of said compartment over time. 
     
     
         18 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 17 , further comprising an exterior temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature, wherein said user warning and/or event logging module is further responsive to said exterior temperature sensor to provide an indication as to a cause for failure to maintain a temperature of said compartment due to an unacceptable rise in ambient temperature. 
     
     
         19 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a sheet neighboring at least a part of said cooling unit and configured to prevent water condensed due to said cooling unit's cooling effect from accumulating in said insulated compartment. 
     
     
         20 . The refrigerator as defined in  claim 19 , wherein said sheet is a geotextile material.