Refrigerator

Abstract

A refrigerator including a main body having a storage compartment and a door provided to open and close the storage compartment. The door includes an inner door having an opening, an outer door opening and closing the opening, a case provided on a rear side of the inner door to form a door internal space, and a fan, to be provided on at least one side of the case, operable to transfer cold air from in storage compartment to the door internal space, and, wherein the fan is turned off in a state in which the cold air in the storage compartment is blocked from being transferred to the door internal space to thereby cause a temperature of the door internal space to be higher than a temperature of the storage compartment.

1 . A refrigerator comprising:
 a main body having a storage compartment; and   a door to open and close the storage compartment,   wherein the door including:   an inner door, rotatable while in the main body, having an opening;   an outer door, rotatable with respect to the opening of the inner door, configured to open and close the opening;   a case to be provided on a rear side of the inner door to form a door internal space on the rear side of the inner door; and   a fan, to be provided on at least one side of the case, operable to transfer cold air from the storage compartment to the door internal space,   wherein, the fan is turned off to block the cold air in the storage compartment from being transferred to the door internal space to thereby cause a temperature of the door internal space to be higher than a temperature of the storage compartment, based on a state in which the door is closed.   
     
     
         2 . The refrigerator of  claim 1 , wherein the state in which the door is closed is based on a closed state in which the inner door blocks the storage compartment and a closed state in which the outer door blocks the opening of the inner door. 
     
     
         3 . The refrigerator of  claim 1 , wherein the refrigerator provides a first mode in which the fan is turned off so that the cold air in the storage compartment is not transferred to the door internal space, based on the state in which the door is closed, and
 a second mode in which the fan is turned on so that the cold air in the storage compartment is transferred to the door internal space, based on the state in which the door is closed.   
     
     
         4 . The refrigerator of  claim 3 , wherein, based on the refrigerator being in the first mode, a difference between the temperature of the door internal space and the temperature of the storage compartment is 2° C. to 7° C. 
     
     
         5 . The refrigerator of  claim 3 , wherein the refrigerator is configured to selectively operate in one of the first mode and the second mode based on a user input. 
     
     
         6 . The refrigerator of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one door basket arrangeable in the inner door,
 wherein the case is arranged to surround at least a portion of the at least one door basket while the at least one door basket is arranged in the inner door.   
     
     
         7 . The refrigerator of  claim 1 , wherein the case is attachable to detachable from the inner door. 
     
     
         8 . The refrigerator of  claim 7 , wherein the fan is fixed to the inner door through a fastening member, and
 the case has a cutout portion into which the fan is insertable.   
     
     
         9 . The refrigerator of  claim 8 , wherein a thickness of the fan is greater than a thickness of the cutout portion so that the fan protrudes toward the door internal space. 
     
     
         10 . The refrigerator of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a temperature sensor configured to detect the temperature of the storage compartment, and   a processor configured to control the fan,
 wherein the processor is configured to turn off or on the fan by comparing a detected temperature detected by the temperature sensor with a normal temperature range of the storage compartment. 
   
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator of  claim 10 , wherein, based on the refrigerator being in the first mode and the detected temperature is within the normal temperature range, the processor is configured to turn off the fan, and,
 based on the refrigerator being in the second mode and the detected temperature is within the normal temperature range, the processor is configured to turn on the fan.   
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator of  claim 11 , wherein, based on the refrigerator being in the first mode and the detected temperature is greater than the normal temperature range, the processor is configured to turn on the fan. 
     
     
         13 . The refrigerator of  claim 11 , wherein, based on the refrigerator being in the second mode and the detected temperature is less than the normal temperature range, the processor is configured to turn off the fan.