CN111435053A

CN111435053A - Monitoring device and refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN111435053A
Application number: CN201910036098.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张亮; 潘舒伟; 文元彬
Original assignee: Hefei Hualing Co Ltd; Midea Group Co Ltd; Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hefei Hualing Co Ltd; Midea Group Co Ltd; Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-01-15
Filing date: 2019-01-15
Publication date: 2020-07-21

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of household appliances, and discloses a monitoring device and a refrigerator. The monitoring device for the refrigerator provided by the application effectively saves cost and is more attractive.

Description

Monitoring device and refrigerator

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of household appliances, in particular to a monitoring device and a refrigerator.

Background

The intellectualization of the refrigerator is a trend in the current development of the refrigerator industry, wherein the intellectualization of monitoring the storage condition of objects in the refrigerator by a sensor without opening the refrigerator door is an important part. The common way of present trade is that install a plurality of cameras or sensor on refrigerator upset roof beam or the cold-stored inner bag and monitor the object on each shelf, such structure can cause the wiring complicacy in the box, production line installation effectiveness low, and a plurality of cameras are with too high costs, can also influence the inside pleasing to the eye of refrigerator in addition.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the problems that the number of sensors in an electrical storage device is too large and the wiring is complex due to the fact that the monitoring device in the prior art is not reasonable in design, and provides the monitoring device.

In order to accomplish the above object, an aspect of the present invention provides a monitoring apparatus for a refrigerator, which includes a base for being installed in a storage space of the refrigerator, and a sensor movably provided on the base to monitor different areas of the storage space.

Preferably, the monitoring device includes a screw rod, a supporting portion and a driving mechanism, the supporting portion is used for installing the sensor, the screw rod is rotatably installed on the base and the driving mechanism is used for driving the screw rod to rotate, the supporting portion is connected to the screw rod and when the screw rod rotates, the supporting portion can move relative to the screw rod along the axial direction of the screw rod.

Preferably, the support portion includes a guide member and a support member, the support member being used to mount the sensor, the guide member being screw-coupled to the lead screw, the support member including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being supported to the guide member along an axial direction of the lead screw and stopping the guide member along a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the lead screw, the second portion being stopped to the rotation preventing member along a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the lead screw so that the support member can move together with the guide member relative to the lead screw along the axial direction of the lead screw.

Preferably, the first part is formed with a first groove extending in the axial direction of the screw rod, at least the top of the first groove is closed, and a part of the guide member extends into the first groove so that the top of the first groove is supported by the guide member; the second part is provided with a through hole extending along the axial direction of the screw rod or a second groove penetrating in the axial direction of the screw rod, and the anti-rotation piece penetrates through the second groove or the through hole along the axial direction of the screw rod.

Preferably, an end fixing frame is arranged on the base, the screw rod is rotatably arranged on the end fixing frame, and the anti-rotating part is fixedly arranged on the end fixing frame.

Preferably, the driving mechanism comprises a motor, a motor gear arranged at the output end of the motor and a coupler meshed with the motor gear, and the coupler is connected with the screw rod to drive the screw rod to rotate.

Preferably, the monitoring device for the refrigerator comprises a motor fixing frame arranged on the base, the motor is arranged on the motor fixing frame, and the motor fixing frame is a flexible part to reduce vibration of the motor.

Preferably, the monitoring device for the refrigerator comprises a control unit, the control unit is used for controlling the driving mechanism and the operation of the sensor, a plurality of first sensing pieces distributed along the movement route of the sensor are arranged on the base, a second sensing piece is arranged on the sensor, so that the second sensing piece can sense the first sensing piece at a plurality of positions and at different positions, one of the first sensing piece and the second sensing piece is a sensing body, the other one is a sensing switch for sensing the sensing body, and the sensing switch feeds back signals to the control unit when sensing.

Preferably, the first sensing member is a magnetic member, and the second sensing member is a hall switch for sensing the magnetic member.

Preferably, the sensor has at least one of an image sensing module, a temperature sensing module, an odor sensing module.

A second aspect of the present application provides a refrigerator comprising a monitoring device for a refrigerator as described above.

Through above-mentioned technical scheme, because the movably setting of sensor is on the base to can monitor the different regions in the storage space of refrigerator, and need not set up a plurality of sensors and monitor, effectively practice thrift the cost, and more pleasing to the eye.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a monitoring apparatus for a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of a movement structure of the monitoring apparatus for a refrigerator of fig. 1.

Description of the reference numerals

1-base 2-sensor 3-lead screw 4-guide 5-anti-rotation part 6-support 7-end fixing frame 8-motor 9-motor gear 10-coupler 11-motor fixing frame 12-connecting plate 13-cover plate 14-magnetic part 15-Hall switch 21-sensor base 22-camera 23-sensor cover 24-sensor shell

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the present invention, are given by way of illustration and explanation only, not limitation.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the present application provides a monitoring device for an electrical storage device, such as a refrigerator, a freezer, a wine cabinet, a food display cabinet, etc., the monitoring device includes a base 1 and a sensor 2, the base 1 is used for being installed in a storage space of the refrigerator, and the sensor 2 is movably disposed on the base 1 to monitor different areas of the storage space. Because the sensor is movably arranged on the base, different areas of the storage space of the refrigerator can be monitored without arranging a plurality of sensors for monitoring, the cost is effectively saved, and the refrigerator is more attractive.

As shown in fig. 2, the base 1 is arranged in a vertical direction, and the sensor 2 moves on the base 1 so as to monitor shelves of different heights. It should be noted that the present application is not limited to the arrangement of the base 1 shown in fig. 1, for example, for a refrigerator with a structure that the upper part is a refrigerating chamber and the lower part is a freezing chamber, the base 1 may be extended to a position further below the storage space, so that the sensor can monitor the lower freezing chamber.

In order to enable the sensor 2 to move on the base 1, the monitoring device comprises a screw rod 3, a support part and a driving mechanism, the screw rod 3 is rotatably mounted on the base 1, the driving mechanism can drive the screw rod 3 to rotate, the support part is used for supporting the sensor 2 and is connected to the screw rod 3, and the support part is configured to be capable of moving along the axial direction of the screw rod 3 relative to the screw rod 3 when the screw rod 3 rotates, so that when the screw rod 3 is driven to rotate by the driving mechanism, the support part can move along the axial direction of the screw rod 3, and therefore the movement of the sensor 2 on the base 1 is realized.

Of course, the present application is not limited to this, and a slide structure may be provided on the base 1, the sensor 2 may be provided on the slide structure, and the sensor 2 may be driven by the driving mechanism to move along the slide structure, so that the movement of the sensor 2 can be realized similarly; or the driving mechanism selects an air cylinder, the sensor 2 is connected to a piston of the air cylinder, and the movement of the sensor 2 can be realized through the extension and contraction of the air cylinder.

For the embodiment that selects the lead screw, in order to configure the support portion to be capable of moving relative to the lead screw 3 in the axial direction of the lead screw 3 when the lead screw 3 is rotated, preferably, as shown in fig. 3, the support portion includes a guide 4 and a support 6, the support 6 is used to mount the sensor 2, the guide 4 is screwed to the screw 3, the support 6 comprises a first portion and a second portion, the first portion is supported to the guide 4 in the axial direction of the lead screw 3 and stops the guide 4 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the lead screw 3, the second part is stopped against the rotation-preventing piece 5 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the screw 3, so that the support 6 together with the guide 4 can be moved in the axial direction of the screw spindle 3 relative to the screw spindle 3.

Referring to the structure shown in fig. 1 and 3, two end fixing frames 7 are provided on the base 1, and positioning holes for fixing the anti-rotation member 5 are provided on the end fixing frames 7, so that the anti-rotation member is fastened between the two end fixing frames 7, for example, the anti-rotation member 5 is selected from the rod shape shown in fig. 3 and is tightly inserted in the positioning holes on the end fixing frames 7. Thereby the lead screw 3 rotationally installs on base 1 and can be driven by actuating mechanism and take place to rotate, thereby nut can be chooseed for use to guide 4, preferably hexagonal nut spiro union forms lead screw nut mechanism on lead screw 3, and the tip of lead screw 3 is provided with the flange to can block on the through-hole of the end mount 7 that is located the upper portion, make lead screw 3 supported by the end mount 7 on upper portion in vertical direction.

When the screw rod 3 rotates, the guide piece 4 tends to rotate along with the screw rod 3, but because the first part of the support piece 6 is stopped by the guide piece 4 along the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the screw rod 3 and the second part of the support piece 6 is stopped by the anti-rotation piece 5 along the radial direction of the screw rod 3, the guide piece 4 cannot drive the support piece 6 to rotate, and the guide piece 4 cannot rotate per se, so that the rotation of the guide piece 4 is converted into the movement along the axial direction of the screw rod 3; and the first part of the support 6 is supported by the guide 4 in the axial direction of the screw 3, so that the support 6 can be moved together regardless of the upward or downward movement of the guide 4 in the axial direction of the screw 3, thereby moving the sensor 2. In particular, when the guide 4 moves upwards in the axial direction, it can move jointly upwards against the support 6; when the guide 4 is moved downwards in the axial direction, the support 6 will fall on the guide 4 due to the effect of gravity, whereby an axial movement is also achieved.

With continued reference to the structure shown in fig. 3, the driving mechanism includes a motor 8, a motor gear 9 disposed at the output end of the motor 8, and a coupling 10 engaged with the motor gear 9, the coupling 10 is connected to the lead screw 3 to drive the lead screw 3 to rotate, and the motor 8 can rotate in forward and reverse directions, so that the lead screw 3 rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, causing the guide member 4 to move upward and downward.

The first part is provided with a first groove extending along the axial direction of the screw rod 3, at least the top of the first groove is closed, and the part of the guide piece 4 extends into the first groove, so that the top of the first groove is supported by the guide piece 4, and the part of the guide piece 4 can touch the inner wall of the first groove when having a rotation tendency, so that the guide piece 4 cannot rotate.

On the other hand, the second part is provided with a through hole extending along the axial direction of the screw rod 3 or a second groove penetrating in the axial direction of the screw rod 3, the anti-rotation piece 5 penetrates through the second groove or the through hole along the axial direction of the screw rod 3, no matter the groove or the through hole, as long as the rod-shaped anti-rotation piece 5 is located in the groove, when the support piece 6 has a rotation tendency, the anti-rotation piece 5 can be stopped, so that the support piece 6 cannot rotate.

A specific preferred embodiment is provided below, as shown in fig. 3, two rod-shaped rotation-preventing members 5 are disposed between two end fixing frames 7, a screw rod 3 is disposed between the two rotation-preventing

members

5, 3 guide members 4 are disposed on the screw rod 3, and a support member 6 is disposed between each guide member 4 and the rotation-preventing member 5, so that 2 support members 6 are disposed on each guide member 4, and when the screw rod 3 rotates, each guide member 4 is blocked by the corresponding support member 6 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the screw rod 3, so that each guide member 4 generates the same movement in the axial direction of the screw rod 3, and the plurality of support members 6 can generate the same movement; for mounting the sensor 2, the sensor may be mounted on the connection plate 12, and fixing holes through which fasteners are fitted to mount the connection plate 12 on the plurality of supports 6 may be provided on the supports 6; in order to fix the motor 8, a motor fixing bracket 11 may be installed on the base 1, and the motor fixing bracket 11 is preferably a flexible member to reduce vibration of the motor 8.

In the daily use of the monitoring device, such as the arrangement of the monitoring device shown in fig. 2, the monitoring device needs to monitor each shelf, so that the position of each shelf monitored by the monitoring device is fixed, so that the monitoring device can stay at the position. Preferably, the monitoring device for the refrigerator comprises a control unit, the control unit is used for controlling the driving mechanism and the operation of the sensor, the base 1 is provided with a plurality of first sensing pieces distributed along the movement route of the sensor 2, the sensor 2 is provided with a second sensing piece, so that the second sensing piece can sense the first sensing piece at a plurality of positions and differently, one of the first sensing piece and the second sensing piece is a sensing body, the other one is a sensing switch for sensing the sensing body, and the sensing switch feeds back signals to the control unit when sensing.

Wherein, because the cost of the inductive switch is high, it is preferable to set up a plurality of inductive parts on the base 1, and set up the inductive switch on the sensor 2, specifically, the first inductive part is a magnetic part, the second inductive part is a hall switch that can induce the magnetic part, as shown in fig. 1, the magnetic part 14 is set up in different positions of the base 1, the hall switch 15 is set up on the sensor base 21 of the sensor 2, the hall switch 15 can respectively induce with different magnetic parts 14 in 3 different positions, and these 3 different positions are exactly the positions corresponding to 3 shelves of the refrigerator, in these 3 positions, the sensor 2 can monitor the article on the shelf and the environment near this shelf.

When the sensor 2 moves on the base 1 to a position where the hall switch 15 can sense the magnetic member 14, the hall switch 15 can feed back a signal to the control unit, and the control unit controls the driving mechanism to stop and controls the monitoring unit of the sensor to work according to the signal, so that the sensor stays at the position and monitors the area of the partition or the storage space corresponding to the position. It should be noted that, the number of the sensing elements and the number of the sensing switches are not limited in the present application, and the specific forms of the sensing elements and the sensing switches are not limited, and these may be properly adjusted according to actual needs, which is not described herein.

The sensing unit of the sensor may include at least one of an image sensing module, a temperature sensing module, and an odor sensing module to perform video monitoring on the storage space or to perform monitoring on the temperature or odor of the storage space environment. The sensor configured with the image sensing module is shown in fig. 2, the sensor 2 includes a sensor base 21 and a camera 22 disposed on the base, the camera 22 is covered with a sensor cover 23, and a sensor housing 24 is further disposed on the outermost layer of the sensor to protect the sensor.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Within the scope of the technical idea of the invention, many simple modifications can be made to the technical solution of the invention. Including each of the specific features, are combined in any suitable manner. The invention is not described in detail in order to avoid unnecessary repetition. Such simple modifications and combinations should be considered within the scope of the present disclosure as well.

Claims

1. A monitoring device for an electrical storage device, the monitoring device comprising:

a base (1) installed in the storage space of the storage appliance,

sensors (2) movably arranged on the base (1) for monitoring different areas of the storage space.

2. A monitoring device according to claim 1, characterised in that the monitoring device comprises a screw (3), a support for mounting the sensor (2), the screw (3) being rotatably mounted to the base (1) and the drive for driving the screw (3) in rotation, and a drive, which support is connected to the screw (3) and which support is movable in the axial direction of the screw (3) relative to the screw (3) when the screw (3) is rotated.

3. The monitoring device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support comprises a guide (4) and a support (6), the support (6) being used for mounting the sensor (2), the guide (4) being screwed to the screw (3), the support (6) comprising a first part which is supported to the guide (4) in the axial direction of the screw (3) and which stops the guide (4) in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the screw (3), and a second part which stops the rotation prevention part (5) in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the screw (3) so that the support (6) can move together with the guide (4) relative to the screw (3) in the axial direction of the screw (3).

4. A monitoring device according to claim 3, characterised in that the first part is formed with a first groove extending in the axial direction of the screw (3), at least the top of which is closed, into which a part of the guide (4) extends, so that the top of the first groove is supported by the guide (4); the second part is provided with a through hole extending along the axial direction of the screw rod (3) or a second groove penetrating through the screw rod (3) in the axial direction, and the anti-rotation piece (5) penetrates through the through hole or the second groove in the axial direction of the screw rod (3).

5. A monitoring device according to claim 4, characterised in that an end mount (7) is provided on the base (1), the screw (3) being rotatably mounted to the end mount (7), the rotation-preventing element (5) being fixedly mounted to the end mount (7).

6. The monitoring device according to claim 2, wherein the driving mechanism comprises a motor (8), a motor gear (9) arranged at an output end of the motor (8), and a coupler (10) engaged with the motor gear (9), and the coupler (10) is connected with the screw rod (3) to drive the screw rod (3) to rotate.

7. The monitoring device according to claim 6, wherein the monitoring device for the refrigerator comprises a motor fixing frame (11) arranged on the base (1), the motor (8) is mounted on the motor fixing frame (11), and the motor fixing frame (11) is a flexible piece to reduce vibration of the motor (8).

8. The monitoring device according to claim 2, wherein the monitoring device for a refrigerator comprises a control unit, the control unit is used for controlling the operation of the driving mechanism and the sensor, a plurality of first sensing members distributed along the movement path of the sensor (2) are arranged on the base (1), a second sensing member is arranged on the sensor (2) so that the second sensing member can sense different first sensing members at a plurality of positions, one of the first sensing member and the second sensing member is a sensing body, the other one is a sensing switch sensing the sensing body, and the sensing switch feeds back a signal to the control unit when sensing.

9. The monitoring device according to claim 8, wherein the first sensing member is a magnetic member (14) and the second sensing member is a hall switch (15) for sensing the magnetic member (14).

10. The monitoring device according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the sensor (2) has at least one of an image sensing module, a temperature sensing module, an odor sensing module.

11. A refrigerator characterized in that it comprises a monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 10.