KR100286040B1 - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A refrigerator is provided to easily draw and return a food shelf simply by selecting by pushing an operating part. CONSTITUTION: A refrigerator(1) includes an operating unit; a sliding supporter; a friction preventing device(41); a driving device(91); a sensor(85); and a controller. The sliding supporter supports a food shelf(11) slidably. The friction preventing device is interposed between the food shelf and the sliding supporter. The driving device slidingly draws and returns the food shelf. The sensor detects positions of the food shelf. The controller determines the position of the food shelf by detecting signals of the sensor and intermits action of the driving device according to operational signals of the operating unit.

Description

Refrigerator

The present invention relates to a method of operating and controlling a refrigerator and a food shelf of a refrigerator, and more particularly, to install a retractable food shelf in a cooling chamber containing food, and to withdraw the product easily with a simple operation. It relates to a refrigerator and a food shelf operation control method of the refrigerator.

In refrigerators, generally, a plurality of food shelves are arranged in a horizontal direction in the cooling chamber to partition the food storage area in the cooling chamber into a layer. In such a refrigerator, what has a food shelf with which it can take out is also proposed.

9 is a perspective view of a retractable retractable food shelf mounted in a conventional refrigerator. As can be seen in the figure, the food shelf 11 is installed to be retractable withdrawable to the support portion 21 is fixed up and down in the cooling chamber. The food shelf 11 is composed of a tempered glass 15 in the form of a square plate and a shelf frame 13 in the form of a square frame. Shelf frame 13 is shaped by injection molding, at this time, the food shelf 11 can be produced by inserting the tempered glass 15 by injection molding. On both side skirt portions 19 of the food shelf 11, sliding grooves (not shown) are formed on the inner wall surfaces facing each other along the longitudinal direction thereof. And, the front skirt portion 14 is formed with a handle portion 17 to provide a grip for sliding opening and closing.

The support part 21 is comprised from a pair of support member 13 and the connection member 27 which connects this support member 13 expediently. A sliding groove formed on the inner wall surface of the shelf frame 13 is fitted into the support member 27, and the shelf frame 13 is reciprocated in the front and rear directions along the guide of the support member 27. At the rear end of each supporting member 27, a fixing ring (71 in FIG. 1) having a pair of engaging projections (73 in FIG. 1) bent in a vertical direction to have an annular shape is formed.

On the other hand, in the cooling chamber of the refrigerator 101, a pair of fixing members 33, which are fixed to the rear corner zero area in the vertical direction and parallel to each other, are provided. Each fixing member 33 is fixed to the protrusion 4 which protrudes inwardly from the wall surface of the cooling chamber 3 using the screw 9. Each fixing member 33 is provided with a plurality of fixing grooves 35 at predetermined intervals along its longitudinal direction, and they are mutually horizontal with the fixing grooves 35 formed in the opposite fixing members 33. . The fixing ring of the supporting member 27 is detachably fixed to the fixing groove 35, whereby the supporting portion 21 can be arranged in the horizontal direction. The fixing of the supporting member 27 is to receive and engage the respective engaging projections 73 of the fixing ring 71 in a pair of fixing grooves 35 provided on the upper and lower sides of the fixing member 33 parallel to each other. It is completed by. At this time, the position fixing of the fixing ring 71 may be made variable along the vertical direction of the fixing member 33.

In the refrigerator 101 having a take-out food shelf 11 having such a configuration, when food is accommodated or taken out in a partitioned food storage area in the cooling chamber, the handle 17 of the food shelf 11 is gripped to the front. When pulled to the side, the food shelf 11 is drawn out along the guide of the support member 23. At this time, the food shelf 11 may be disposed on a predetermined front side with respect to other food shelf not shown in the cooling chamber, and food may be easily settled or taken out on the upper surface of the food shelf 11. Then, the withdrawal of the food shelf 11 is completed by sliding the food shelf 11 along the guide of the supporting member 23 when the predetermined pressure is applied in the direction opposite to the drawing direction.

By the way, in the conventional refrigerator 101, there is an inconvenience that the user must manually operate the withdrawal of the food shelf. In particular, when the food is somewhat excessively seated on the upper surface of the food shelf 11, that is, when a heavy load is applied to the food shelf 11, the food shelf is formed by the mutual contact force between the sliding groove and the support member 23. Withdrawal of 11) is not natural. Thus, by the mutual friction of the food shelf 11 and the support member 23 withdrawn or withdrawn, the shaking of the food shelf 11 occurs, and in severe cases, the food settled on the food shelf 11 may fall over. It may also occur or spill.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator and a food shelf operation control method of the refrigerator which can easily and easily withdraw the food shelf in consideration of these problems in the related art.

1 is a front view of a door open state of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

2 is an exploded perspective view of the food shelf,

3 is a cross-sectional view of the sliding rail and the slider coupled to each other,

4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG.

5 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention;

6 is a flow chart showing an operation control method of the food shelf of the refrigerator according to the present invention;

7 and 8 are respectively a perspective view of the assembled state of Figure 2, showing a pulled out state of the food shelf,

9 is a perspective view of a food shelf mounted in a conventional refrigerator.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

3: refrigerator body 5: cooling chamber

7: door 11: food shelf

13: shelf frame 15: tempered glass

17: handle portion 18: rear skirt portion

19: both side skirt 21: sliding support

23: support member 27a, 27b: connection member

33: fixing member 35: fixing groove

41: anti-friction device 43: slider

44, 48: coupling hole 47: guide rail member

49: sliding groove 50: positioning groove

51: flange 53: holding piece

55: steel ball 57: elastic spring

61, 63: screw ball 65, 67, 9: screw

71: fixing ring 73: locking projection

83: operation unit 84: operation switch

85: position detection sensor 86: drive motor

91: drive portion 93: screw shaft

95: rotating roller 97: gear shaft fixture

According to the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising a cooling chamber and a food shelf arranged horizontally in the cooling chamber to partition the inside of the cooling chamber into a layer. A sliding support for slidably supporting the food shelf; Friction preventing means interposed between the food shelf and the sliding support portion; Driving means for withdrawing the food shelf; A detection sensor for detecting a position of the food shelf; And a control unit for identifying the position of the food shelf with the detection signal from the detection unit and controlling the operation of the driving means based on the operation signal from the operation unit.

Here, the guide rail member is fixed to any one side of the skirt side or the corresponding surface of the sliding support of the food shelf; A slider fixed to the other side and sliding along the guide rail; The friction preventing means is preferably configured to be interposed between the guide rail and the slider. At this time, the friction preventing means, the steel sphere accommodated in the positioning grooves are provided in each of the at least front side sliding grooves facing each other of the guide rail member; A holding piece coupled to the front surface of the positioning groove with the steel sphere therebetween to fix the steel sphere in contact with the slider; The steel sphere may be simply configured to include an elastic spring that is elastically rotatably biased toward the slider.

The driving means may include: a screw shaft disposed in parallel with the sliding direction of the food shelf in the sliding support portion and rotatable in an axial direction; A drive motor for rotating the screw shaft in the forward and reverse directions; It is rotatably fixed to the food shelf is engaged with the screw shaft, it can be configured to include a rotary roller reciprocating along the axial direction during the forward and reverse rotation of the screw shaft.

On the other hand, it may be configured to further include a fixing portion for fixing the sliding support in the vertical direction in the cooling chamber in the vertical direction, wherein the fixing portion, respectively, in the vertical direction on both sides of the rear surface of the cooling chamber A fixing member having a plurality of fixing grooves fixed and parallel to each other and formed to face each other along the longitudinal direction; It is preferable to simply include a fixing holder formed at the end of the sliding support portion, the fixing holder which is detachably engaged with the fixing groove of the fixing member.

On the other hand, according to another field of the present invention, the object, in the operation control method for the food shelf is installed retractable withdrawal in the cooling chamber of the refrigerator, pressing and selecting the operation switch for withdrawing the food shelf Wow; Detecting a position of the food shelf based on an operation signal from the operation switch; When the food shelf is in the withdrawal position, moving the food shelf in the withdrawal direction, and when the food shelf is in the withdrawal position comprises the step of moving in the withdrawal direction characterized in that achieved by the operation control method of the food shelf do.

Here, when the food shelf is stopped for more than a predetermined time in the withdrawal state, the food shelf may further comprise the step of moving to the withdrawn position.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a front view of the door open state of the refrigerator according to the present invention. As can be seen in the drawing, the refrigerator 1 includes a refrigerator body 3 that forms a pair of upper and lower cooling chambers 5, and a cooling chamber 5 that is installed in front of the cooling chamber body 3. It has a refrigerator door 7 which opens and closes). In each of the cooling chambers 5, a plurality of food shelves 11 are arranged horizontally along the top and bottom to partition the food storage area into layers.

The food shelf 11 is provided so that a withdrawal | retraction is possible, as mentioned later in detail. The withdrawal withdrawal of the food shelf 11 is made by the operation unit 83 provided on one side in the cooling chamber. The operation unit 83 has operation switches 84 attached to the respective food shelves 11.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the food shelf mounted on FIG. 1. FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 9 of the related art, the food shelf 11 is supported in the horizontal direction by being supported upward by a sliding support portion 21 fixed up and down in the cooling chamber. A driving unit 91 is installed between the sliding support 21 and the sliding shelf withdrawal of the food shelf 11, and the position detecting sensor 85 for sensing the position of the food shelf 11 is provided at the sliding support 21. It is installed. In addition, the friction preventing device 41 is interposed between the food shelf 11 and the sliding support 21 between the sliding surfaces. As described above, the variable positional fixing of the sliding support 21 is made by the fixing member 33 fixed to the protrusion 4 protruding from the rear surface of the cooling chamber 3 by the screw 9.

The food shelf 11 is composed of a tempered glass 15 in the form of a square plate and a shelf frame 13 in the form of a square frame. Shelf frame 13 is shaped by injection molding, at this time, by inserting the tempered glass (! 5) by injection molding that the food shelf 11 can be produced. The screw holes 61 are formed in both skirt portions 19 of the food shelf 11 at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction thereof. And, the front skirt portion 14 is formed with a handle portion 17 to provide a grip for sliding opening and closing.

The sliding support portion 21 is constituted by a pair of supporting members 23 and connecting members 27a and 27b for coupling them in parallel. The screw member 63 is formed in the support member 23 at predetermined intervals along its longitudinal direction, and a pair of engaging projections 73 bent up and down to have an annular shape at the rear end thereof. The fixing ring 71 to be provided is formed. These are fixedly detachably fixed to the fixing groove 35 of the fixing member 33, as will be described later in detail.

On the other hand, the friction preventing device 41, as can be seen in Figure 3, the guide rail member 47 for receiving the slider 43, the slider 43 and sliding guide along the longitudinal direction, and these It has the steel ball 55 interposed in the mutual friction surface between them. The guide rail member 47 is provided with a pair of flange portions 51 opposed to each other along the longitudinal edge thereof, and sliding grooves 49 are provided on the mutual facing surfaces of the flange portions 51 along the longitudinal direction, respectively. have. They accommodate the longitudinal edges of the slider 43 so that they do not deviate outward, while guiding their longitudinal sliding.

In addition, the upper and lower sliding grooves 49 of the guide rail member 47 are formed with positioning grooves 50 for setting the positions of the steel balls 53, respectively. These positioning grooves 50 can be formed in plural along the longitudinal direction of the sliding groove 49, but in this embodiment, a single positioning groove 50 is provided in the front sliding groove 49. As shown in FIG. The steel ball 55 is rotatably accommodated in the positioning groove 50, and at this time, the holding piece 53 for preventing the steel ball 55 from being separated is fixed. The retaining piece 53 forms a predetermined arc shape and is fixedly mounted on the front surface of the positioning groove 50 with an exposure hole 52 allowing partial exposure of the steel ball 55. An elastic spring 57 is disposed between the steel balls 55 and the positioning grooves 50 to bias the steel balls 55 toward the exposed holes 52 of the holding piece 53.

In the anti-friction device 41 having such a configuration, the slider 43 is mounted on both skirt portions 19 of the food shelf 11, and the guide rail member 47 supports the support member 23 of the support portion 21. Is mounted on. In this embodiment, the slider 43 is attached to the outer surface of both skirt portions 19 of the food shelf 11, and the guide rail member 47 is attached to the outer surface of the support member 23. To this end, coupling holes 44 and 48 corresponding to the screw holes 61 and 63 are formed in the slider 43 and the guide rail member 47. The screw 43 and the guide rail member 47 can be fixedly fixed by the screws 65 and 67 for fastening the screw holes 61 and 63 and the coupling holes 44 and 48 integrally from the outside. Done.

On the other hand, the drive unit 91 for withdrawing and withdrawing the food shelf 11 is a rotating roller 95 which is engaged with the screw shaft 93 and the screw shaft 93 and moves in the axial direction according to the forward and reverse rotation of the screw shaft 93. And a drive motor 86 for forward and reverse rotation of the screw shaft 93. The drive motor 86 is fixed to the rear connecting member 27a of the sliding support 21. The screw shaft 93 is disposed in parallel with the sliding direction of the food shelf 11, the one side of the rotating shaft is rotatable to the gear shaft fixture 97 is fixed to the front connection member (27b) of the sliding support (21). Is received, and the other rotary shaft is coupled to the drive shaft of the drive motor 86 to be integrally rotatable. The rotary roller 95 is rotatably fixed to the roller fixing portion 16 protruding downward from the rear skirt portion 18 of the food shelf 11, and is engaged with the thread of the screw shaft 93.

Thus, for example, when the drive motor 86 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, the screw shaft 93 rotates in the counterclockwise direction in conjunction with this, and at this time, the rotary roller 95 engaged with the screw shaft 93. ) Moves the food shelf 11 in the withdrawal direction and is arranged as shown in FIG. 4. Then, when the drive motor 86 is rotated in the clockwise direction, the revolving movement of the food shelf 11 is made by the rotating roller 95 moving in the retraction direction along the screw shaft 93. On the other hand, on one side of the front connecting member (27b) and the rear connecting member (27a) of the sliding support 21, the position detecting sensor 85 for detecting the position of the food shelf 11 is mounted. On the basis of the detection signal from these, the control unit (not shown) rotates the drive motor 86 alternately and reversely, and stops the operation of the drive motor 86 when the food shelf 11 is placed in the withdrawal or withdrawal position. .

In addition, in the cooling chamber of the refrigerator 10, a pair of fixing members 33 are fixed to the rear corner zero region, respectively, and are parallel to each other. Each fixing member 33 is provided with a plurality of fixing grooves 35 at predetermined intervals along its longitudinal direction, and they are mutually horizontal with the fixing grooves 35 formed in the opposite fixing members 33. . The fixing ring 71 of the supporting member 23 is detachably fixed to the fixing groove 35, whereby the supporting portion 21 can be disposed in the horizontal direction. The fixing of the supporting member 23 is to receive and engage the engaging projections 73 of the fixing ring 71 in a pair of fixing grooves 53 provided on the upper and lower sides of the fixing member 33 parallel to the left and right. Is completed. At this time, the position fixing of the fixing ring 71 may be made variable along the vertical direction of the fixing member 33.

Hereinafter, the operation control method of the food shelf of the refrigerator according to the present invention having such a configuration.

5 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention, Figure 6 is a flow chart showing an operation control method of the food shelf of the refrigerator according to the present invention. The refrigerator 1 is a position for sensing the position of the power supply unit 82 for applying external power, the operation unit 83 that allows the user to select and withdraw the food shelf 11, and withdraw the food shelf 11; The control sensor 81 and the control part 81 which intermittently operate the drive motor 86 based on the signal from the operation part 83 and the position detection sensor 85 are comprised.

After the power is supplied through the power supply unit 82 (S1), when the user selects pressing the operation switch 84 of the operation unit 83 (S2), the control unit 81 firstly moves to the position detecting sensor 85. By applying a signal from to detect the position of the food shelf 11 (S3). Thus, the position of the food shelf 11 is checked (S4), and when the food shelf 11 is in the withdrawal position, the driving motor 86 is operated in the direction in which the food shelf 11 is withdrawn (S5). As a result, when the food shelf is placed in the withdrawn position (S6), the control unit 81 stops the operation of the drive motor 86 (S10). On the other hand, when the positioning result (S4) of the food shelf 11 is not in the withdrawal position, the controller 81 operates the driving motor 86 in the direction in which the food shelf 11 is drawn out (S7). . Thus, when the food shelf 11 is placed in the withdrawal position (S8), the operation of the drive motor 86 is stopped (S10).

Then, when the operation signal is applied again through the operation unit 83, the control unit 81 withdraws the food shelf 11 in accordance with the control method as described above.

On the other hand, in the operation control method of the food shelf 11 of the refrigerator 1, when the food shelf 11 is stopped at the withdrawal position for a predetermined time or more, the driving motor 86 is operated so that the food shelf 11 is operated. Move to the withdrawal position. In this case, the buzzer may be generated through the buzzer generator 87.

As described above, the food shelf operation control method of the refrigerator and the refrigerator according to the present invention provides an excellent effect that the food shelf can be withdrawn easily and easily by simply pressing and selecting the operation unit.

Claims (8)

A refrigerator having a cooling chamber and a food shelf disposed horizontally in the cooling chamber to partition the inside of the cooling chamber into a layer, the refrigerator comprising: an operation unit provided with at least one operation switch capable of external operation; A sliding support for slidably supporting the food shelf; Friction preventing means interposed between the food shelf and the sliding support portion; Driving means for withdrawing the food shelf; A detection sensor for detecting a position of the food shelf; And a control unit which checks the position of the food shelf with the detection signal from the detection unit and controls the operation of the driving means based on the operation signal from the operation unit. The guide rail member of claim 1, further comprising: a guide rail member fixed to one side of both skirt portions of the food shelf or a corresponding surface of the sliding support portion; A slider fixed to the other side and sliding along the guide rail; The friction preventing means is a refrigerator, characterized in that interposed between the guide rail and the slider. According to claim 2, wherein the friction preventing means, The steel sphere accommodated in the positioning grooves provided in each of the at least front side sliding grooves facing each other of the guide rail member; A holding piece coupled to the front surface of the positioning groove with the steel sphere therebetween to fix the steel sphere in contact with the slider; And an elastic spring configured to elastically bias the steel ball toward the slider. According to claim 1, The drive means, The sliding support portion is disposed in parallel with the sliding direction of the food shelf and the screw shaft is rotatable in the axial direction; A drive motor for rotating the screw shaft in the forward and reverse directions; And a rotary roller rotatably fixed to the food shelf and engaged with the screw shaft to reciprocate along the axial direction when the screw shaft is rotated forward and backward. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing part configured to fix the sliding support part in a vertical direction in the cooling chamber. The method of claim 5, wherein the fixing unit, the fixing member having a plurality of fixing grooves which are fixed in the vertical direction in the upper and lower directions on both sides of the rear surface of the cooling chamber and are parallel to each other, and formed along the longitudinal direction; And a fixing holder which is formed at an end of the sliding support and is detachably engaged with the fixing groove of the fixing member. CLAIMS 1. A control method for operating a food shelf that is retractable in a cooling chamber of a refrigerator, comprising: pressing and selecting an operation switch for withdrawing the food shelf; Detecting a position of the food shelf based on an operation signal from the operation switch; And moving the food shelf in the withdrawal direction when the food shelf is in the withdrawal position, and moving in the withdrawal direction when the food shelf is in the withdrawn position. 8. The operation control method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of moving the food shelf to a withdrawn position when the food shelf is stopped for more than a predetermined time in the withdrawn state.

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