CN113494829A - Food storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a food storage device. The food storage device includes: a housing having a rear wall and a side wall, a space for storing food being defined by the rear wall and the side wall, an upper portion of the housing being open; an upper door coupled to an upper end of the rear wall of the housing to be rotatable in an up-and-down direction through a hinge, for opening and closing an opened upper portion of the housing, a lower surface of the upper door being contactable with an upper surface of the side wall; a first magnet disposed at an upper end of a sidewall of the case; and a second magnet provided at a lower surface of the upper door and corresponding to the first magnet, the first magnet being changeable in polarity to be the same as or different from that of the second magnet.

Description

Food storage device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a food storage device, and more particularly, to a food storage device that prevents damage due to an upper door of the food storage device being inadvertently closed by repulsive force between magnets.

Background

The food storage device is a device that stores food at a predetermined temperature. Refrigerators and freezers are known in the prior art.

Refrigerators generally have a door disposed at a side. Freezers typically have a door disposed on the top. The door of the freezer is typically slid in the left-right direction to open and remove food from or insert food into the freezer.

However, the opening of the doors of existing freezers has not been satisfactory for the user. Because the opening of the door of existing ice cabinets can only open a portion of the entire ice cabinet, while the other portion is obscured by the upper door. Thus, it is difficult to access the ice chest through the open mouth when larger items need to be placed.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to provide a food storage device, which can completely open an upper portion of the food storage device to take out or put in food.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a food storage device that prevents damage to a door or the like due to an excessively high closing speed when an upper door is closed by an accidental collision.

The present invention provides a food storage device which includes a housing,

the method comprises the following steps:

a housing having a rear wall and a side wall, a space for storing food being defined by the rear wall and the side wall, an upper portion of the housing being open;

an upper door coupled to an upper end of the rear wall of the housing in a manner rotatable in an up-and-down direction through a hinge, for opening and closing an opened upper portion of the housing, a lower surface of the upper door being contactable with an upper surface of the side wall;

a first magnet disposed at an upper end of a sidewall of the case;

a second magnet provided on a lower surface of the upper door and corresponding to the first magnet,

the polarity of the first magnet can be changed to be the same as or different from the polarity of the second magnet.

Wherein the polarity of the first magnet is the same as the polarity of the second magnet.

Wherein the door further comprises a displacement detection part which is arranged on at least one of the shell and the upper door and is used for detecting the rotation degree of the upper door.

Wherein, the first magnet is an electromagnet.

The electromagnetic rotary table further comprises a control part, and the control part changes the magnetic force of the electromagnet according to the rotation information detected by the displacement detection part.

Wherein the control part gradually increases the magnitude of the magnetic force of the electromagnet as the distance between the side wall and the lower surface of the upper door detected by the displacement detecting part gradually becomes shorter while the upper door closes the upper portion of the housing.

Wherein the displacement detection section includes:

a main body inserted into a sidewall of the housing;

and a protrusion portion protruding upward from the main body and being capable of being pressed by the upper door and being displaced and changed while the upper door is closed.

Wherein the hinge is arranged at the upper end of the rear wall of the shell,

the distance between the displacement detection unit and the hinge is shorter than the distance between the first magnet and the hinge.

Wherein a polarity of the electromagnet is changed to be different from a polarity of the second magnet in a state where the upper door closes the upper portion of the housing.

Wherein, the device also comprises a front door which is connected with the shell through a hinge and is used for opening and closing the front part of the shell, a fourth magnet is arranged on one side of the front door facing the shell,

and a third electromagnet is arranged at the front end of the side wall of the shell and corresponds to a fourth magnet arranged in the front door.

Wherein a front end of the upper door is in close contact with an upper end of the front door in a state where the upper door closes an upper portion of the case and the front door closes a front portion of the case.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to take and put food in a state where the upper portion of the food storage device is fully opened.

Further, the upper door can be prevented from being damaged due to rapid closing of the upper door.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a food storage device of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a state where both the upper door and the front door are opened.

Fig. 3 is a side view schematically showing a state where both the upper door and the front door are opened.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, the food storage device 1 of the present invention may include: a case 10 forming a space for storing food, at least one side of which is open so that food can be put in or taken out through the open side; the door 20 is connected to the housing 10 and opens and closes the open surface of the housing 10. When the door 20 closes the opened face of the case 10, a closed food storage space is formed.

The door 20 may be rotatably connected to one side of the case 10 by a hinge. In the case where only the upper portion of the case 10 is opened, the door 20 may include only the upper door 21. Further, in the case where both the upper and front portions of the case 10 are opened, the door 20 may have two, an upper door 21 and a front door 22. The upper door 21 opens and closes the upper portion of the case 10, and the front door opens and closes the front portion of the case 10. The upper door 21 and the front door 22 may be formed in a quadrangular shape.

At this time, the rear end of the upper door 21 is coupled to the upper end of the rear wall of the case 10 by a hinge. The lower end of the front door 22 is hinge-coupled with the front end of the bottom of the case 10.

Thereby, the upper door 21 can be rotated in the vertical direction about the hinge to open and close the upper portion of the housing 10. The front door 22 rotates in the front-rear direction about a hinge to open and close the front of the housing 10.

In a state where the upper door 21 and the front door 22 are in a state of closing the case 10, the front end of the upper door 21 and the upper end of the front door 22 contact and seal the storage space.

In the present embodiment, the housing 10 has a storage space surrounded by a rear wall 11, two side walls 12, and a bottom 13. The rear wall 11, the two side walls 12, and the bottom 13 may be integrally formed with each other, or may be separately formed and then joined by a fastening member such as an adhesive.

The upper end of the rear wall 11 of the case 10 is provided with a hinge 111, and the rear end of the upper door 21 is coupled with the hinge 111. Thereby, the upper door 21 can rotate centering on the hinge 111.

The front end of the bottom 13 of the case 10 is provided with a hinge 131, and the lower end of the front door 22 is coupled to the hinge 131. Thereby, the front door 22 can rotate about the hinge 131.

The upper door 21 covers an upper portion of the case 10 horizontally with the ground, and the front door 22 covers a front portion of the case 10 vertically with the ground. At this time, both side edges and rear side edges of the upper door 21 are in close contact with the upper ends of the both side walls 12 and the upper end of the rear side wall 11 of the case 10, both side edges and lower side edges of the front door 22 are in close contact with the front ends of the both side walls 11 and the front end of the bottom 13 of the case 10, and the lower surface of the front end of the upper door 21 is in close contact with the upper surface of the upper end of the front door 22.

Thereby, the storage space can be sealed in a state where the upper door 21 and the front door 22 close the housing 10.

The food storage device 1 of the present invention may further include a refrigeration cycle device (not shown), which may include a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, a valve, and the like. As the refrigeration cycle apparatus, a conventional refrigeration cycle apparatus can be used, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The refrigeration cycle device may supply the refrigerated air to the storage space so that the storage space is at a predetermined temperature.

An electromagnet 30 may be provided at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10. The electromagnet 30 may be a member that generates a magnetic force by being energized, and may be an electromagnet in the related art.

A groove may be formed at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the case 10, and the electromagnet 30 may be inserted and disposed in the groove. The height of the upward projection of the electromagnet 30 is preferably the same as the height of the upper end of the side wall 12. Therefore, not only the appearance is good, but also the collision with the permanent magnet 40 can be avoided when the magnetic force is applied to the permanent magnet 40 described later.

A power source (not shown) may also be included. The power supply can supply not only the power required by the food storage device 1 but also the power to the electromagnet 30.

A control unit (not shown) may be further included. The control unit may control the magnitude and direction of the current flowing to the electromagnet 30.

For example, the control unit may increase or decrease the magnitude of the magnetic force of the electromagnet 30, or may change the polarity of the electromagnet 30, for example, change the polarity of the electromagnet 30 to the N pole or the S pole.

A permanent magnet 40 may be provided in a portion of the lower surface of the upper door 21 corresponding to the upper end of the side wall 12 of the case 10. The permanent magnet 40 may be bonded to the lower surface of the upper door 21 with an adhesive, or a concave groove recessed inward may be formed in the upper door 21, and the permanent magnet 40 may be inserted into the concave groove.

The electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 are respectively provided on the side wall 12 of the housing 10 and the lower surface of the upper door 21 at positions where the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 can correspond to each other, i.e., where a magnetic force can act therebetween, when the upper door 21 closes the upper portion of the housing 10.

Specifically, when the electromagnet 30 is disposed at the upper end of one of the two side walls 12 of the housing 10, the permanent magnet 40 may be disposed at the edge of the upper door 21 corresponding to the side wall. Thus, during the process of closing the upper door 21, the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 interact with each other, for example, a repulsive force repelling each other is generated therebetween, or an attractive force attracting each other may be generated therebetween in a state where the upper door 21 completely closes the housing 10. The electromagnets 30 may be disposed on both side walls 12 of the housing 10, and the permanent magnets 40 may be disposed on both side edges of the upper door 21.

In the present embodiment, when the upper door 21 opens the upper portion of the housing 10 to be substantially parallel to the rear wall 11 of the housing 10 (i.e., the upper door 21 is in a vertical state), the upper end of the rear wall 11 may be further provided with a locking portion (not shown) by which the upper door 21 is prevented from further rotating rearward. At this time, the upper door 21 may be in a state of opening the upper portion of the case 10, and the user may take in and out food through the opened upper portion.

In real life, in a state where the upper door 21 is opened, it is inevitable that the upper door 21 collides with the upper door 21 by the user's carelessness, or the user intentionally closes the upper door 21 but the speed of closing the upper door 21 is too fast, so that the upper door 21 starts to rotate and close. At the moment the upper door 21 closes the upper portion of the casing 10, the rotation speed of the upper door 21 is already very fast, so the force of collision of the upper door 21 with the casing 10 is very large. The upper door 21 may generally comprise a glass material, and if the force of collision of the upper door 21 with the case 10 is large, the glass may be damaged. Furthermore, the method is simple. An electronic component, such as a control panel, may be provided on the upper door 21. If the upper door 21 is closed too quickly, the control panel may be affected.

The present invention solves the above problems by providing an electromagnet 30 at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10 and a permanent magnet 40 at the lower surface of the upper door 21. Specifically, in a state where the upper door 21 is opened at the upper portion of the housing 10, the polarity of the electromagnet 30 is the same as that of the permanent magnet 40. For example, the electromagnet 30 has an S-pole polarity, and the permanent magnet has an S-pole polarity. Therefore, the repulsive force from the electromagnet 30 is always received while the upper door 21 is closed by the principle that like poles repel each other, and thus the rotation speed of the upper door 21 is reduced.

The degree of reduction in the rotational speed of the upper door 21 also depends on the weight of the upper door 21 itself and the magnetic force action between the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40.

When the upper door 21 is rotated forward from the vertical state, the distance between the permanent magnet 40 and the electromagnet 30 becomes closer. The closer the distance between the permanent magnet 40 and the electromagnet 30 is, the larger the magnetic force is applied. At the same time, the distance between the upper door 21 and the side wall 12 of the housing 10 is closer and closer, and the speed of the upper door 21 is faster and faster.

The present invention requires that the upper door 21 be slowly brought into contact with the upper end of the sidewall 12 of the case 10. That is, the rotation speed of the upper door 21 needs to be slowed down.

In the case where the own weight of the upper door 21 is fixed, the rotation speed of the upper door 21 can be controlled by the magnitude of the magnetic force between the permanent magnet 40 and the electromagnet 30. For example, the closer the upper door 21 is rotated to the upper end of the side wall 12 of the case 10, the greater the current flowing on the electromagnet 40, and thus the greater the magnetic force generated between the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40. The magnitude of the current of the electromagnet 30 can be controlled by the control unit.

The food storage device 1 of the present invention may further include a displacement detecting part 50. The displacement detecting part 50 detects the degree to which the upper door 21 rotates in the process of closing the upper portion of the casing 10.

Specifically, the displacement detecting portion 50 is provided at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10. A groove is formed at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10, and the displacement detecting part 50 is disposed in the groove. The displacement detecting portion 50 may be provided between the electromagnet 30 and the hinge 111. That is, the displacement detecting unit 50 is closer to the hinge 111 than the electromagnet 30 is to the hinge 111. This is so that the displacement detecting portion 50 can be operated more quickly than the magnetic action between the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 when the upper door 21 rotates to detect to what extent the upper door 21 rotates, and then the detection result is transmitted to the control portion, which can control the current flowing on the electromagnet 30 according to the detection result.

The displacement detecting section 50 may include: a body 51 inserted into a groove formed at the upper end of the sidewall 12; and a projection 52 projecting upward from the main body 51, the upper door 21 being capable of contacting the projection 52 and pressing the projection 52. The projecting portion 52 can be extended from the main body 51, and can be pushed into the main body 51 by being pressed by the upper door 21, and the extension and contraction distance of the projecting portion 52 is gradually shortened in the process of being pushed into the main body 51. The position at which the upper door 21 rotates is detected by the variation in the displacement in the up-down direction of the projection 52. The displacement detecting section 50 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and an optical sensor may be used to detect the degree of rotation of the upper door 21.

The control unit controls the current of the electromagnet 30 to change based on the rotation information of the rotation of the upper door 21 detected by the displacement detecting unit 50. Specifically, the control unit controls the current flowing through the electromagnet 30 to be larger when the projection 52 of the displacement detection unit 50 is gradually shortened by the pressing of the upper door 21. Therefore, when the upper door 21 contacts the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10, the current flowing through the electromagnet 30 is large enough, and the generated magnetic force is large enough, so that the force applied to the upper door 21 is large, and therefore, the speed of the upper door 21 is reduced, and the upper end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10 can be smoothly contacted. After the upper door 21 is completely in contact with the sidewall 12, the polarity of the electromagnet 30 may be changed to be different from the permanent magnet 40. For example, the polarity of the electromagnet 30 is changed to N, which is different from the polarity S of the permanent magnet. The upper door 21 is firmly covered on the upper portion of the case 10 by the principle of opposite attraction.

In the above embodiment, the electromagnet 30 is provided on the housing 10, and the permanent magnet 40 is provided on the upper door 21. However, in other embodiments, the electromagnet 30 may be provided on the upper door 21 and the permanent magnet 40 may be provided on the housing 10. In another embodiment, the electromagnet 30 is provided in both the housing 10 and the upper door 21, and the permanent magnet 40 may be provided in both.

The present invention can prevent the upper door 21 from being damaged by the upper door 21 being rapidly closed by the upper door 21 due to unnecessary collision when the upper door 21 is in an open state by providing the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40. Further, after the upper door 21 completely closes the housing 10, the upper door 21 can be firmly attached to the housing 10 by changing the polarity of the electromagnet 30.

The side of the front door 22 facing the housing 10 of the present invention may be provided with a permanent magnet 40, and the side wall 12 of the housing 10 facing the front door 22 may be provided with an electromagnet 30.

At this time, the positions of the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 are also set to correspond to each other. The electromagnet 30 operates in a similar manner to the embodiments described above.

In real life, in a state where the front door 22 closes the front of the case 10, the closed state is maintained by the attraction force between the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40. When the user reduces the magnetic force between the electromagnet 30 and the permanent magnet 40 by a touch sensor (not shown) provided in the front door 22, the user can rotate the front door 22 forward to open the front portion of the housing 10.

In this case, if the user rapidly rotates the front door 22 forward by gravity after opening the front door 22 a little, the front door 22 may violently collide with a locking portion (not shown) provided at the bottom of the housing 10 and locking the front door 22, and the front door 22 may be finally damaged.

In order to prevent the front door 22 from being too fast in the opening process, the front door 22 may be slowly rotated by changing the magnetic force of the electromagnet 30 to attract the permanent magnet 40 provided on the front door 22.

In an embodiment, the displacement detecting unit 50 may be further included. The displacement detecting portion 50 may be provided at the front end of the side wall 12 of the housing 10.

The displacement detecting unit 50 has the same configuration as the displacement detecting unit 50 described above. The protrusion 52 of the displacement detector 50 may protrude forward. When the front door 22 is closed, the state of pressing the projection 52 can be maintained. When the front door 22 starts to be opened, the projection 52 gradually projects from the main body 51. The control section acquires the degree to which the front door 22 is opened from the displacement by which the projecting portion 52 projects, thereby controlling the current flowing on the electromagnet 30.

The longer the projection 52 projects, the greater the current that the control unit causes to flow through the electromagnet 30.

Preferably, the electromagnet 30 is disposed near the hinge 131. The displacement detecting unit 50 is disposed near the hinge 131 and between the electromagnet 30 and the hinge 131.

The touch sensor of the present invention may be provided on the front door 22, or may be provided on the upper door 21 or the case 10. The polarity change of the electromagnet 30 is realized by touching the touch sensor, thereby opening the door.

Although not shown, the upper door 21 and the front door 22 of the present invention may be provided with handles for opening. The handle may be located remote from the hinge.

The present invention has been described above by way of a modification of the embodiment. It should be understood that the above-described embodiments or modifications are only a part, not all, of the present invention, and the described embodiments or modifications are only for explaining the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. All other embodiments or modifications which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the above embodiments or modifications belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. A food storage device is characterized in that,

the method comprises the following steps:

a housing having a rear wall and a side wall, a space for storing food being defined by the rear wall and the side wall, an upper portion of the housing being open;

an upper door coupled to an upper end of the rear wall of the housing to be rotatable in an up-and-down direction through a hinge, for opening and closing an opened upper portion of the housing, a lower surface of the upper door being contactable with an upper surface of the side wall;

a first magnet disposed at an upper end of a sidewall of the case;

a second magnet provided on a lower surface of the upper door and corresponding to the first magnet,

the polarity of the first magnet can be changed to be the same as or different from the polarity of the second magnet.

2. The food storage device of claim 1,

the polarity of the first magnet is the same as the polarity of the second magnet.

3. The food storage device of claim 2,

the door opening device further comprises a displacement detection part which is arranged on at least one of the shell and the upper door and is used for detecting the rotation degree of the upper door.

4. The food storage device of claim 3,

the first magnet is an electromagnet.

5. The food storage device of claim 4,

the electromagnetic switch also comprises a control part, and the control part changes the magnetic force of the electromagnet according to the rotation information detected by the displacement detection part.

6. The food storage device of claim 5,

the control unit may gradually increase the magnitude of the magnetic force of the electromagnet as the distance between the side wall and the lower surface of the upper door detected by the displacement detecting unit gradually becomes shorter while the upper door closes the upper portion of the housing.

7. The food storage device of claim 3,

the displacement detection unit includes:

a main body inserted into a sidewall of the housing;

and a protrusion portion protruding upward from the main body and being capable of being pressed by the upper door and being displaced and changed while the upper door is closed.

8. The food storage device of claim 1,

the hinge is arranged at the upper end of the rear wall of the shell,

the distance between the displacement detection unit and the hinge is shorter than the distance between the first magnet and the hinge.

9. The food storage device of claim 1,

the electromagnet has a polarity different from that of the second magnet in a state where the upper door closes the upper portion of the housing.

10. The food storage device of claim 1,

further comprises a front door connected with the housing through a hinge and used for opening and closing the front part of the housing, a fourth magnet is arranged on one side of the front door facing the housing,

and a third electromagnet is arranged at the front end of the side wall of the shell and corresponds to a fourth magnet arranged in the front door.

11. The food storage device of claim 10,

the front end of the upper door is in close contact with the upper end of the front door in a state where the upper door closes the upper portion of the case and the front door closes the front portion of the case.

Images