EP2902735A1

EP2902735A1 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP2902735A1
Application number: EP13842845.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tokimi ABE
Original assignee: Toshiba Corp; Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products and Services Corp
Priority date: 2012-09-25
Filing date: 2013-08-30
Publication date: 2015-08-05
Anticipated expiration: 2033-08-30
Also published as: EP2902735B1; TWI580916B; CN104769374B; EP2902735A4; WO2014049969A1; TW201420982A; JP6091825B2; JP2014066387A; CN104769374A

Abstract

In order to use a vacuum insulating material as a heat-insulating material for the door of a refrigerator, and to provide a handle part for the door, it is necessary to form a recessed section in the front panel of the door. The presence of such a recessed section prevents bonding the vacuum insulating material to the front panel of the door. Therefore, in a refrigerator, using a vacuum insulating material, having a recessed section in the front panel of the door, a thin door is obtained that also improves heat-insulating performance. A refrigerator pertaining to an embodiment has: a vacuum-insulating material (21), a recessed section (29) composing the handle part (17) of a door (7), and a molded heat-insulating material (23). The vacuum-insulating material is arranged contacting the back-face side of the front panel (25) composing the door. The recessed section is provided in a different position from the position in which the front panel vacuum-insulating material is arranged. The molded heat-insulating material is arranged on the back-face side of a portion corresponding to the position of the recessed section of the front panel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-210381 filed on September 25, 2012 , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND ART

In a refrigerator, insulating materials are filled in interiors of an outer wall portion, a ceiling portion, a bottom portion etc. to conduct heat-insulation, in order to enhance heat-insulation performance. Further, an insulating material is also filled in an interior of a front door of the refrigerator to form an insulating door which enhances heat-insulation performance.
In a conventional heat-insulating door, urethane foam is filled as an insulating material in a space between a front plate and a rear plate which constitute a door. When such an heat-insulating door for which urethane foam is used is utilized as a door of a refrigerator, a bar-type handle or a handy-grip portion needs to be provided to the door to open the door. The bar-type handle is attached to a front surface of the door by screws etc. On the other hand, the handy-grip portion is formed by, for example, denting the front plate constituting the door toward an inside of the refrigerator, by extending an upper portion of an dented portion forward like an eavess, and further by curving the dented portion downward. It is possible to open the door toward an front side by hooking fingers of a hand on the handy-grip portion.
When such a handy-grip portion is provided at an insulating door, a front plate of a door dents so that the thickness of a dented portion of the insulating door becomes thin. When urethane foam is used, the thickness of the door is made thick, and thus heat-insulation performance of an insulating door is not deteriorated remarkably even if such a dented portion is provided.
In recent years, a vacuum insulating material whose heat-insulation performance is enhanced notwithstanding being thin is used instead of urethane foam. The vacuum insulating material is adhered to a back side of a front plate of a door to enhance heat-insulation performance of a door and to make the door thinner so as to increase the internal volume of a refrigerator.
It is necessary to form a concave portion in the front plate of the door, in order to use the vacuum insulating material as an insulating material of the door and to provide a handy-grip portion at the door as described above.
Since such a concave portion is provided, it is impossible to adhere the vacuum insulating material to the front plate of the door. Thus, there is a problem that it is not possible to provide a thin door with heat-insulation performance enhanced by using a vacuum insulating material.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

PATENT DOCUMENT

PATENT DOCUMENT 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-035460

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

The invention provides a refrigerator whose heat-insulation performance is enhanced by using a vacuum insulating material as an insulating material of a door, and whose internal volume is increased.

MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

A refrigerator according to the embodiments includes a vacuum insulating material, a concave portion constituting a handy-grip portion of a door, and a molded insulating material. The vacuum insulating material is disposed in contact with a back surface side of a front plate constituting the door. The concave portion is disposed at a position different from a position at which the vacuum insulating material of the front plate is disposed. The molded insulating material is disposed on a back surface side of a portion corresponding to a position of the concave portion of the front plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an entirety of a refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a side portion of a drawer type door of a vegetable chamber of the refrigerator illustrated in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the drawer type door illustrated in Fig. 2 from a side.
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the drawer type door illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.
Fig. 5 is a view illustrating temperature distributions of a vacuum insulating material and a foam insulating material used for the drawer type door illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an upper portion of a drawer type door of a refrigerator according to a second embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an upper portion of a refrigerator according to a third embodiment of the invention.

EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or similar portions.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the entirety of a refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the invention. A refrigerator 1 has a refrigerating chamber 5 which is opened and closed by double French type doors 3a, 3b, at an uppermost portion of the refrigerator 1. A vegetable chamber 9 which is opened and closed by a drawer type door 7 is provided below the refrigerating chamber 5. Further, an ice chamber 11 and a first freezer chamber 13 are provided side by side below the vegetable chamber 9. A second freezer chamber 15 is provided below the ice chamber 11 and the first freezer chamber 13 and at a lowermost portion of the refrigerator 1.
A handy-grip portion 17 is provided at an uppermost portion of the drawer type door 7 of the vegetable chamber 9. The handy-grip portion 17 is drawn toward the front side by hooking fingers of a hand from below. As described below, the handy-grip portion 17 is integrally formed by denting an upper portion of a front plate which constitutes the drawer type door 7 of the vegetable chamber 9, toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9, extending a dented upper end portion forward like an eaves and further curving the dented upper end portion downward a little. The vegetable chamber 9 body is attached to a rear side of the drawer type door 7 through a frame body. As described above, when the drawer type door 7 is drawn forward, the vegetable chamber 9 body is likewise drawn forward.
Figs. 2 and 3 are a cross-sectional view of a side portion of the drawer type door 7 of the vegetable chamber 9 illustrated in Fig. 1, and a perspective view of the drawer type door 7 seen from the side, respectively. In Figs. 2 and 3, the left side is a front and outer side of the vegetable chamber 9, and the right side is the interior of the vegetable chamber 9. As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the handy-grip portion 17 is provided at an upper portion of the drawer type door 7 such that the handy-grip portion 17 extends forward and is further curved downward. An outer shape of the drawer type door 7 is constituted by a front plate 25 and a rear plate 27 disposed with an interval between the front plate 25 and the rear plate 27. A vacuum insulating material 21 and a foam insulating material 23 are sandwiched and disposed between these front plate 25 and rear plate 27. The foam insulating material 23 is an insulating material different from a vacuum insulating material. The foam insulating material 23 is a molded article which is made of, for example, expanded polystyrene (EPS) and which has lower heat-insulation performance than that of the vacuum insulating material but can be easily molded to match a shape of a place at which the foam insulating material 23 is disposed.
As described above, an upper portion of the front plate 25 is dented toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 to form a concave portion 29. An upper portion of the concave portion 29 is folded forward, is extended like an eaves and is further bent downward to integrally form the handy-grip portion 17. An inner side of a lower end 17a of the handy-grip portion 17 which is bent downward allows fingers of a hand to enter by way of hooking.
The vacuum insulating material 21 is attached in close contact with a back surface of the front plate 25 by adhesion etc. The vacuum insulating material 21 is provided to extend upward, from a lower portion of the front plate 25 from which the front plate 25 stretches straight, to a near side of the concave portion 29. The foam insulating material 23 is provided as a molded insulating material instead of the vacuum insulating material 21 at a portion from a portion of the concave portion 29 of the front plate 25 to the upper end of the front plate 25. The foam insulating material 23 is provided up to the upper end of the front plate 25 including the concave portion 29 and along the front plate 25, and insulates the upper portion of the drawer type door 7 from heat in place of the vacuum insulating material 21.
The foam insulating material 23 provided along the upper portion of the front plate 25 is provided thick to project long toward the inside of the vegetable chamber 9. The rear plate 27 is provided to surround the projected portion of the foam insulating material 23, and the rear plate 27 portion surrounding the projected portion constitutes an upper throat portion 41. The projected portion horizontally extends with respect to upper and lower partitioning wall portions and left and right partitioning wall portions which are partitioning portions which partition the vegetable chamber 9. The foam insulating material 23 is formed thick by projection, in order to compensate heat-insulation performance lowered by making the upper portion of the drawer type door 7 thin by a dented amount of the concave portion 29, and heat-insulation performance which is lower than that of the vacuum insulating material 21, by a projection thickness of the foam insulating material 23. The thickness of a projected portion of the foam insulating material 23 is thicker than the thickness of the vacuum insulating material 21 provided downward.
A lower throat portion 31 which projects toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 is provided at a portion near the lower portion of the rear plate 27. In the lower throat portion 31, a foam insulating material 33 which is a molded article made of the same expanded polystyrene (EPS) as that of the foam insulating material 23 is provided.
The upper throat portion 41 originally adopts a structure which has the same shape as that of the lower throat portion 31 and is relatively thin in the vertical direction, and has a shape indicated by a dashed-two dotted line 200 in Fig. 2, for example. In the embodiment, in order to enhance heat-insulation performance of the upper portion of the drawer type door 7 at which the upper throat portion 41 is provided as described above, a lower portion of the upper throat portion 41 is projected toward an interior of the refrigerator 1, i.e., toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 to increase the thickness of the foam insulating material 23 provided at the portion. More specifically, the foam insulating material 23 in the upper throat portion 41 extends downward such that an inner side of the lower end portion of the foam insulating material 23 covers the upper end portion of the vacuum insulating material 21. Further, the upper end of the vacuum insulating material 21 and the lower end of the foam insulating material 23 are overlaid and doubly provided at the lower end portion of the foam insulating material 23. Consequently, heat-insulation performance at a seam between the vacuum insulating material 21 and the foam insulating material 23 is prevented from lowering.
An upper cap 35 is continuously formed at an upper side of the handy-grip portion 17, and the upper cap 35 entirely covers the upper side of the drawer type door 7. A front end 35a of the upper cap 35 which extends forward and obliquely downward is constituted to continue to the lower end 17a of the handy-grip portion 17. A rear end 35b which horizontally stretches rearward from the upper cap 35, i.e., the rear end 35b which extends toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 is constituted to be folded downward and further to be bent toward the inside. The vertical portion which is folded downward constitutes a folded portion 35c, and the folded portion 35c closely contacts the upper partitioning wall portion of the vegetable chamber 9 and can place the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 in a sealed state by a gasket which is not illustrated.
An upper portion of the rear plate 27, i.e., the upper portion of the rear plate 27 which stretches upward beyond the upper throat portion 41 is an upper end portion 27a which is folded toward the inside of the thickness direction of the drawer type door 7 and further is raised upward. The upper end portion 27a enters and engages with the inside of the folded portion 35c. A lower end portion 27b of the rear plate 27 is also formed to go beyond the lower throat portion 31, be folded toward the inside of the thickness direction of the drawer type door 7 and further is bent downward. The lower end portion of the front plate 25 engages with the bent lower end portion 27b. The lower end portion of the front plate 25 is constituted to go toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 passing below the lower end portion of the vacuum insulating material 21, to be folded, to be raised upward, and further to be bent toward the inside to form an engagement portion. The lower end portion 27b of the rear plate 27 engages with the engagement portion. The lower end portion of the vacuum insulating material 21 is placed in contact with an upper side step portion of the lower end portion 27b of the rear plate 27.
As is clear from Fig. 4 described below, left and right side caps 37a, 37b are attached to both of left and right sides of the drawer type door 7. The side caps 37a, 37b block both of the left and right sides of the drawer type door 7. Only part of the left side cap 37a is illustrated in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the drawer type door 7 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 4 illustrates an entire structure of the foam insulating material 23 and the rear plate 27 which is different from Figs. 2 and 3.
In Fig. 4, on the upper side of the handy-grip portion 17 formed at the upper side of the front plate 25, the upper cap 35 is provided to continue to the handy-grip portion 17. The left side cap 37a and the right side cap 37b are provided on both of the left and right sides of the front plate 25, and the side caps 37a, 37b can block the drawer type door 7 from both of the left and right sides. As is clear from Fig. 4, the handy-grip portion 17 is constituted to fully extend over the horizontal width of the drawer type door 7. The rectangular vacuum insulating material 21 is provided at the back of the front plate 25, and the vacuum insulating material 21 is attached by adhesion in close contact with a large flat portion below the concave portion 29 of the front plate 25.
The rear plate 27 is provided to the depth side closest to the inside of the vegetable chamber 9 of the drawer type door 7. A foam insulating portion 43 constituted by foam insulating materials 23, 33 is disposed between the rear plate 27 and the vacuum insulating material 21. The foam insulating material 23 is accommodated in the upper throat portion 41 in Figs. 2 and 3, and the foam insulating material 33 is accommodated in the lower throat portion 31. The foam insulating portion 43 has a frame shape which surrounds the entire circumference of the vacuum insulating material 21.
The rear plate 27 forms the upper throat portion 41 and the lower throat portion 31. The rear plate 27 has a large rectangular projected portion such that a nearly center portion of the rear plate 27 closely contacts the vacuum insulating material 21 from the rear side. A frame body is formed at a circumferential portion of the rear plate 27, and the frame body surrounds the entire foam insulating portion 43 to collectively hold the drawer type door 7. The upper end portion 27a and the lower end portion 27b illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 are formed at a circumferential portion at the front side of the rear plate 27.
In the above first embodiment, the vacuum insulating material 21 is provided to most of portions except the concave portion 29 of the front plate 25 which constitutes the drawer type door 7. Consequently, it is possible to entirely make the drawer type door 7 thinner with heat-insulation performance of the drawer type door 7 enhanced, and increase an internal volume of the vegetable chamber 9 as a whole. Further, instead of a vacuum insulating material, the foam insulating material 23 is provided at a portion of the drawer type door 7 at which the concave portion 29 is formed, and the foam insulating material 23 is constituted thick by being projected toward the inside. According to the configuration, it is possible to prevent heat-insulation performance of the portion of the drawer type door 7 at which the concave portion 29 is formed from lowering, and to secure the heat-insulation performance with the drawer type door 7 made thinner as a whole.
Fig. 5 is a view illustrating temperature distributions of the vacuum insulating material 21 and the foam insulating material 23 of the drawer type door 7 configured as described above. In Fig. 5, internal temperatures at respective points P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 from the front plate 25 side to the rear plate 27 side on a line V-V which horizontally extends in a cross section of the vacuum insulating material 21 were measured. As a result, the temperatures at the respective points were 21.6°C, 11.7°C, 4.3°C, -3.1°C and -8.0°C, respectively. On the other hand, internal temperatures at the respective points P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 from the front plate 25 side to the rear plate 27 side on a line P-P which obliquely extends in a cross section of a portion of the foam insulating material 23 directly below the upper throat portion 41 were measured. As a result, similar to the temperatures in the vacuum insulating material 21, the internal temperatures were 21.6°C, 11.7°C, 4.3°C, -3.1°C, and -8.0°C, respectively. Even when, instead of the vacuum insulating material 21, the foam insulating material 23 was provided at a portion directly below the upper throat portion 41, an insulation effect similar to that of the vacuum insulating material 21 was obtained by forming the foam insulating material 23 to project thick as in the embodiment. The temperatures were measured when a room temperature was 26.6°C and the temperature inside the second freezer chamber 15 was -18°C.
For the foam insulating material 23 provided in the upper throat portion 41 and the foam insulating material 33 provided in the lower throat portion 31, expanded polystyrene (EPS) of molded articles molded in advance into shapes of the upper throat portion 41 and the lower throat portion 31 are used. Consequently, it is possible to reduce facility investment and man-hours such as arrangements prior to work compared to a case where, for example, expanded polyurethane is filled.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating part of an upper side of a drawer type door which is used for a refrigerator according to the second embodiment. With a drawer type door 70 illustrated in Fig. 6, a handy-grip portion 171 is constituted by a thick upper cap 351. The other configurations are the same as those of the refrigerator according to the second embodiment.
A front side of the upper cap 351 which constitutes the handy-grip portion 171 extends forward, is further curved downward and is folded. A large reverse U-shaped groove portion 350 is formed inside the folded lower end portion 351a. The drawer type door 70 is drawn by hooking fingers of a hand in the reverse U-shaped groove portion 350 from below the lower end portion 351a of the handy-grip portion 171.
Two projected portions 353a and 353b projecting downward are formed in parallel with a narrow interval between the projected portions 353a and 353b at a nearly center portion of a lower surface of a flat portion of the upper cap 351 above the reverse U-shaped groove portion 350. An upper end portion 25a of a front plate 25 extending from below engages between these two projected portions 353a and 353b.
An iron plate 355 is attached directly below an end portion 351b of a horizontal portion of the upper cap 351 extending toward the interior of a vegetable chamber 9 beyond these projected portions 353a, 353b. Further, an upper end portion 27a which is bent above a rear plate 27 extending beyond an upper throat portion 41 engages with the inside of the iron plate 355.
Similar to the first embodiment, in the second embodiment, a vacuum insulating material 21 is provided at most of portions except a concave portion 29 of the front plate 25 which constitutes the drawer type door 70 such that the vacuum insulating material 21 is provided in close contact with the front plate 25 by way of adhesion. Consequently, it is possible to entirely make the drawer type door 70 thinner with heat-insulation performance of the drawer type door 70 enhanced, and to increase the internal volume of the vegetable chamber 9 as a whole. Further, for the purpose of providing the handy-grip portion 171 in the structure of the drawer type door 70 for which the vacuum insulating material 21 is used, instead of a vacuum insulating material, a foam insulating material 23 is provided inside a portion of the front plate 25 at which a concave portion 29 formed by denting the upper portion of the front plate 25 is formed. It is possible to constitute the foam insulating material 23 thick by being projected toward the inside, to prevent heat-insulation performance of the portion of the drawer type door 70 at which the concave portion 29 is formed from lowering, and also to enhance heat-insulation performance with the drawer type door 7 made thin entirely.
The upper end portion 25a of the front plate 25 is attached by engagement between the projected portions 353a, 353b of the upper cap 351 in the handy-grip portion 171 according to the embodiment. Consequently, the structure is simple, and an operation such as an assembling is also easy.
Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating part of an upper side of a drawer type door which is used for a refrigerator according to the third embodiment of the invention. A drawer type door 51 illustrated in Fig. 7 can be used for a vegetable chamber 9 of a refrigerator 1 illustrated in Fig. 1. A handy-grip portion 53 is provided at an upper end portion of the drawer type door 51. A vacuum insulating material 59 is provided below the handy-grip portion 53, and between a front plate 55 and a rear plate 67 which constitute the drawer type door 51. The vacuum insulating material 59 is attached in close contact with the front plate 55 by adhesion. Although not illustrated in Fig. 7, a configuration of a lower portion of the drawer type door 51 is the same as the configuration of that of the drawer type door 7 illustrated in Fig. 2.
The upper handy-grip portion 53 has a U-shaped hook portion 57 which is hooked on an upper end 55a of the front plate 55 from above. A front side end portion 57a of the hook portion 57 is hooked on the upper end 55a of the front plate 55. A portion behind the hook portion 57 extends downward straight, and is disposed near directly above the upper end of the vacuum insulating material 59. The portion extending downward straight is formed to be folded and extends toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 from the middle, and is further bent upward, such that a large U-shaped groove portion 61 projects thick toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9.
An upper end portion 63 which constitutes the U-shaped groove portion 61 and is bent upward is folded toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 and is further folded downward to form a U-shaped engagement portion 65. An upper end portion 67a which is folded above the rear plate 67 engages with the engagement portion 65. The rear plate 67 below the upper end portion 67a projects long toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9 to constitute an upper throat portion 69. A foam insulating material 71 which is a molded article made of, for example, expanded polystyrene (EPS) is disposed in the upper throat portion 69. Expanded polystyrene is an insulating material different from a vacuum insulating material and has lower heat-insulation performance than that of the vacuum insulating material. However, the expanded polystyrene can be easily molded to match a shape of a place at which the expanded polystyrene is disposed.
The foam insulating material 71 is formed thick to match the shape of the upper throat portion 69.
The foam insulating material 71 is formed thick since there is not a vacuum insulating material 59 at a portion of the U-shaped groove portion 61 which is constituted to project long toward the interior of the vegetable chamber 9. More specifically, the thickness of the foam insulating material 71 compensates heat-insulation performance lowered due to presence of a portion of the U-shaped groove portion 61 and heat-insulation performance of the foam insulating material 71 which is lower than that of the vacuum insulating material 59. The projecting foam insulating material 71 in the projected upper throat portion 69 is formed to be thicker than the vacuum insulating material 59 below.
With the drawer type door 51 according to the third embodiment, by hooking from above the fingers of the hand on the hook portion 57 in front of the U-shaped groove portion 61 and then by pulling the drawer type door 51 forward, it is possible to draw forward the drawer type door 51, and thus the vegetable chamber 9 jointed to the drawer type door 51 through a frame body. An upper side portion of the drawer type door 51, at which the vacuum insulating material 59 cannot be provided as the U-shaped groove portion 61 is provided, is constituted thick by projecting the foam insulating material 71 long toward the inside of the vegetable chamber 9. Consequently, it is possible to enhance heat-insulation performance with the drawer type door 7 made thinner entirely without lowering heat-insulation performance of the portion of the drawer type door 51 at which the U-shaped groove portion 61 is provided. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) of a molded article which is molded in advance into a shape of the upper throat portion 69 is used for the foam insulating material 71 provided to the upper throat portion 69. Consequently, it is possible to reduce facility investment and man-hours such as arrangements prior to work compared to a case where expanded polyurethane is filled, for example.
Some embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, these embodiments are only exemplary, and by no means intend to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments can be carried out in other various constitutes, and can be variously omitted, replaced and changed without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are incorporated in the scope and the spirit of the invention, and are incorporated in a range equivalent to the invention recited in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE SIGNS

1: REFRIGERATOR
7: DRAWER TYPE DOOR
9: VEGETABLE CHAMBER
17: HANDY-GRIP PORTION
17a: LOWER END OF HANDY-GRIP PORTION
21: VACUUM INSULATING MATERIAL
23: FOAM INSULATING MATERIAL
25: FRONT PLATE
25a: UPPER END PORTION
27: REAR PLATE
27a: UPPER END PORTION
27b: LOWER END PORTION
29: CONCAVE PORTION
31: LOWER THROAT PORTION
33: FOAM INSULATING MATERIAL
35: UPPER CAP
35a: FRONT END
35b: REAR END
35c: FOLDED PORTION
37a: SIDE CAP
37b: SIDE CAP
41: UPPER THROAT PORTION
43: FOAM INSULATING PORTION
51: DRAWER TYPE DOOR
53: UPPER HANDY-GRIP PORTION
55: FRONT PLATE
57: HOOK PORTION
57a: FRONT SIDE END PORTION
59: VACUUM INSULATING MATERIAL
61: U-SHAPED GROOVE PORTION
63: UPPER END PORTION
65: ENGAGEMENT PORTION
70: DRAWER TYPE DOOR
171: HANDY-GRIP PORTION
350: REVERSE U-SHAPED GROOVE PORTION
351: UPPER CAP
351a: LOWER END PORTION
351b: END PORTION
353a, 353b: PROJECTED PORTION

Claims

A refrigerator comprising:
a vacuum insulating material which is disposed in contact with a back surface side of a front plate constituting a door;
a concave portion which constitutes a handy-grip portion of the door and which is disposed at a position different from a position at which the vacuum insulating material of the front plate is disposed; and

a molded insulating material which is disposed on a back surface side of a portion corresponding to a position of the concave portion of the front plate.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a rear plate constituting the door, wherein the rear plate includes a projected portion which projects toward an interior of the refrigerator, and the molded insulating material is disposed between the front plate and the projected portion.
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the projected portion is thicker than the thickness of the vacuum insulating material.
The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the projected portion extends horizontally with respect to a partitioning portion which partitions the interior of the refrigerator.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the door is a drawer type, and the concave portion is provided horizontally over an entire width of the door.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the door is a drawer type, and an upper cap of the door constituting the handy-grip portion is provided to cover an upper side of the concave portion formed in the front plate of the door.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein
the door is a drawer type, and an upper cap of the door constituting the handy-grip portion covers an upper side of the concave portion formed at the front plate of the door and has a front side end portion which extends forward like an eavess and is further curved downward.
The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the molded insulating material is molded in advance and is disposed on a back surface side of the front plate.