EP2982920B1

EP2982920B1 - Refrigerator

Info

Publication number: EP2982920B1
Application number: EP14779708.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wei Fan; Meng Wang; Nanfei YAO
Original assignee: Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hefei Midea Refrigerator Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-04-03
Filing date: 2014-01-26
Publication date: 2020-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2034-01-26
Also published as: EP2982920A4; EP2982920A1; WO2014161384A1

Description

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of household appliances, and more particularly to a refrigerator.

BACKGROUND

Refrigerators and microwave ovens in the related art are mutual independent. With the improvement of people's living standards and the progress of the society, people need a combined refrigerator which combines a refrigerator and a microwave oven in a perfect way, this refrigerator can greatly improve the convenience of life.
A Chinese patent application CN 201187930Y discloses a refrigerator, which comprises a refrigeration chamber, and a microwave chamber; a metal plate inner chamber preventing microwave leakage is arranged in the microwave chamber; a microwave heating system is arranged in the metal plate inner chamber; a door seal and a control panel is disposed in front of the microwave chamber, and the door seal is provided with a microwave chamber door; a radiating window is provided in a back wall of the microwave chamber; an insulating layer is arranged between the microwave chamber and the refrigeration chamber.
A U.S. patent application US2012/0146474A1 discloses a positioning base for locating a household appliance in a cabinet. The base has a main body for attaching to a support area of the cabinet; an elevated section attached to the main body, an upper surface of the elevated section being located above the main body; and a plurality of adjustable levelers attached to the upper surface. Each adjustable leveler has a head for supporting the household appliance, and an adjustment portion fixed to the head and movable relative to the upper surface of the elevated section such that movement of the adjustment portion moves the head vertically relative to the upper surface of the elevated section. The head of each of the adjustable levelers provides a resting point for a support point on the household appliance, and each adjustable leveler is adjustable independently of each of the other adjustable levelers.
A French patent application FR2806275A1 discloses a system for fixing an electrical domestic appliance, which includes suspension means adapted to be fixed to each lateral wall of a housing to form thereon a substantially horizontal guide path and support means adapted to be fixed to an upper part of each of the two sides of the electrical domestic appliance including substantially horizontal portions adapted to be supported by respective guide paths of the suspension means.
A European patent application EP0150488A2 discloses a built-in microwave oven is built into an upper unit of a kitchen row. The fastening and the arrangement in terms of air ducting of the device are achieved by means of an installation frame which lies flush with the front of the furniture.
A U.S. patent application UST973, 013 discloses a refrigerated appliance having a cabinet defining a pair of cavities and an apparatus for refrigerating one of the cavities. The refrigerated cavity is provided with doors for selectively closing the refrigerated cavity. The other of the cavities defines an opening and is adapted to receive a freestanding microwave oven having an integral door. The open cavity may be provided with a trim for adapting the cavity to any one of a plurality of different microwave ovens electrically disposed therein. The trim may define a vent for providing the microwave oven with cooling air flow circulation. The refrigeration apparatus may define a freestanding cabinet with the microwave oven defining a freestanding oven carried on a horizontal support wall at the top of the refrigeration space.
A Chinese patent application CN 201417060Y discloses a refrigerator with a microwave oven, comprising a microwave oven and a refrigerator. A selector switch used for switching the working states is arranged between the microwave oven and the refrigerator. The microwave oven is embedded into a foaming box body of the refrigerator by a bracket. The air is blown outside from the backside of the microwave oven, a handle of the microwave oven is a hidden handle and a handle of the refrigerator is a shown handle. A door of the microwave oven is flush with a door of the refrigerator in shape.
A German patent application DE102008042797A1 discloses a houshold appliance, which has a housing with a cover part, where an extending tilting protection element is arranged and raised upward over an upper side of the cover part. The tilting protection element is partially deformable, particularly reversibly deformable, in the vertical direction, and is made of plastic or elastomer in the deformation area.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure seeks to solve at least one of the problems existing in the related art to at least some extent. For this, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigerator provided with a microwave therein, thereby greatly improving the convenience of life.
A refrigerator according to the present disclosure includes: a refrigerator body provided with a refrigerating chamber, a freezing chamber and a microwave chamber therein; and a microwave oven arranged in the microwave chamber.
The refrigerator according to embodiments of the present disclosure achieves a combination of a refrigerator and a microwave oven via fixing the microwave oven in the refrigerator body so as to make the refrigerator convenient to use for users, for example, users can thaw food easily via the microwave oven, thereby greatly improving the convenience of life.
In addition, the refrigerator according to the present disclosure further has the following additional technical features:
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the refrigerating chamber, the freezing chamber and the microwave chamber are spaced apart in an up-down direction, and the microwave chamber is arranged between the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber.
The refrigerator according to the present disclosure further includes: a first guiding member arranged at a bottom wall of the microwave chamber; and a second guiding member arranged at a bottom of the microwave oven, wherein the first guiding member matches the second guiding member, and both the first guiding member and the second guiding member extend in a front-back direction.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, two first guiding members are provided and spaced apart in a left-right direction, and two second guiding members are provided and correspond to the two first guiding members in one-to-one relationship.
The refrigerator according to the present disclosure further includes: a plurality of third guiding members arranged at left and right side walls of the microwave chamber, respectively; and a plurality of fourth guiding members arranged at left and right sides of the microwave oven, respectively, wherein the third guiding member matches the fourth guiding member, and both the third guiding member and the fourth guiding member extend in the front-back direction.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, all of the first guiding member, the second guiding member, the third guiding member and the fourth guiding member are metal pieces.
The microwave oven according to the present disclosure further includes: a housing having a cooking chamber therein, a front side of the cooking chamber being opened to form an opening; a door body installed on the housing so as to open and close the opening, an outer peripheral surface of the door body being provided with a substantially rectangular plastic frame; the refrigerator according to the present disclosure further includes a fixing member fixed on a wall of the microwave chamber, and the plastic frame is detachably provided to the fixing member.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the fixing member is an iron fixing member, and four iron fixing members are provided, wherein two of the iron fixing members are fixed at the bottom wall of the microwave chamber and spaced apart in the left-right direction, the remaining two iron fixing members are fixed at a top wall of the microwave chamber; an upper and lower frame strips of the plastic frame are respectively provided with two limiting grooves, and each of limiting grooves has a shape adapted to a shape of each of the iron fixing members.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the microwave chamber is further provided with a stopper member for preventing an excessive backward movement of the microwave oven from touching the back wall of the microwave chamber.
Further, the stopper member is a block, and the block extends in the front-back direction and defines a front end surface being substantially flush with a front end surface of the microwave chamber.
Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of present disclosure will be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent in part from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions made with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator body according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a microwave chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a plastic frame of a door body of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a fourth guiding member according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a second guiding member according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Reference numerals:

100 refrigerator; 101 refrigerator body; 1 refrigerating chamber; 2 freezing chamber; 3 microwave chamber; 4 microwave oven; 41 housing; 42 door body; 421 plastic frame; 4211 limiting groove; 51 first guiding member; 52 second guiding member; 53 third guiding member; 54 fourth guiding member; 55 fixing member; 56 stopper member (block)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, illustrative, and used to generally understand the present disclosure. The embodiments shall not be construed to limit the present disclosure. The same or similar elements and the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions.
In the specification, it is to be understood that terms such as "central," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," and "counterclockwise" should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convcnicncc of description and do not require that the present invention be constructed or operated in a particular orientation. In addition, terms such as "first" and "second" are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the feature defined with "first" and "second" may comprise one or more of this feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality of' means two or more than two, unless specified otherwise.
In the present invention, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "coupled," "fixed" and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical or electrical connections; may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures; may also be inner communications of two elements, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.
The refrigerator 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to Fig. 1 to Fig. 7.
A refrigerator 100 according to the present disclosure includes a refrigerator body 101 and a microwave oven 4.
Wherein the refrigerator body 101 is provided with a refrigerating chamber 1, a freezing chamber 2 and a microwave chamber 3 therein. As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the refrigerating chamber 1, the freezing chamber 2 and the microwave chamber 3 are spaced apart in an up-down direction, and the microwave chamber 3 is arranged between the refrigerating chamber 1 and the freezing chamber 2. That is, the inside space of the refrigerator body 101 is separated into an upper chamber, a middle chamber and a lower chamber, for example, the refrigerating chamber 1 is arranged in an upper part, the freezing chamber 2 is arranged in a lower part, the microwave chamber 3 is arranged between the refrigerating chamber 1 and the freezing chamber 2, i.e. the microwave chamber 3 is roughly arranged in a middle part.
It should be noted that, both the refrigerating chamber 1 and the freezing chamber 2 are related mature technology, and are well known to those skilled in the related art, will not be elaborated here.
The microwave oven 4 is arranged in the microwave chamber 3. That is, the microwave oven 4 is arranged in the refrigerator body 101, and arranged in the microwave chamber 3 specially designed for the microwave oven 4, such that the refrigerator 100 can have functions of ordinary microwave oven, thus improving the refrigerator's practicability.
The refrigerator 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure achieves a combination of a refrigerator 100 and a microwave oven 4 via fixing the microwave oven 4 in the refrigerator body 101 so as to make the refrigerator convenient to use for users, for example, users can thaw food easily through the microwave oven 4, thereby greatly improving the convenience of life.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 7, the refrigerator 100 includes a first guiding member 51 arranged at a bottom wall of the microwave chamber 3; and a second guiding member 52 arranged at a bottom of the microwave oven 4, wherein the first guiding member 51 matches the second guiding member 52, and both the first guiding member 51 and the second guiding member 52 extend in a front-back direction.
For example, the first guiding member 51 can be a track, the second guiding member 52 can be a slide matching the track, the track can be fixed on the bottom wall of the microwave chamber 3 via a screw, and the slide can also be fixed on the bottom of the microwave oven 4 via a screw, such that the microwave oven 4 can achieve back and forth movement relative to the microwave chamber 3 via the track cooperating with the slide, thus the microwave oven 4 can be successfully putted into the microwave chamber 3 when installation, meanwhile the degree of freedom of the microwave oven 4 in the left-right direction relative to the microwave room 4 is limited.
Further, as shown in Fig. 3, two first guiding members 51 are provided and spaced apart in a left-right direction, and two second guiding members 52 are provided and correspond to the two first guiding members 21 in one-to-one relationship. Thus, left and right pairs of the first guiding member 51 and the second guiding member 52 can more firmly support the microwave oven 4, thereby enabling the microwave oven 4 to keep a stable working state in the microwave chamber 3, and increasing service life of the microwave oven 4.
As shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 6, the refrigerator 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure further includes a plurality of third guiding members 53 arranged at left and right side walls of the microwave chamber 3, respectively; and a plurality of fourth guiding members 54 arranged at left and right sides of the microwave oven 4, respectively, wherein the third guiding member 53 matches the fourth guiding member 54, and both the third guiding member 53 and the fourth guiding member 54 extend in the front-back direction.
For example, the third guiding member 53 can be a track, the fourth guiding member 54 can be a slide matching the track, the track can be fixed on the left and right side walls of the microwave chamber 3 via a screw, and the slide can also be fixed on the left and right sides of the microwave oven 4 via a screw, such that the microwave oven 4 can achieve back and forth movement relative to the microwave chamber 3 via the track cooperating with the slide, meanwhile the degree of freedom of the microwave oven 4 in the left-right direction relative to the microwave room 4 is limited.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, all of the first guiding member 51, the second guiding member 52, the third guiding member 53 and the fourth guiding member 54 are metal pieces. The first metallic guiding member 51, the second metallic guiding member 52, the third metallic guiding member 53 and the fourth metallic guiding member 54 have very good stiffness and strength, thus ensuring the guiding members to work stable for a long time, thereby prolonging the service time and reducing the cost.
As shown in Fig. 4, the microwave oven 4 includes a housing 41 and a door body 42. Wherein the housing 41 has a cooking chamber therein whose front side is opened to form an opening. The door body 42 is installed to the housing 41 to open and close the opening, an outer peripheral surface of the door body 42 is provided with a substantially rectangular plastic frame 421.
As shown in Fig. 2, the refrigerator 100 further includes a fixing member 55 fixed on a wall of the microwave chamber 3, for example, the fixing member 55 can be fixed on the wall of the microwave chamber 3 via a screw, wherein the plastic frame 421 can be detachably disposed to the fixing member 55. Thus the plastic frame 421 is firmly fixed to the wall of the microwave chamber 3 so as to further limit the degree of freedom of the microwave oven 4, thereby enabling the microwave oven 4 to be firmly fixed in the microwave chamber 3.
Further, the fixing member 55 may be an iron fixing member, and four iron fixing members are provided, wherein two of the iron fixing members are fixed at the bottom wall of the microwave chamber 3 and spaced apart in the left-right direction, the remaining two iron fixing members are fixed at a top wall of the microwave chamber 3.
Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the upper and lower frame strips of the plastic frame 421 are respectively provided with two limiting grooves 4211, and the limiting groove have a shape adapted to a shape of the iron fixing member. That is, both the bottom and top walls of the microwave chamber 3 are respectively provided with two iron fixing members, wherein each iron fixing member on the top wall of the microwave chamber 3 corresponds to one corresponding iron fixing member on the bottom wall of the microwave chamber 3, the iron fixing members are fixed to the bottom and top walls of the microwave chamber 3 via screws, and two iron fixing members either on the bottom wall or on the top wall are spaced apart in the left-right direction. The upper and lower frame strips of the plastic frame 421 are also respectively provided with two limiting grooves 4211 corresponding to two iron fixing members. The four iron fixing members are embedded in the four limiting grooves 4211 of the plastic frame 421, then are further fixed to the plastic frame 421 via screws, so as to achieve a better fixing of the microwave oven 4.
As shown in Fig. 3, the microwave chamber 3 is further provided with a stopper member 56 for preventing an excessive backward movement of the microwave oven 4 from touching the back wall of the microwave chamber 3. Thus the microwave oven 4 can be installed into the microwave chamber 3 more convenient and better without worrying the excessive backward movement of the microwave oven 4 touching even striking the back wall of the microwave chamber 3 during installing the microwave oven 4.
Further, the stopper member 56 is a block and the block 56 extends in the front-back direction and defines a front end surface being roughly flush with a front end surface of the microwave chamber 3. In this way, the block 56 can achieve a position limiting to the microwave oven 4 via stopping the plastic frame 421, thus improving the installation efficiency of the microwave oven 4, and limiting the microwave oven 4 together with the four guiding members mentioned above, achieving an omnidirectional constraint to the microwave oven 4, enabling the microwave oven 4 to be positioned in the refrigerator body very firmly.
In a word, the refrigerator 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve the omnidirectional constraint to the microwave oven 4, thereby the microwave oven 4 is firmly fixed in the body of the refrigerator 100, thus making the refrigerator convenient to use for user, and improving the practicability of the refrigerator.
Working principles and working processes of other components, such as compressor and evaporator, of the refrigerator 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure are related mature technology, and are well known to those skilled in the related art, will not be elaborated here.
Reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment," "some embodiments," "one embodiment", "another example," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as "in some embodiments," "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment", "in another example," "in an example," "in a specific example," or "in some examples," in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.
Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from principles and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

A refrigerator (100), comprising:
a refrigerator body (101) provided with a refrigerating chamber (1), a freezing chamber (2) and a microwave chamber (3) therein, the refrigerating chamber (1), the freezing chamber (2) and the microwave chamber (3) being spaced apart in an up-down direction, and the microwave chamber (3) being arranged between the refrigerating chamber (1) and the freezing chamber (2);

a microwave oven (4) arranged in the microwave chamber (3);

the refrigerator is characterised by a first guiding member (51) arranged at a bottom wall of the microwave chamber (3); and

a second guiding member (52) arranged at a bottom of the microwave oven (4),the first guiding member (51) matching the second guiding member (52), and both the first guiding member (51) and the second guiding member (52) extending in a front-back direction,

wherein the first guiding member (51) is configured as a track, and the second guiding member (52) is configured as a slide.
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 1, wherein two first guiding members (51) are provided and spaced apart in a left-right direction, and two second guiding members (52) are provided and correspond to the two first guiding members (51) in one-to-one relationship.
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 1, further comprising:
a plurality of third guiding members (53) arranged at left and right side walls of the microwave chamber (3), respectively; and

a plurality of fourth guiding members (54) arranged at left and right sides of the microwave oven (4), respectively,

wherein the third guiding member (53) matches the corresponding fourth guiding member (54), and both the third guiding member (53) and the fourth guiding member (54) extend in the front-back direction.
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 3, wherein all of the first guiding member (51), the second guiding member (52), the third guiding member (53) and the fourth guiding member (54) are metal pieces.
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 3, wherein the microwave oven (4) comprises:
a housing (41) having a cooking chamber therein, a front side of the cooking chamber being opened to form an opening;

a door body (42) installed on the housing (41) so as to open and close the opening, an outer peripheral surface of the door body (42) being fitted over a substantially rectangular plastic frame (421);

wherein the refrigerator (100) further comprises a fixing member (55) fixed on a wall of the microwave chamber (3), and the plastic frame (421) is detachably provided to the fixing member (55).
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 5, wherein the fixing member (55) is an iron fixing member, four iron fixing members are provided, wherein two of the iron fixing members are fixed at the bottom wall of the microwave chamber (3) and spaced apart in the left-right direction, the remaining two iron fixing members are fixed at a top wall of the microwave chamber (3); an upper and lower frame strips of the plastic frame (421) are respectively provided with two limiting grooves (4211), and each of limiting grooves (4211) has a shape adapted to a shape of each of the iron fixing members.
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 6, wherein the microwave chamber (3) is further provided with a stopper member (56) for preventing an excessive backward movement of the microwave oven (4) from touching the back wall of the microwave chamber (3).
The refrigerator (100) according to claim 7, wherein the stopper member (56) is a block, the block extends in the front-back direction and defines a front end surface being substantially flush with a front end surface of the microwave chamber (3).