EP3004763B1

EP3004763B1 - Door opening-closing assembly and refrigeration appliance having the same

Info

Publication number: EP3004763B1
Application number: EP13730827.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Faik Emre Ozyuksel; Kadir Ridvan Celik; Mehmet Ercan KAYMAK; Semih Erol; Ulas TIGIN
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2013-06-06
Filing date: 2013-06-06
Publication date: 2017-11-08
Anticipated expiration: 2033-06-06
Also published as: WO2014194955A1; EP3004763A1

Description

The present invention relates to a door opening-closing assembly for use in a refrigeration appliance, and a refrigeration appliance having the same.
It is common practice in the field of refrigeration to hermetically seal a refrigeration appliance such as a refrigerator or a chest freezer by way of fastening a gasket to its door. The gasket is usually provided with a magnetic insert which is attracted by a metallic cover of the doorframe. Thereby, the magnetic gasket holds the door in a closed state and achieves an airtight seal.
A large-size refrigerator has a proportionately larger door which is attracted towards the doorframe by the magnetic gasket with a relatively strong force.
On the one hand, the relatively strong force between the magnetic gasket and the metallic cover of the doorframe is detrimental to the gasket resulting in plastic deformation. Utilizing a weaker magnetic insert in the gasket of a large-size refrigerator could have a sparing effect on the gasket. However, this would compromise the effectiveness of the sealing. Therefore, this is not desired.
On the other hand, due to the relatively strong force between the magnetic gasket and the metallic cover of the doorframe, a customer is required to forcefully pull the door of a large-size refrigerator to open it. Moreover, after closing the door, the ambient air taken into the refrigeration compartment cools down. Subsequently, the inner pressure drops and the door gets more firmly pressed onto the doorframe. Thus, when the customer attempts to immediately re-open the door, he or she must overcome a force arising from the pressure difference in addition to the attractive force between the magnetic gasket and the metallic cover of the doorframe. Thus, the task of opening the door becomes more force-intensive and uncomfortable. Utilizing a weaker magnetic insert in the gasket of a large-size refrigerator could render opening the door less force-intensive. However, as already mentioned above, this would compromise the effectiveness of the sealing. Therefore, this is not desired. Several opening-closing mechanisms have been devised to aid the customers in opening refrigerator doors. Commonly known techniques make use of mechanical as well as magnetic means in order to ease opening-closing of refrigerator doors.
DE 38 37 547 A1 discloses a magnet closure for pieces of furniture, in particular domestic refrigerators. The magnet closure includes a permanent magnet which is fitted on an inner side of the door and an electromagnet which is fitted on a body of the piece of furniture such that the two magnets oppose each other. The door is held closed or pushed open by way of energizing the electromagnet through an electrical switch connected to an electrical power source.
A door opening-closing mechanism relying on electrical power may be disadvantageous in view of increased energy consumption. Furthermore, a temporary power black-out must not interrupt a proper functioning of a door opening-closing mechanism.
KR 2009 0133023 A discloses a locking unit comprising a first magnet fixed to a refrigerator door and a second and third magnet movably fixed to a home bar door. When the home bar door is closed, the first and the second magnet are aligned and attract each other with opposite poles. To open the home bar door, the second and third magnets are moved such that now the first and third magnet become aligned and repel each other with same poles.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a door opening-closing assembly for a refrigeration appliance, and a refrigeration appliance having the same which overcome the aforementioned problems and enable an effective airtight sealing of a refrigeration appliance and smooth opening/closing of the appliance door.
This objective has been achieved by the door opening-closing assembly according to claim 1, and the refrigeration appliance according to claim 12. Further developments are given in the dependent claims.
The door opening-closing assembly of the present invention is suitable for use in a refrigeration appliance having at least one door pivotally hinged to a doorframe. The door opening-closing assembly of the present invention comprises a first magnet for mounting onto the door; and a second magnet for mounting onto the doorframe in a manner opposing the first magnet, preferably through a gap, when the door is in a closed state. The door opening-closing assembly of the present invention further comprises a movable support mechanism configured to support one of the first magnet and the second magnet movably between a home position where the first magnet and the second magnet are aligned to mutually attract each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door with a strength sufficient to hold the door in a closed state and a displaced position where the first magnet and the second magnet are aligned to mutually repel each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door with a strength sufficient to expel the door from a closed state to an open state; and a handle mechanism configured to drive the movable support mechanism for opening and closing the door.
In a closed state of the door i.e., at the home position where the first magnet and the second magnet attract each other, the door is pressed onto the doorframe with an additional attractive force solely generated by the first magnet and the second magnet. This additional attractive force contributes to the hermetic sealing achieved by the magnetic gasket of the refrigeration appliance. Thereby, the airtight sealing achieved the magnetic gasket is effectively improved and compensated. During an opening of the door, when one of the first magnet and the second magnet is moved to the displaced position where the first and the second magnet repel each other, the additional attractive force gradually disappears and a repulsive force is gradually established between the first magnet and the second magnet. This repulsive force smoothly pushes the door to an open state. Thus, the door can be easily opened by altering a relative position of the first magnet and the second magnet.
In an embodiment, one of the first magnet and second magnet is stationary and the other one is rectilinearly moved between the home position and the displaced position along a vertical direction. Alternatively, one of the first magnet and the second magnet may be arranged to rotatable move with respect to the other one.
In another embodiment, one of the first magnet and second magnet is moved under the action of the handle pivotally by the customer. The handle rotates in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the door. Alternatively, the handle may rotate within a plane parallel to the surface of the door.
In another embodiment, one of the first magnet and the second magnet is alternatively moved by an actuator. Any appropriate actuator may be used for this purpose. It is preferable to use an electric motor energized by an electrical power source through a switch. The switch is preferably installed on a front side of the door such that it can be easily accessed by the customer.
In another embodiment, the first magnet and the second magnet are each permanent magnets.
The first magnet and the second magnet are each formed by an array of regions with alternating magnetic poles. Thereby, the repulsive and the attractive forces are rendered to act more uniformly upon the interface between the door and the doorframe. The magnitude of the attractive and the repulsive forces which respectively act at the home position and the displaced position may be appropriately adjusted by the number of regions of the first and the second magnets.
The array of regions of the first magnet and the second magnet each form a stepped surface with an alternating level. Thereby, the attractive and the repulsive forces which respectively act at the home position and the displaced position may be rendered to differ in magnitude from each other. Thus, the degree of smoothness in opening the door and the aforementioned contribution to the airtight sealing can be independently modified.
Additional advantages of the opening-closing assembly of the present invention will now become apparent with the detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 - is a schematic exploded view of a refrigerator and a door opening-closing assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 - is a schematic enlarged view of the encircled detail I of Fig. 1.
Figure 3 - is a schematic exploded view of a movable support mechanism prior to fitting onto the door of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 - is a schematic side view of the refrigerator having the door opening-closing assembly according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 - is a schematic enlarged view of the encircled detail II of Fig. 4.
Figure 6 - shows a cross section along the line A-A of Fig. 4.
Figure 7 - is a schematic enlarged view of the encircled detail III of Fig. 6.
Figure 8 - is a schematic top view of the refrigerator and the door opening-closing assembly according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 9 - is a schematic enlarged view of a first magnet and a second magnet respectively aligned in a home position (left hand side) and in a displaced position (right hand side), in the cross section along the line B-B of Fig. 8.
Figure 10 - is a schematic front view of a refrigerator and a door opening-closing assembly according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 11 - is a schematic side view of the refrigerator and the door opening-closing assembly according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 12 - is a schematic top view of the refrigerator and the door opening-closing assembly according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 13 - is a schematic enlarged partial perspective view of Fig. 12, showing the door opening-closing assembly according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The reference signs appearing on the drawings relate to the following technical features.

1. Door opening-closing assembly
2. Refrigeration appliance
3. Door
4. Doorframe
5. First magnet
6. Second magnet
7. Movable support mechanism
8. Drive mechanism
9. Guiding element
10. Sliding element,
11. Pivotal handle
12. Actuator
13. Switch
14. Electric motor
15. Pinion gear
16. Gear rack
17. Magnetic gasket

The present invention relates to a door opening-closing assembly (1) is suitable for use in a refrigeration appliance (2) having at least one door (3) pivotally hinged to a doorframe (4) (Fig. 1). The door opening-closing assembly (1) comprises a first magnet (5) for mounting onto the door (3) and a second magnet (6) for mounting onto the doorframe (4) in a manner opposing the first magnet (5) through a gap when the door (3) is in a closed state.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to the present invention further comprises a movable support mechanism (7) configured to support one of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) movably between a home position where the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are aligned to mutually attract each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door (3) with a strength sufficient to hold the door (3) in a closed state and a displaced position where the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are aligned to mutually repel each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door (3) with a strength sufficient to expel the door (3) from a closed state to an open state and a drive mechanism (8) configured to activate the movable support mechanism (7) for opening and closing the door (3) (Fig. 1).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the movable support mechanism (7) includes a guiding element (9) and a sliding element (10) which are slidably engaged with each other. As shown in Fig 3, the guiding element (9) is fixed on the door (3). As shown in Fig. 4, the sliding element (10) is configured to support the first magnet (5), and to slide along the guiding element (9), between the home position and the displaced position. The sliding element (10) is provided with a frame, and the first magnet (5) is embedded into the sliding element (10).
In another embodiment of the present invention, the movable support mechanism (7) is configured to rectilinearly move the first magnet (5) between the home position and the displaced position along a vertical direction i.e., an up-down direction along the door frame (4) (Fig. 5).
In another embodiment of the present invention, the drive mechanism (8) includes a pivotal handle (11) configured to rectilinearly move the sliding element (10) between the home position and the displaced position (Fig. 6).
In another embodiment of the present invention, the pivotal handle (11) is configured to rotate in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the door (3). The handle (11) is pivoted in an anti-clockwise direction in the plane defined by the cross-section along the line B-B shown in Fig. 8 to open the door (3) (Fig. 7, Fig. 8).
The left hand side and the right hand side of Fig. 9 each show a configuration of the first magnet (5) and a second magnet (6) which respectively correspond to a home position and a displaced position. When the handle (11) is pivoted upwards, the first magnet (5) is moved downwards by means of a lever as shown in Fig. 1 which operatively connects the handle (11) and the sliding element (10).
In another embodiment of the present invention, the drive mechanism (8) alternatively includes an actuator (12) configured to rectilinearly move the sliding element (10) back and forth between the home position and the displaced position, and a switch (13) adapted operate the actuator (12) (Figs. 10 to 12).
In another embodiment of the present invention, the actuator (12) is configured by an electric motor (14) operatively connected to the sliding element (10) via a pinion gear (15) and a gear rack (16). Alternatively, a worm gear operatively coupled to the electric motor (14) can be utilized. The switch (13) is adapted to turn the electric motor (14) on or off (Fig. 13).
In another embodiment of the present invention. the movable support mechanism (7) includes a resilient element (not shown) arranged to bias the sliding element (10) towards the home position.
In another embodiment of the present invention, each of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) is a permanent magnet.
Each of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) is formed by an array of regions with alternating magnetic poles N and S. The number of arrays shown in Fig. 9 is only exemplary. Thus, the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) can be formed by any number magnetic pole pairs.
Each of the array of regions of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) forms a stepped surface with an alternating level.
Next, the refrigeration appliance (2) having the door opening-closing assembly (1) according to the present invention will now be explained with reference to the appended drawings.
Figs. 4 and 11 each shows a refrigeration appliance (2) which comprises an alternative door opening-closing assembly (1) of the present invention. In these refrigeration appliances (2), the movable support mechanism (7) shown in Fig. 2 is preferably fitted to the door (3), and supports the first magnet (5).
Alternatively, the movable support mechanism (7) can be fitted to the doorframe (4). In this alternative configuration (not shown) the movable support mechanism (7) supports the second magnet (6).
As shown in the left hand side of Fig. 9, the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are mounted to the refrigeration appliance (2) such that in a closed state of the door (3), i.e., when the movable support mechanism (7) is at the home position, the array of regions with opposite magnetic poles of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) oppose each other, preferably through a gap.
As shown in the right hand side of Fig. 9, the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are mounted to the refrigeration appliance (2) such that in an open state of the door (3), i.e., when the movable support mechanism (7) is at the displaced position, the array of regions with like magnetic poles of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) oppose each other, preferably through a gap.
The refrigeration appliance (2) of the present invention further comprises a magnetic gasket (17) arranged along the entire perimeter between the door (3) and the door frame (4), for hermetically sealing the refrigeration appliance (2).

Claims

A door opening-closing assembly (1) for use in a refrigeration appliance (2) having at least one door (3) pivotally hinged to a doorframe (4), comprising:
- a first magnet (5) for mounting onto the door (3) and a second magnet (6) for mounting onto the doorframe (4) in a manner opposing the first magnet (5) when the door (3) is in a closed state,

- a movable support mechanism (7) configured to support one of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) movably between a home position where the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are aligned to mutually attract each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door (3) with a strength sufficient to hold the door (3) in a closed state and a displaced position where the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are aligned to mutually repel each other in a direction normal to a surface of the door (3) with a strength sufficient to expel the door (3) from a closed state to an open state, and

- a drive mechanism (8) configured to activate the movable support mechanism (7) for opening and closing the door (3),
characterized in that

- the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are each formed by an array of regions with alternating magnetic poles,

- the array of regions of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) each forms a stepped surface with an alternating level.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the movable support mechanism (7) is configured to rectilinearly move one of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) between the home position and the displaced position along a vertical direction.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the movable support mechanism (7) includes a guiding element (9) and a sliding element (10), wherein the sliding element (10) is configured to support one of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6), and to slide along the guiding element (9), between the home position and the displaced position.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the drive mechanism (8) includes a pivotal handle (11) configured to move the sliding element (10) between the home position and the displaced position.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the pivotable handle (11) is configured to rotate in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the door (3).
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the drive mechanism (8) includes an actuator (12) configured to move the sliding element (10) between the home position and the displaced position, and a switch (13) adapted operate the actuator (12).
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that the actuator (12) is configured by an electric motor (14) operatively connected to the sliding element (10) via a pinion gear (15) and a gear rack (16) or a worm gear; and in that the switch (13) is adapted to turn the electric motor (14) on or off.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to any one of the above claims, characterized in that the movable support mechanism (7) includes a resilient element arranged to bias the sliding element (10) towards the home position.
The door opening-closing assembly (1) according to any one of the above claims, characterized in that the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are each permanent magnets.
A refrigeration appliance (2), characterized by a door opening-closing assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the movable support mechanism (7) is fitted to the door (3) and supports the first magnet (5).
The refrigeration appliance (2) according to claim 10, characterized in that the movable support mechanism (7) is fitted to the doorframe (4) and supports the second magnet (6).
The refrigeration appliance (2) according to any one of claims 10 to 11, characterized in that the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) are mounted as:
- the array of regions with opposite magnetic poles of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) oppose each other through a gap when the movable support mechanism (7) is at the home position and

- the array of regions with like magnetic poles of the first magnet (5) and the second magnet (6) oppose each other through a gap when the movable support mechanism (7) is at the displaced position.