JP2011058696A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a refrigerator equipped with an operation part efficiently arranged with a substrate in a limited installation space, preventing an erroneous operation. <P>SOLUTION: The refrigerator comprises a storage chamber provided for a refrigerator body, a storage chamber door for opening/closing an opening of the storage chamber, a door front surface member provided on a front surface of the storage chamber door, and operation switches provided to contact or to be near the door front surface member for detecting change of capacitance. Two or more operation switches are arranged, and L-shaped erroneous operation preventing electrodes are respectively arranged around the operation switches positioned on both sides. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

  As a conventional refrigerator, an operation part (for example, a push button) is provided in the front part of the door, and by operating the operation part, various functions such as adjustment of storage room temperature, quick freezing, quick refrigeration, automatic ice making device, etc. Configurations that operate are known. As the operation unit, a mechanical switch such as a micro switch is known.

  Further, in recent home appliances, one using a capacitive touch sensor is known. An example of the touch sensor is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  In the configuration described in Patent Document 1, in order to avoid an operation unintended by the user, a dummy erroneous operation preventing electrode is provided in the vicinity of the electrode as the normal operation switch, and the normal operation electrodes or the normal operation is provided. When the contact electrode and the operation error prevention electrode are simultaneously contacted, the switch reaction is not caused. In addition, the operation preventing electrode has a linear shape and surrounds the normal operation electrode.

JP 2009-111996 A

  When a touch sensor is provided on the operation panel installed on the front surface of the refrigerator, there is a risk that an unintended operation may be performed by accidentally touching the switch during cleaning or the like.

  In addition, the operation panel on the front side of the refrigerator needs to satisfy both functions and design. If the substrate installation area can be secured sufficiently wide, the erroneous operation preventing electrode can have the same shape as other normal operation electrodes, and the circuit constants can be set substantially the same.

  However, the inside of the refrigerator door is filled with a heat insulating material. Therefore, the board installation area is limited, and there is a problem that it is difficult to secure a space for installing an erroneous operation prevention electrode.

  Further, as described in Patent Document 1, when the shape of the erroneous operation preventing electrode is reduced, the circuit constant needs to be largely changed as compared with the normal operation electrode. That is, there is a large difference in the area between the erroneous operation preventing electrode and the normal operation electrode, and it is difficult to give both the same sensitivity, and there is a problem that it is necessary to select a circuit constant for each.

  In addition, if the gap between the normal operation electrodes is wide, even if the wrong operation prevention electrodes are provided at both ends, if they are contacted with an electrode that is narrower than the gap between the electrodes, multiple electrodes will not be pushed at the same time. There was a problem that it was not possible.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator including an operation unit that can efficiently arrange a substrate in a limited installation space and prevent an erroneous operation.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a storage room provided in a refrigerator body, a storage room door that opens and closes the opening of the storage room, a door front member provided on the front surface of the storage room door, An operation switch that is provided in contact with or in proximity to the door front member and detects a change in capacitance. A plurality of the operation switches are arranged, and an L-shaped erroneous operation is provided around the operation switches located at both ends. It is characterized in that each of the prevention electrodes is arranged.

  The erroneous operation preventing electrode is provided in a shape different from that of the operation switch and having an equal area.

  Further, the operation switches are provided so as to be adjacent to each other with an interval of 8 mm or less.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the refrigerator provided with the operation part which can arrange | position a board | substrate efficiently in the limited installation space and can prevent misoperation can be obtained.

It is a front view of the refrigerator which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the display part of the refrigerator in one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a display unit in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a substrate unit in FIG. 2. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 20 is a refrigerator main body. The refrigerator main body 20 has a refrigerator compartment 22, a lower freezer compartment 25, a vegetable compartment 26, and the like in order from the top. An upper freezer compartment 24 is provided between the refrigerator compartment 22 and the lower freezer compartment 25, and an ice making chamber 23 is provided next to the upper freezer compartment 24.

  Moreover, the door which opens and closes this front opening is provided in the front opening of each store room. That is, the front opening of the refrigerator compartment 22 is provided with a left refrigerator compartment door 22a and a right refrigerator compartment door 22b, and the front opening of each of the upper freezer compartment 24, the lower freezer compartment 25, the ice making compartment 23 and the vegetable compartment 26 is provided. An upper freezer compartment door 24a, a lower freezer compartment door 25a, an ice making room door 23a, and a vegetable compartment door 26a are provided.

  The left refrigerator compartment door 22a and the right refrigerator compartment door 22b are rotatably supported by upper hinges 3 (left hinge 3a, right hinge 3b) provided on the upper part of the refrigerator body 20, respectively. That is, it constitutes a French door configured in a left-right opening manner.

  Further, the lower freezer compartment door 25a, the upper freezer compartment door 24a, the ice making compartment door 23a, and the vegetable compartment door 25a are each a drawer-type door and can be pulled out together with the containers of the respective storage compartments.

  And the left refrigerator compartment door 22a and the right refrigerator compartment door 22b, the lower freezer compartment door 25a, the upper freezer compartment door 24a, the ice making compartment door 23a, and the vegetable compartment door 26a are provided with the door front member 6 on the outer surface. As the door front member 6, a transparent glass plate 6a is provided.

  The foam heat insulating material (not shown) is filled and foamed between the door front member 6 made of the glass plate 6a and the door rear member (not shown). The plate thickness of the glass plate 6a which is the door front member 6 is 2 mm to 3.5 mm in this embodiment. This plate thickness is a dimension in which the glass plate 6a is not broken or cracked by an impact generated when the refrigerator is assembled, when the refrigerator is transferred, and when the refrigerator is used.

  Further, when further securing the strength or reducing the plate thickness, the glass plate 6a may be subjected to a heat strengthening process, a chemical strengthening process, or the like. The glass plate 6a is an insulator.

  Next, in FIGS. 1 to 3, 10 is a display unit, and 11 is an operation unit. The operation unit 11 is operated by the user from the outside to set the room temperature of each storage room such as the refrigerating room 22 and the lower freezing room 25, or to rapidly cool the refrigerating room 22 or the upper freezing room 24, The size of ice making in the ice making chamber 23 is set. In addition, the temperature of a storage room (not shown) that is provided in the refrigerator compartment 22 to reduce the storage space in a reduced pressure or low oxygen state to maintain the freshness of stored foods and to suppress oxidative deterioration, or to reduce the pressure or reduce oxygen. Or set to turn off the function. That is, various functions of the refrigerator can be set by operating the operation unit 11 by the user.

  Further, the display unit 10 displays the input result from the operation unit 11 on the outside of the refrigerator main body 20. Thereby, it is possible to confirm the operation performed by the user with the operation unit 11 or to confirm the states of various functions set in advance.

  The operation unit 11 and the display unit 10 are not provided with a special panel, but are provided on the glass plate 6a. That is, the glass plate 6a provided in the left refrigerator compartment door 22a is provided so that it may become a plane over the whole outer surface of this left refrigerator compartment door 22a including the operation part 11 and the display part 10. FIG.

  In other words, the operation unit 11 and the display unit 10 are provided in a planar shape on the door front member 6 which is the glass plate 6a. For this reason, the conventional operation panel is omitted.

  Further, a colored paint is applied to the back surface of the glass plate 6a except for the display unit 10. Thereby, the foamed heat insulating material is processed so as not to be seen from the front side, and the display unit 10 is clearly visually recognized, so that a door having excellent appearance is configured.

  Next, the operation unit 9 and the display unit 10 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

  In FIGS. 2 and 3, the display of the character portion (characters of freezing, refrigeration, ice making, rapid cooling, and vacuum chilling) corresponding to the operation unit 11 is represented by direct printing or the like on the back surface of the glass plate 6a. It is. The operation unit 11 refers to the front surface (front surface of the glass plate 6a which is the door front member 6) at a position facing the back surface on which the character portion is printed. In addition, as a means for providing the operation display (the character portion) on the back surface of the glass plate 6a, there are etching, inlay, and the like in addition to printing.

  In FIG. 3, the display unit 10 indicates a setting state of various functions in accordance with an input by the operation of the operation unit 11 described above. And this character display ("strong (low temperature), medium, weak", "strong (chilled), medium, weak", "large, standard, stop", "quick refrigeration, quick freezing", "vacuum ice temperature, vacuum "Chilled, cut (ice temperature)") is represented on the surface of the sheet 12 by printing or the like.

  The sheet 12 is attached to the back surface of the glass plate 6a which is the door front member 6 so that the contact or the gap is very small. Therefore, the character display can be clearly confirmed from the front of the left refrigerator compartment door 22a through the glass plate 6a. In other words, the door has an excellent appearance and has a highly visible and flat glass plate 6a.

  The operation unit 11 and the display unit 10 are provided side by side as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. The display unit 10 is configured to display, as a function of the refrigerator body 20, that rapid refrigeration or quick freezing is in operation.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the character display on the display unit 10 is illuminated by an LED 15 (light emitting diode) or the like provided on the substrate unit 13 so that the light is projected up to the front surface of the glass plate 6a so that it appears to float. It is configured.

  Further, the substrate unit 13 is provided with an operation switch 14 for operating the operation unit 11 and a control unit 16 for controlling the input of the operation switch 14 and the output of the LED 15.

  In this embodiment, the operation switch 14 uses a capacitive touch sensor that detects and senses a change in capacitance using the copper foil pattern of the printed circuit board of the board portion 13 as a touch pad electrode.

  The operation switch 14 (touch sensor using a touch pad electrode) of the substrate unit 13 and the operation unit 11 of the seat 12 are disposed so as to overlap in the front-rear direction and in contact with or close to the door front member 6. In other words, the operation unit 11 contacts or approaches the back surface of the door front member 6 when the operation unit 11 is incorporated into the left refrigerator compartment door 22a. That is, the glass plate 6a, the sheet 12, and the substrate part 13 which are insulators are provided so that the operation part 11 overlaps the front side and the operation switch 14 overlaps the back side. With this configuration, when the user operates the operation unit 11 via the glass plate 6a, the capacitance detected by the control unit 16 is changed by the operation switch 14 as compared with when it is stable. By detecting this change, it is recognized that a switch operation has been performed.

  The display unit 10 is installed on the door front member 6 on the front surface of the refrigerator body 20. The door front member 6 is a flat glass plate 6a in consideration of cleanability, and the substrate portion 13 is installed inside the case 29 via a sheet 12 indicating the function of the operation switch 14 inside the glass plate 6a. (See FIG. 5). Thereby, the front of the door is flat and has an operation panel function that is excellent in appearance. The board | substrate part 13 is operated by contacting the operation part 11 indirectly from the glass plate 6a surface.

  The substrate unit 13 is provided with a plurality of operation switches 14 which are rectangular normal electrodes. The operation switches 5 have the same shape and are arranged at equal intervals of 20 mm or less, preferably 8 mm or less. Further, the operation unit 11 is provided on the sheet 12 in accordance with the arrangement of the operation switches 14.

  Further, on the board portion 13, an LED 15 indicating the input result of the operation switch 14, a buzzer 28 that notifies the input result of the operation switch 14 with sound, and a control means 16 that is a microcomputer for controlling each component. , A connector 27 for supplying power to the substrate unit 13 and the like are provided.

  Further, resistors, capacitors, and the like for operating the LED 15, the buzzer 28, and the control means 16 are arranged on the substrate unit 13. In particular, it is gathered in the left part of the substrate part 13 in FIG. 4 and the space in the lateral direction is limited.

  Therefore, the erroneous operation preventing electrode 14a is disposed adjacent to the operation switches 14 disposed on the left and right ends. The erroneous operation preventing electrode 14 a is arranged in an L shape over two outer peripheral sides of the rectangular operation switch 14.

  Specifically, erroneous operation preventing electrodes 14a are arranged so as to surround the lower and left sides of the leftmost operation switch 14 and the upper and right sides of the rightmost operation switch 14, respectively. That is, each of the erroneous operation preventing electrodes 14a is bent in an L shape and is installed so as to surround half of the four sides of the operation switch 14 which is a normal operation electrode. Thereby, the same area as the operation switch 14 which is a normal operation electrode is secured, and in addition to unintended contact from the lateral direction, erroneous operation from the vertical direction can be prevented.

  In addition to the operation switches 14 at both the left and right ends adjacent to the erroneous operation preventing electrode 14a, the arrangement interval is 20 mm or less, preferably 8 mm or less, which is narrower than the average human finger width. Therefore, even when the electrodes are contacted with fingers during wiping and cleaning, two or more electrodes are brought into contact with each other, so that erroneous operation can be prevented.

  As described above, the erroneous operation preventing electrode 14a is installed in a limited space, and the same area as the normal operation electrode is secured in the vicinity of the normal operation electrode so as to have the same sensitivity. It is arranged.

  Further, a continuous pattern of the erroneous operation preventing electrodes 14a is arranged across the two directions of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the operation switch 14 which is a normal operation electrode. Thereby, it is possible to prevent erroneous operation from both the upper, lower, left and right directions.

  In addition, the arrangement interval of the operation switches 14 that do not arrange the erroneous operation preventing electrodes 14a adjacent to each other is set to 20 mm or less, preferably 8 mm or less, which is the width of a general human finger. As a result, even when the electrodes are touched with fingers by mistake during cleaning or the like, input to the plurality of operation switches 14 can prevent erroneous operation.

  In addition, the erroneous operation preventing electrode 14a is different from the shape of the operation switch 14 which is a normal operation electrode, but in consideration of the shape of a portion having a sufficient installation space and the mode of erroneous operation, the outer periphery of the operation switch 14 is They are arranged in a letter shape and with the same area. For this reason, it is not necessary to greatly change the circuit constants between the erroneous operation preventing electrode 14a and the operation switch 14 which is a normal operation electrode, and the circuit constants can be easily selected.

6 Door front member 10 Display unit 13 Substrate unit 14 Operation switch (normal operation electrode)
14a Misoperation preventing electrode 20 Refrigerator body

Claims (3)

A storage room provided in the refrigerator body;
A storage room door for opening and closing the opening of the storage room;
A door front member provided in front of the storage room door;
An operation switch that is provided in contact with or close to the door front member and detects a change in capacitance,
A refrigerator, wherein a plurality of the operation switches are arranged, and L-shaped erroneous operation preventing electrodes are arranged around the operation switches located at both ends.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the erroneous operation preventing electrode is provided in a shape different from that of the operation switch and having an equal area.   The refrigerator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation switches are provided adjacent to each other with an interval of 8 mm or less.

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