JP2978413B2 - Front panel opening and closing device such as refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an opening and closing device for a front panel of a refrigerator, a freezer, a cooling storage, and the like, in particular, a commercial refrigerator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional commercial refrigerator, a machine room is formed in an upper portion of a refrigerator main body, and a front panel is mounted in front of the machine room. In order to properly operate the control box provided in the room, it is necessary to remove the front panel from the cabinet in advance.
There have been problems such as a problem with a place where the removed front panel is placed, and a possibility that the front panel may be damaged or deformed if the front panel is dropped on the floor. Further, in the refrigerator opening and closing device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-73482, a door is attached to the front of the machine room at the top of the refrigerator main body, and the door is pivoted forward and upward to engage the coupling fitting. When the stopper enters the locking hole of the upper beam,
The door is pushed backward and then turned in the opposite direction, and the locking piece is locked in the projection or hole, so that the door is kept open.In this case, the door is opened and closed. It is necessary to perform operations such as turning the door forward and backward or sliding the door back and forth, and these operations are troublesome, and it is not possible to hold the door in the open state if the operation is slightly wrong. There were drawbacks.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to enable a front panel on the upper front of a refrigerator main body in a refrigerator, a freezer, a cooling storage, or the like to rotate forward and upward and to be easily opened. is there. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily hold the open state when the front panel of the refrigerator or the like is turned forward and upward and opened.

[0004]

For this reason, a front panel opening / closing device for a refrigerator or the like according to the present invention has a column attached to an upper part of a refrigerator or the like and a front panel for covering a front surface of the upper part of the refrigerator. The front panel has an arm portion extending rearward from an upper portion thereof and further bent downward and forward, and a base portion of the arm portion and an upper edge portion of the support post are engaged with each other, and the vicinity of the engagement portion is provided. It said when the front panel is rotated before the upper, bent portion of the arm portion is engaged or locked to the front wall of the strut about the
And the front panel rotates when engaged or locked.
It is configured to be held in position .

[0005]

That is, the base of the arm, which extends rearward from the upper portion of the front panel and is bent downward and forward, engages with the upper edge of the support, and the front panel is moved forward with the vicinity of the engaging portion as the center. Since the front panel can be turned upward, the front panel covering the front surface of the upper part of the cabinet main body can be easily opened by the above-mentioned rotation, while the front panel is turned forward and upward, and the bent portion of the arm portion is formed by the above-mentioned support column. if the engagement or locking the front wall, the front panel is the engagement or
It will be held at the rotation position at the time of locking.

[0006]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In FIGS. 1 to 3, a machine room 2 is formed above a refrigerator main body 1 in a refrigerator, a freezer, a cooling storage, and the like, particularly, a refrigerator for business use. 3 is fixed, and a front panel 4 is attached to the front surface of the column 3 to cover the front of the machine room 2. A vertical flange 5 made of resin extending in the front-rear direction is provided on each of the left and right sides on the back surface of the front panel 4, and an arm body 6 made of sheet metal or resin is fixed or integrally formed on the upper end of the vertical flange 5 by a screw or the like. At the bottom of the vertical flange 5, an engagement recess 7 is provided.
Are provided integrally.

The arm portion 8 of the arm body 6 extends rearward from the vertical flange 5 and has an arc-shaped bent portion 9 formed at the end thereof in a forward and downward direction, which is shown in detail in FIG. Thus, the radius of curvature at the inner edge 10 of the arcuate fold 9 is smaller than the radius of curvature at the outer edge 11 of the arcuate fold 9 and / or the center of curvature of the inner edge 10 is
And the thickness of the arcuate bent portion 9 in the vertical direction gradually increases toward the rear, and as a result, an acute angle is formed between the arm body 6 and the arm portion 8. The distance between the formed base 12 and the outer edge 11 is configured to gradually increase toward the rear, and a stepped portion 13 is formed on the outer edge 11 of the bent portion 9. A small gap 15 is provided between the front end portion 14 of the support 3 and the front wall 20 of the column 3.

On the other hand, a notch 21 is formed at the upper edge of the front wall 20 of the column 3, and a projection 22 is provided at the lower part of the front wall 20 for elastically engaging and disengaging with the engaging recess 7. The notch 21 has a substantially trapezoidal shape having a downwardly inclined end face 23 near the center of the storage body 1, and the root 12 of the arm 8 is engaged with the deepest bottom portion 24, In addition, a long hole 25 is formed below the notch bottom portion 24 so as to face the tip portion 14 of the arm bent portion 9, and a handle opening 26 is provided on the side surface of the column 3.

In the above device, since the base 12 of the arm body 6 and the arm 8 forms an acute angle, the front panel 4 covers the front of the machine room 2 as shown in FIGS. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4A, the base panel 12 is engaged with the notch bottom portion 24 of the front wall 20 of the column, so that the front panel 4 is accurately brought into contact with the front wall 20 of the column. .

In addition, from the above-mentioned state in which the front panel 4 covers the front of the machine room 2, the front portion of the front portion of the front wall 20 is centered on the engagement portion between the notch bottom portion 24 of the support front wall 20 and the base portion 12 of the arm portion 8. When the panel 4 is pivoted forward and upward and the engaging recess 7 of the vertical flange 5 is separated from the projection 22 of the front wall 20 of the support, the arm on the rear surface of the front panel 4 as shown in FIG. The front end portion 14 of the front bent portion 9 engages with the elongated hole 25 of the front wall 20 of the support pillar.
Are no longer dislodged upwardly from the column 3.

Further, when the front panel 4 is pivoted forward and upward while pulling slightly forward, as shown in FIG. 4C through the state shown in FIG.
Comes into contact with the bottom of the long hole 25, and the outer edge 11 is further rotated upward and forward by the front panel 4.
5, the front panel 4 is slightly lifted up together with the arm main body 6 due to the gradual increase in the distance from the arm base 13 to the outer edge 11 as shown in FIG. Finally, when the stepped portion 13 of the outer edge 11 reaches the bottom of the long hole 25, the bottom of the long hole 25 fits into the stepped portion 13 as shown in FIG. Thus, the opening angle is reliably maintained.

Further, by slightly lifting the entire front panel 4, the stepped portion 13 comes off the bottom of the elongated hole 25, so that the front panel 4 can be rotated downward, and the opened front panel 4 can be closed as before, but at the time of opening and closing, the root 12 of the arm 8 forming an acute angle is
0, the front panel 4 can be opened and closed very smoothly without displacement, and the contact between the arm 8 on the front panel 4 side and the support front wall 20 can be made. Because it is close to point contact, front panel 4
Can be opened and closed relatively easily, and the arm 8 on the front panel 4 side engages with the elongated hole 25 of the support front wall 20 during opening and closing operation of the front panel 4. It can be reliably prevented from being detached from the main body 1, and therefore, without removing the front panel 4 from the cabinet main body 1, cleaning of an air filter (not shown) in the machine room 2 or unillustrated provided in the machine room 2. Operations such as operation of the control box can be performed safely and easily, and damage or the like due to dropping of the front panel 4 can be prevented.

Moreover, even when the width of the cabinet main body 1 is large and the front panel 4 is heavy, as shown in FIG. 4F, the bottom of the long hole 25 is inserted into the stepped portion 13 of the arm bent portion 9. When the front panel 4 is fully opened and the front panel 4 is lowered to its original position and closed, first, the stepped portion of the arm bent portion 9 is inserted through the long hole 25 on one of the left and right sides. 13 is removed, and FIG.
The outer edge 11 of the arm portion is brought into contact with the bottom of the elongated hole 25 as shown in FIG.
0, and then the stepped portion 13 of the arm bent portion 9 can be removed from the elongated hole 25 on the other side, so that the lateral width of the front panel 4 is large. The stepped portion 13 of the bent portion 9 is
Even if it is difficult to remove the front panel 5 alone at the same time, the turning operation of the front panel 4 can be easily and safely performed, and the front panel 4 can cover the front of the machine room 2.

Further, from the above-mentioned state in which the front panel 4 covers the front of the machine room 2, the front panel 4 is simply lifted upward, or as shown in FIG. The front panel 4 is slightly pivoted upward and forward around the engagement portion between the notch bottom portion 24 and the base portion 12 of the arm portion 8 so that the column front wall 20
After the engaging recess 7 of the vertical flange 5 is separated from the projection 22 of the front panel 4, the front panel 4 is lifted while maintaining the inclination angle at which the distal end portion 14 of the arm bent portion 9 does not engage with the elongated hole 25 of the support front wall 20. By lifting the front panel, the front panel 4 can be easily removed from the storage body 1 as needed, which is very convenient.

Further, when the front panel 4 is attached to the column 3, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the left and right arms 8 or the bases 12 on the back surface of the front panel 4 are attached. If the right and left columns 3 are respectively hung on the notches 21 in the front wall 20, the left and right arms 8 or the bases 12 thereof slide on one of the inclined end faces 23 near the center of the left and right notches 21. 6
As shown in (b) and (c), the guide is guided to the bottom portion 24 of the left and right notch 21, so that there is an advantage that accurate positioning of the front panel 4 with respect to the column 3 is always easy.

In the above embodiment, the base 1 of the arm body 6 and the arm 8 fixed to the front panel 4 side.
2 form an acute angle, a cut 30 such as a semicircle is formed in this portion as shown in FIG.
Can be engaged with the notch 21 of the support front wall 20 to enhance the ease of positioning and rotation of the arm 8 with respect to the support front wall 20.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8A, the step portion 40 of the outer edge 11 in the bent portion 9 of the arm portion 8 is different from the step portion 13 of the above embodiment only in the step angle. As in the case of the above-described embodiment, the front panel 4 is sufficiently rotated forward and upward so that the bottom of the elongated hole 25 in the support front wall 20 is formed into the stepped portion 40 as shown in FIG. When fitted, the engagement between the stepped portion 40 and the bottom of the elongated hole 25 is made closer, so that the front panel 4 is securely held in the fully opened state, or the stepped portion as described above is removed. A plurality of steps are formed on the outer edge 11 of the arm bent part 9, and the bottom of the long hole 25 is engaged with one of the stepped parts, thereby securely holding the front panel 4 at different desired opening angles. It is also possible to make it.

Further, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9A, a cut groove 50 is formed on the outer edge 11 of the bent portion 9 of the arm portion 8 instead of the stepped portion of each of the above embodiments. ,
When the front panel 4 is fully rotated forward and upward, FIG.
As shown in (b), the bottom of the elongated hole 25 in the support front wall 20 is fitted into the cut groove 50 so that the front panel 4 can be held very reliably in the fully opened state. In addition, the elongated hole of the front wall of the pillar in each of the above embodiments can be replaced with a cut groove or a dent which can be engaged or locked with the bent portion of the arm with the rotation of the front panel. Needless to say.

[0019]

In the front panel opening / closing device for a refrigerator or the like according to the present invention, the base of the arm extending from the upper portion of the front panel to the rear and bent downward and forward is engaged with the upper edge of the column. Since the front panel can be pivoted forward and upward about the vicinity of the engagement portion, the front panel covering the front surface of the upper portion of the refrigerator main body can be easily opened without removing it from the refrigerator main body, and the front panel can be moved upward and forward. When the front panel is turned, the arms are engaged or locked with the front wall of the support column.
Or it will be held at the rotation position at the time of locking ,
Work on the machine room and the like at the upper part of the storage body becomes easy, and the practical effect is very large.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a main part according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view in still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view in still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Storage main body 3 Prop 4 Front panel 8 Arm part 9 Bend part 12 Root part 13 Stepped part 14 Tip part 21 Notch 25 Long hole 30 Cut 40 Stepped part 50 Cut groove

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (56) References JP-A 2-116675 (JP, U) JP-A 62-138182 (JP, U) JP-A 2-124484 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F25D 19/00 F25D 23/02

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A column attached to an upper part of a refrigerator main body such as a refrigerator, and a front panel covering a front surface of the upper part of the refrigerator main body, wherein the front panel extends rearward from the upper part thereof,
It further has an arm bent downward and forward, the base of the arm and the upper edge of the support are engaged, and the front panel rotates forward and upward about the vicinity of the engagement portion. when, the bent portions of the arm portion is engaged or locked to the front wall of the post, the front panel above
A front panel opening / closing device for a refrigerator or the like configured to be held at a rotation position at the time of engagement or locking . 2. The front panel opening / closing device for a refrigerator or the like according to claim 1, wherein a small gap is provided between a tip end of the arm and a front wall of the support. 3. The base according to claim 1, wherein the base of the arm engaged with the upper edge of the column is formed at an acute angle, or a cut is formed at the base of the arm. Front panel opening and closing device such as refrigerator. 4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a stepped portion or a cut groove is formed on an outer edge of a bent portion of the arm portion which engages with or locks on a front wall of the column. Etc. front panel opening and closing device. 5. The arm according to claim 1, wherein a base of the arm engages with a notch formed in an upper edge of the support, and the notch is provided on a side of the storage body. Front panel opening / closing device for refrigerators, etc., which has an end face inclined downward toward the front. 6. The arm according to claim 1, wherein the arm portion is bent downward and forward in an arc shape, and a distance between an outer edge of the arc-shaped bent portion and the root portion gradually increases toward the rear. A front panel opening / closing device for a refrigerator or the like configured as follows.